Monday, September 27, 2010

Not Settling for "Community"

I have realized that there is a buzzword right now in charismatic Christianity that is getting to the point of being cliché. That word is “Community.” Some even like to throw the word “Koinonia” around, which is the Greek word for “Fellowship.” I think that it is a great idea, because Christians need community. Without it, the person dies in isolation. Much like a baby who is not touched, cuddled or loved enough, a person will whither without ample connection. Today I want you to not settle for community, instead seek a life giving community.

The question is…

How do we create a sense of community?

I have worked with Life Groups at multiple places, I have also been a part of many myself. I have noticed the recent push for this, because the church on a whole struggles with the ability to meet individual needs… especially larger churches. For some reason, it seems that a small number of people actually take advantage of these groups. Whether it is fear of intimacy, inability/lack of desire to make time, or needs not being met, it seems that people are not engaging at the rate that churches desire. That, and often times groups are demanded to multiply, much like a business model. But I often feel that community is pushed but not properly taught, much like being told to build a bookshelf without having instructions.

The two components to community that I see are LOVE and FRIENDSHIP.

Love: I can remember getting in a discussion with people and I asked them to define love. They rattled off 1 Corinthians 13, which I am sure you can train a parrot to regurgitate with the same amount of zest. I cut the person off because I knew the person and they did not show the fruit of 1 Corinthians 13 (more on that later). So let me give you the Webster’s Dictionary definition:

THE UNSELFISH LOYAL AND BENEVOLENT CONCERN FOR THE GOOD OF ANOTHER.

Does that change the way you view love? For me, it did. It motivated me to continue to live that way. Without getting into the different Greek forms of love, I want to say that this fits the definition of true love. IT IS A CHOICE, not a feeling. It is also reciprocal, so that means that two people have to make that choice. I am saying all this to say that we really need to have a healthy view on what love is and is not. Ultimately, if everyone had unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of everyone, we would live in a much better society. But life is not that way. That is why it is important that we embody this attribute.

One final thought on love is that not everyone can love properly. If someone is constantly taking from you, you should probably be careful with the time that you spend with them. If you look at your life as a tree, you want to make sure that people are not taking all of your fruit without helping you grow and be more fruitful. That is not love. We are taught to love our neighbors as ourselves, not love our neighbors more than ourselves.

Friendship: Somewhere along the line we were taught in life that everyone must be friends with everyone. That is so unrealistic. In fact, I just heard something to that effect at work yesterday. People who get together in their free time and do stuff that they enjoy doing together are friends. These people also have vested interests in the other person’s life. I am saying this because we have diminished the definition of “friends” to something that is more sterile and less defined. Friendship can get dirty because people’s lives are messy.

How does this relate to church? I have found that people have a tendency to think just because you go to church together, you must be friends. I have had this happen to me a few times, and it disturbs me. The truth is that we must have boundaries about who we say and do things with. We cannot be everything to everyone, it does not work!

I say this to prove a point. We are stewards of our friendships, so we only have so much that we can give adequately. I am quite honestly not very interested in NASCAR or hunting, so I would not have much in common with someone who talks about that constantly. That being said, it would not make sense for me to spend quite a bit of my free time hunting and watching NASCAR, because it would not be enjoyable and I would be wasting time that I could be using speaking life into another friendship that is neglected and could be a much more life-giving friendship.

That being said, when we think about community we need to wonder who we associate best with. We should always be open to new people, but if you have nothing in common with the person then the situation will work itself out. It is not being cliquey because not everyone meshes perfectly. It becomes a clique when you exclude people without good reason.

So how do we as leaders promote this mindset? Teach your people how to love properly. Second, think outside of the box and do activities that bring people together, and empower others create activities to bring others together. Yes, going to church is nice, going to Bible Studies/Cell Groups/Life Groups/Care Groups are good, but sometimes just getting away from the church setting to do an activity is helpful.

To close this post, I want to give you two things to work with. I mentioned 1 Corinthians 13, and I wanted to go back to that. This verse demonstrates what loving people look like. But if we do not cultivate the definition above in our lives, then we can never show the fruit. If you chose to live a life of love, insert your name in place of the word “Love” in 1 Cor 13:4-7. Are you patient, are you kind, do you not envy, etc?

The second point is to look at the people we spend our time with outside of mandatory functions. Do you like what you see? Do they build you up? Do you have activities that you enjoy doing together? These are things you have to ask yourself. In college, I realized that I needed to get people out of my social circles that were unhealthy.

To use an analogy, I understood why my favorite football team was abysmal. Being a Browns fan, I watch my team loyally but I have realized that they are so bad because they pick the wrong type of players for the wrong type of offense and defense that they were running. There were also guys that were distractions and self-centered that hurt team chemistry. In life, we need to find people that fit our systems, and people who do not become cancers to the chemistry of life.

I want to challenge you to not just settle for community, but instead seek loving friendships that lead to healthy community. It might take time, but the best things in life take time.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Ignorance is not Bliss.

One day, I was talking with someone at work and I got into an interesting debate. This person told me that the Bible can be interpreted so many different ways, that it is pretty much irrelevant. I smiled politely and thought of my next move. Knowing that he was an atheist, I wondered how strong his knowledge was of the Bible.

“How well do you know the Bible?” I asked. After a moment, he replied that he never had a desire to read it. Perplexed, I wondered how he knew that it was false if he had never read it before.

“Well, how familiar are you with Greek?” I asked. The answer was predictable. I then went on to explain that the Greeks had multiple interpretations for love, and I rattled off three of them. I then explained that each of those types of love are mentioned in the Bible, and that there is sometimes no distinction in the text, and we lose that in the English translations. He nodded and told me that it was interesting and that he did not know that. I am sure it did nothing to convince him to think differently, but this illustrates the thrust of this post: Christians need to improve their biblical literacy.

When I mention “bible literacy”, I am not referencing having a seminary education or anything of that sort, but rather being a student of what you are learning. If you view the Bible as something you have to read, then you will never glean the life from it. I am guilty of that, and I am doing my best to read it actively instead of reading it as an obligation.

Let’s do a quick exercise. Read 1 Corinthians 14:33-35. It is super-controversial and when taken at face value is really dangerous. Before you disregard my post… know that I am trying to prove that women should be allowed to talk, and that this was a response to an event, not Paul creating doctrine. These are the reasons why…

1. Who was this letter written to? The Corinthians. They had many issues in their church and Paul was writing them to clarify the issue. The issue at hand is the disordered nature of worship.

2. What is the section about? As I just mentioned, the section around it is about disorder during the time of worship (especially with prophecy). After this group of verses (33-35), Paul goes right back into discussing orderly worship, which means this is directly tied to the rest of the chapter.

3. Anything special about the word usage? The word for “silent”, sigao, I have read that it implies a stillness in the face of disorder. We lose that in the English translation.

4. What about the culture of the people? Women in the Roman Empire were not always educated or free to express themselves the way men could. This being said, there are a few theories on what the “disturbances” were.

The men often times went to the forums and knew more about recent theories and religions, where the women were not always free to move about. This would mean that the women would have likely been in the dark when it came to some of the ideas being tossed around. Knowing that the service at times took place in a synagogue, women and men would be on separate sides of the synagogue. This would create disorder as the women would either have to yell across to their husbands to answer questions, or interrupt the speaker to get the proper answer, thus slowing the progress of the group.

It is also believed that the women were abusive of their newfound freedoms in Christianity. They were allowed freedoms that they did not have before, and Paul was trying to temper that. Just like a kid from a strict home going away to college, sometimes people do not do what is right with their new freedoms and abuse them.

It could be one of these issues, it could be all of them. But the important thing is that when this is taken into consideration, it clarifies that it was not doctrine that Paul was creating, but he was creating a temporary remedy for a certain problem.

5. What about Paul’s track record with women? He supported women in leadership. There are numerous women mentioned in the Epistles to the Corinthians and Romans. Chloe and Phoebe are two that come to mind. This showed that he appreciated and encouraged participation from women. It was just that the time was not right in Corinth for them to enjoy total freedom. It might have hurt more than helped.

I am giving this example because it is a debated subject that gets lost when the proper context is not established. That is why it is important for us to understand what it is that we are reading, rather than just taking everything at face value or turning it into something that moves towards our agendas. Instead, we should try to understand why it was written and figure out how it helps us today.

Another example I would like to give is the exchange between Peter and Jesus in John 21:15-17. Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times. Three times, Peter replies. What often gets lost in the English is that the Greek words used by Jesus the first two times is agape. This God’s love, true love. Meanwhile, Peter responds that he philos loves Jesus. This type of love is brotherly love. Finally, Jesus asks Peter if he philos loves him, and Peter responds that he does. Does this make the complexion of the verse that much different? I hope that it would.

I would like to encourage everyone who reads this to actively engage what they are learning, and not just take it at face value. Yes, it requires effort, but the rewards outweigh the risks in this case. Christians get called ignorant enough, so I try not to give people another reason to use that insult. Ignorance in this case is not bliss, and I hope you feel the same way!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Patience and Effort

When I reflect on the lesson that I my teacher taught today, it reminded me of something that is wrong with Christianity. My teacher talked about how Abraham was promised numerous offspring, and he never lived to see it. We begin to see that as Abraham ages, and he begins to become impatient with God and decides to take matters into his own hands. The result was Ishmael, who would be at odds and with all his brothers (Gen 16:12). Abraham eventually received Isaac, and would die not seeing his descendents being numerous.

As a whole, I find that the message above greatly contradicts what we are taught in church today. We have been given an idea that if we have enough faith, that we will receive what we want. Western culture tends to teach us that if we want something, that we should not have to wait for it. Instead of asking God for wisdom to see and have peace with his will, we are taught ask and you shall receive. We also never ask whether we need something or not, we just want it.

With that in mind, I wish to ask you, “What if God gave us everything that we wanted? What would the world look like?” If you ask me, I don’t even want to know! I really don’t think that we would have much of an appreciation for anything in life. Everything would be handed to us on a platter and we would have no respect for anything outside of our own desires.

When I look at my own life, I have benefited from being in a middle class family. We were never rich, but I was never in want of anything. My parents taught me to work for what I have, and that’s what I did. One of my biggest regrets is that I did not listen to God when I was in undergrad. I felt called to the ministry, but I did not feel confident because of my medical problems.

Much like Abraham, I got impatient and did not like what I was hearing from God and I moved in my own direction. Ultimately, I paid the price. The good thing is that I am still using what I learned in college and it gave me a boost for graduate school.

For those of you that know what I have been through medically, you know that I should not even be in grad school. I should not even be in a profession like the one I am about to enter. But it comes to show that God gives you what you need for the moment when you seek his will. It is difficult to see in most cases and often times seems crazy, but that is a discussion for another time!

In regards to Moses, he eventually received Isaac, it took a long time but God gave it to him. One thing that I have always tried to do is be patient for the Isaacs in my life. Whether it is a job, a ministry, a big break on something, I try to wait for God’s perfect timing. I also strive to be content with what God gives me for the moment.

What about those things that we never see? There are things in life that we do not understand. Much like Abraham never seeing his numerous descendents, we have do not always see the fruit of our lives. Me, I never understood why God allowed me to have my conditions. It bothered me for a while, because many of my friends coasted through and I had to work extra hard.

But then two things dawned on me. The first was that I appreciated life much more because I earned what I had. I was patient and trusted God, and it shows. I also did not throw a fit because I did not get what I wanted that moment, I just waited and worked hard.

The second thing that dawned on me is that life is not about me. None of it. My life is to be used to bless others and to help others. Because of what I have been through, I can reach people that no one else can. Instead of saying whoa is me and complaining about my issues, I can encourage others and give life to them because I have become an example of overcoming a bad situation. Often times, we never know who we touch, but we do.

I say this to bring home the idea that we need to continue to seek understanding as to why things happen in our life, and see the global picture rather than the self-benefits of every situation. I do not say that as a man who has it under control, because I just blew it this summer and I think I lost a good friend because of it. I am not perfect! But I am hoping others wish to try and create a paradigm shift with me in which we are patient and appreciate what we have in life instead of always seeking the next thing.

Now that I asked the question what would life look like if we got everything we wanted, what would life look like if we were more patient for God’s leading? I think it would be a better world.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What Law Did I Break?

When I was at home a few weeks ago, I had the chance to catch up on a book that I was reading. The best part was that it completely coincided with a discussion that I had with someone while I was at home. This person tried arguing doctrine with me, and I came to found out that he had very little ground to work with. He had spent his entire life disliking Christians WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING CHRIST!

So what I want to discuss today is WHAT EXACTLY JESUS TAUGHT and then ask WHAT LAW ARE WE BREAKING AS CHRISTIANS?

To do this, I am going to give you a quick run down of the Sermon on the Mount paraphrased, outside of the Beatitudes. So, here we go!

Mt 5:13- Live a life of good deeds in the community and bless others.

14-16- Keep Gods ways and be a guide to others.

17-20- Be better than the hypocrites and do not make their mistakes.

21-22- Don't just avoid killing, but think about the anger in your heart that stokes that desire.

23-26- Make amends with those that you have hurt.

27-28- Love your spouse purely, not just considering adultery, but flee from that which entertains the thought of impurity.

29-30- Avoid destructive situations (this is hebraic exaggeration, much like how we exaggerate, so don't poke out your eye!)

31-32- Don't bail on your marriage for any reason, yes there are good reasons, but it was common back then to divorce easily and Jesus is establishing repercussions here.

33-37- Be a person of your word.

38-42- Don't be vengeful, it will destroy you. Instead, do good because it gives life.

43-48- Do good to everyone, not just those who do good to you.

6:1-4- Do charitable things not for attention, but to bless the person.

5-8- Don't be hypocritical and be spiritual only in public, but also in private.

9-15- Pray to revere God, ask for his will, ask for your needs, ask for forgiveness, forgive others, ask for safety from evil and temptation.

16-18- Forgive others of what they have done to you. Other wise it will hurt you physically and hurt you before God.

19-21- Don't be materialistic.

22-24- Focus on what is good in life, and keep your eyes on that rather than dwelling on negativity.

25-34- Do not be anxious over what you can not control.

7:1-5- Do not judge others, and look at yourself before you think of casting judgment.

6- Do not waste your time or good on people who will try to hurt you

7-11- Seek God to provide for your needs and desires in life.

12- The Golden Rule, treat others as you would like to be treated.

13-14- Though the narrow path requires discipline, stay on it because it is the path of life

15-20- Be careful of false teachers, and you can identify them by their fruit.

21-23- Live life authentically, and be real with God.

24-28- Put your trust in what is solid, not in what shifts easily. In this case, it is the teachings of Jesus.


So now that I am done with this, what lesson above violates any law? This is the core of Jesus' teaching in the book of Matthew. The reason that I chose this is because it is a good indicator of what Jesus believed and taught, and it is consistent through out the Gospels. He taught pragmatically and at the level of his audience.

I know that a lot of people who argue with me about Christianity always go for the hypocrisy issue. Hypocrisy is a human trait, not a religious one. Jesus specifically speaks out against that, as noted above. I am writing today to show that most people criticize Christianity because of Christians and that often times they do not understand what is written in the Bible. I am not trying to convert anyone or make anyone feel bad, I just want to write this because I want people to understand Christianity the way I do. The message above is why I am a Christian, because I love Christ and I love what he stood for.

So my question today is, what law do the lessons above break? I think we would be hard pressed to find one.