Doing, but not working…

I enjoy doing things; I am the type of person that likes to stay busy. That isn’t to say I don’t love my down time. The point is that a lot of times I do things because I enjoy the result of what I am doing. I clean up around my house because I can relax more if I don’t see a mess. I cook because I want to eat healthier than I can by eating out a lot. I exercise because I don’t like the way I feel when I am out of shape. I could go on and on, spiritually speaking I can even say I read or pray because I want to feel the fellowship I have with God.

However, is there ever a time where we are supposed to do something…for nothing?

That all depends, how are we looking at the situation?

Do we see the situation as worthless?

Do we see the situation as having worth, but not enough to trouble ourselves?

Do we see it as having value to further ourselves?

All these have selfish motives. All these focus us in on ourselves. Think of the impact this would have on a movement that is based on selflessness. If all of the employees or followers of this movement of selflessness slowly became selfish, what would happen to this movement?

A believer is called to, by the worlds standards, do something for nothing. Have we begun to look so much like the world though that we are letting this movement of Christ de-evolve into a pharisaic model of righteousness. If so, that would make the church of today look a lot less like the church of the Bible.

Do we see it as having value in furthering others?

Do we seek to see as Christ sees?

We are called to be doers of the word, not just hearers. Hearing (on our part) can be a beautiful thing, but if we do nothing with the message except sit in a circle and debate it with each other, what good does that do for those who need to hear and see? Selflessness seems to be becoming a lost art in the realm of Christ followers.

New Law (pt. 2)

In the last entry I began the thought of the New law that we seem to be facing in the church. That being said, it was focused mostly in the church, but what happens if there is truly a new Law and those who operate in that Law take it to the world.

I tried to make the connection between the Pharisaic mindset in the old Law and the similarities that I see in the new Law. We see, inside the church, that our focus can be off and we can make things that don’t really matter of high importance when we abide by the new Law.

How would this make a Christian, who operates under the new Law, look to the world? Would they look anything like Christ did to the world of His time? Or would we look a lot more like Pharisees?

Think of some of the things we see Christians doing out in society, granted some of these may seem extreme, but let’s just look at them for the sake of trying to see what the world may see of us…

-Protesting against the government -If we stand against our God ordained leader what does that say about our heart? We can disagree, but there are times I think if something horrible happened to our president we would see some Christians smiling with a feeling of victory. Look at how David handled himself with Saul. That my friends, at least in many cases-not all, is out right rebellion.)

-Protesting homosexuality, Abortionist, and numerous others -I don’t know how to say much about this without starting a war, but it seems amazing to me that we are so hateful and despise people we are sent to love. You don’t agree with them, ok, how does what you are doing show them in any way the love that Christ has for them? There are ways to show love, build relationships, and then let the Spirit of God do the work in their hearts.

I could go on and on, but I don’t want to belabor the point. Isn’t what matters most God and people? The new Law looks a lot more like what matters most is my agenda and the people who agree with me.

What is Christianity without love?

I don’t know that I want to know the answer to that, but I fear it is what the world is seeing and turning them away from the Truth.

I already hear the wheels turning, “what about judgment?”

I believe God is just, and He will judge, and if we truly believe that it is our job to live as much like Christ as we can so that they will face this most just, holy, and mighty God in judgment and be able to say, “ I plead the blood of Christ.” The alternative is to shove them further away from God by a poor representation and we will stand before that same just, holy, and mighty God and have to answer for our poor actions.

If you lose your love, all you've got is the law. One of the reasons that politics will never solve our problems is that policies/laws are only
really necessary when I don't love you. And we know that the law is no substitute for love. - Danny Lee Silk

New Law

I have had something troubling me lately, as I mentioned in my last entry, I have been trying to shed some of my pre-conceived notions about my journey with Christ. I have been going back through as I read and subjectively applying the filter I have had applied for years to see what of the things I had been taught were truth and what was man-made. I find that there are many things that man has added to this beautiful life that Christ led before us. I don’t have a very good explanation as to why this has happened, but it looks very similar to the Law of the Old Testament.

The problem with the Law is that it was impersonal, cold, and had been twisted to become a barrier between those who were meant to direct and point people to God and those who knew very little of Him. It was for this reason that Christ was sent to make the connection, to transcend the Law, and so He did. Those who had been guardians of this Law (mind you, there were supposed to be more like tour guides than security guards) were appalled at what Jesus was teaching. This made the Law, which they had placed higher than God Himself, worthless.

Of course you can imagine the tension. The very thing that these men had devoted their lives to, the historical implications, the legacy was over and this new Way was being put into place. The things they focused so much on turned out to not be as important as they thought. The Law was over, their pious ego’s were crushed…all because they chose to follow the Law over what God really wanted.

Tension.

I fear there is a new wave of the Law and Pharisee-ism. I see it running rampant throughout the American church. This new Law, much like the old, has Christianity focusing on the things that don’t matter as much in the Kingdom. We often worry about dress, buildings, styles of worship services, politics, music, and alcohol. There isn’t necessarily a reason that we can’t be concerned about all of these things, but are they becoming idols? Are these things becoming more important to us than God.

“Certainly not!” we may answer with our words, but do our actions back that up?

And are we so worried about winning that we don’t care about people?

We are commanded to love God…and people…

The old Law failed at this, and it appears the new is as well.

Pharisee-ism was running rampant in the old Law, and as we see, often times Christ tried to cut through the Pharisee’s arrogance so that they would see the truth. In fact, I dare say, the Pharisee’s were the main focus of Christ’s pointed comments. So what does that say about us? What would He say to the church now?

Everyone has a stand and an opinion on the aforementioned issues, but are we so focused on being right that we don’t care who we are running over? If so, that looks an awful lot like those whom Jesus spoke against.

Renewed...

I have had a pretty tough time recently. Before you think this is a “Woe is me” type of thing, this is about a good tough time. I have been raised in church, pushed away by church, readily welcomed into church, and operated with some success in the church. I know the ebbs and flows of what church does, how it operates, in fact for the past 12 or so years I have made it a point in my life to study the workings of the church as a pastor. I believe that my working in this matter has drawn me so much closer to God and I must say that I have learned a lot.

I also must admit that I have had times that I have studied the church, as it is, and let that lead my life more than I have let the God I “serve” have guidance over this journey of life. Recently, He has showed me this and has led me on an adventure that is revolutionizing the way I think about many spiritual matters. I have begun seeing things in the Bible that I have never taken note of before, I actually hear from His Spirit and He leads me down pathways that I would be to afraid to traverse before. He has erased so many of my fears, washed away the guilt that I have had, challenged me in my beliefs of who He is, expanded my understanding, and all the way has given me peace that I cannot explain.

I can look back over my past writings and teachings and see the older mindset I had. It makes me wonder how God has brought me to this place. I look back over the seemingly aimless meanderings spiritually and wonder, how did I come to this place? It is by His grace alone.

It is my hope in the future of this blog to share with you some of the things I have been learning. I hope there are some good conversations to come and some clear revelation for all of us.