Dealing with Opposition

"Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." - 2 Timothy 4:14-18

Whenever you're doing something right, there will be opposition. Count on it. Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble, Paul said that anyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus will be persecuted, and the explicit promise of suffering for living a gospel life is in all books of the New Testament except for one (1 Timothy...but 2 Timothy makes up for it by mentioning suffering in every chapter!).

1. We will encounter opposition. But how do we deal with it? Paul gives a great example here:
2. 
   

1. He calls out the opposition leader by name, but leaves all the others out of it. This is not to spite the man, but to warn everyone else that he's trouble. He's not trying to hurt the individual, but rather protect the community.
2. He forgives: "May it not be held against them." Like Jesus on the cross and Stephen under the stones, he prays for his enemies' forgiveness. Who have you been conflicting with? Try praying that prayer.
3. He relies upon God for restoration and rescue.
4. He stays committed to the mission. He didn't let conflict drift his focus. No matter what, the Gentiles were going to hear the gospel from his lips!

If you're living for Christ, you will be opposed today. It would be naive to expect that your company, your gym, your family, and even your church will always rejoice when you take bold steps for Christ. So live for the gospel. And when you are opposed, take Paul's example to heart. Peace and Amen.

We Don't Understand Grace

"After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." - Acts 15:7-11

Most Christians don't understand grace; I know I don't understand grace most of the time. It's easy to condemn these Pharisaic Christians in Acts 15, but in their defense, they had never heard of grace. Jesus taught it to the disciples, but these guys had never picked up that teaching.

Grace means that the gift of salvation comes from Christ alone. You mustn't be circumcised to be saved, you mustn't be circumcised to remain saved. Paul says in three different places that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. Do you know how HUGE that is? To the Jews, circumcision was everything! They would have said, "my great-grandfather was persecuted/killed/stoned/imprisoned for his circumcision...how dare you say it means nothing!"

But there is a new tradition emerging. Circumcision was the old covenant; Jesus is the new covenant. Loyalty to Christ is the symbol of inclusion in the people of God; He alone is the mark of a believer. That's easy for most of us Gentiles to swallow, since we've never been taught to fiercely defend circumcision. But you could say this about any spiritual practice. "Neither reading the Bible nor not reading the Bible means anything." "Neither going to church nor not going to church means anything." "Neither praying nor not praying means anything." Does that rile you up a little? What does count, then? What must we do to be accepted by God?

That's where grace comes in. Believe in Jesus. Follow Him. Religion is spelled D-O; God's way is spelled D-O-N-E. It's not about you, or what you do. It's about what Christ has done. Paul is clear in those three passages about what that looks like. He says in all three that circumcision/uncircumcision is meaningless, but:

· "Keeping God’s commands is what counts." (1 Cor 7:19)

· "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Gal 5:6)

· "what counts is the new creation." (Gal 6:15)

We must stop focusing on the little actions we think make God love us, and instead focus on the fact that we are already loved and say to the Lord, “I will do whatever it takes to follow Jesus today.” For some that means praying for an hour straight. For others it’s memorizing the Bible. For others it’s joining a church. For most of us, it’s all of the above and more. Don’t pretend to be someone else’s Holy Spirit. Listen to the Spirit and follow Jesus.

Lord, may we live in Your Grace today, not using it as an excuse for sin, but reveling in it as we grow closer to You day by day. Amen!

Waterskiing without a Boat

"Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'" - Matthew 14:31

Lord, how many times You must ask this question of me every day! "Why did you doubt?"

Peter was doing fine in verse 29, but then began to fear the wind. Matthew says he "saw" the wind. When did you last see any wind? Wind is invisible, Peter! But I think Matthew is using language to get at something more than just seeing with the eyes. The wind dredged up fear and doubt, reminded him that he had no business walking on water, that there's no reason this should work. All the thoughts that kept the other 11 on the boat attacked Peter in the wind, and he removed his focus from Jesus to his perceived problems.

What's funny is that the wind dies down as soon as they get in the boat. Did Jesus make the wind come to test Peter, or was it just coincidence? We'll never know. But either way, I think Peter's downfall was that he didn't EXPECT the wind to come. The sea is a very windy place, so why was he surprised and scared that wind should blow against him?

Likewise, we should never expect smooth sailing as believers. Jesus promised that "in this world you will have trouble," and in the Beatitudes guaranteed that those who live righteously will find opposition. Don't make Peter's mistake. Expect the wind before you walk on water! Focus on Jesus in the midst of difficulty. The sailing won't be smooth, but that's a part of the adventure with Jesus.

Lord, I WILL encounter trouble today. Fix my eyes upon you all the way through. Amen!

The Most Chilling Verses in Scripture

"Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" - Jesus, Matthew 7:22-23

Imagine heaven. Throngs of people worshiping God for eternity, forever embraced by the fullness of His presence, fulfilling their purpose to enjoy Him into infinity. Jesus comes to judge your eternal destiny. You know that you spent years teaching that junior high Sunday School class, memorizing verses for Kingdom Kidz, and making it to youth group whenever there was free food. Of course, there were a few crazy years in college, and you pretty much didn't even think about God after that. Come to think of it the only reason you went to church in the first place was because Katrina West went there...man, she was hot. Anyway, you know that you've been a good person and have been around Christians for a long time. You've done your part.

You step up to Jesus, and you prepare your spiel. When you're done giving your defense, He looks at you right in the eyes. His eyes are direct, resolute, yet missing the sternness that you're used to seeing from your disappointed parent. Sternness is replaced with compassion, longing, and...pain. "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer."


You have a flash of anger. You dare not show it, being surrounded by a throng of scary-looking angels, but it's there all the same. "BUT I WAS A GOOD PERSON!", you want to shout with righteous indignation. However, one look at those compassionate eyes convinces you not to say it. Something tells you that He knows your heart anyway. Something tells you that He knew it all along. After a moment of internal protest, you realize that He's right, and you deserve whatever you are going to get.

You didn't realize until that fateful moment, when eternity hung in the balance, when "My way or Jesus' way" was no longer a daily choice, that everything, everything is about Him. You thought it was about you. Even church, even your marriage...it was all about you. Before you turn away, you only have one thing to say to the Lord. "I wish someone would have told me it was going to be like this."

Is this you, or someone you know? Friends don't let friends deny Jesus. Love someone toward the Kingdom today...you'll have eternity to worship God, but not to evangelize. Lord, may Your Word sober us into living as a light in the darkness!

Cool Little Poem

Got this in an e-mail forward and actually liked it. God's grace is so good...

When I say that 'I am a Christian', I am not shouting that 'I am clean
living. I'm whispering 'I was lost, but now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride. I'm
confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide

When I say 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong. I'm
professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success. I'm
admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect. My flaws
are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.

When I say 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain. I have
my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a
simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!

Midas Church

I have spent several years in professional ministry and lay volunteer ministry at several different evangelical churches. Though I have been a member at a couple of "megachurches", the lion's share of my intense involvement has been with smaller churches that always seem to struggle. At the latter, we had staffs who loved God, loved people, and worked hard, just like in the larger churches, but our hard work was rarely rewarded with success. I know that word really irks some ministry people, as focusing on "success" can lead to quantifying ministry in ways that it was never meant to be quantified and turning a creative, joyful work into an endless checklist.

But I think in our heart of hearts, we always wanted the "Midas touch" that those larger churches always seemed to have. Everything these "Midas churches" did turned to gold. Every event blew away expectations. Volunteers were numerous, talented, and energized. The attendees have a great time and are touched with the love of Christ. In the smaller churches, it often felt like we were happy if everyone survived. I always wondered, "why can't we have what they have?"

Last month, my church hosted a 5K run to raise money for the International Justice Mission, called the "Run:4Justice". It was amazing event that not only brought the whole church together but raised a ton of cash for IJM...it was their biggest single-event fundraiser ever! Here's what, from my perspective, made this "Midas event" turn to gold:

• Innovation - what church does 5Ks? People couldn't believe this was hosted by a church. One runner said with surprise, "it wasn't even cheesy!" To draw people into a vision, we've got to innovate and do things outside of the box.
• Big Vision - the entire leadership team never thought we could make it to 1000 runners and $100,000. We all thought we'd come up short, but the big leader, Local Mission Pastor Amy Nobles, kept pushing us toward that huge goal. The result? 1355 runners, $133,000. We were blown away! Big goals inspire people...sometimes "realism" is a copout.
• Commitment to Excellence - it was made clear to us that every single aspect of the run was to be done with complete and total dedication to excellence. We wanted not just to make it through the event, but to put on an event that people would be wowed by. Many runners told us it was the best 5K they've ever participated in...that's because we weren't allowed to compromise on quality. Be proud of your product, your vision, your event, or whatever you're doing and be willing to sacrifice the blood, sweat, tears, and cash it'll take to make it awesome.
• Planning ahead - 18 months of total planning, 5 months of intense planning, and one month of I'm-doing-nothing-else-in-my-life-but-the-Run planning was put into this event. Our leaders had us convinced that they had done the work to plan this sucker to a TEE. Planning inspires confidence in volunteers and increases ownership.
• Money - yeah, this part is tough. You gotta spend the cash to get the impact a lot of times. But with this event, the premise was so cool, the planning was so perfect, the people were so pumped, that the money came rolling in right on time. If you don't have the cash flow to make it go well, do something that you DO have the cash to do right...we can't compromise quality just because we don't have gobs of money.
• Advertisement - we used as many different avenues as possible to get the word out. If people don't hear about it, they won't come. Online, word of mouth, whatever...if the vision is compelling, people will show up when they hear about it.
• Sustained spiritual energy and positivity - our leaders were encouragers and kept us going, even when we (and they) wanted to quit.
• Leaders were the most committed - I knew that no matter how hard I was working, my leaders were working harder to get this done...that's incredibly inspirational!
• Involved the entire church - from babies to baby boomers, the whole church got in on the Run. A 9 year-old boy even published a children's book about the cause!

Amazing event, amazing church. Now that I'm rested up, I'm looking forward to what's next!

Tiger Church

"10 Then the Lord said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.11 Obey what I command you today." - Exodus 34:10-11

I read this week's cover story of TIME magazine about "tiger mothers," the now-popular euphemism for strict Chinese parents. Some of the measures taken to discipline children are shocking, like calling a kid "garbage" or saying that second place is "disgraceful." But a lot of it really resonated with me. Specifically, I really am wondering if we are raising a nation of wimps, and even more frightening, a church of wimps.

When I was in youth ministry professionally, I kept feeling like I had to satisfy appetites that would never be satisfied. And I got very tired of having to be gimmicky to get kids to follow Christ. A part of me always admired the Chinese churches around us (in Arcadia, CA there are a lot), because their kids always seemed so well-behaved, polite, and dedicated. Now, granted, they tended to be more dedicated to school than their faith, but I also saw that the tireless and hyper-focused work ethic they brought to their schoolwork ended up in their spiritual discipline as well.

I wonder if we need more "tiger churches". It's not about whether Chinese culture or American culture are better, but about how close we are to realizing our purpose in the Kingdom of God. God told Moses that He would do amazing things through Israel if they obeyed Him. We see that caveat throughout the Bible: faith is tied to obedience. We must create kids and adults who are unyieldingly obedient to Jesus in order to see the power of God unleashed upon a broken and needy world that is crying out for Him. I wonder if we have too low of standards for our youth and treat them as too fragile. Here are a few things I learned from this article:

1. Assume strength, not fragility, and kids will believe they are strong, too

2. Praise hard work rather than inherent talent or intelligence, and kids will relish challenges rather than shy away from them. They will also connect their strength with their hard work rather than puffing themselves up with pride.

3. Demand excellence in everything, and they will live up to that standard. We must have expectations high enough for kids to fail, so they can learn how to do so gracefully.

Kids at church should respect their pastors, listen during sermons, be encouraging to each other, bring their Bibles, etc....we need to start expecting these things and teach kids the expectations, something I didn't do in youth ministry for fear of driving them away. Our kids hunger for a higher standard, something to live up to. Let's give it to them.