Transition Time

Starting August 1, ministry begins at Agoura Bible Fellowship.

We'll begin with a three-part mini-series on Psalm 23 -- seeing how Jesus shepherds us -- inside a year long "Year in the Life of Jesus" series.

Come join us Sundays at 9:00am or 10:45am.

http://www.agourabible.org/

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

As Christmas draws near, our thoughts fix upon the greatest miracle of all time. The eternal Son of God proved He loved us enough to become human so He could provide for us a perfect Savior and King.

Angels awestruck in adoration. Baby born in a Bethlehem barnyard. Christ cradled in a cave. God gooing among goats. Magi marching towards majesty.

And what of us? Can we resist the competition of bargain shopping at Target long enough to soak in the wonder of this incarnation? Can we pause to ponder the unfathomable love of a God who would rather die than be without us? Can we stop decorating for just a moment to hold our hand to our mouth in breathtaking disbelief that we are the recipients of such amazing grace simpy by believing it's true?

Christ-mas. The worship of Christ. O come let us adore Him each and every day.

Is Worship for God, or for Us?

It's very popular right now to make the point that "worship is not about us, it's about God. It's not for us, it's for God." Let's examine that idea.

First of all, are we to presume that God has a favorite style of music? Does He prefer hearing hymns, rock, hip hop, bad karaoke? Does God enjoy drums and shouts and clapping? I hope it's obvious that since God created music, since God thought up the concept of notes on a scale and rhythm and words of praise, that He delights in ALL of it. Every creative expression of the raw concepts He devised brings joy to His heart.

Second of all, are we to imagine that God would be pleased more if we offered up to Him a form of worship that He enjoys, but we did not? Would God "make us" serve Him with spinach and broccoli worship, in terms of music style, because that's His preference, if we hated it ourselves? Would the pain of giving up our human preferences in music style for His divine preferences somehow honor Him more, just because it's more difficult for us to concentrate and focus on worshipping Him in that moment of discomfort? I say no. Obligatory, forced worship is not the kind the Father of Lights would demand from those He loves so much.

Given these first two premises, that God loves it all, and that He delights in knowing that we actually enjoy the very act of worshipping Him in singing our praises to Him, it is true that worship is "not about us"?

If you mean that our musical selections should not be based only on "what style of music we like to hear" I'd say yes. That is one factor, but not the ONLY criteria. The MOST important criteria is that the elements of our worship honor and glorify God, that they help serve to open up our hearts to God, that they aid us in focusing our full attention on God, that they support the goal of seeing ourselves in light of the reality of God so He can effectively shape our character, our wills, our thoughts and feelings, to mirror those of God, so that we are incrementally formed, conformed and transformed into the image of Christ.

So the first question we must ask is: Does this element or style of worship help to move us toward surrender and submission to God? Does it motivate us to think more highly of God, and inspire us to live more obediently in holiness? Does it invite us to lay our burdens down at Jesus' feet and experience His peace and joy in the midst of trials? That is crucial. But that's not all. The second question is, does this element of worship (i.e. song, or prayer, or Scripture reading) so capture our heart so that we want to repeat the experience? Is it in harmony with our aesthetic sense of what is beautiful and wonderful and true? Does it lift our spirits, or deepen our devotion, by virtue of our "enjoyment" of it?

What? Enjoy worship? I thought it was all for God, not me?

No. I think it's both. It's for God first, and me second. If my purpose for living is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (or as John Piper says, glorify God BY enjoying Him forever), then why not start doing that NOW? The worship elements we leaders choose for our congregation to engage in should never feel like "pulling teeth" to them. If it's too difficult, or painful, or awkward, or confusing, or just plain bad quality (of music, responsive reading selection, prayer, whatever), then we leaders are making a mistake by using it. (Our options are endless, so why not choose what's best to accomplish our goals?)

In other words, if the congregation doesn't "enjoy it", but rather "chafes at it", they won't be fully engaged in it, and their hearts won't be captured by it, and as a result, real heart-based worship will not be able to readily occur. And when that happens, haven't we just wasted people's time? Worse, by their simple response of "I didn't like that; it was bad, or painful to me", haven't we unncesssarily left them with a "negative taste in their mouth" regarding worship? I think so. And I think that it constitutes a failure on our part as leaders, a failure to lead our people into the rich pastures and still waters of soul-refreshing worship that connects our hearts with God. Why? Because God's people didn't want to do it/sing it/pray it. Why not? Because we focused only the first criteria -- not the second as well.

That's why God calls for skillful musicianship in Psalm 33:3.

My bottom line is, while it is true that some aspects of worship require true sacrifice (such as tithing), when it comes to music worship and the heart-engagement that is taking place to connect our hearts with God's, I think that our Father God most enjoys receiving praises from His children in a form that we, as God's people, most delight in freely giving Him with joyful, surrendered hearts. In my view, there does not need to be any contradiction between the two.

Unity in the Body Really Matters

Is Christ divided? Paul asks the question in 1 Corinthians 1. How ludicrous. Christ is not divisible. And as born-again believers, our common identification with Christ, our unity with Christ, makes us "one" with every other true Christian.

So when we live with anger, bitterness and unforgiveness toward one another, we are not only sinning against each other; we are also sinning against Christ. Our visible unity and love for each other is the final apologetic that broadcasts to a watching world that Jesus Christ IS the true Son of God, because how else can anyone explain such loving unity amidst diversity? (see John 17) At the same time, our visible disunity and lack of love for each other broadcasts the opposite message: that Christians are no different from Muslims or Buddhists or Atheists. Our disunity causes unbelievers to stumble into justifying their continued disbelief. People go to hell partly because those on their way to heaven don't act like real Christians.

In Acts 9, on the road to Damascus, Christ asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting Me?" Whenever we hurt someone who is part of Christ's Body, or rail on someone who has been redeemed by His blood, we are hurting Christ Himself.

All our bragging about "who's right" stops at the cross. All of our over-confidence about the correctness of my viewpoint and the moral superiority of my choices, all the side-choosing and sloganeering of "I am of Paul, or Apollos", of "I am wiser, or more virtuous, or more connected", all falls dead at the foot of the cross (1 Cor. 1:26).

What things really matter when determining "with whom can I have fellowship?" Moral purity matters. Theological truth matters. Embracing diversity (as opposed to uniformity) matters. These are things Christians must talk about with each other, face to face, with each one surrendered to the authority of the Bible under the Lordship of Christ. These are legitimate issues to debate and discuss (without fear of disrupting an artificial, superficial "peace"). But most of the issues that divide us are not things that really matter. Most of the divisions about preferences are unnecessary and futile, a waste of time. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:23 - "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels."

The path from disunity to unity is strewn with land mines and heartache. Taking that path requires that we die to ourselves. But that's OK. My Lord says that's part of His agenda for transforming us to become more like Him.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5).

Rewards in Heaven, Part Two

Another good friend, who is very alert to social justice issues, asks:

In a church that is full of people living well below their means, radically helping the poor and the least of these, concerned and working for true social justice--not moralistic political power--a church that is not worldly the way the American church is...then some discussion of rewards might be useful... What's the difference between the health and wealth gospel of Joel Osteen and teaching about crowns/mansions in heaven? Just the location? Can we appeal to greed so long as it is in heaven? Greed deferred is still greed. How can rewards be motivators in our love and pursuit of God, since then in just some spiritualized way, our pursuit of God is then just a pursuit of ourselves?

My response:

I understand your socio-politico concerns about not over-emphasizing rewards in order to serve as a counter-force to not appeal to our naturally greedy natures. But I say that whatever the Scriptures teach, we need to teach it, openly, completely and in balance, "the whole counsel of God", at some time, and not totally neglect any aspect of God's revealed truth -- for not everyone is any congregation is at the same place of what they need to hear. Otherwise we risk playing "god" with our subjective evaluations of what we think people need based on our biases and out of our temptation to manipulate them.

I think that appeal to future self-interest in heaven is purely an appeal to faith, genuine, God-blessed faith: forgo what you want now, in faith that there really is something better beyond the blue (cf. sung about in black spirituals) -- not just because I "can't have it now" (since I'm poor) but because I choose to forgo present pleasures now because I trust Jesus' promise: sell what you have and give to the poor, THEN YOU WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN. What is that, if not an appeal to personal future self-interest? God created us, so He knows how to motivate us. Yet it requires a truckload of faith to DO IT.

That's why we don't do it. We don't have THAT much faith. If we did, then why don't we give 50% or more of our income away for missions and relief of African poverty and live very meagerly now? Because our motivation isn't strong enough! Does that mean we don't love God enough? No. I don’t think the only motivational question is "Do I love God?" but "Do I trust God?" In other words, do I have the faith of Abraham? God didn't commend Abram's love for God, but for his faith that God would keep His promises of BLESSING to him and to his descendants -- i.e. Abe had self-interest and self-promotion involved, but it took a truckload of faith (waiting 25 years, then being willing to kill his son) to appropriate it.

Joel Osteen's appeal to health and wealth NOW is not an appeal to real faith. It's an appeal short-term immediate-results faith that scams people to give now to get more material goods in a short time on earth, and that is SIGHT, not faith. But Hebrews 11 talks of those who looked for God's "city" (future enjoyment) after their torture and death. That is real faith, even with anticipation of something "good for me".

Self interest is not intrinsically evil. We are to love others AS we love ourselves. God expects us to have a healthy, honest self love, as long as we don't only love self. By sacrificially giving to missions, or to ease poverty, we are loving others, and God says when you do that now, He will reward us for us later. 100 fold. The disciples asked, what will we get for leaving all behind to follow Jesus? That's a legitimate question. Jesus didn't scold them for asking it, but assured them that it will be worth their sacrifice. In the end, they will look back and be glad they gave up temporary worldly pleasures -- just like Moses. In Hebrews 11:25-26 - He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

What reward did Moses look forward to receiving? Just seeing God face to face in heaven someday? No. He could have had that even if he had stayed in Egypt, become Pharaoh and kept his faith in God. He still would have been "saved". But he wanted more than 50 years of easy existence on earth and a "I barely made it" pass into heaven. He wanted eternal rewards. Forever! Whether that means sitting closer to God's throne, or ruling more galaxies or cities, or having more crowns, or enjoying a bigger heavenly mansion on earth or in the clouds, or hearing a louder "Well done" from his Creator, Moses knew that there was GREAT VALUE in obeying God, even though it cost him plenty in terms of suffering on earth in order to get it.

So there HAS to be a distinction of rewards form God in the future, with some receiving more than others. I take God's Word at face value, and any "theology" we adopt has to bend to fit the Word, not vice versa.

So, to answer your question, is greed deferred still greed? I say no. Delayed gratification is always viewed as a sign of maturity and responsibility and wisdom, while grabbing for immediate gratification now (through illegal drugs, illicit sex, stealing to get rich quick, killing to get a promotion) is always unloving and evil and selfish. Those who defer income to a retirement account on earth and are careful with consumer debt are wise; those who spend it as fast as they get it on booze and prostitutes (a.k.a. prodigal behavior) and get over their heads in debt are foolish.

Is the "wise" person just as "greedy" as the "foolish" person? He is actually doing a better job of looking out for his (and his family's) best interests. Does that make him "greedy"? Not necessarily. What if the "wise" person has been tithing the whole time, and funding his own medical missions trips to Mozambique, and feeding the homeless in his community, thereby storing up treasures in heaven while at the same time storing up retirement funds for his family? I would commend that behavior, and I think God would, too. But the person who fuels his lusts for pleasure and power and possessions through immediate conspicuous consumption and doesn't share generously (1 Timothy 6) -- now THAT'S the truly greedy, short-sighted, stupid person -- in my book and (according to the Scripture) in God's book as well.

Rewards in Heaven, Part One

In response to my previous post, I've been asked by a good friend with a Reformed education: "Will all those who enter the kingdom also inherit the kingdom, or only some? Are there different categories of saved people, the spiritual, who are heirs of the kingdom, as opposed to the carnal, who are mere citizens of the kingdom? Would this explain how an unrighteous believer (i.e. a Christian who persists in sin) can be saved from hell, but not share in the inheritance of enjoying rewards in the kingdom during the millennial reign of Christ?"

My response: Yes! However, I want to be clear that I see a full spectrum of obedience/trust among born-again believers, from minimal to monumental faithfulness, not just a simple categorization of either spiritual or carnal. And I'm hesitant to be quite so free with waving the grace-wand on those who "persist in" blatant rebellion, as I would also have doubts as to whether they ever had a genuine conversion experience. "Some went out from us for they were really never part of us" says 1 John 2:19. But yes, I think it's possible for a "true believer" who is living "in sin" to still go to heaven based on his/her being born again genuinely and permanently, receiving God's gift of eternal life by faith. But I wouldn't call that person a disciple or an heir. Even though he is still a "son", by virtue of being born again by grace, he is "cut out of the inheritance" of added blessings and rewards, or anything beyond merely being part of God's family. In other words, his eternal salvation is not based on his own works of perseverence or evidences of faithfulness -- but is based entirely on grace through faith in Christ alone.

The thought I'm pondering now is that Christ's invitation to enter the kingdom may not at all be primarily about "being saved and going to heaven" as we evangelicals have normally interpreted the focus to be, but rather, Jesus may be inviting us to enter into "kingdom living" now by means of living the way Christ instructs us to live (Matthew 5-7) Of course, those who enter fully into this kingdom of God on earth will also continue in this kingdom during the millennium and in heaven, both as citizens and as reward-receiving heirs.

Perhaps a "coming to the middle" view may be to envision "rewards" not in a tangible way (which is so offensive to amillennialists), but in terms of closer proximity to Christ in heaven, of having a more intimate walk with Him in His inner circle, or a more prominent role in running the universe (such as the "sit at my right and left" kinds of positions, which Christ affirmed are real, even though He wasn't going to assign them necessarily to James and John!)

Or we can envision all these rewards taking place in the earthly millennial kingdom, with full equality to follow in eternity, post Revelation 22. But for that view, we still require consistent literal and normal interpretation of prophecy, rather than spiritualizing God's Old Testament promises away.

Beatitudes Revisited

I'm reading Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy" and just finished chapter four on interpreting the beatitudes in Matthew 5/Luke 6. Most people assume, and I have preached a series on it, that the eight "Blessed are..." statements are a description of the kind of person God wants us to be. (Bill Gothard says it is a description of the character of Christ, of "beautiful attitudes".) When I preached on these many verses years ago, I went a step further and turned it into a logical sequence from humility at conversion (poor in spirit) to missionary martyrdom (in persecution). The goal, I thought, is for us to "be more mournful over our sin, hunger more for righteousness, be more meek, etc." in order to become more Christlike.

One can make sense of it that way. Most do. We try to emulate these eight qualities, then give up in despair when they see the lack of congruence in our lives.

However, Dallas turns this all on its head. Rather than this being a new list of legalistic standards that, when practiced, make God happier with us, (by works), it is, instead, a list of negatives in the eyes of our society, a set of descriptions of what we, in our humanness, don't want and don't respect. It points to those people in our world that we tend to ignore or avoid, to those we tend to think "are not going to cut it," and elevates their status to full equality in God's kingdom.

So, rather than "poor in spirit" being a synonym for humility, it describes a person who feels like a zero, who has no self-confidence, who is looked down on in society -- and Jesus says that His kingdom is available and open to that person, as well as the "high spirited, confident, popular" person that our world admires. The meek and merciful person who gets taken advantage of and stepped on, the broken-hearted sad person who has suffered many losses and griefs, the waffling peacemaking person who always gets caught in the middle of opposing arguments and is friends with neither side, the one who is constantly frantically seeking justice but can't find it, the pure-in-heart perfectionist who has OCD and is never happy with things being "right enough" for her tastes, the one who is under persecution and being treated miserably -- all of these people are welcomed to find blessedness and bliss by taking up their place within God's kingdom. God's kingdom has nothing to do with external appearances, or status in society, or status in the church, but has everything to do with living life (doing what Jesus says) out of the "center" of genuine, perfect, agape love.

In a culture that says "forget the losers and praise the beautiful, rich, sexy, talented, smart", Jesus says, "No; my kingdom doesn't leave out anybody; it's open to all, even the worst among us." That's why thieves and prostitutes are getting into Christ's kingdom before the Pharisees are -- because they are humble enough to accept a free gift and not try to earn it.

Most people think of "entering the kingdom" as being saved and gaining fire insurance from heaven and a ticket to heaven. Therefore "those who practice sin" won't make it to heaven. Or, in a rewards theology, habiitual sinners won't "inherit" the kingdom, which means they may get to heaven, but as paupers, by the skin of their teeth, without any rewards. But if "the kingdom" is framed primarily in terms of "living life now on earth by continually consciously submitting to God's rule", then "not entering the kingdom" means primarily that these people live THIS current earthly life outside of the power and blessing of God's kingdom now. They live like our culture tells them to live, selfishly, striving for more money, sex and power, rather than from a heart that is fully surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, fully committed to live as Jesus' apprentice in all aspects.

Given this understanding, the majority of "Christians" who attend church are not yet living in the kingdom, for their lifestyle is more world-directed than God-directed. They may still go to heaven when they die, because they have accepted the gift of justification by faith alone, but right now, they are unknowingly being unfaithful citizens of the kingdom of heaven while on their pilgrimmage to that promised land. Why? Because they believe that the "best life" involves getting all the pleasures and possessions and power they can now, in their own strength, rather than relaxing and trusting God to take care of them.

Here's the reality: God's way of life, living as Jesus instructed, produces the best life NOW as well as the best life LATER. Living a disciple's life of "trust and obey" now yields the best life on earth, by abiding in the Vine, walking in the Spirit, seeking God's guidance, seeing reality through God's eyes, loving God and loving people relentlessly. But it also yields the best life later, in heaven, as Christ promises eternal rewards (cf. talents, minas, "govern more cities", be closer to Christ both in proximity and position for all eternity).

See chapters 24-26 in my book, "What To Do Until Christ Comes" as well as books on eternal rewards -- such as "Treasure Principle" by Randy Alcorn and "A Life God Rewards" by Bruce Wilkinson.

Both now and later, "closeness with God" is our greatest reward and highest treasure, but God, in His graciousness, quantifies this by transforming our character into Christlikeness on earth (allowing us to live a "kingdom life" now, being progressively more sanctified, in the midst of hostile territory) and by giving us crowns/responsibilities in the millennial kingdom and in heaven (allowing us to live a pure and complete "kingdom life" without any competition, once Satan and his demons and human followers are all confined in hell and once our sin nature is removed in the glorification of our spirit, soul and body.)

My job, as a pastor, is to model this God-pleasing, kingdom-focused life, then teach it to others. Only this has the power to tranform the world -- one person, one family, one church, one city, one nation, at a time.

It's Not About Trying Harder

As I review Dallas Willard's "Renovation of the Heart" and preach through the Virtues of the Heart sermon series, it has become more obvious to me that one of the chief hindrances to our spiritual growth is this: in our desire to become holy, and in our attempts to overcome our sin, we try too hard in our own strength, through our own efforts, rather than rest in the Holy Spirit to change us on the inside.

This is so often misunderstood. God's way for us to gain more love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control and humilty and hope is not to try harder and do more and work more diligently in our own strength. We can do it for awhile, but it won't last very long. God's plan to develop His fruit, His virtue, in us is that we abide in the Vine and stay filled with the Spirit, and then, through spiritual disciplines, let God do in us what we cannot accomplish by direct effort. Once the internal foundation of surrender to the Spirit's control is in place, then all the external choices we make to grow in obedience to God (fasting, Scripture memory, silence and solitude, service, etc.) will help to amplify and accelerate our internal transformation to Christlikeness.

But it has to start with "cease striving and know that I am God ... not you!"

Why Can't Christians Act More Like Christ?

That's the perennial question. It haunts me. It flows from that famous quote from Gandhi: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

If the Church is the hope of the world (which I believe it is), then why does the world despise us so? The answer is simple: it's because we behave extremely unchristlike - and all the world can see is the "Bible in me."

So, Pat Robertson's embarrassing comment about "taking out" Venezuelan President Chavez only serves to confirm the world's worst fears about Christians: that we hate and want to control everyone who is not just like us.

When Christians sue their Christian employers for frivolous or imaginary faults, then sign "In Christ" at the bottom, it makes non-Christians hysterical about our blatant, self-serving hypocrisy.

When Christians act disgusted with people who sport multiple piercings and tattoos, instead of accepting and loving them as "pre-Christians", we ruin any opportunity for spiritual dialogue.

On the other hand, when someone like Ashley Smith talks down a murderer by sharing what she's been reading in "The Purpose Driven Life," all of heaven smiles.

But for the most part, it's so sad to realize that the Church, the bride of Christ, which Christ died to make beautiful, so often makes herself ugly with proud sneers and self-righteous blindness -- not noticing how we are harming the very cause we say we are living for.

I'm not without fault. At times I catch myself acting in an unchristlike manner. Self-loathing is sometimes appropriate. And the only solution is to seek the renovation of the heart through becoming dead to self and alive to God, through self-denial via spiritual disciplines that chip away at the crusty old man and reveal, through pain, the slow emergence of Christ in me.

In Fall 2005, I'm preaching through the "Virtues of the Heart" -- fruit of the Spirit plus humility and hope. I'm doing it because I need it. I need to be continually transformed from the inside out. And if anyone else benefits from the overflow. praise God.    

Wasting Time with God

I'm currently teaching a course for Biola University's BOLD program (bachelor's of organizational leadership development degree) in Christian Theology at our church campus satellite classroom, and Klaus Issler's book called Wasting Time with God is required reading for the students. So I'm reading it also.

Of course, I've heard it all a thousand times before, and preached it on many occasions. But doing it is so hard.

Carving out time to do nothing but waste time with God is essential for my spiritual growth, and yet slowing down brings so much resistance from my own soul. When my outer life runs on overdrive, my inner life goes malnourished. But I keep running on fumes.

Today I put my brain in "park" for 15 minutes. I took a cat nap on my office couch. I took time to write this -- as an attempt to journal my thoughts before God. I want to keep the wheels greased on my soul. That's a decision to make over again each and every day.