Are We Grateful as American Evangelicals?

I just taught on the Disicple's Prayer in Matthew 6 and when I came to this phrase, "Give us this day our daily bread", I had to pause and really think through this and ask myself this question: Do we as American evangelicals understand what to do with instruction to pray about asking for daily bread? I thought much about whether I have ever prayed a prayer in this manner and honestly, I never have.

I imagine that most of us could right now go look into our pantries and refrigerators and freezers and see that we have enough food to make it for at least a week. Though we would not necessarily eat what we might fully like or want for that meal, we would at least have enough food to make it with some creativity. Again, I ask the question, "Do we even have a clue what the reality of this part of the prayer really means?" I think we don' really get it mainly for this reason - we complain to much about the food we have and we are never really satisfied with the quality and amounts. You cannot be grateful when complaining and dissatisfaction is involved.

So what do we do since we have so much and don't have to ask for our daily bread when we have about a week's worth tucked away in safe places? We should be so humbled by God's graciousness and goodness of His provision unto us. His bountiful gift should lead us to worship. I think it says a lot about us that we complain at restaurants about our food or even if we have to miss a meal. The fact that we have money to go out and eat should move us to worship.

Can you fathom what someone from the slums in India or someone from Afghanistan would think if we took them to Chili's and spent our time complaining about the temperature of the food, the air temperature of the room, the location of our table, the quality of our Dr. Pepper, or how frequent our waiter came to the table? The reality that we can go to Chili's should lead us to humbly praise Him.

As you go into your pantry today and sit around a table with your family, truly thank Him for His goodness.

A Lesson from Watering a Small Plot of Land

Texas has experienced a really difficult stretch of drought this year that has affected much. A very small piece of land that has been affected is the one right outside my office that sits in between our worship center and our youth/children's building. This area has taken a beating from our youth boys playing an interesting baseball type game and the ever incessant brutal heat of a star we commonly call the sun. Over the last couple of weeks, I decided to see if I could at least green this area up again since it is the first thing people see as they walk up to our buildings.

What I have noticed and am currently right now witnessing is an interesting gathering outside my window. Every time I run the water, a gathering of birds come and just sit on the grass and let the water fall on them as they drink and enjoy the refreshing reality of water. As I type this, I see Mockingbirds, Sparrows, Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Crows, and sometimes a Blue Jay or two sit and soak themselves. This thought came to me this morning: This small strip of land is a picture of how the church should be and in certain places - actually is.

Jesus said these words at a very strategic festival in Israel: "If anyone thirsts, let Him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'." (John 7:37-38). Thirsty people long for water, and when they find it, they get in it and let it wash all over them. They will even gather with others who are of different sizes, types, and colors. The birds outside don't seem to mind they are around others who are different from them. It is their thirst for the water and the enjoyment of it that makes them in common with one another.

This common thirst for real life is one of the main reasons I love the local church. Thirsty people for the presence of God and for something bigger than us, this thirst moves us to come together in a certain place. Even with all of our different backgrounds , races, and experiences that out in the world seem to divide us, they now fade away in light of the greatness of Jesus and the all satisfying nature of who He is.

The birds are getting their fill and in a few minutes when I turn the water off, they will move on to wherever it is they normally do life. They will move on though, filled and equipped to live life in a more satisfying way.

This picture today also reminds me that as a pastor, I must lead in such a way that the all satisfying nature of Jesus is why people gather at LifePointe. If the gathering is about anything else, then we will not unite and get filled by the only thing that lasts. Church must be about Jesus and helping people come to him so they can drink. It is in the drinking of His nature and belief in Him that will lead to the Holy Spirit to awaken the flow of the river of God in and out of our hearts. This is my aim in my calling. Anything less than this will not satisfy and should not take a prominent place in the local church.

I pray we never lose sight of this.

Being About What Jesus Was About

Today some thoughts ran through my head about Jesus, that originally started with some words from Paul that having been rummaging around my heart and brain. Paul wrote these words to the church that resided in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I have been thinking about what this might look like within the context of ministry. Paul made an intentional decision to make the primary focus of his ministry to be about only knowing Jesus Christ. Nothing else mattered. I thought about all the pressures and pulls upon me in ministry and just about everyone of them, want to pull me away from that which is most important - knowing Christ. From cleaning a building, air conditioning issues, trash, buying supplies, getting the mail, email, busyness of life or upset people - all of which vie to distract from having the time to fully live out Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2.

My contemplation on that verse led to my question today, "What was it that Jesus was about when he was here on earth?" What do the gospels tell us about Jesus? Here is what they say (not necessarily completely exhaustive). Did these things shape everything Paul did?

1. Jesus only did what He saw and heard from His Father

John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father [4] does, that the Son does likewise.

2. He valued those who were lost, hurting, and without a shepherd.

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

3. He taught and proclaimed the truth everywhere He went

Matthew 7:28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

4. He poured His life into His Disciples

John 17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

5. He cared about the physical needs of people

Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

6. He was moved when He saw authentic faith

Matthew 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

7. He consistently sought His Father in prayer Luke 5: 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

8. He confronted hypocrisy at every turn

Luke 12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

9. He modeled and embrace servanthood

John 13:12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Since Paul only sought to know Jesus and this is who Jesus was, this has to be what shaped Paul. It must be why he was so effective everywhere he went. He lived as Jesus lived among people and it influenced everyone around him.

I am going to refocus things in this direction. It is Biblical and what our world needs to taste and see.

The Gospel of the Bible Belt

Having been back from Western Europe for 3 years where I had clearly seen the results of rejecting the gospel outright and what that rejection has brought upon a continent, I have in these 3 years back seen another rejection that is having devastating effects upon this land. Whether the gospel is rejected outright or twisted in falsehood, if it is not truth, then it is not the gospel.

Here is the heart of the gospel in 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God alone has done this work on our behalf and there is no other act or truth on earth that will free our souls than the reality that Christ became sin on our behalf so that we can become the righteousness of God. This is the heart of the gospel. Those who are undeserving and enemies of the gospel have, through Christ, become the very righteousness of God. Wow!!

In the south though, in the heart of the Bible Belt, we have twisted the greatest story into something else. Since I have been back and began observing those who claim to be Christ-Followers, I have seen and heard what I call the gospel of the Bible Belt. There are 4 pillars of this false gospel. The gospel is about Jesus period. It is the story of his life, work, death, and resurrected life. It is not about anything else.

The Gospel of the Bible Belt

1. Jesus plus something else.

Though we claim it is all about Jesus, Christians still seem to live as if there must be more that we need than him. The plus consists of things like this, Jesus + church attendance, good works, money, status, blessings, etc. etc.

2. Salvation = Fire Insurance.

The gospel of the south has unfortunately reduced the great and grand story of the gospel to only avoiding going to hell. While that is definitely to be avoided, seeing the gospel as only Fire Insurance fails to lead us to see that salvation means knowing Christ deeply here. Salvation is now and in the future and it is knowing Christ. It is not just avoiding another destination.

3. The Gospel is simply behavior modification.

Far to many here spend so much energy trying to look the part over actually living the life. We have gotten to a place where we think changing outward behavior is transformational, that is only modifying behavior, not transforming our heart. Following Christ is an inward to outward relationship, not an outward to inward relationship. It is backwards here in the south. The reason so many of us here are so tired is that our faith has gotten to the place where it is all about trying really hard to maintain a behavior, not deepening a loving relationship. It is in a loving relationship where we come alive in all that He is.

4. Jesus is about me, therefore I am entitled.

The narcissistic nature of our culture has infiltrated the church where we have reduced the gospel of Jesus love to mean that we are the center, not His glory. Though Christ so wants to pour out blessing upon us and does pour out his blessing, he does so that he gets the glory in all things. Our faith is not about our gain, but his glory. Our faith also must be about community over individuals. The word church also carries the idea of us, not me. If Jesus is about me and my desires, then I am entitled to certain things. I have found that it is from this view of entitlement that leads to the pervasive expression of pettiness that grips far to many Christians in the Western World.

These things are contributing to the church in the USA being so out of step about what real faith is and we must get back to it being about the Lord Jesus.