Well, I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve sat down and written… so to the 5 of you that read and follow I sincerely apologize!
Now on to business…
This past week was great for me. Our Family Ministries team spent Monday in Dallas at the Catalyst One Day Conference at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship. This was such a refreshing trip for me. It was so noticeably different than the stuffy SBC conferences I’m used to. I walked in to a room full of 2,000 + and all of them kinda looked like me. The lead pastor at Bent Tree showed up on stage in flip-flops, jeans, and a button-up. I thought prevailing thought has been that if you wear flip flops you were less holy. How disrespectful to wear flip-flops and hol-e jeans in the Lord’s house??? Funny how nobody seems to listen to what those folks might be saying… but I digress, that’s for another talk.
Getting to hear Andy Stanley and Matt Chandler is always inspirational for me. I love what those guys stand for, and I love what God is doing through them. Craig Groeschel (Pastor of Life Church) was speaking during one of the sessions and it felt like I was the only one in the room. He was talking about personal momentum and the life of pastors. He was challenging us to re-think some of where we spend our time and energy (novel idea I know) and he said “hey, instead of spending so much time trying to be creative, come up with the latest sermon series, hip graphics, latest programs, etc. why don’t you spend that effort on trying to be like Christ?” Yeah, big boy was swinging a big stick! And as he got to the end of his talk, he said something that God used to answer a prayer that I’ve been praying for some time. Craig said “so many of you are full-time pastors, and part-time Christ followers.” You could have heard a pin drop in that room and I noticed folks with the look on their faces like “I can’t believe he said that” and I was sitting there thinking “finally, somebody had the courage to say it.” Steve Fee and his posse came on stage to lead in a time of worship, and as everyone stood, I sat frozen, crying like a little kid who just got stuck on the wrong end of a banana/fruit roll-up trade… broken. I was confronted once again with the reality of my own sin and weaknesses.
I’ve been praying for some time that God would open doors of opportunity for us, that He would do great things with my life… but its funny, the one prayer that I’ve been scared to pray is “God, break me, and keep me broken.” I don’t know about you, but I look around in church every week and wonder if anyone else gets bothered by their sin; I wonder if anyone else gets tore up over places where we’re told “be holy because I am holy.” We seem to skip over places like that because nobody wants to open that box of fun – it might just require something of our lives.
There seems to be this rhythm. Things are great in our lives, we mess up, we feel guilty, we go to church and re-dedicate our rededications, we cry a few tears, and we find somebody who’s living worse than we are to feel better… and we start this rhythm all over again. It ends up being such a vicious cycle that places our focus and attention on ourselves. Is something wrong here? I’ve been wrestling with my own sin, integrity, and personal holiness for some time. It’s always wild to me how our sin causes our focus to come off of Christ and on to ourselves. Maybe that shouldn’t surprise us because after all, isn’t that what the Accuser wants?
I started digging through the pages of scripture to see if there’s something to this idea of being broken, and it’s amazing how it all starts leaping off the page when you look for it. Now granted, there’s no “thou shall be broken” but it’s wild where it speaks to this issue. The older I’m getting, I realize that brokenness isn’t a thought, or an attitude – although that all plays a huge role – but it’s a state of BEing. I first encountered this in the sermon on the mount. Matthew records for us Jesus’ message that day, and it’s wild when you see it:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3-10 NIV)
The more I read this, I realize that in order to live like this, in order to experience those blessings, self and ego get chunked out the door. I was always taught that “the beatitudes are how we are to BE” When we approach our lives, our callings, our families, etc and act as though we have it all together; when we act as though we can do it all on our own strength – are we missing something huge? I have an idea that God knew that there’s no way we could ever live this Christian life out on our own strength. You hear people making a plea to become a “christian” all the time, but how often do you hear the reminder that the Christian life isn’t just difficult… it’s impossible! That’s why we have Jesus. After all, he was the only one who’s ever lived the Christian life and done it flawlessly. So, was Jesus just giving us some good things to do in that sermon? You hear people all the time confess that Jesus “was a good man, who taught us some good things” people who refuse to believe in Him will admit that. But was Jesus not rearranging the harmonies and melodies for us so that the song might sound a bit differently?
“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus AND called to BE HOLY, TOGETHER with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours.” 1 Cor. 1:2 NIV
“For He chose us IN HIM before the creation of the world to BE HOLY…” Ephesians 1:4 NIV
“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me His prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, BY THE POWER OF GOD, who has saved us AND called us to a HOLY life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.” 2 Timothy 1:8-9 NIV
“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.” First He said, ’sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’ (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, ‘here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made HOLY THROUGH the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:5-10 NIV
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; BE self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so BE HOLY in ALL you do; for it is written: ‘BE Holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16 NIV
I often wonder though, if as Christians we’ve been set free from sin and death, and we are now victorious, why does it seem like so many christians live lives that look anything but (Gal. 5:1, Eph. 1:19-20)?? You ever wonder that? We sing about how victorious each sunday, but then we walk out the doors and right back to the rhythm of our defeated self-righteous thinking. Could it be that we’ve preached (and heard) one too many sermons about how to be “better”? It’s amazing what happens when we get the focus off of ourselves and our tiny limited strength and on to Christ. Notice, we’re told, be HOLY… not better. The only way that will ever happen is by allowing Him to break us down, break us apart, and put us back together in a way that only He can – and trust me, He WILL do it.
I love what Paul writes in Romans 6: 19-23 NIV “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin (we ALL were at one point), you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So today, may you exchange the exhausting efforts of trying to be “better” – the dead end rhythm of self- righteousness, and allow God to break you, and keep you broken. Because it’s only when we are broken that the priceless stuff on the inside is able to shine through and pour out. I’m not sure that a dark world cares about Christians being better, but I wonder what would happen if a cold, sleeping, dead church would wake up and allow the melody of grace and the harmony of holiness produce a new sound, a new symphony. The world has been listening to what we’ve had to say for years, I wonder if the church hasn’t been playing a few things horribly out of tune? You can take the most amazing symphony ever written, place the sheet music in front of the musicians, but if the instruments aren’t in tune, forget making anything sound sweet. Or imagine giving that same piece of music to the JH marching band in town…
It’s amazing the beautiful sound that a bunch of in-tune instruments can produce… BE HOLY today, simply because HE is Holy.
“For God, who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-12 NIV
