Have you seen this clip?  It was made a couple of years ago.  But I came across it again the other day while researching a church planting organization.  Though the clip is not new, I believe it’s worth checking out again.  Jeff Maguire did a fun job describing the authentic Kingdom life which he refers to as Missional living.  The point being that authentic Christ followers are all called to live out the Kingdom of God in their own daily lives.  Sharing the message and love of Christ is the call of every Christian and not merely the domain of the decorated.  Remember, the CHURCH is not a building; but the people.  So whatever your niche in the Kingdom, be sure to be “missional” about it today.  Enjoy and implement!

Are you ready for 2012?  I sure am.  This year New Year’s Day actually falls on a Sunday and we will indeed be meeting at The Crossings.  The plan is to just have one service at 11:00.  The main text that we will be looking at is Psalm 90:12 where Moses prayed; “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  That is a challenging text in many ways.  When we take stock of our potential life span and realize we only have so many days allotted to us, we begin to rethink things more seriously. I suppose it’s kind of like when my kids were younger and a couple of older men told me to enjoy these years because they would be gone before I knew it.  I didn’t believe it then, but I can really relate to that now because my oldest will be graduating from High School in 2 and a half years.  Where did the time go?  In truth, all of us have a short amount of time on this earth.  The question is how are we going to spend that time.  To help us get further along with that road, I’ve listed three challenges below. What else would you add?

1. CLOSE 2011.  For some of us, 2011 was not our best year.  Maybe we made some big mistakes or even committed blatant sins against God and others.  Maybe we have experienced some huge heart aches.  But the thrilling thing of a new year is the promise a fresh start.  If that is your case, then a good idea may be to actually list the mistakes and pains on paper and then burn it after it’s been taken to God. Was there sin?  Then repent and ask for forgiveness. Pain?  Then give that to God, ask for healing, and then bury it and go forward.  For others, 2011 was a great year.  2011 may have been a huge blessing with many victories.  If that was your case, then celebrate them and give God the praise for it, but don’t stop there.  The condition of many folks and churches is that they are still living in the victories of yesterday while the world goes on without them.  We should celebrate our 2011 victories.  We should build on our 2011 victories.  But if we stay there and camp out on them, we will then become stagnant and cease to grow.  In short, the best way to begin 2012 is to finalize 2011.  In Philippians, Paul noted that he was “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is head, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for what God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  In business, the books will soon be closed on 2011.  Let’s do the same in our lives.

2. GROW in 2012.  We understand this with young children.  We feed them, cloth them, educate them, and then expect that they will grow.  However, this principle of growth with our spirits and our minds somehow gets lost as we grow older.  The challenge here is to grow in such a way that when 2013 rolls around we can honestly say that we are different than what we were a year ago.  For growth in 2012, I would encourage everyone to read through the Bible this year.  There are many bible reading schedules you can choose from.  My favorite one is from Good News Publishers.  With this program, you read from the Old Testament in the morning and then the New Testament in the evening.  Now you might be tempted to say that you don’t have time to do this.  But when you think about it; we all have time to do what we really want to do.  Though we may have to give up some time in front of the TV or other activities, I can 100% guarantee you that reading through the Bible in 2012 will definitely change you.  In addition to the Bible, I want to challenge everyone to pick up a book or two written by someone who has gone ahead of you in the journey.  Two books I would recommend would be Radical by David Platt and Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  Are there other books you would recommend?  If we all planted a seed in the ground this year we would expect some kind of growth by next December.  In the same way, we can plant spiritually and likewise expect growth.

3.  SERVE in 2012.  In the West and particularly in America we live in very self-absorbed societies.  Living a life of service is actually somewhat countercultural, but the very kind of life Christ followers are called to live.  One of the great things about being a Kingdom citizen is that we are all part of the game.  God does not call any of us to be bench warmers.  We are all equal in the site of God, but have different gifts and abilities.  The challenge here is to serve those around you in whatever means are possible for you.  One of the mottos we will be picking up this year at the Crossings is: “Every Person to their Post.”  Sometimes in the West we expect the preachers, pastors, ministers, or other “Professional Clergy” to do all the ‘religious’ stuff.  But that concept is very foreign to Biblical teaching.  The Bible refers to all of us as a “Priesthood” of believers.  We are all called to engage the world around us with the love of Christ.  So let me encourage you to take a step of faith this year.  Let me encourage you to tell someone the true story of Christ.  Let me encourage everyone to look around and find some way to plug in to help others around them.  Jesus Christ himself said that he “did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”

“Teach us to number our days aright!”  Wow, imagine for a moment that you only had this next year to live. How would you live differently?  Just imagine how life could be different for you, those around you, and for the world as a whole if we really lived with an eternal perspective.  Are you ready to step out in faith this year?  Are you ready for 2012?  I hope so because it’s here.  So let’s take 2012 by the horns and see what we and God will do with it.

My boys love this clip and have begged me to show it at The Crossings.  Verdict is still out on that one.  But it is kind of funny and I love its point.  We live in a society today where saying “Merry Christmas” is becoming more and more “Politically Incorrect.”  But as I’ve done the past two Sundays; I want to encourage everyone to step up and say it anyway no matter where you’re at.  Could you offend someone?  Maybe.  But it also just might encourage someone.  Who knows, you might even be able to plant a seed of the real reason for the season and thus open the door to the truth that “God so loved the world that he GAVE his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  So I suppose it’s kind of like the old Nike challenge . . . “Just Say it!”

Recently I spent some time with Malcolm X.  Well, not really because he’s dead.  But I did watch a movie about him which I found very interesting.  In fact, I believe there are some pointers that Christ followers can learn from his life experience.  Malcolm Little was an African American man who came to Islam while in prison from 1946 to 1952.  Once leaving prison, Malcolm eventually rose to become a national speaker for the Nation of Islam.  He eventually left that group in 1964 shortly before he was assassinated. 

Now don’t get me wrong.  Obviously I’m not supporting the Nation of Islam.  I am in no way agreeing with Islam in general.  Islam is a false religion and Mohamed was a false prophet. That statement does not mean that I hate Muslims, but is rather an assessment of the facts.  I am not endorsing the methodology Malcolm advocated through most of his public life.  But I am suggesting that we can learn a thing or two from the way the Nation of Islam influenced his life, and see an illustrative picture of how the true nature of the Kingdom of Heaven should be lived out today.  These are principles which many Christians in the West desperately need to eternalize today.  So I’ve listed five quick observations below to begin with.  Anything you would add?

1. Malcolm believed, truly believed and read the Koran as being the word of “Allah.” To him the Koran was not just an intellectual book to ponder, but rather the direct word that came from God and thus should be believed and practiced as such.  For Christians, we have hundreds of proofs for the authenticity of the Bible.  Our problem in the West is not evidence, but conviction.  When people criticize the Bible, it is not from having checked the evidence and found it wanting, but rather a fear of having to come under the authority of the Bible.  We can have certainty in the Bible, but often in West we take it for granted.  Today there are people in places like China who risk their very lives for a copy of the Bible or even a portion of it.  The Bible is real.  So the challenge for Kingdom Citizens today is what I’ve said in many sermons, “we must read and heed the word of God.”

2. Malcolm was lost and found his identity in the Nation of Islam.  The significance to the “X” following his name goes back to the fact that many slaves who were brought to America were forced to take on their masters’ last name.  Thus their true tribal last name and ultimately their identity were lost.  The connection with the X was simply that Malcolm was rejecting his American last name.  In the “X” he was creating a new identity.  For followers of Christ, we can remember that Jesus came that we might have “life to the fullest.”  One of the hopes of authentic Christianity is that our true identity is found in Christ which is greater than whatever name appears on our birth certificate.  We can have confidence in knowing that we are children of God.

3. The Nation of Islam brought Malcolm into a larger picture and brotherhood.  In Islam, Malcolm was no longer an island unto his own scratching for his own needs.  He was now part of something bigger.  For the Christ follower, we can know that we are indeed part of something greater than even what Malcolm could have ever imagined.  The Kingdom of God stretches across time from the resurrection of Christ to today.  The Kingdom of Heaven exists all across the globe defying national boundary lines.  That’s why I can travel anywhere on the face of the earth and be in unity with people of different races, cultures, and tongues.  While authentic Christians are lovers of all mankind, our true brotherhood is found in Christ first.  As an American citizen, I pay my taxes and obey the laws of the land, but my highest allegiance is to Christ and His eternal Kingdom.

4. As noted, it was in prison that Malcolm came to Islam.  The reason why he was sent up the river in the first place was due to his crime and loose living.  But when he witnessed the higher moral character of Muslims, something inside him was drawn to the power of order and discipline that he had been unable to secure in his former life.  The Bible tells us that we are to be “Holy, because He is Holy.”  The point there is not working for salvation.  The point is not another moral code.  Rather we are saved by God’s grace and we are free in Christ from the curse of the written law.  But in the Kingdom of God, we should be driven by the Law of Christ within our hearts.  When we truly love Christ, we live for Him.  It is so easy to be loose in America today.  The sad reality is that sometimes Christians live in such a way that society notices no difference between them and those who don’t know Jesus.  As Kingdom Citizens however, we are called to live a higher standard.

5. Malcolm lived his life with purpose.  Unlike some leaders in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm apparently didn’t make a ton of money off folks.  He was not driven by the buck, but by an inner purpose.  I thought this one was huge.  We were all created with and for a purpose.  It was not God’s desire that we merely exist, but live for a reason.  God created all of us for something greater than just passing our days for an elusive retirement.  There is reason and purpose for our being.  A new slogan that I’m developing states “Every Person to their Post.”  In other words, in Christ we all have a position in the Kingdom of Heaven to be worked out.  For that reason, we can no longer sit on the sidelines watching the experts “do church.” We all have a job and the Kingdom is waiting on us.

In conclusion, Malcolm Little was a lost young man in search of meaning.  At a point of desperation and openness, someone from the Nation of Islam picked him up and he found purpose in Allah and a new identity in Malcolm X.  Unfortunately this great man was led astray by a lie and his ultimate potential was never realized.  After I watched the film last week I wondered how things might have been different if a Christian man had reached out to Malcolm in his hour of need instead of a Muslim.  I wondered how America and the world might have been different if Malcolm X had experienced the true power of the Resurrected Jesus Christ.  How different things might have been.  But what about our future?  I wonder how life today and tomorrow might be different when true Christ followers live for Jesus and His Kingdom with the same devotion that Malcolm did for what he thought to be true.  I wonder how many other Malcolms are out there who might be transformed when we all reach out with the love of Christ as he called us to.

I just read a great article in the Wall Street Journal about how divorce in America has affected Generation X folks.  It was a well written piece and thought provoking.  But like most media today, it said little about God and His design.  So I posted a comment to the article online and have pasted it below.  Enjoy and feel free to chime in here or at the WSJ site itself.

I was born in 69 and having gone through more than one divorce as a kid and a number of men coming in and out of my life, I really resonated with the article.  I was there and I get it.  Thanks and good article Susan.  I know the pain that so many people my age have experienced and have likewise heavily invested in trying to have the “perfect” marriage.  But maybe a different slant in my marriage has been that of a Biblical foundation that is often foreign these days.  In other words, we have tried to base our marriage not so much even on the kids as that of God’s design for marriage.  Divorce has never even entered our minds.  The reason for that hard stand has not actually been for the kids, but because we made a commitment to God first, and each other second.  All this is not to say that we’ve done everything right.  We’ve both REALLY blown it at times.  We have been furious with each other and really hurt each other at times.  But because we’ve made God the focal point of our lives, we just celebrated 20 years of marriage this past June and are already looking forward to year 25 and so on.  All that to say; I wonder why folks don’t at least consider the whole God and marriage thing.  I’m not talking about mere words in a ceremony, but the reality of divinity and HIS plan for life.  Even looking back into the past, it appears that children may not have actually been the major focus, but rather a sense of “marriage is marriage.”  It was a divine institution and once you got in, you were in; no questions asked.  For us, since divorce is not an option, we have been forced to just grow up, make sacrifices, and work things out. Then in time, what we’ve found out is that by actually putting God and the other person first, positive change comes.  So I suppose in conclusion, it seems like the whole “God and Marriage” thing worked for generations of yesteryear so why are we so afraid as a society to look into that option again?  When you think about it, it couldn’t hurt.

Ouch!  Sometimes when I think about the lives of the first disciples of Jesus I feel a big sense of conviction.  By looking through the lens of history and observing those early Christians it’s easy to notice that there was something radically different about them.  The truth is that they had a deliberate conversion from the old life which is often lacking in our day.  I wonder at times if we haven’t gotten a bit soft and sleepy in the 21^st century west and are no longer able to show any difference between us and the world around us.  By this I don’t mean we need to act weird and pick up man made traditions like the Amish.  But sometimes we forget that we as authentic followers of Christ are part of a greater Kingdom and therefore are called to a new way of life.  The first followers of Christ seemed to get that.   A dramatic illustration of this is found in Acts 19:18-19 where believers burned their sorcery scrolls which amounted to an enormous financial sacrifice.  They took their commitment to Christ seriously and therefore the faith spread.  They were so serious, that they were willing to make huge economic sacrifices in order to live a holy life. The life of those first Christ followers was a completely radical call contrasted to the world of non-believers.  Describing these early Christians, a Greek physician of the day named Galen stated that, “They include not only men but also women who refrain from cohabitating all through their lives, and they also number individuals who, in self-discipline and self-control in matters of food and drink, and in their keen pursuit of justice, have attained a pitch no inferior to that of genuine philosophy.”^[1]  They lived to please God and other folks took notice.  These early saints lived in the spirit of those listed in Hebrews 11 who were focused on Christ’s Kingdom.  About the early Christians, the Letter to Diognetus, written at the end of the second century, states that “They live in their own countries, but only as guests and aliens. . . Every foreign country is their homeland, and every homeland is a foreign country to them.”^[2]

As the Church grew in the first century, they became increasingly more distinguished from society.  Acts 19 records the church in Ephesus as being so influential that the trade of the silver smiths who made idols was affected negatively.  With the church’s teaching that the man made idols were really no gods at all, the demand for the silver statues diminished.  In other words, their lives influenced society.  They didn’t try to shape the city through politics, they just lived out a serious commitment to Christ and change came naturally.  As the US approaches Independence Day, I wonder if American Christ followers can learn something here.  It would appear that the ancient way of shaping culture was not so much done through politics or coercion, but through love and daily influence?  What are some practical ways that you can raise the bar in your life to reflect what it means to live a Kingdom life in the here and now?

So what are some practical ways that you can raise the bar in your life to reflect what it means to live a Kingdom life in the here and now?

William Merrill, 1867-1954

I’m excited to be back with my friends at The Crossings this Sunday. In honor of Father’s Day, I’ll be teaching from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 which is a great and challenging text for dads. One of the illustrations of the study is a hymn written in 1911 by William P Merrill entitled, “Rise Up, O Men of God”.  Enjoy!

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
to serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
and end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
her strength unequal to her task;
rise up, and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
rise up, O men of God!

Today is Memorial Day in the US and while Christ followers have to keep central the reality that they are part of a bigger kingdom, the Bible still teaches us to give honor where honor is due.  Memorial Day is such an occasion for that. On one hand, I’m not a fan of taking a Sunday morning church gathering and turning it into an American Patriotic service.  Yet, on the other hand I do believe we can still give honor and recognition to those who have given the greatest sacrifice.  In addition to that, as Kingdom citizens I believe we can learn some things from fallen vets and I think this clip from the Movie Black Hawk Down is illustrative of that.  Some of you may remember the actual events from 1993 in Somalia.  But in short, SFC Randall Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon willingly and purposefully gave their lives to save Black Hawk pilot Michael Durant.  Lesson?  As Kingdom citizens, we are to put Christ and others first.  If you’ve wondered why authentic Christianity can sometimes seem lacking in the west, I believe it’s because we have forgotten something that Shughart and Gordon understood to the very core of their being.  They knew that it was not about them, but others.  So this Memorial Day, remember those who have fallen to save others.  Remember the Christian Martyrs who gave their lives for Christ over the past 2000 years.  Above all, remember our call as Citizens of the Kingdom of God to “deny ourselves and take up our Cross daily and follow Him.”  What can you learn and implement from the example of Shughart and Gordon?

Well I’m getting stoked about my sermon for this upcoming Sunday.  We’re at the midpoint in a series at The Crossings called “The New Agenda” taken from Colossians 3:1-17.  The whole crux of the series deals with living out the new life we have in Christ.  The theme of this third installment in the series will be one of “Putting On” the new life of Christ.  Toward the end of verse 14, Paul exhorts us to put on love which binds everything else together and that makes a lot sense.  When you think about it, by purposefully loving others, we naturally cover all the facets of what it means to treat others from a Kingdom perspective.  But how and who are we to love? 

For me, the folks that are really hard to love are not those with the big spiritual baggage and rebellion.  I’ve found it easy many times to extend grace to those who have stumbled and fallen.  Those who are sometimes considered outcasts by the “Religious” establishment are not my problem.  Maybe that’s simply because I’m a big recipient of grace myself.  Maybe that’s because I’ve really screwed up in my life and know what it is to need God’s grace.  No, those are not the people I find difficult to love. 

For me, the ones that crawl under my skin and force the greatest challenges are the religious folks.  By this I mean the ones who are always pointing out flaws in others who don’t measure up to their level of self-righteousness.  These would be people like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15.  Actually the story ought to be called the “Parable of the Loving Father” as the focus of Jesus was more on God’s love rather than the son’s sin.  That is seen not only in the way he responds to the prodigal, but also in the way he entreats the older son to come back into the house.  The older, self-righteous brother didn’t want to go in and be with his brother who has just come back from a life of rebellion.  But the father went out to him in love.  For me, that’s the real difficult thing.  I have a tendency to want to ignore or blast the self-righteous.  That is until I realize that I’m being just as snobby by not extending a hand of grace to them as well.  Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 2:4 that God desires “all men” to come and know him; including the older brothers among us.  So for me, while I can’t excuse their sin of self-righteousness, I still need to constantly remember that God loves them just as much as he loves the sinner who has come home.  The proper response for me should be to find out what is behind their background then discover practical ways to show love to them as well.  What about you?  Who is it in your sphere of influence that is the most difficult to love?  The atheist, the blatant sinner, the competitor, or the self-righteous?  Whoever it is, why not take some time this week to go out of your way and love them the way the Father would?

If I were to entitle this post anything else, I suppose it would be something like, “The Last Will and Testament of a Young Republican.”  That’s right; I was once a Young Republican a long time ago. But things are different now and it doesn’t have anything to do with age.  Now before my “Lefty” friends out there get all excited, you need to know that I’m not defecting to your political party either. Rather I’m pressing the cancel button on the whole system as far as my involvement goes.  While this doesn’t mean I’m never going to vote on issues I believe in, it does mean a drastic and purposeful decision to refrain from direct political involvement and commentary.  Even on my Face Book page I’ve listed the “Kingdom of Heaven” for my political views.  As followers of Christ we have to keep in mind that we’re part of His eternal Kingdom which supersedes the greatest Kingdoms of men.  But is this stand of total avoidance too radical?  After all, it would seem from the scripture that politics is a freedom issue.  We even noted in Part I. of this series that we can’t separate the sacred from the secular and this would apply to politics as well.  Yet considering the transitory nature of this realm, I do believe that this is an issue that Christians should seriously wrestle with.  As for me, I’ve drawn the line in the sand to abstain and here are at least four reasons why.

1. Political Parties are Incomplete.  While I tend to lean toward a more conservative Republican bent, the fact of the matter is that neither major political party has it all right.  They both have some huge things going for them, but neither one really possess a corner on the market of truth.  A big issue of me is the sanctity of life which sits well with the Republican stand in their anti-abortion platform.  But on the other end, the Democratic Party tends to defend the rights of the little guy and the poor which is something that the Bible also speaks about.  So to claim allegiance with just one party over another is to ignore issues that are Biblical and endorsed by the other side.

 2. Political Parties are Divisive.  This is an easy one to see from my perspective as I have friends on both sides of the political arena who claim allegiance first to Christ.  The problem is that we often get hot and bothered by particular legislations and build walls against each other that eventually turn into stone throwing.  I like what one guy said on FB a while back that most often Republicans paint all Democrats as being “morally corrupt and loose” while Democrats position all Republicans as being “ignorant fools with unprogressive thinking”.  As for me in my calling and position of proclaiming Christ and the Kingdom of God, I run the risk of alienating people who need the love of Christ over issues that are not eternal.  While I may believe that I am logically right on some of these political issues, they are minimal in light of lost souls and eternity.

 3. Politics are Inadequate.  I’ve noted this before, but the sad reality is that politics are not the real fix for society.  Yes, we need laws to avoid chaos and as illustrated in the second installment God even ordained government.  But the best set of rules and regulations in the world can never change a man’s heart.  I remember visiting with some missionary friends in Australia a number of years ago and the latest news that day was a guy who went on a rampage with a butcher knife.  Now here’s the significance.  Australians believe in huge gun control and you basically can’t get a fire arm there unless you own a mammoth sized ranch.  But yet if someone wants to kill another human being, they’re going to find a way to do it.  Their Anti-gun policy did nothing to deter a murderous heart.  Here we see why Jesus said virtually nothing about political philosophy or the Roman Government.  There were a lot of really bad things going on in his day, but Jesus came to change the heart and elevate it to the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.  When a heart is transformed it will naturally do what is good for its neighbor whether there is a law in place or not.

 4. Politics are too Tempting for Me.  A major reason for my decision to run away from political dialogue is simply that it’s too tempting for me.  I can easily get carried away and miss the big picture and point.  I can lose focus and miss or blow a chance to convey what is eternal and really important.  So I try to bite my tongue and refocus as much as I can in order to stay on track. I suppose it would be similar to a recovering alcoholic staying clear of a bar.  It’s just not worth it.

Well, that’s something to start with.  How do you intersect with this issue?