The following is a summary of the conversation we had last Sunday.
The word for today is “grateful.” We are called to be followers of Jesus Christ, which means that we are all in the process of deciding if we are ready and willing to actually follow. But, the reality is that we won’t follow a stranger. This means that following Jesus begins with a relationship. We experience His presence in our lives and we learn to trust Him more and more every day.
What this means is that everything we do in Church should help us to build our relationship to the living God. In fact, the ultimate goal is for us to become like Him and He has made the way for this new life.So, from time to time we gather together to celebrate this relationship and our transformation and this is what we call “WORSHIP.”
The word that should define everything we do in the Church is “GRATEFUL.” Worship was never meant to be an educational program and it was never meant to be a spectator sport. Worship is each of us individually coming together corporately to declare that we are “forever grateful” for all that God has done for us. Worship is not about us but it says something about us. When we give up our time to be in worship we are making a statement about what is valuable to us. Being in Church (or staying home) are both statements we make about what is important.
And this is the continual challenge we face. If our goal is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, how is that love expressed? If we actually love the Lord with everything we have how do we measure that love? If I keep saying that I love potato salad but never eat potato salad wouldn’t you wonder what I meant by that statement? If I said that I love football but never watched football or played football wouldn’t you want to know what football really meant to me? If I say that I love God and it doesn’t affect the way I talk and act and the way I spend my time and my money wouldn’t you want to know what I mean when I make that claim? Our friends want to know!
What I’m getting to is that at some point our conversation about love has to become pragmatic. What am I willing to do because I love the Lord MY God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength? What sacrifices am I willing to make because I love my neighbor as I love myself? The offering is not us just paying the bills. The offering is me trying to put into real, meaningful terms how much I love Jesus. In that sense, the offering may be the most significantly spiritual moment in the entire worship gathering because it is me putting into real terms what my love for Him really means.
What you and I give should have nothing to do with what your Church’s annual budget is. You and I should give out of thanksgiving for what God has done (and is doing) in our lives. You and I should give because we love Jesus more than we love anything else. In order for me to be thankful my giving has to mean something to me. It’s not enough that I gave more than you did. That misses the whole point. What I give has to mean something to me or it means nothing at all.
I’ve always thought that a tithe was a good place to begin the conversation. Julie and I have been “tithers” for our entire married life even when we had nothing, even when we were raising three small children, even when we had to borrow money to pay our taxes God deserved our love and thanksgiving. It wasn’t always much and it was never enough but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make. It meant something to us. I can imagine that there are people in the world for whom a tithe wouldn’t mean anything at all and for those people a tithe wouldn’t be enough.
My mother is 94 years old and she lives on social security and a small pension my father had from his years with the police department in La Crosse. Last time we talked about it, my mother was giving $20 each week to her local church. Sadly enough, at the time I think that made my mother one of the largest givers to her local church. She gives because she’s thankful.
Every day we express our thanksgiving and as we do there are a number of principles that we need to pay attention to.
“…of him who has much, much will be expected.” (Luke 12:48)
“…the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly” (2 Cor. 9:6)
“You cannot serve both God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13)
It is always about being thankful.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Now All We Need Is A Marching Band
I was watching the Badger game on Saturday (before running off to Church for a wedding) and I found myself fascinated (again) with the sheer energy of the game and it had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.
There were thousands of people (a sea of Badger red) jumping and screaming and cheering on the team and I know that this scene (except for the Badger red) was being replayed all over the country and I began wondering (not for the first time) what it was, about this game or this setting, that generated this kind of excitement.
My first thought, and the easy answer, was “beer.” Why else would people pay anywhere from $50 to $300 a ticket to spend three hours outdoors on metal bench seats in the cold and the rain and be glad for the opportunity? Intoxication would explain a lot of that behavior but the problem with my “beer theory” is that I personally know people who are practical “teetotalers” and are just as fanatical as anyone else.
The real question I want answered (a question you hear preachers use from time to time) is why are we so willing to act like fools for a game but never express that same kind of passion for Jesus?
I’m guessing here, but I suspect that the difference between the game and Jesus is that we know that the game doesn’t really matter and contrariwise we intuitively know that Jesus is important (or at the very least could be important) and we don’t want to mess this up.
What we have with the game is confidence. What we don’t have with Jesus is confidence. What Jesus came to provide for us is confidence in Him.
Jesus said to the paralytic, “…that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Luke 5:24
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “…believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” John 10:38
The Apostle Paul said, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” Ephesians 1:18
When we KNOW Jesus forgiveness in our lives, when we KNOW He is able to change things, when we really KNOW “the hope to which he has called” us then we can begin to dance and shout and sing in a whole new way and we might even begin to think of ourselves as Jesus’ FANS. We are supposed to KNOW. Now all we need is a marching band.
There were thousands of people (a sea of Badger red) jumping and screaming and cheering on the team and I know that this scene (except for the Badger red) was being replayed all over the country and I began wondering (not for the first time) what it was, about this game or this setting, that generated this kind of excitement.
My first thought, and the easy answer, was “beer.” Why else would people pay anywhere from $50 to $300 a ticket to spend three hours outdoors on metal bench seats in the cold and the rain and be glad for the opportunity? Intoxication would explain a lot of that behavior but the problem with my “beer theory” is that I personally know people who are practical “teetotalers” and are just as fanatical as anyone else.
The real question I want answered (a question you hear preachers use from time to time) is why are we so willing to act like fools for a game but never express that same kind of passion for Jesus?
I’m guessing here, but I suspect that the difference between the game and Jesus is that we know that the game doesn’t really matter and contrariwise we intuitively know that Jesus is important (or at the very least could be important) and we don’t want to mess this up.
What we have with the game is confidence. What we don’t have with Jesus is confidence. What Jesus came to provide for us is confidence in Him.
Jesus said to the paralytic, “…that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Luke 5:24
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “…believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” John 10:38
The Apostle Paul said, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” Ephesians 1:18
When we KNOW Jesus forgiveness in our lives, when we KNOW He is able to change things, when we really KNOW “the hope to which he has called” us then we can begin to dance and shout and sing in a whole new way and we might even begin to think of ourselves as Jesus’ FANS. We are supposed to KNOW. Now all we need is a marching band.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Maroon Car Jesus
The other day I was driving down National Ave. when a maroon car with a Jesus fish on the trunk and a cross decal in the rear window made a right turn without stopping and pulled in front of me. I applied the brakes to keep from ending up in “maroon car’s” back seat and then spent the next few minutes following this car and thinking about what it means to be a witness for Jesus.
Two blocks later we stopped at a red light and the person in the maroon car turned right at the red light so that they could turn left into a bank parking lot and then back onto the road, breaking traffic laws, in an effort to bypass the light. It worked, in the sense that the maroon car with Jesus on the back got where it wanted to go without getting stopped by an officer of the law, but it didn’t go unnoticed. Someone is always paying attention.
This is the lesson that all of we who follow Jesus need to understand and apply. When we claim Jesus as our Savior we take on the responsibility of representing Jesus in the world and someone is always paying attention. This means that every word we say, every thing we do, every trip we take, and every dollar we spend is a statement that is being read by someone. This means that our entire lives needs to be laid as a sacrifice on His altar.
Now, I understand that there are extenuating circumstances that no one but God will see or understand and it’s possible that “maroon car Jesus” may have been desperately trying to get to the hospital because of some family emergency but that doesn’t release me from my commitment. My relationship to Jesus needs to be more than just a set of sacred songs or a holy litany performed in a congregation. My faith has to go beyond Sunday or Christmas or Easter and be embodied in the ordinary things of my every day life. Until my relationship to Jesus becomes the core of who I am it hasn’t become what it needs to be.
I expect it is possible that one day it will be my turn to be that one who is rushing to the hospital and when that time comes I know that God will understand if my life (in that moment) doesn’t adequately reflect his love made real. I hope that those who see my desperation won’t blame my failure on Jesus.
But, today, I need to live my life as if someone is watching because someone is.
Two blocks later we stopped at a red light and the person in the maroon car turned right at the red light so that they could turn left into a bank parking lot and then back onto the road, breaking traffic laws, in an effort to bypass the light. It worked, in the sense that the maroon car with Jesus on the back got where it wanted to go without getting stopped by an officer of the law, but it didn’t go unnoticed. Someone is always paying attention.
This is the lesson that all of we who follow Jesus need to understand and apply. When we claim Jesus as our Savior we take on the responsibility of representing Jesus in the world and someone is always paying attention. This means that every word we say, every thing we do, every trip we take, and every dollar we spend is a statement that is being read by someone. This means that our entire lives needs to be laid as a sacrifice on His altar.
Now, I understand that there are extenuating circumstances that no one but God will see or understand and it’s possible that “maroon car Jesus” may have been desperately trying to get to the hospital because of some family emergency but that doesn’t release me from my commitment. My relationship to Jesus needs to be more than just a set of sacred songs or a holy litany performed in a congregation. My faith has to go beyond Sunday or Christmas or Easter and be embodied in the ordinary things of my every day life. Until my relationship to Jesus becomes the core of who I am it hasn’t become what it needs to be.
I expect it is possible that one day it will be my turn to be that one who is rushing to the hospital and when that time comes I know that God will understand if my life (in that moment) doesn’t adequately reflect his love made real. I hope that those who see my desperation won’t blame my failure on Jesus.
But, today, I need to live my life as if someone is watching because someone is.
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