Guest Blog

Blog »  Guest Blog

September 20, 2013    Chris Wolfe

 

In The Return of the King, the third book of Tolkien's Lord of the Ring trilogy, Sam says, " What a tale we've been in, Mr. Frodo, haven't we?... I wish I could hear it told!... And I wonder how it will go on after our part."  What a tale, indeed!  And that's the whole point: If I really open my eyes, I find myself in a much, much larger Story, which started at the beginning of time. Like Sam, I also wonder how it will go on after my part.   If the Book of Acts is simply the first chapter of the History of the Church (which is not the beginning of the Story), then we are about the 400^th chapter of Acts. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the petty details of my day-to-day living, that I lose sight of the bigger Story.

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and Earth." Everything hinges on this.  Either God created everything, or He didn't.  If He created, He had a reason, and the Bible makes abundantly clear that God's reason for creating us was have a relationship with us.

Once upon a time, I was a Biology Major, steeped in the "Scientific Method", the objective inquiry into the world around us.  A fundamental tenet of the Scientific Method is the understanding that my conclusions can only be as accurate as my presuppositions.  In other words, if my presumptions that I bring to my "experiment" are wrong already, my conclusions will necessarily be in error.   

If I correctly understand and believe that I am living in a world created by God, and that I am created by God because He wants to draw me to Himself, that presupposition affects my conclusions, my behaviors, my relationships, my emotions, my values, my goals, my purpose, everything. It gives me a reason for being!  If, on the other hand, I incorrectly presuppose that there is no God, then there is no larger Story, because there is no Storyteller. All my actions will be based on a false understanding of my relationship to the world, and the whole concept of "purpose in life" evaporates. There is no purpose because there is no larger Story.  

Prayer:  "Lord, help me to understand Your larger Story and my part in it.  May I live the life You created me to live, so that Your kingdom may come and Your will be done on earth, as it already is in heaven.  Amen."

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl

In 144 Characters or Less

Blog »  In 144 Characters or Less  

Thursday, September 19, 2013

 

I have a dream.  

            It is that you (and every child, teen and adult) 

·         Know what the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ is.

·         Actually believe that the Gospel is the foundation for all joy, success,
    confidence, and human flourishing.

·         Know that this is true for yourself.

·         Are able to explain to another why and how this is true.

·         Actually do find ways to tell others this Good News. 

           After reflecting on the earliest (dating back to the 30’s AD) Gospel proclamations
           found in the Bible (1 Cor. 15:3-5, Rom. 10:9 and I added in Rev. 21:5) I took the
          challenge to tweet the Gospel in 144 characters or less.  Here’s my best shot and I
          did it with 17 characters left over!

                                     In Jesus God came to earth  
                                     Died for our sins
                                     Was raised from the dead
                                     Rules the universe and
                                     Is making all things new.

                  Now, here’s your assignment which is a great spiritual exercise!   One at a time
                  match each of the five beliefs/actions above to this Gospel summary.   I would
                  love to know how you do!!!!

 

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl

What's Your Position On . . . .

Blog »  What's Your Position On. . . .  

Wednesday, September 18, 2013   Guest Blog

 

 

Truth be told, I have a lot of pet peeves.  

I can’t stand when people slurp when they drink out of a cup (worse than nails on a chalkboard for me), snow (that’s not in the mountains when I’m skiing), and when I hear someone say “we let women lead” I go a little nuts inside. But my new #1 pet peeve at the moment is when people ask the question:  what’s your position on _________?  (homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion, gun control, you name it). It’s the question of the moment not only for many church or ministry leaders but on Facebook, blogs, and in certain Christian circles.  

We all know what that really means.
          How can I determine whether I am aligned with you or not aligned with you?
          How can I know if you’re on our team or the other one?
          How can I sniff out whether I can trust you or not?  

Please know I am not saying we should never ask questions that help us understand where other people are coming from or share our perspectives freely.  It’s great to have deeper dignified dialogue despite our differences and own our opinions. However, my experience with the question “what’s your position on?” is that it usually ends up in a dead-end where things become black or white, on or off, in or out, I-still-respect-you or I-am-not-so-sure-I-can-anymore.  

There are many other better, more thoughtful questions that could be asked instead, like:
          How are you navigating some of these complicated issues in your own life and soul?
          In your community?
          How are you wrestling with Jesus’ ways through these tensions?
          What are you learning about yourself as you wrestle with them? About God? About
          others?
          How are you seeing God at work in your life, in the lives of those around you?
          How are you participating in bringing people together around hard topics and
         creating safe places to share?  

And most importantly:  how are you actually loving your neighbors these days? 

When I think of Jesus’ interactions with the Pharisees, I see them constantly chiding him with the same question:  ”what’s your position on?” over and over, they were trying to pin him down, and he did not give them the kind of black and white answer they anticipated. Instead, he kept reminding them that their addiction to the law was really a waste of time in a kingdom economy. He responded with better, deeper questions that were tough to answer and required hearts not minds.  

Our obsession with positions is a great distraction.  The world is crying out for hope while we’re talking about theology.  We are spending an awful lot of energy building camps and erecting walls, thinking unity is uniformity. It’s not.  

True unity is living in the tension of a lot of different positions and still loving each other. It’s standing shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, and eye to eye in relationship with people who see important things differently but respecting their perspectives and theological conclusions.    It’s letting go of needing to control other people or work our agenda.  it’s remaining secure in what God is stirring up in our hearts and let others hold to what he’s stirring up in them. It’s owning and respecting that others can still be hearing from God in their way, even if it is on different sides of an issue. As parker palmer so wisely says, “The highest form of love is the love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference.”  

When it’s all said and done, the question “what’s your position on _____?” will never get us anywhere.  It’ll keep us stuck. It’ll keep us divided. It’ll keep perpetuating homogeneous groups that swing to the left or to the right. It’ll keep killing off more & more people’s desire to even be part of Christianity anymore.  

My hope, my heart, is that we can individually and corporately ask better questions and have better conversations, that we can allow room for wide and beautiful differences but still live under the same tent. That we can clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” and over all things “put on love, which binds us all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3: 12, 14).  

I’m so grateful to be part of a community that is trying to do this as best we can. It’s messy, it’s tricky, it’s uncomfortable, and all of the effort it takes kicks our butts some days more than others. But the more I see it in action, the more I know it’s the right direction for the future. There’s a whole new generation of men & women of all ages, shapes & sizes who aren’t looking for comfortable but are hoping to find spaces and places to wrestle with our personal views on tough issues and not be fed “right” answers.  

Uniformity might look stronger and cleaner on the surface, but its very foundation on rightness & pride is faulty.   Unity might look weird and tangled and confusing on the surface, but underneath it’s incredibly strong and powerful.  
Please, may we lay down our need to know people’s positions and instead find ways to know people’s hearts.
That’s worth fighting for.

 

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl

 

My Thoughts are not Your Thoughts

September 17, 2013
Kristen White

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.            Isaiah 55:8

 

Chapter 2 of Unfinished contains Stearns' overview of The Big Story - God's dealings with his wayward people; how He contends with us, loving us like a parent loves his children.  I have to confess right off, I'm not on solid ground here. I'm puzzled.  

Let me ask you, if YOU knew in advance that a huge project of yours would cause you so much heartache - that from the git-go you would have to have a plan B – and knowing that plan B would cause you even MORE heartache, would you go ahead with Plan A?  I think I know the answer.  God must have known that His creation wasn't going to begin at all well. Adam and Eve were HUMAN!  And throughout O.T. history, their progeny disappointed Him at almost every turn. He sent prophets to warn, and actually lost patience several times, nuking Sodom and Gomorrah and setting Noah and his family afloat while he destroyed everything else.  

He did go silent for 500 years though. I sort of wonder about the conversations in Heaven during that period.  But in the fullness of time. . . .  

God executed His plan B.  A baby is born. A new Adam with God's DNA. Continuing in the vein of head-scratching wonder, the entire New Testament testifies to a man, “Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2: 6-8  He did it.  He didn't have to, but He did.  

Now THIS is a God I can sink my teeth into. I know, that's a little crass. Let me try again.  Jesus is sooo compelling! He finally makes sense of this world, because He reveals another Kingdom that this world was intended to be like – with values that are the antithesis of this world's values. Love and justice are Jesus' prime movers. Before He left, He gave His followers their marching orders - to finish His Father's work until He returned to restore all things – as intended in Plan A, and He promised never to leave us or forsake us. His Holy Spirit is present, available... waiting on us!    

So! How could we have gotten it so wrong? And why do we still, when we say we know Jesus?   Stearns writes that, “After encountering Jesus you can't just go back to your old life. That is not an option. It changes everything.” Well . . . . does it? I know!. . . .I know the answer, because I know me!  But we HAVE HIS WORD, and by the grace of God that Word is sinking deeper into me and becoming so real, so pointed, so . . . . I don't know how to finish this except to ask, “Are you feeling anything akin?”              Kristen White

Wake up!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03YxgFrDreg

 

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl

How to Read the Bible Part 2

Blog »  How to Read the Bible  Part 2  

Monday, September 16, 2013   Jeff Lampl

 

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true “
2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)

 

I hope you take the time to watch this wonderful and important 12 minute video featuring a number of brilliant scholars (Theologians and Scientists) who speak about how to read the Bible as it was intended to be read.   I think it will help many of you find new life and depth as you read your Bible!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5bKa92eLkQM

 

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl

 

Your Worldview Matters

Blog »  Your Worldview Matters  

Friday, September  13, 2013   Jeff Lampl

“God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is!  By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.   So nobody has a good excuse.  

What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand."
                                                                          Romans 1:18-23 (MSG)  

This passage tells us three really big things:  

First,  God exists.  Second, no one who ever lived has any excuse for not knowing and honoring God.   Third, God’s wrath (“holy displeasure”) is God allowing us to suffer the consequences of our ignoring Him.    

This is a foundational part of the Christian worldview.   It is a way of seeing and understanding life on planet earth.   Other worldviews insist there is no God, or that God is in everything or everything is God or that there are many gods, and the list goes on.    

You, too,  have a worldview.  It is the lens through which you see the world and this lens determines how you think and how you behave.    If you think there is no God, then it follows that you can make up your own morality.    If you believe there are many gods which need appeased then you will live in fear,  always trying to appease the gods.  

But there’s more.   Yes, God exists.  Yes, I have no excuse for living as if my life is my own.   Yes, I suffer the consequences of my own rebellion.   Further, however,  The Christian worldview tells me that without God, I’m not only in trouble, but that I can’t extricate myself from the mess of my own making, or even from continuing to make more messes!     Still, yet, there is one more thing to know about the Christian worldview.    Whatever mess I may be in, whether of my own making or of another, that mess is not the end of the story.  

The final word in the Christian Worldview is always, always, always, Grace, forgiveness and fresh starts for those who will accept them.    

“ Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  . . There is no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus our Lord”               Romans 7:24-8:1

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl

What is Truth?

Blog »  What is Truth?
September 12, 2013    Jeff Dixon

“I have come that they have life, and have it to the full”    John 10:10  

It is interesting that the author uses John 10:10 as his opening scripture and then immediately dives into “what is truth”.  It would seem that he is saying there is a link between having life to the full and knowing truth.  Only a few chapters later in John 16:6 Jesus himself says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”  Jesus directly connects life and truth together in Himself.  Our question is what is truth and how does it affect our lives, our everyday lives.  

In our lives before we met Christ we developed our own ideas of foundational truth.  Some truths came to us as lessons taught, ideas shared, education social norms even friends and enemies, etc. All of these ideas are channeled together into a system of truth or worldview, a way of seeing the world, others, ourselves and how we fit or do not fit into it.  The problem is apart from Christ we only know “our truth” not “the truth”.  

Richard Stearns says “The really annoying problem with the truth, though, is that it is true.  And things that are true put boundaries around us in ways we do not always like”.

“The truth” forces us to look at “our truth” and when they do not align, one of them must change.  Sadly it is often easier to bend God’s truth than to replace our self-imposed truth and here in lies one of our great troubles.  Jesus said “If anyone wishes to come after Me let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me”. We are told to deny self and we cling to self-imposed truth and self centered thinking.  

Finding the truth is not a moment in time event, it is more like a journey.  It is in reality walking with the Lord.  Could you imagine being on the road to Emmaus (Luke 23:13-36) with Christ right there to teach you as you walked.  You do not have to imagine anything, He is here now in the person of His Spirit ready to “guide you into all truth” John 16:13.   

The path is clear. The way to find life, real full life is to seek the truth. To seek the truth I must find the way.  How can I become Christ’s student if I believe I have all the answers, if I am unwilling to exchange my truth for His.  Let me first come with a teachable spirit in humility, with deep respect for God’s revealed truth, His word.  With repentance, yes, but even more with great joy that our Father desires to give us His truth more than we desire to seek it!!!  

Father I pray that through this series we will all come to you not only with an open mind but also an open heart that you would correct and redirect us into the glorious image of your Son.  Let us seek truth as if it was a “pearl of great price” because it most certainly is, Amen 

 

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl