A Call to an Adventure....

         So what do you really want?  I find myself asking the guys that come to our Monday night Bible study this question on a weekly basis.  What do you want?  Why do you destroy yourself by fighting?  You destroy your body, and do so many things that you know are going to destroy you.  I think the problem is my boys don't know what they really want.  Most of all when they do know what they want they don't know how to get there.
          Lately I've been asking myself the same question.  What do I really want?  I don't mean to be a hedonist and life is definitely not about me, but I know that I have been designed by a creator.  I believe I have some desires that are hard wired inside of me.  In fact these desires are hard wired into every human being.  I believe we have all been wired with an intense desire for God.  How does that quote go?  Something about all of a person's running is really him trying to find God.  So if the thing I really want is God how does this affect my day to day life.  How does this really break down?  How does this relate to church life?
           Most people who have taken any basic psychology course or have dabbled in this science at all have probably soon come across Maslow's Hierarchy.  The theory goes something like this: Every person is born with certain needs.  For a person to experience self-actualization he must have these needs met.  These needs are listed in a pyramid diagram with the most basic needs pictured at the bottom.  According to the theory, the closer a person can get to the top of the pyramid the happier he will be.

The only problem I have with this theory is that the whole explanation leaves out God.  According to this theory if a person can control his environment enough he will be able to reach what every person REALLY WANTS: self-actualization (or in simple English--happiness).

           APPLICATION: Although I rarely mention it to anyone, in fact I rarely realize it, but in all practicality I believe that if I can control my environment enough I will be happy.  I am finding that I base a lot of my belief system on Maslow's Hierarchy.  Almost subconsciously I make so many decisions based on making sure my needs are met.  Why do I do this?  So I can be happy.  So I can experience self-actualization.  I make sure I have friends around me and enough money to do what I really want.  But where does this thinking ultimately end?  This theory leads to a self-sufficiency apart from God.  According to Jesus teaching he who tries to find his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Christ's sake will find it (God's version of self-actualization).  

               It's only as we throw away the blocks of Maslow's pyramid that we can really live.  So what does that mean?  It might mean we give away so much money we may end up hungry.  It may mean that we spend time with the uncool person even if it means we will become disconnected with our really good friends (Ah I'm totally convicted already).  It may mean I blend in as a team player and never get noticed for my contribution rather than making sure I am a distinct individual.  However, the great part about all of this is that when I come up short with the needs I can supply for myself I allow God to make up the difference.  As long as we meet all our needs on our own, we block the blessings that God wants to give us.  "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."  They that mourn are blessed because they get to experience God.  As long as we control our own environment we never allow ourselves to experience God.  Is this why God feels so far away sometimes?  Is this why we wish we could have God come through in a big way but our request is never granted?  Maybe if we would put ourselves on the line enough to experience grief we would get a chance to experience God comforting us.  Maybe if we would put ourselves on the line enough to actually be out of food for a meal we would get a chance to see God "Give us our DAILY bread."  

               What do you really want?  What do I really want?  I think without a doubt the answer to this question is that we all want a God who is real, a God we can feel moving in our day to day lives on an hour by hour basis, a God who shows his love to us each day by meeting our needs because we have made ourselves needy by giving everything back to Him.  God loves needy people.  Why else would the first section of Matthew 5 hand out a list of blessings for very needy people.  Throughout scripture the theme runs true that God is a God of the needy.  He draws near to the humble.....  

              We talk a lot about being a good steward of what God has given us, but I wonder sometimes if our being a good steward is more about making sure all of our "ducks are in a row" so we will never be caught unprepared.  Whenever I become such a good steward of my possessions that everything works out I find myself predictably turning a cold shoulder to God.  The more I put myself on the line for God the more I find my passion for God grow.  In the Old Testament it is clearly shown that prosperity and turning away from God go hand in hand.  Maybe this is why in the New Testament Jesus asks us to try a different way.

                You see, we were not created to have boring lives.  So many people think Christianity is a boring religion.  It's not a boring religion unless we've re-created it this way.  God is not a boring God.  We only get bored when we cut him out of our lives by reaching self-actualization through Maslow's Hierarchy rather than by following the way of the cross.  Are you bored with life?  Give all your money away.  Do you want an adventure?  Pack your bags and head to the city and start a conversation with a homeless person.  Do you want to live?  Then put yourself on the line this next week in a God honoring way that requires God to come through for you to make it through the week and you will have the most exciting week of your life.  So what do you really want?  Based on scripture your most basic need is for God.  The best way to really experience God is to become needy (James 4:6-10).  The best way to become needy is to cut off the security lines currently holding you up.  "The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away." --Shane Claiborne

                   Oh how our churches would be transformed if we only needed God.  Not just a head knowledge--"I need God."  But a real need--"I can't make it through this week without God."  If we would make ourselves needy enough to allow God to start working in our churches we would get so pumped about God we couldn't hold it inside.  Okay, so where's the line to sign up for being pumped about God?  Maybe it is right over there beside the person who needs a friend right now. 

--This post is dedicated to all my friends who have inspired me so much in pursuing the adventure of life.  My our dreams never be disappointed.  By God's grace these ideals will be the legacy of my life.

             

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

I just discovered something very profound: before we fuss about all the jazz of how a church should look we really need to stop and ask about the Prayer Life of the church members.  If you want to become convicted about prayer read Jim Cymbala's book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.  This book is a real wake up call.  Sure I think there are ways to do church better, care for people better, etc... but "Unless God builds the house they labor in vain that build it."  How about we just shut up  I mean quit talking about all the right ways to do church and get our prayer lives straightened out.  I have a feeling that if we really became connected to God "church" would happen by itself.  What's that little Piper quote?  Something about, "Mission organizations are necessary because true worship so seldom happens."  Another good quote: "If you pray because you ought, your prayer life will soon lack motivation; but if you pray because you must you will constantly be praying."  "God, please help us to see reality, to really see our need and to quit wasting all of our time trying to become self-sufficient."

The Ministry of Reconciliation:

The purpose of the church:
          I believe one of Christ's primary desires for the church is to be a place where people can come and experience community while being nurtured and motivated to a deeper walk with Christ.  Jesus Christ modeled this community by calling 12 disciples and building a community of service, devotion, and teaching.  After receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost these disciples dispersed and began building communities throughout the nation of Israel and Asia minor.  And so the church age began, based on the fundamental concept of fellowship within community.  "They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.  And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46,47).
           Humans were created for relationship and community.  This concept comes from the very nature of who God is as displayed in the trinity (a community of three persons who are one).  From this nature of God comes a desire within us who bear His image for a community with other people with whom we can be likeminded.  This individuality which bears oneness is a mark of who God is and what he has called the church to.  "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.  For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." (Eph. 4:3-6).
            How is this oneness actually accomplished?  I find that in community after community people are excited about helping new people become a part of their team.  There is an excitement as new personalities and new talents are added to a team.  Sooner or later (not to be a doomsayer but....) an individual comes along who seems to grind against the oneness of team life.  Maybe this individual is more of a taker than a giver.  Maybe they embarrass us or invade our comfort zones.  Maybe their influence carries our team in a direction that gives us concern or violates our convictions.  What is the Christians role in these situations?
            The prototype for the restoration of oneness to a community is found in God's example of reconciling us to himself after we had been cut off.  "A new life has begun!  And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.  And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them.  And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.  We speak for Christ when we plead,"Come back to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17b-21).
            Fundamentally the breakdown of oneness in a community is because of sin.  Ever since the fall of Satan sin has caused separation of oneness.  It happened in the Garden of Eden and it has been happening ever since.  As soon as sin enters a community oneness becomes division and discord instead of the unity that God intended.  This sin can come from two places:  our sin and the sin of others around us.
            Our sin:  When we are hanging onto things that God intends for us to let go (rights, pride, jealousy) we will soon be working against the people we are supposed to partner with and oneness is broken.  Whenever there is a breakdown of unity we must carefully examine our own hearts and repent of the sin that God reveals to us.  Only then after we have removed our own beam can we have any part in helping to remove someone else's splinter (See Matt. 7).  We must be filled with God's life giving water in order to have the grace to lay ourselves down for the team in a way that brings oneness.
             Others sin:  When others on our team do not have God's life giving water flowing out of them they will also lack the grace to give to the team.  I believe that one of the primary reasons "misfits" have trouble feeling a part of a community is because they lack the ability to serve the team.  Proverbs 18:24 (KJV) says, "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly."  The selfishness of others and their inability to exemplify Christ's nature can tear down the team as well.  
              Many people lack the ability to give to others because their own emotional and spiritual cup is not filled and overflowing with God's grace.  The first step as we build our teams must be to draw people to a passionate life giving relationship with Christ that is beyond just knowing God.  We must call people to a relationship with God to the point that they are filled with the Holy Spirit and bearing the Spirit's fruit (love, joy, peace) in their lives.  For so long we have put up with nominal Christianity.  Nominal Christianity is essentially non-Christianity.  It is totally powerless in changing our world.  It stinks of apathy, discouragement, and discord when displayed in our communities.
               In the end it all comes back to us because we cannot call people to something that we know nothing about.  A community of oneness must be based upon individuals who have a "fresh bubbling spring within them." (John 4:14) and allow this spring to flow to others.  This spring is contagious.  True oneness within the community is found when our bubbling spring flows out to others and causes them to become a bubbling spring.  As these bubbling springs flow together they become a river that of healing for the needy world around us.  As long as we cut off the "misfits" that God has placed around us and protect ourselves from the baggage that these people bring our communities will only reach a superficial level of oneness instead of becoming the place that God so desires.  A place for the needy to find Him and experience for themselves the bubbling spring of eternal life.  A community that changes the world and makes passers-by take note that these people have been with Jesus.