Category: Christian Living

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Christian Living

There Is No Middle Ground

a throne room with one throne signifying that there is no middle groundWe all have a Central Command Post inside of us. You have a “Mission Control” Center that runs your life. I often call it the Throne Room of life. There is only one throne in that room, and laying beside the throne is only one crown, only one kingly robe, and only one royal scepter. And only one person can sit one that throne with these royal items – and you get to choose who it will be.

For most of us, the person seated on our throne is “self.” But God tells us that He is the only One who can sit on that throne and not destroy a life. But I feel like I could do a pretty good job of running my life, so maybe I should retain ownership. So who will I invite to sit on the throne of my life?

Verse 39. He who has found his life will lose it . . .
Jesus makes it very clear that there is no middle ground. He will not share the throne with me. Either he sits on it completely or he stands aside. He doesn’t say, “Brian I’ll sit over here on this half of the throne, and you come squeeze in beside me.” Two people on the throne is one person too many.

So Jesus gives us only two alternatives: spare your life or sacrifice your life. He leaves no room for middle ground. If I decide to protect my own interests, I will lose. But If I die to myself and live for His interests, I will find true success in life. Jesus knows that the real war that I am fighting is spiritual and that it takes place inside of me – and it comes down to who will I choose to sit on the throne and run my life . . . it comes down to selfishness versus sacrifice. (Warren Wiersbe)

As a Christ-follower, I am to give up all of my individual “rights” to the King, together with any possessions, passions, pastimes, or people that might distract me from following Him. In “losing” these lesser aspects of earthly life, I “find” true worth — I find God’s purpose, joy, and reward. (Holman New Testament Commentary)

And that is the best thing anyone could ever find.
Today, I’m getting off of my throne and asking Him to take His proper place.
Who will you invite to sit on the throne of your life today?

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Christian Living

We Like To Play Games… How About a Quick Game of “Church”

We love games.
We love to play. board of chinese checkers for a blog post on playing the game of church
Monopoly, Operation, Chutes & Ladders, Connect 4…
Football, Baseball, Golf, Soccer…

From early ages, we learn to play games. We can even use our imaginations to make up new ones.
I remember playing lots of games with my cousins at Mamaw’s house.
Our favorite required that she give us each a towel and safety pin it around our necks as our capes.
Then we’d go out and fight imaginary crime as Batman and Robin and Batgirl.
(I never got to be Batman, but fortunately I was never forced to be Batgirl, either!)
batman symbol

So, there is no question. We love games. But what happens when we turn something that is not a game into one?

“I know, let’s create a new game.”
“OK, but what will we call it.”
“How about… “church”?

God tells us that the Christian life is serious. That it costs you your life. That even if you are never required to be a martyr for the Christian faith, you are to have made the decision that your commitment to Christ is greater than your commitment to your own beating heart. That we should hold tighter to Jesus than to our own lives.

God tells us that we are to be about His business and that His business isn’t a game. In fact, He tells us that if we are serious about His business, it will lead us to encounter persecution. And if we encounter real persecution, we will know that real Christianity is not a game. And yet, here in America where we don’t experience much persecution for our faith, we have learned how to “play church.”

God never said that living for Him would be easy. In fact, He promises that it will be quite difficult.
He tells us that our own family members will turn against us; that others will hate us for our beliefs; that we will be slandered; that we might even physically have to die for our faith in Him. Jesus tells us that being a real Christian will bring a sword into your life.

But it doesn’t often seem to be the case for American Christians, where we seem to think that being a Christian will make life easier and more comfortable as God pours out blessings and safety and protection. That is quite a contrary message to what Jesus says in the Bible.

And then we look at people living in other areas of the world…. Some people are still living in countries where Christianity is persecuted. Persecution for Christian beliefs is still extremely strong in other places in the world.

Some missionaries are still going into countries where their lives are in danger, but because they are more concerned with people going to hell than with their own lives, they go in order to fulfill the Great Commission.
Do you think we would be more serious about God if we had to weigh whether we might die for our beliefs? Do you think we would value the Bible more if it was illegal to own one or teach from one?

Perhaps God has blessed us so much in, and given us such freedoms, in order that we might use these things to share more freely with others. Maybe we should be praying: “God thank you for loving me so much and placing me in America where I have so many freedoms, including freedom of religion. In response to your love for me and the blessings you have provided me I am going to make knowing you and your Word the #1 priority in my life and share my love for you with others. No matter the cost.”

Instead of taking that type of attitude, we hoard our resources and use them to please ourselves. And then we hear about “the danger” of missions and the persecution in the rest of the world and we just hope God doesn’t call us to missions – let someone else do that dirty and dangerous work. Not me.

And God, definitely don’t call my children to go!

So, even though many of us “dedicate” our children to the Lord in some worship service, we are actually unwilling for God to them as He sees fit!

While we are fearful of someone thinking we are eccentric or extreme because of our faith, some people around the globe are actually having to consider prison and death as a real possibility of what it means to accept Christ – and yet they still choose Jesus and aren’t afraid of death.

We love games. Games are fun. But church should never be a game.

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Christian Living

I Choose Death (or even “Living as a Dead Man”)

a skull to symbolize "living as a dead man" or choosing deathWhat a morbid title for a post. And no, this is not a post about zombies!

I recently shared that we need to Hate our Families [hyperlink], based on Jesus’ statement that “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,” ending with the idea that we can actually love our families more by loving them less… loving them less than we love God. If we refuse to do so, then God is not the One who is actually seated on that King’s Throne in our life.

But there is something even more likely to rob Jesus of His rightful place than our own family—the love of one’s own life.

So in addition to this hard statement of “hating family,” Jesus added more difficulty with “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

Jesus, why do You keep saying such hard things? Don’t you know that I don’t really like these ideas? I want following you to be a bit easier than carrying a heavy, rough cross and constantly having some painful burden on my shoulders.

We haven’t witnessed anyone dying on a cross, so this statement loses some of its meaning for us, but the people in Jesus’ day knew what it meant to “take up” a cross. They knew it wasn’t just a heavy burden to bear for a lifetime (which often is how we view the idea). They saw men bearing their crosses to the places where they were to be executed; they watched these condemned criminals die by crucifixion.

They understood that taking up one’s cross meant to walk to one’s death.

The statement means that one should live in devoted abandonment to Him, such that even death is not too high a price to pay. Those who call themselves Christ-followers are to value Him so highly that they do not count their lives precious to themselves.

To “take up your cross daily” means to die to self daily.

“The cross is always an instrument of death, not just an object to carry around with us for all of life. The Christian is to die mentally and actively – not just carrying the cross as a burden, but marching toward self-death. The Christian is to deny himself daily. He is to let the mind of Christ, the mind of humbling himself to the point of death, be in him and fill his thoughts every day. He is to put his will, his desires, his wants, his ambitions to death. In their place, he is to follow Jesus and to do His will all day long. This is not negative, passive behavior. It takes positive, active behavior to deny one’s self, to take up one’s cross, to follow Christ.” (from POSB Commentary)

Jesus is telling me: In regard to your love for family, your love for Me should make that love look like hate. BUT in regard to your love for self, your love for Me requires that you be willing to sacrifice your entire life. The cross is a means of execution.

When a missionary was heading into an area known to have violent people, the person getting him there by boat said to him – “You shouldn’t do this. Don’t you know that if you try to preach to these people they might kill you? You will likely die here.” To which the missionary answered, “Oh, that’s not a problem. I died before I ever stepped foot on your boat.”

We are to choose Christ. In doing so, we are to choose death.

And so…
I am ready to die – in fact I already have.

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Christian Living

You Are Not Free To Do What You Want

Have you ever looked through an old window whose glass has become distorted with age? glass windowWhen we look at the world through an aged window or through the side of a glass bottle, our vision is distorted due to the fact that we have added an inconsistent filter between us and the world we are viewing. An inconsistent filter gives inconsistent images… leading to wrong ideas about the “shape” of something. To see things properly, we have to change the filter we are looking through.

And bottles aren’t the only inconsistent filter!

Our own families, our education, our culture, our society… all of these are filters that prompt us to “look at” (& think about) the world around us in a certain way. How we think about people, about money, about entertainment… these filters color our perception and understanding. And unless we are aware of this, we won’t even know that we are looking at things through a lens that distorts.

So what we end up doing is looking at everything, even the Word of God, through the filter of American society, instead of looking at American society through the filter of God’s Word.

And since we are using a distorting lens, we Christians in America end up distorting the truths of God’s Word. We have somehow molded our understanding of the Scriptures around our American beliefs, such that we have distorted God’s teachings to help them “line-up” with American society. This leads to us having inconsistent lives and beliefs. And then we wonder why people who aren’t Christians have a hard time understanding God’s Word. What are some ways we do this?

  • When we pray more for the poor physical health of other Christians than we do for people who don’t yet know Jesus (and therefore already have “poor” spiritual health), then we have distorted why Jesus came to this earth.

  • When we are more focused on our entertainment (watching our TV, reading our novels, engaging in our outdoor recreational activities) than on reading God’s Word and talking to Him about it, then we have distorted how to develop a deep relationship with God.

  • When we consider our disobedience to God as “not that bad” because we are comparing them to the “worse” sins of others, instead of deciding to see how close we can have our lives line up with Jesus’, then we have distorted what it means to be a disciple.

  • When we have become so fixated on money and image that we will give our waiters and waitresses 20% tips so they think we are nice people, and buy houses and cars and “stuff” that cost exorbitant amounts to impress people we don’t know, and go into debt just so we can keep up with the “Joneses,” though we don’t even come close to giving 10% of our income to God, then we have distorted our understanding of God as provider and have worshiped the idol of the almighty dollar and the American dream above our Heavenly Father.

  • When pastors learn to become professionals who can run a church as a CEO and have everything their hearts’ desire without ever really seeking God’s face for direction, then we have distorted what it means to be a shepherd of God’s church.

  • When we believe that discussing politics, boycotting places that don’t share our beliefs, and calling & writing our senators about their political agendas are more important than telling our neighbors about Jesus and more important than discipling less mature Christians, then we have distorted our understanding of the Great Commission.

  • When we are more fixated on pleasing ourselves, on obtaining the American dream, about having blessings and comfort and security, then we have distorted what our freedom and liberty in Christ are all about.

    • You are not free to do whatever you would like.
    You are free to do whatever Jesus would like.
    You were bought with a price… by Him.

    What will you do to help reorient yourself to a healthier (and less distorted) Biblical understanding of discipleship?

    Can you think of other areas of Christianity that we have distorted?

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    Christian Living

    Things We Get Wrong, part 1.

    #1. God Cannot Look On Sin
    You’ve probably heard that statement before.
    Maybe you’ve even said it yourself.
    But is it accurate?

    man hiding his face symbolizing God not looking on sin - something we get wrong

    Let me ask it another way…

    Can God save sinners?
    Of course He can. Certainly So.
    This is one of the key beliefs of Christians. A key teaching of the church.

    But… how could that be possible if our opening statement is true? How can God save sinners if He can’t look on sin? or if He can’t hear the prayer of a sinner? How could He save a sinful person if He must turn His back on them until they are righteous?
    Hmmm… maybe this statement is one we’ve gotten a bit wrong.

    Now it is true that God will not allow sin into His eternal, heavenly kingdom. But sin in our lives does not necessitate that God turns His back on us. Instead, it means that we have broken our fellowship with Him, not our relationship.

    As a parent, when your child does something “wrong” by deliberately disobeying you does it damage your fellowship with the child? Yes. But does it break your relationship – such that you are no longer the child’s parent until he/she comes and apologizes? Do you turn your back on them until they confess their wrongdoing? Of course not. It doesn’t break your relationship… you are still his/her Mom or Dad. Your child is still a beloved son/daughter. It is the same with God. When we are rebellious, it damages our fellowship, but it doesn’t change our relationship. He is still the loving father who doesn’t turn His back on us. Rather He reaches out to us.

    Many of us have heard that the moment when Jesus took all the sins of the world and became our sin, God the Father turned His back on Jesus, God the Son. It is true that at that moment, God could not retain full fellowship with Jesus, who became sin. But He did not turn His back on Jesus… In fact, Psalm 22 – a prophetic psalm of the crucifixion of the Messiah, indicates that God did not reject Jesus nor did He hide His face from Jesus. Jesus willingly took on our sin and so willingly felt what it was like to be without the intimate fellowship of God the Father.

    But let us be careful that we don’t say things that let others think that God might turn His back on them.

    What a terrible thought! …That God might turn His back on me.

    From the very first sin that happened in the Garden of Eden, we find that God doesn’t hide Himself from sinners. Instead He pursues them. He is the One who pursued Adam & Eve who were hiding after their sin. Had God not pursued those two sinners, it is unlikely they would have interacted with Him again. So even in the midst of my willful sin, God pursues me and calls me to return to Him. He pursues me to restore fellowship with me.

    God is holy.
    God will not let sin into His eternal kingdom.
    Therefore He gives us Jesus to provide us with righteousness to cover our unrighteousness. While we were still sinners, God looked upon us with love and sent Jesus to show us the full measure of His love for us in sin.

    God’s mercy is huge. God’s grace is unfathomable.
    His righteousness is big enough to cover our sin.
    But let’s strive to hate our sin like God hates it.

    “God started the sacrificial system for at least two reasons. First, He desired His people to loathe sin. With the constant stream of bloody sacrifices offered by the priests, people were confronted continually with the seriousness of His holiness and their sin. Every time they sinned, something had to die. Second, the sacrificial system was intended to help people long for a Savior whose sacrifice would be complete and perfect. The system was elaborate, but it was never intended to be sufficient; instead, it pointed to something much deeper. It was designed to be a tutor to teach people they could never fulfill the law.” (Matt Chandler, ‘Creature of the Word’)

    On this, the week we remember the cross and the empty tomb, let’s thank Jesus for fulfilling the law for us… for becoming that perfect and complete sacrifice. And let’s thank Him for looking on our sin, hating it, and doing something amazing about it.