Posture of Listening? Or Talking?

Watch "Michael Frost - Adopt a Posture of Listening" on YouTube

Should We Abandon Those Who Disagree With Us? [ repost]

"...abandoning those who disagree? 

Saying farewell to those whose doctrines are not like ours? 

This is nothing short of the power mongering spirit of the world."

from the blog of Donald Miller

~~~~~

What I love about our faith is it’s power to reconcile. At the beginning of the church, just after Christ went back to be with the Father, the Spirit was sent to reconcile Jews and Gentiles (and yes, even Muslims) with no shortage of truth. But the spirit of that movement was love, peace and reconciliation.

In history, there are very few movements that involve strong, unshakeable statements of truth of which people did not lift a weapon to defend. These leaders were not willing to compromise, but were very willing to die at the hands of their enemies.

We’ve all met believers who use the Bible to divide. And to abandon. If we associate our identities with dogma rather than the person of Christ, this will always be the temptation. Satan uses Scripture, too.

Does truth divide? Certainly.

When I think about Christ being the Prince of Peace and also coming to divide families, I picture Martin Luther King, Jr. marching across the bridge in Salma, Alabama.

It was a tense scene, to be sure, and the movement he championed would divide a nation. And yet, the tension caused wasn’t caused with violence, it was caused with non-violent resistance. Love our enemies was the “battle cry” of a great portion of the civil rights movement. Turning the other cheek was the command of the day. And it worked.

Sometimes, taking stands in love is paramount. But abandoning those who disagree? Saying farewell to those whose doctrines are not like ours? This is nothing short of the power mongering spirit of the world. A world that seeks temporary power, like a man getting his blows in on his way to the executioners chamber. This man wants to hurt, not to reconcile. He wants to do more damage to feel his own power. Even if he doesn’t understand his motives.

What is the self righteous man defending? Why is he lashing out? He’s defending his own truth, rather than a truth that has changed his heart into a loving, humble child of God.

In our everyday lives, this looks like disagreeing while still being truly loving, and even going so far as to honor the nobility and dignity of all of God’s creation. Our love is not a statement of agreement, it is, rather, a powerful statement about the power of truth, a truth that heals the heart and protects it from the spirit of the world.

Loving those who disagree with us differentiates us from the spirit of the world and makes a powerful statement about the relevancy of Christ and His mission to reconcile all people to Himself, and to each other.

Reach out to those who disagree with you and truly validate their humanity. God does. Because, after all, the chances of all our ideas being right are a billion to one, and God validates us all the same. He does this because He loves us. His children don’t need to be right to be loved.

-Donald Miller

Christianity is that Which Looks and Acts Like Christ

I talked with a friend this week who has been burned badly by judgmental "Christians." At one point in her life, when she was at an all time low, most (but fortunately, not all) of her "Christian" neighbors actually walked by her house and ignored her. Those who did walk by knew her needs, her poverty, her situation with her husband, yet they judged her, condemned her, and shunned her. And many of them still do. Why? Because she wouldn't listen to them, believe their "gospel," or support their church. We talked about how that sort of "Christianity" damages a person's chances of genuine faith in God.

Jesus was known to be a "friend of sinners." The church is the second incarnation of Christ on the Earth. Therefore the church should also be known as a friend of sinners. My opinion is this "friend" status between Jesus and sinners was nothing short of those sinners feeling loved and accepted by Jesus. In other words, sinners were drawn to him, felt comfortable with him, and trusted him. At the same time Jesus would teach the Kingdom of God to them, calling for repentance and holiness. He would invite them to turn away from their sinful lives and come follow him. Yet, he was still known as a "friend of sinners." So how is this possible? How can we be like Christ in this regard? How can we preach the same gospel of the Kingdom to the world and maintain a lifestyle of open friendship to those who are not "Christians"? 

But what is a Christian? In so many ways the friend that I mention above has taught me to not be judgmental. And in so many ways she is very Christian - that is very Christlike and loving. She is one of the main reasons that I have re-thought my walk with God. So what does it mean to be Christian?

I read this simple definition a few years back: Christianity is that which looks and acts like Christ. To the extent an individual or church looks and acts like Christ that individual or church is "Christian." To the extent it does not look and act like Christ it is not "Christian." I like this definition because it measures all of our activity against the activities of Christ. And it makes sense -- "Christianity" (if we must call it that) is founded by Christ. He is the Son of God and the ultimate example for us on how to live in this world -- in the world but not of the world.

Would Christ pass by this wounded woman's home knowing she was crying behind that closed door? Would he talk about her behind her back, avoid her in public, and ask her to leave the neighborhood? Would he shun her? Would he shun anyone? When Christ invited people to turn from a sinful life, trust Him and follow Him, if they did not do so would He give up?

Would He write her off, scold her in anger, and move on to the next? How would Christ treat her?

But you say, "No, Jesus was tough on people!! Scripture is full of places he was tough on sinners!" But I say, "No, He was tough on the Pharisees." He consistently condemned the hypocrisy of the "Teachers of the Law" and berated them for not practicing what they preached. We must read through the Gospels more carefully. Jesus was a "friend of sinners." That is exactly what made the Pharisees hate him so much -- for he not only condemned their attitudes and behaviors toward sinners. He showed them daily how much God loves the sinners by loving them Himself. The hypocrites' lack of love was exposed to all by the stark contrast coming from the very Messiah they had been waiting for. The more it was exposed the more angry they became. Off in the distance, at every encounter between a sinner and Jesus, was most likely an angry Jewish Ruling Elite with a rock in his hand. As the prostitute dried the remaining perfume with her hair that Pharisee turned the stone in his palm looking for the best grip to throw it!

Jesus was a friend of sinners.
The hypocrites were not.
And it made them furious, because it exposed them for what they really were.

We must see that there is always a tension within each of us, a battle between the Spirit and our flesh. The Spirit wants to show us how to love unconditionally, how to become a friend to sinners just like our Lord. But our flesh wants to judge them, condemn them, and shun them. Then our flesh wants to pick up a rock and hurl it at those who are loving the sinners like Christ-- because their love makes our flesh feel guilty. The tension is always present but so is the answer -- surrender. Daily surrender to the Spirit is the only way for God to win over our flesh. Daily surrender. Daily surrender. And then we must seize those moments to love; those moments that come to us a dozen a day; those moments that we so often miss. We must seize those moments and act on those thoughts to love -- for those thoughts, those moments, are a gift from God. The thought to love is not from our own mind but from the mind of Christ within. Only He can love through us. We must surrender to Him, and become a mere vessel. As we do so the tension gives way to rest.

Christianity is that which looks and acts like Christ.

But we have to be honest with ourselves -- there is no perfect "Christian." If we ever think for a minute that we are, or our church is, or our country is, or anything is, perfectly "Christian," or even a better "Christian" than "that" Christian over there -- then we have forgotten the plank-eye story. Jesus Christ was the only sinless human so he has a right to tell us a parable about the plank in our eye, reminding us that if we ever get proud of ourselves for any reason we have become the hypocrite. The point of the story is not "get the plank out of your eye so you can move on to judging others." The point of the story is "always remember that we always have a plank in our eye!!" So at the same time we say "Christianity is that which looks and acts like Christ" we must always walk in ultimate humility knowing that we have a very long way to go.

That Way -- His Way -- begins with loving and caring for our neighbor. It is the second greatest commandment coming from the lips of our King. And who is our neighbor? If Jesus lived in your neighborhood how would he treat people? If Jesus lived in your neighborhood how would he treat people who didn't live in your neighborhood?

Fortunately, my friend who was burned by the "Christians" in her life is not giving up on God. Fortunately, there were a couple people who showed her love. We talked about God's love this week. And we talked about prayer. We talked about faith. She is crushed, but so are countless more who fall under the heavy hand of hypocrisy. But God keeps on showing his love to them, and to her, revealing His acceptance and His care. And we keep praying for her and loving her by the grace of God and believing the way forward is not to judge, condemn, and shun but love, accept, and invite. We believe this is the Way of our Lord. He taught us whenever you give a glass of water to them you have given one to me. So we try to keep our cups full and our doors open. But we have so far to go...to love our neighbor as ourselves. And we always will.

God .... please help us love like you. 

Christianity is that which looks and acts like Christ.

A discussion starter for how missional communities might be lived out and looked at.

 A discussion starter for how missional communities might be lived out and looked at. Hopefully, it sparks a little conversation and dialogue.

Is Your Church Inviting? [Repost]

Love this post from here: 

I wish every church said what this church says in their bulletin …

It’s easy to poke fun at some of the things churches say on their welcome sign. It’s easy to question some of the things that make it inside a church bulletin. It’s easy to say “this is bad,” but it’s a lot harder to say “this is good.” Anyone can critique, but creating is a lot more difficult.
So what does a great welcome message look like? What does an awesome welcome message look like? It looks exactly like what “Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community” has in their church.

My friend attended there recently, and I got a copy of what they hand out. I posted a photo of it below so you could see what it looks like, but the image got cut off so here’s what it says:

We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds. We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.

We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there too.

If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.

We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!

Bravo to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community! That should be made into a poster and hung in church offices around the world.

I love the thought that a few members of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community getting together and saying, “Let’s invite everyone to come meet Jesus!” And then they started writing their list.

And it got long. Why?

Because everyone needs Jesus.

Everyone changes when they meet Jesus.

And they wanted to make sure everyone knew they were invited to meet him.

Thoughts on Change and the Pain of Becoming More Like Christ

This topic has been on my mind for a good year now. And for a good year now God has been working some deep change into me. And it's painful, to see oneself. Sometimes it's so painful it feels like someone took a meat tenderizer to our hearts. But we must yield to the potter's hand as He attempts to make me a little more like Christ. Now looking back not just over the last couple of years but over 21 years of trying to follow God I see some very important things about transformation and Christlikeness. Here are my thoughts.

1. The human race IS in fact a fallen race; corrupt, fleshly, and sinful. We need a savior. We cannot save ourselves. We also need power. That power God sent to us by His Spirit. The Spirit's role is to make us more like Christ.
2. Christ is perfect. He is the only sinless human soul to ever walk this dusty Earth. He is everything we are not, but everything we truly want to be like. He is our role-model, but He is also our friend and now even our brother, for we have the same Abba Father, who adopted us and gives us a NEW life. But what is this new Life? It is a Life of ongoing change.
3. There is an eternal part of each of us -- our own spirit -- and there is a flesh part of us -- our own soul. God aims to change both parts. He changes the eternal spirit within us the very moment we accept -- by faith -- that God sent His Son to atone for our sins. This eternal part of us is changed completely into a new creation and we immediately have a new identity which we can now walk in. We are adopted, forgiven, and saved for all eternity. The flesh part of us needs a lot of work, however. God's ongoing work on our flesh to make us more like Christ in character and in action does not have a bearing on our eternal security. That is done, as I said, through Christ's sacrifice for our lives. It does have a bearing on our quality of LIFE, our usefulness to God, and our impact and role within God's Kingdom.
4. God does in fact WANT to change the flesh part of us as well, and make us more like His Son. He sent His Son not only as an atoning sacrifice but to give us an example, and to teach us, how to LIVE like Him -- but to do so would require an on-going change in our hearts.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) 
5. We have a choice as to whether we will yield to God's work in our lives to transform us. God will not force that change on us. We can indeed resist His hand and remove ourselves from the potter's wheel. I do not think this means we cease to be saved. Some do. I think God's grace extends to those who love Him and believe in His Son but for one reason or another -- perhaps a difficult childhood, or harsh current circumstances, or hearing poor teaching -- it is difficult to let the Spirit change us.
6. God seeks to change us by using both our personal, intimate relationship with Him and in our corporate relationships with one another. 
7. The greatest strength needed to let God work on our hearts comes from fully knowing and accepting who we are in Christ. As I mentioned in #2 above, we have a new identity from the very moment we have Faith in what our Father has done for us. Knowing who we are IN Christ is what gives us the security to become more LIKE Christ. The more we accept by faith that our eternal spirit has been made new (past tense) the more we can confidently let God change our temporary flesh (future tense) in order to make it more useful. It is vital that every one us BELIEVE in the finished work of Christ on the cross or putting our own flesh on the cross will be pointless. We are a NEW creation and at the same time we are being transformed into His likeness. 
8. God has also set in place a corporate expression of His Son -- the Body of Christ and the ecclessia, the church. We are surrounded by people. And God does indeed want "a people." He always has. From the moment He commissioned Moses to tell Pharoah to "let my people go" God has chased after His Church. All believers in the world -- all of those who "call upon the name of the Lord" -- are saved and are part of the Body of Christ. But then there are those God puts in our immediate path. These are part of our local expression of the church. All believers within our circle of friends are part of this church. God does not see the church names, church buildings, and church programs that we see. He just sees "a people" and declares to Satan still today, "Let my people go!"
9. The greatest barrier to God working on our hearts comes from one another. Even though God's plan is perfect in that He would join us together with a common purpose and fill us all with a common Spirit, His Spirit, God has also made it clear He wants to partner with us to fulfill His will and advance His Kingdom. His ultimate goal is LOVE, for He Himself IS love. This is where we completely get in the way -- our fallen flesh that is. We become a barrier to God's change in one another when we are judgmental -- or when we fail to see others the way God's see others. I have been in situations -- in churches -- where there is a spirit of judgementalism hanging over the body and this spirit keeps people in bondage. In the times I've had people try to show me things about myself with a heavy-handed judgement I could not see. Judgement creates a blockage to the Spirit's work. But in the times I've had brothers and sisters love me and see me with God's eyes I was free to look at my flesh and yield it to God's work of change. Unfortunately, I have also been on the giving end of this judgement, and still fight against it today. Thankfully, God delivered me from an attitude of judgment but there is always the on-going work of seeing one another as fully saved -- as a New, Spiritual, Creation. And there is the on-going work of fully LOVING one-another and giving one another the acceptance and grace to have a fallen flesh that God is working on. God extends this acceptance and grace to me and to you. So we must also extend it to one another.
10. Helping one another change and become more like Christ is a tender, delicate, and loving affair. We have to exercise incredible patience while showing one another complete love and acceptance. We can never brow-beat, Bible-bang, or bully another person into change. These methods are always counter productive, or if they appear to be successful they are only that -- appearance. Down deep the person who changes for any other reason besides "God has done this work in my heart" runs the risk of becoming insecure or worse -- self-righteous. Does this mean we never say "hard" things to one another? No. But my best friends are those who simultaneously FULLY accept who I am with my weaknesses while at the same time are honest brothers who will tell me like it is. 

The most important thing to remember in all this is none of us are perfect, and none of us will ever reach full Christ-like-ness in this life-time. We will always be on the potter's wheel. But as we are on that wheel we must never remove God's hands on another person and replace them with our own. God is working on you and on me. We are on different wheels, turning at different speeds, and with a different amount of pressure and depth which God is applying. As we look over at one another we must look on with LOVE and acceptance, realizing that ALL change is painful, some much more than others. We cannot look over with judgement, thinking things like 'Oh, I already made that change. What's taking you so long?' We must look always to the change going on right now, in our own lives. And IF God wants us to speak to another about change we should do so with great fear and trembling. We should crawl to one another on our knees, with great humility. We should offer our insights and criticisms as if the Lord might strike us down for being judgmental. Because .... he just might. 

Fortunately, our spirits have already been made NEW -- We are HIS! Do you hear that? WE ARE HIS!! We belong to Christ. We are God's children. If you have children you know they all need to change in some way, and we loving try to help them do so. But their pace of change does not change who they are --- MY children; YOUR Children. It is the same with life in God. First we recognize there is NOTHING that can change the fact we are accepted and forgiven just the way we are. But being accepted and forgiven just the way we are is precisely what gives us the courage to let the power of God change us into some which we are not. And our role with one another is exactly the same -- first we ACCEPT one another just the way we are, and second we loving work with God's Spirit together as one Body to all become a little more like Christ today and tomorrow. 

May we accept that God pours out His LOVE and acceptance into our hearts and may we accept one another in the same way.   

Erosion of Freedom

Child Welfare Legislation Outlaws Spanking

Senior Counsel Dee Black answers questions and assists members with legal issues in Delaware. He and his wife homeschooled their children. Read more >>

When Governor Jack Markell signed into law Senate Bill 234 on September 12, 2012, Delaware became the first state in the nation to effectively outlaw corporal discipline of children by their parents.
Sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Patricia M. Blevins (District 7), the legislation creates a definition of the term “physical injury” in the child abuse and neglect laws to include “pain.” Currently the law permits a parent to use force to punish a child for misconduct, but it prohibits any act that is likely to cause or does cause physical injury. By defining “physical injury” to include the infliction of pain on a child, spanking has become a crime in Delaware punishable by imprisonment.
 
Under the new law, a parent causing “physical injury” (e.g., pain) to a child under age 18 would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor and subject to one year in prison. A parent causing pain to a child who was 3 years of age or younger would be guilty of a class G felony and subject to two years in prison.

Home School Legal Defense Association opposed this bill as a violation of the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children, including the long-recognized right to administer reasonable corporal discipline. HSLDA worked with the Delaware Home Education Association and the Delaware Family Policy Council in an effort to bring about a defeat of this legislation.

Other Resources

View the text of this bill.

Grace works!!

Tullian Tchividjian: Living by Grace vs Living by Law

Life by Law

When we root our identity in anything other than Jesus, we become enslaved. Things must go our way.

As a preacher, I have felt like I need the congregation to like my preaching in order for me to have value. That is life by law! We see life by law play out in a thousand different ways in our life.

When you decide to live life according to law, you think it is up to you to do everything. Slavery according to the Bible is self-reliance, and that is where it all started in Genesis 3 when the serpent says, “You can be like God!” The world says the bigger you are, the freer you will be. It is simply not true.

If law is all there is, then all of our pursuits become a burdensome self-rescue project. It is all law – you must do. And it leads to nothing but despair.

Life by Grace

Grace alone is what frees us from the law. The gospel of grace liberatingly declared that in Christ we already are. Grace reveals that our true identity is in Christ.

If you are a Christian, who you are (your background, abilities, resources) has nothing to do with you. At first that may seem like bad news, but it is great news. Your identity is rooted in Christ’s performance, not yours. It is rooted in Christ’s abilities, not yours. It is liberating!

Somewhere along the way, we’ve adopted the idea that who you are is what others think of you. Because we are so addicted in finding our identity and worth by what others think about us, we are lost. We’ve come to believe that the core of our identity is grounded in who we are and our strengths.

We need people to think we are great, but we know that if they know the truth, they wouldn’t think we are great.

The gospel announces that because Jesus is extraordinary, you are free to be ordinary. What others think of you doesn’t rattle what your true identity in Christ is. The gospel comes as good news.

Freedom happens when we finally see that we can’t fix ourselves. Life by law is do, do, do; your worth is anchored in your doing. Life by grace is done, done, done; your worth is anchored in what Christ has done.

Who is This Man?

This is a fantastic book! I'm closing in on chapter 11 and I have to say it's one of the most inspiring and education works on the life of Jesus I've ever read. As a fan of John Ortberg's writings for a decade this one just takes the cake and adds the icing. It's the sort of book you have to re-read sections just to get the full meaning. Light-bulbs are going on in every chapter, whether it be the Palm Leaf political symbol, the women's liberation of the woman at the well, or going to "the other side" where no moral Jew would ever go -- the Decopolis! Jesus was not just a teacher, healer, prophet, and Son of God who came and went after completely his mission. He impacted every area of history, creating great waves or ripples that exist to this day. I highly recommend this book. You'll come away knowing a great more about "this Man" than you did prior to reading. And, if you're like me, you be that much more of a dedicated disciple. After all, He is the only WAY. 

Book Description

Release Date: August 7, 2012

Jesus' impact on our world is highly unlikely, widely inescapable, largely unknown, and decidedly double-edged. It is unlikely in light of the severe limitations of his earthly life; it is inescapable because of the range of impact; it is unknown because history doesn't connect dots; and it is doubled-edged because his followers have wreaked so much havoc, often in his name. He is history's most familiar figure, yet he is the man no one knows. His impact on the world is immense and non-accidental. From the Dark Ages to Post-Modernity he is the Man who won't go away. And yet . . .you can miss him in historical lists for many reasons, maybe the most obvious being the way he lived his life. He did not loudly and demonstrably defend his movement in the spirit of a rising political or military leader. He did not lay out a case that history would judge his brand of belief superior in all future books. His life and teaching simply drew people to follow him. He made history by starting in a humble place, in a spirit of love and acceptance, and allowing each person space to respond. His vision of life continues to haunt and challenge humanity. His influence has swept over history bringing inspiration to what has happened in art, science, government, medicine, and education; he has taught humans about dignity, compassion, forgiveness, and hope.

   

Meeting Mike Farris

In 1990 I tagged along with my mom to a little bitty workshop in a church in Memphis where this guy, Mike Farris, was to speak. I was 20. He was…younger. And he was on fire about this “homeschooling movement of God!” The HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association), which he founded, was only a few years old and there was still a great deal of work to do to secure homeschool freedom for parents. I was not homeschooled. My brother was. READ MORE...

David Parkerson, Mike Smith, Ken Shreeve at the National Homeschool Leaders Conference