The Secret to Life

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog. Much has happened. Included in my happenings is the discovery (or continuing discovery) of the secret to a happy well balanced life. In fact I hope this isn't a secret but in case it is here it is: God loved you first before you could have even done anything good or bad. In fact the following is true:

He loved you before you were lovable.
He chose you before you were acceptable.
He empowered you before you were responsible.
It has nothing to do with your performance, but His love always there, always offered, unconditionally.

Ephesians 1:11-12 "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone."

This is the secret to life.

God of Second Chances? Maybe Yes, maybe not so much

There is a scene in “City Slickers” with Billy Crystal, where the three friends are discussing how hard life has been. As they talk about their buddy’s recent divorce they bring up the principle of the “do over”. In baseball sometimes things didn’t happen right in the game or a call was too close to agree upon. They would then declare a “do over” and replay the play. They felt that could be applied to life in general.

Second chances are something God often allows. Abraham blows it when he tries to hide behind his wife, Sara as his sister. David really blows it when he sleeps with his neighbors wife and then sends him to his death. Paul picks the wrong side in the religious struggles of his time and gets knocked off his horse.

I have experienced the largest “do over” in my marriage to Paula. Married to my first wife at the ripe old age of 20, I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. I didn’t even know enough about life and women to be even classified as ignorant. I hadn’t lived any real life yet. After much trauma and suffering, I found the perfect wife for me. God seemed to guide me to her and the proof has been in the pudding ever since.

So is it always God’s plan to have a “do over”? I believe it is, but it also very much depends what you do with it. God forgives every one of us for the dumb things we do, the selfish things we do, and even the good things we don’t do. That is available to us all whenever we turn to Him. But what we do with that forgiveness, that “do over” is as important as turning to it in the first place. If we see it as a chance to straighten out our lives, do the right things, “get it right”, finally follow the rules, our life might get better but we will have missed the point. We are made to connect with God, speak to Him, hear Him speak to us, follow Him; in essence walk with Him. That is the point. It isn’t about following the rules. It is about following our God. As C. S. Lewis, the great Christian writer once said, “A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.”

It is not about following rules. If we follow the Living God we will obey the rules that are really important. We will then find the energy in our lives we really need for our “do overs” in life.

God tricked me!

There is no such thing as fair. I know this. I taught it to my kids. But God? Not fair? You better believe it! He tricked me (although maybe he had to). I felt the call to be a church planter about 8 years ago. My dream was to have this mega church with a big band, lots of people, and lots of resources. I heard stories of guys setting up church and having tons of people show up the first week. I even heard about this guy in Grand Rapids that had 2,000 people show up the first week. Even he thought it was a fluke until 3,000 people showed up the second week. My seminary made it sound so easy although they did tack on the obligatory "This is hard stuff." How hard could it be. You just follow the formulas they taught us and, voila! You have a church! Just follow the recipe on the box.

Then came doing the real thing. I was never more tired of people quoting me the same scripture, "When TWO or more are gathered in my name..." Then came the asparagus analogy. Apparently it takes a long time for asparagus to grow. All I knew was I was not experiencing the "drive-thru" success "everyone else" was experiencing. No mega church, no multiple ministries, no mega-bucks either.

What I got instead was a whole boatload of wonderful and "interesting" people. "Slightly irregular" has become our congregational description. I just finished listening to Eugene Peterson's new book, "The Pastor, My Memoirs". First I see that there is nothing new under the sun. Pastor Peterson ran into the same people we run into every day. They just had different names. Nothing new under the sun. Then the revelation that I had been tricked by God. Instead of a big church, we got people with big problems. They were hard working folks mostly, and well meaning. They grew up in the same culture I grew up in and look how I turned out! I found I didn't want to be a church planter, or a mega church pastor (some people called that a rancher (big spread analogy)). I want to be a shepherd. You know, a small intimate flock. Woolly and itchy but pretty lovable when they aren't butting you or falling off a cliff. But you gotta lov'em. They steal you heart. And I know they have stolen God's heart. Sometimes it is better to be tricked.

I think I’ve got it!

I’m slow. I hoped old age would help me learn quicker, catch on faster. But not so much. I was trained in a wonderful learning environment in the seminary where I studied. I have read volumes on various subjects such as theology, end times, post modern church, church planting and church growth. I read about how to have a “sticky church”, a cool church, an outside-the-box church. I came to my old hometown expecting the worse and my expectations were met. Few showed up for this “new kind of church”. Even fewer stayed. Slowly, I mean glacier speed, people started to stay. A couple of them got it. Most came clueless and stayed that way. I guess maybe I was and am the right pastor for the clueless, or as our t-shirts announce, the “slightly irregular folks”.

The pressure seemed to be to get more people and more money. You have “saved” more people if you have lots and lots of people in your church. And of course you need more money to “do the Lord’s work”. Why was I such a failure? My denomination hadn’t even recognized us as a real church after six years. I guess I can’t blame them. One week we have 75 people in church, the next 20, and we come closer to the latter most weeks. And don’t even get me started about the money. Then I realized what I was doing. As the author of Ecclesiastes says, “13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

I gave up. I called my overseer and said this is it. This is all we will ever need to be, a family, a church, a people of God albeit slightly irregular. I am a pastor, maybe an old pastor but that’s my call. My wife and I are the father and mother of this family. We hope someday to be the grandparents with others taking over, but until then we have one call. To love and serve the people God brings to us, whether they show up on Sunday or not, or give lots of money or not. There is no higher calling.

Who am I that God could use me?

In the movie, "The Nativity" Mary is confronted by an angel who tells her what God is doing in her life. Her response (not Biblical but very possible) was, "Who am I that my Lord would use me?" She said yes to God and it not only changed her life but ours as well. God chooses to work through His people. He could do it Himself but that would not be the same. He is calling us to be used by Him. It actually helps define who we are when we say yes to God. A.W. Tozer, a famous Christian author around the turn of the last century writes:
God Wants to Work Through You
Unbelief says:
Some other time, but not now;
some other place, but not here;
some other people, but not us.
Faith says:
Anything He did anywhere else He will do here;
anything He did any other time He is willing to do now;
anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!
With our
feet on the ground,
and our head cool,
but with our heart ablaze with the love of God,
we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey.
God wants to work through you!
The Counselor has come, and He doesn’t care about the limits of
locality,
geography,
time
or nationality.
The Body of Christ is bigger than all of these.
The question is:

Will you open your heart?

We have a very BIG God

As we approach various disagreements about the nature of God, His ways, His teachings, we often get stuck on issues that can divide. In the Letter to the Romans Chapter 14 Paul refers to “disputable matters” and warns that this can divide the church and hurt people, especially those who are weak, struggling or even still learning about their faith (maybe all of us?). He repeats this discussion at the end of 1 Corinthians Chapter 8. My contention is that our God is a very big God who can and does include many more of us than we might include ourselves. The Greek word for “disputable matters” is adiaphra, and has been a contention in various Christian faiths for centuries. God is not exactly a one-size-fits-all God but He is big enough to fit all. I am not saying all will be with Him, there is a free will choice, but I think He intends that all will be with Him who want to be. I will even go further than that, I believe that He can and does customize the Christian walk, the disciplines, that He calls each individual to, as best fits their needs, disposition, and background. I have been a Protestant, a Catholic, in multiple denominations including a son of an Orthodox mother. I have seen great things God has done in so many of their varied beliefs. I believe when we get in disagreements we often are thinking too small. One wants to do things one way and someone else another. God may very well want both even if they seem to us to be contrary. Again it depends at times, in my humble opinion, about what we need. God comes down to our level. Our God is an awesome God who wants us to come to Him and there is a facet, a nature of God that each and every one of us can connect with. That is the breadth of God’s love.

OK Let's get real!

I have been reading blogs concerning "authenticity" such as in worship, prayer or relationships. A concern seems to arise that we will try to hard to be authentic and just chase after this as the newest trend. Psalms are cited where they seem to begin with an unrealistic, "Oh praise the Lord for all things" approach to life that is far from authentic. This "Praise the Lord" phenomenon went through the Christian world in the early 70"s. I read the Psalms and see authenticity that is much deeper than this superficial kind of spirituality. I hear the Psalmist say, "God, smuck my neighbor because he has been bad to me. Pluck out his eyes, punish him, and may his children run away from home. But Lord I trust in you so your will be done in his life." Lamentations, shouting at God, is really being authentic and the Bible seems to encourage us to do this. God is a big boy and can take it. He wants us to be real with Him. That is the only way a relationship can grow. What do you think?