A Gospel-Centered Marriage

Our church is beginning a new series this week called "A Gospel-Centered Marriage." The series has been largely born out of a crisis of marriage that our own church is facing right now. Don't get me wrong, marriage is in crisis in our culture & has been for some time but we have felt the weight of this crisis more recently in our own church family. For the last few weeks, about once a week, I've talked to someone in a struggling or ending marriage. It's heartbreaking.

In response to this we are launching a muti-week series on marriage that will culminate in a marriage emphasis day on Sunday, November 23rd. We are going to spend several weeks looking at Epheisans 5:22-33, the most famous, lengthy, & meaty passage on marriage in the Bible. In this series we hope to get at the Biblical understanding of marriage, the purpose of marriage, the power & motivation of marriage, as well as the origin of marriage.

If you know someone who needs this series, please invite them. This series is for struggling marriages. We hope that the Lord will strengthen their marriage through his word. This series is for broken marriages. We are praying for God to heal & mend marriages. This series is for healthy marriages. We are praying that this series will encourage those who are doing well to continue to seek God in their marriage. And last of all, this series is for singles. What?! A marriage series for singles? Yes! Why? Because we hope to paint such a clear picture of what Christian marriage is according to the Bible that it saves marriages before they begin. We hope it will shape dating habits & how singles choose their spouse. We hope it will change the way that singles view marriage so that everything they do before marriage will be done in the context of a future spouse they are living in covenant with.

So please, invite anyone you know to come to this series no matter who they are. We are asking God to meet us & change us & save our marriages both present & future.

Make your attendance a priority during this series. Postpone weekend trips & time away. Come every week if at all possible. Give your marriage the attention it needs. God help us. 

Not Condemned, Sin No More

She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John8:11 ESV)

This amazing verse is a bookend to a story about a women caught in the very act of adultery. The religious leaders bring her before Jesus & tell him she has been caught red handed. They did this with no regard for the life of the woman but, in fact, the very opposite. The law says that they should execute her for her sin & they expect Jesus to decide her fate. They are doing this to catch him at the expense of the woman. And this is what religion always does, it uses people for it's own purposes even to the extent of abusing people, even killing them. History documents this well.

But what is Jesus' approach? They hope to catch him. They know him to be merciful, a friend of even the worst sinners. So will he honor his mercy here? But Jesus is also just. He obeys God's laws perfectly. Will he honor God's law then?

The religious leaders are convinced they have found a scenario that Jesus can't reason his way out of. He will have to either condemn the women & uphold the law or give mercy to the woman & condemn the law. Either way he cannot be a man of mercy & a man of righteousness.

So what is Jesus' response? He writes in the dirt with his finger. The Bible doesn't tell us what he writes in the dirt. We don't even know why he writes in the dirt. But after he does, he asks this question to the crowd who has already picked up rocks to execute the woman.

"Let the person without sin be the first person to throw a rock."

Silence.

No rocks are thrown.

No one sticks around. They all leave one by one, leaving their rocks at the feet of Jesus. 

And at the end of the story there is only one person left with the woman: Jesus. The one person that could throw a rock. The one person that is without sin. The one person that could condemn her doesn't.

He chooses mercy but what of the law? Has he not condemned the law with his choice? How can Jesus allow this woman to go free after she has clearly violated the law?

Her sin is not overlooked. It is not excused flippantly. Her sin will be paid for. Jesus is going to the cross to pay for her sin. His life for her life. His perfect life for her imperfect life. His righteousness for her unrighteousness. In this way, Jesus is able to pardon sinners while also keeping the law. He is both righteous & merciful.

Herein lies our only hope. We need both the righteousness of Jesus & the mercy of Jesus. We need to here both the words, "You are not condemned" & "Go & sin no more."

Most people in our culture believe that we can either have the mercy of God or the law of God but we can't have both. We either hear God say to us, "Neither do I condemn you" or "Go & sin no more."
But this passage teaches us that we need both. We need God's mercy, & we need to be told to leave our sin. We cannot accept the mercy of God without repentance that leads to a changed life, & we cannot have a changed life without first receiving the mercy of God. We need to here Jesus say to each of us, "I do not condemn you. Now, go & sin no more."

We cannot expect the mercy of God without repentance of our sin, & we cannot have real repentance apart from God's mercy. We need both. With only God's mercy we are left with cheap grace that doesn't require us to leave our sin. And without mercy all we have is obedience to the law & an attempt at a righteousness of our own (which is no righteousness at all).

But Jesus gives us both. He forgives us & leads us out of our sin. We need to preach this good news to ourselves & to our world everyday: "Jesus doesn't condemn us! Now, let's go & sin no more."

WORLD CUP FEVER

If you have known me for any time at all you know that I'm a big soccer fan. As Sammy Rhodes once tweeted, "I've never met a soccer fan that didn't let everyone know they were a soccer fan."

Guilty as charged.

But it wasn't always this way. I grew up watching & playing a lot of traditional American sports; football, baseball, & basketball. I even played basketball competitively for my high school until 11th grade. It wasn't until 2010 that I even watched a full 90 minutes of soccer (or what the rest of the world calls football).

That year on family vacation we all gathered around our television to watch the World Cup in South Africa. We watched the USA draw against England & who can forget the late drama of Landon Donovan putting in that goal against Algeria late into stoppage time. I remember running around my living room celebrating the win that put us top of the group instead of a draw that would have knocked us out at the group stage.

Needless to say, I was hooked. I was bitten by World Cup fever. But that's not where it ended. I wasn't just bitten by World Cup fever but by soccer fever. I began looking for ways to stay connected to the game. The MLS season was in mid-swing that summer & I caught a few games on television that year but didn't have a team I really rooted for. I have since come to support Sporting Kansas City since they are the closest club to us in Arkansas.

As the European league seasons started that fall I found out that the American goalkeeper, Tim Howard played for an English Premier League team called Everton (based in Liverpool). I began following Everton & Howard weekly. The excitement of the World Cup was the same in the Premier League for me.

As I began to learn the ins & outs of the league & the game, the appreciation for it only grew. One aspect that really fascinated me was the idea of promotion & relegation. Every year the worst teams in the league go down a division (think Major League Baseball & Triple-A, Double-A, etc.) & the best teams get promoted to the next highest division. So, instead of the worst teams getting the best draft picks like sports in the US, they would instead go down a division & lose millions in revenue. What? That's crazy right!? No wonder this sport is not popular in the US!

But these type of details & many others captured my attention. This led to more & more interest until it easily became my favorite sport to watch, read about, & follow. Other sports have lost their luster (with the exception of college football).

And so, if you are like me back in 2010 & you have caught the bug for more of the beautiful game, here are some next steps for you to stay connected to the game. 

(1) Pick a league

You don't just have to pick one. MLS is in full swing & it's likely that you live within driving distance of a team. Also, you can watch it weekly on ESPN. It's not the best league in the world but it's growing & attracting better & better players (remember David Beckham?). It's still fun to watch & follow. 

But there are several other great leagues, most of them in Europe. My favorite by far is the top flight in England called the Barclays Premier League. It's the best league top to bottom. There are several teams that fight for the league title every year.

There is also a top league in Germany (Bundesliga), Italy (Serie A), France (Ligue 1), & Spain (La Liga) as well as countless others. Pick one & follow!

I follow the Premier league because of Everton & it's accessibility. I can watch every league game on NBC Sports Network or on their live streaming app. I watched every Everton game last season because of this (38) & it was amazing.

One of the best things about European soccer is they have a league of the top teams from each league called the Champions League. They play each other regularly as well which is the best soccer in the world in my opinion. It's second only to the World Cup & the good news is, you don't have to wait 4 years to watch it because it happens every year.
Oh and another reason to love soccer is that the season runs from August to May with a major international competition every summer. Soccer is year-round!

(2) Pick a team

Once you have a league you like, pick a team to follow. Follow that team throughout the season. By a jersey or a scarf & root for them hard! It will keep you connected to the game. I got to go to San Francisco last summer & watch Everton play Juventus (Italian Serie A champions) in a friendly & it was amazing. All the big players were there & played.

JUVENTUS vs EVERTON, San Francisco

Jessica & I with Everton & US Goalkeeper Tim Howard

NBC sports network has some great stuff on how to pick a English Premiere league team here: 

(3) Get to a game

Go watch a live game. We went to a World Cup qualifier in Kansas City last October & you can't beat the atmosphere. If you think you are hooked now, just wait. You probably have a club within driving distance. I also saw Chelsea & Manchster City, both from England, play in May of last year in St. Louis. It was a great time as well!

CHELSEA vs MAN CITY, St. Louis

Me with US soccer legend Alexi Lalas

(4) Get to know other soccer people

I have a couple of people I talk to regularly about the game & it's a lot of fun. There aren't a lot out there but there are always a few of us running around. And, we always make ourselves known (see above).

Well, that's about it. If you do those things you will be able to stay connected to the beautiful game & your affection for it will only continue to grow. And what's even more amazing is next summer we have the women's World Cup, the Gold Cup, & several other major international competitions to look forward to each summer until 2018 in Russia.

Here are some other articles about what to do next that I found helpful as well. Enjoy!

http://beta.sportingnews.com/article/4594196-world-cup-2014-us-soccer-usa-usmnt-follow/slide/244815

http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/07/02/bitten-soccer-bug-during-world-cup-here-are-13-ways-take-your-soccer-fandom-

The Curse of God's Blessing

"Go up to the land flowing with milk & honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff necked people & I might destroy you on the way."

Exodus 33:3

If we had to choose between God's presence or God's blessing, which would we choose?

Sound simply hypothetical?

It wasn't for God's people in Exodus. God has just brought them out of Egypt. Out of 400 years of slavery. And he did it in amazing fashion: ten plagues that exalted God & revealed his power over the gods of Egypt, parting of the Red Sea & the people walking on dry land as Pharaoh's army is drowned, a pillar of fire by night & a cloud by day to guide the people, & provision of food for them as they travel. And we could go on & on! This is a lifetime of miracles that God has accomplished in a matter of days & weeks. In addition to these things, God has given his people his law & his presence to dwell with them in the form of the tabernacle.

But this wasn't enough for the people. They rebelled against God by making images to worship while Moses was on the mountain with God.

And God tells them that because of their sin he will give them what he promised their forefathers, namely the promised land, but he will not be going with them. He offers them his blessing but he cannot give them himself. He gives them physical inheritance, wealth, provision, status, & protection but he cannot go with them.

I'm afraid that today's church & today's Christians would take this exchange & not only would take it but are actually actively seeking it. Most of us have interest in God simply for what God can give us & not for God himself.

If given the choice between the two, we would take God's blessing of provision, protection, status, wealth, & inheritance over God himself. Just look at our lives. What are we pursuing? What are we seeking? What is the basis of our relationship to God?

Is it him or his stuff? Is it him or what we get from him?

But Moses could not live with God's blessing apart from God. He understood that God's blessing without God is no blessing at all! In fact, if God gave us all his blessings but none of himself it would be a curse.

He tells God, forget your blessings, we want you! If you don't go, we don't go. We would rather dwell in the desert with you than in the promised land without you.

Is this our heart today? What do our lives say? Do we want him or his stuff?

REDEFINING BLESSED

What does it mean to be blessed?

Think about that question for a moment. Don’t rush past it. What does it really mean to be blessed? If you had to list the top three things in a person’s life that would designate them as blessed, what would they be?What words would come to mind?

 

They may look something like this…

 

1. Good relationships

2. Good job

3. Comfortable living

 

If not those three exactly, maybe a variation of them would be prominent in our responses. For many of us, our culture has shaped our definition of blessedness. The American Dream is the ultimate reality to be enjoyed. The more stuff, more success, & more influence you have the more blessed you are.

 

But is this an accurate description of success? Is this the only definition that matters?

 

In Matthew 5, Jesus delivered the most famous sermon ever, the Sermon on the Mount. He opens the sermon with his description of blessedness. Notice what he says:

 

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

 

Poverty, mourning, meekness, hunger & thirsting for righteousness, mercy, purity, peacemaking, & persecution—aren’t these the words that come to mind when you think of what it means to be blessed? Me neither.

 

Jesus has a very different definition of blessing than our culture does & often a different definition than we do. He turns the world’s values on its head. Everything that the world values, he doesn’t. Everything he values the world often doesn’t. So, whose definition is right?

 

The choice is ours. When we give our lives to Jesus, he begins to shape in us this other-worldly character. He leads us into a new way to be human. The kingdom of God redefines everything in our lives. The gospel transforms us into citizens of another country. And the best part is, we never feel more alive then when we have the blessedness of Jesus take root in our lives.

 

What do you think? What does it mean to be truly blessed?

HEROES

According to Wikipedia, since the year 2000 there have been 49 comic book movies made. Thirty-four more super hero movies are in the works. Why such an influx of heroes? One seemingly obvious answer is money. People will pay to see these, so they are being produced rapidly. The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in the Dark Knight trilogy, made over half a billion dollars. Many filmmaking companies are scrambling to produce the same type of results. And who could blame them?

We are a culture obsessed with heroes. Whether comic book stars on the big screen or celebrities or professional athletes, we all idolize someone. We all are looking for a hero, someone who would change everything for us. That one person that would give us what we are really longing for. We are starved for this.

So too were the people of Israel in the Old Testament book of 1^st Samuel. Every day their enemy would parade their 9-foot hero named Goliath out to the battlefield to challenge one of God’s people to fight him. Day after day he came, day after day he went with no one to fight. Israel had no hero to fight for them. Until one day.

One day, a shepherd boy named David arrived to bring supplies to his brothers who were soldiers for Israel. He was not old enough or strong enough to fight so he was on sheep duty at his father’s house. While David was there he overheard the challenge from Goliath, the Philistine hero, & waited in expectation as one of Israel’s best & brightest would go out to fight in the name of the Lord. But no one went. No one went out to fight. No one but David.

David went to the king to volunteer and was met with laughs. How could a shepherd boy defeat a military champion? It’s suicide. Not only for David but also for the whole army of Israel. But David made his case. He pleaded with the king to allow him to make this pagan hero eat his words. He argued with the king by telling of how the Lord had strengthened him to kill bears & lions with his bare hands in order to protect the sheep under his care.

Reluctantly the king gave his blessing. David took with him just 5 rocks & a sling to fight the giant. And as unimpressive as he appeared in comparison to the mighty Goliath, God was with David, & David defeated the giant with one throw of his sling. One rock, one hit, one dead giant. God’s people were saved & God’s enemies were defeated. David was the hero!

Most of the time when this story is shared, we are David & God is with us to destroy the “giants” in our lives. But is this the meaning of the story? Are we the hero here? Or do we need a hero to rescue us?

We are not the hero in the story. We are the trembling Israelite army unable to do anything about the enemy before us. We are not David here. We are not the hero. We are the ones in need of a hero. David did for his people what they couldn’t do for themselves. He defeated the enemy that they couldn’t defeat on their own. He replaced fear with victory, shame with celebration!

But David isn’t the real hero here either. Well, he is & he isn’t. David died & Israel continued to need more & more heroes. Until one day, the Hero to end all heroes appeared. David is a picture of the real hero we all need. Why are we longing for heroes? Why can’t we get enough? Because deep down we all need a Savior. We all know we need a hero, we need to be rescued. We are trembling in the presence of our Enemy. Victory is nowhere in sight. We are helpless to change our situation on our own.  God himself steps in through his son Jesus who takes our place, fights our enemy, & wins the battle that we could never win.

We are all searching for a hero & longing for someone to give us what our hearts really need. Jesus is everything we need. He is the hero. He has won the victory. He has replaced fear with victory, shame with celebration. He is the hero & he is all we need.

The Green Monster

Sorry to disappoint you who came here looking for a post on the great wall in left field at Boston's Fenway Park (although I'd love to right one someday!). Today I'm sharing a thought about the "Going Green" initiatives that we have in our country. I don't like to be overly political but today I felt compelled to write about this.

Last night, as my wife and I were watching one of our favorite TV programs when we saw a "The More You Know" public service announcement that featured a woman from one of my favorite childhood TV shows, "Saved by the Bell." What did she have to tell us? "The next time you have a date with your special someone, have it by candlelight & turn off all the lights. Then, go for a walk instead of a drive." And with that, we saw the flash of "The More You Know" star, appropriately all green in color, & the jingle. I kept thinking, "Did she drive to the taping of this service announcement?" In addition to this, every time the show returned from commercial we were greeted with a small green message on the bottom left part of the screen followed by the network logo all green. Some of the messages include unplugging unused electronics, buying local, & consuming organic foods.

You can see more of what they are up to here: greenisuniversal.com

Have you ever noticed these things before?

The Green movement has the backing of celebrities, political parties (there is literally a Green Party), & even the Disney Channel! What could be wrong with this?

Well, nothing really. Except for the fact that I have a hard time seeing what real good I will do in the world as a whole by taking a walk instead of a drive & eating by candlelight verses regular light (except for saving on gas & the electric bill; on second thought, I may be going green myself!).

I'm not wanting to advocate wastefulness or oppose pursuing all clean energy initiatives that can make our world a better place. I think there are some thoughtful approaches. But sometimes I can't help but be a little bit frustrated that huge TV companies will spend millions because they would rather have me recycle my cardboard & plastic milk jugs than protect the lives of the unborn. And that's just one of many, many issues that I think are of greater importance. That to me is out of balance (understatement of the century!).

The Bible teaches that this world is falling apart. We are not meant to stay here forever. Romans 8 says that the whole creation is groaning with expectation of being redeemed & restored. The fall has broken this place and us for that matter. That's why the Bible talks about Jesus one day creating a new heaven & a new earth. This place is not meant to last forever. Should we do our best to prolong it's life? Sure. I can't see anything wrong with putting a little red container out with plastic and paper inside of it instead of throwing it away in a landfill. But should we spend millions on initiatives to clean up a place that will ultimately fall apart when we could be investing resources in much more urgent work? I can't bring myself to say yes. Would your company approve a multi-million dollar initiative to clean up & restore a building that is condemned & destined to collapse in the coming years? To me, it's like putting a new door on a condemned building. Or, a new roof on a house with extensive water damage.

I know that I'm looking at this from a biblical, Christian worldview & that makes me a bit biased but I've also been out of the country. I've been to some third world countries that place their trash anywhere & everywhere. I've seen EVERY vehicle emit black smoke wondering the whole time, "Do they have catalytic converters here?" Most of the world is undeveloped & would be considered "Third World." Most of the world is concerned about feeding their family and finding clean water. Most of the world is trying to fight off sickness that we could just get a shot for if contracted. Most of the world is not the United States. And I feel we would do well to consider what initiatives we should pour our resources into that could really help PEOPLE and not try to emphasize helping the PLANET as much. The planet is fading, people are eternal. This place is headed toward an overhaul by the Son of God but not every person has that in their future.

How can we invest our passions, resources, time, & creativity toward making this place better for eternity's sake? Instead of going green, let's go eternal.