St. John Studies

How much do we really want the truth in church?

Probably not much…

Sadly, the church today waters the truth down quite a lot…you know that.

I think I have used this example before but I am going to refer to it again. A few years ago, a pastor in Hopkinsville [at a Methodist Church] was asked to move along to another church. I was told by a long-time leader of the church that he just preached too much heaven and hell. They had to let him go.

What does that mean?

He talked about salvation and the opposite too much.

Threatening?

Probably. Not what the church wanted to hear.

Today’s church is obsessed with numbers. Many pastors want large crowds. I understand that. A couple of years ago, I worked hard to do a men’s study in my home. I emailed, sent letters, announced from the front of the church, put notices in the bulletin, bought the food, prepped my lesson and have no men show up. Zero. It was just me and my lesson. It hurt not to have a number.

Pastors don’t want that.

They want large crowds.

To get that, what do they have to do?

Maybe water down the truth.

Keep this in mind. I am a trained speaker by trade. I spent 36 years trying to get students to analyze their audiences before they spoke before them. What does audience analysis mean? It means asking key questions about their audience like what does your audience believe about your topic? What is their attitude toward your topic? What types of people are in the audience [race, socioeconomic level, education, gender etc.]? What do they expect from you as a speaker? I told them the key to speaking success is knowing your audience.

Did Jesus have good audience analysis skills? Was Jesus obsessed with getting the numbers?

No.

Look at Luke 8: 10. Jesus had just preached to a large crowd the parable of the sower and many in the crowd were confused.

“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ ”

Jesus wanted quality, not quantity.

Today’s church is scared.

We are scared we are going to do something that will run people off. Pastor has a personal problem that gets rumored around church—people run off. Child care gets cancelled for an event—people run off. Service times get changes—people run off. Budget gets cut—people run off. Pastor preaches a message that steps on a toe—people run off.

It does not take much.

You see in Luke 8: 10, Jesus is saying that if you are really with me, you will get the parable. You will understand that to pour water on the seed planted on rock is a waste of time. To fertilize seed that will be choked out by thorns is a waste of time.

But what do we do in the church today?

Pour water on the rocks.

Fertilize seed that has been cast among the thorns.

That seed is not going to grow.

Church is about the worship of God. To go to church is to go to be with followers of God.

Pure and simple.

Yet what is church for many?

For many, church is just a place to go once in a while to be seen. It is just a place to go because Mommy and Daddy told you “you must go to church.” It is just a place to go to be a person who controls other people and in the process, the light gets shined on you and you like that light, you love it. It is a place to go for you to feel good about yourself; no one is going to ask you do anything really. You can do your “duty” for the week and go home and feel good about yourself for another week. There are a lot of reasons to go to church but they are not about the worship of God or the joy of being around other followers of God.

Why do people not like church?

Some who don’t go, don’t like to be in the company of people who don’t look like they are following Jesus, don’t like to be in the company of people who don’t live like they are following Jesus, and don’t like to be in the company of people who don’t act like they are following Jesus.

What is Pastor Chan saying in Chapter 5?

Church should be a place for us to go to be with God. We are challenged there. It is not all easy. God asks us to do things that may be hard. That’s ok. He is trying to sow seeds. Don’t you want to be the good soil that yields a crop, “a hundred times more than was sown?”

Or do you want to be rock. The seed is sewn but it won’t produce. All the water in the world can be poured on that seed and it is a waste of time.

*Inspiration for this post was from the Francis Chan video “If Jesus were the pastor of your church, you probably would not go there.”

When was the last time you really took a chance? Walked in faith… Let the Lord lead you… Listened to your Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit take over…

When was the last time you prayed to the Lord, “put me where you need me; I will go.”

If you take a chance, you can change your life. More importantly, you can change other lives.

Let me tell you a true story of a man who took a chance with me. I was in college and not sure what I wanted to do for a major, an occupation. I was enrolled in a class called “Introduction to Literature” and I did know that I admired my professor. He seemed to be such an intelligent man, sensitive to the meaning of books and I soon began to look up to him.

I am not sure  if he was a Christian. In fact, he probably was not, but there were character qualities that I admired about him.

I am 100% sure that he has passed away now since I am 63 and he would have to be 100 [what are the chances?].

I finished his class and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had. I not only learned a lot but in some ways I knew that I now had a mentor. I wanted to be an English teacher because of this man. I wanted to have more lessons from him.

That’s chancy…to choose an occupation based on your admiration of a person. Essentially you are saying that “I want to be like this guy.”

Anyway, I was ready to move on in my life from Intro. To Literature and I was about to make some changes. I was moving off-campus with a new set of friends. My girlfriend was coming to college and I was very excited about that.

Then I got sick…

I got so sick that I had to drop out of college.

I was devastated. I went home to recuperate and the recuperation period was not short. I missed a whole semester while my mentor kept on inspiring other young students and my girlfriend attended her first semester of college [without me].

Second semester of my recuperation began and I was beginning to show signs of improvement. By mid-term of the second semester, I felt well enough to take a job sacking groceries in a Sureway Market. This was not the career goal I expected to have but it did get me out of the house doing something and even that was therapeutic.

I was beginning to experience another problem. The more I stayed home away from college, the more I considered not returning. It just seemed like my age group was passing me by and I was missing out. The return to college was beginning to be more than I could comprehend. It was too complex. It was too demanding. Added to this, I began to feel depression and a heavy dose of laziness.

Then it happened. One day when I had finished my “stimulating” work at the market, I went to the mailbox and there it was…a letter from someone who was willing to take a chance.

A letter from my mentor.

He took the time to pen a letter of encouragement, urging me to return to college. Telling me that the sickness that I had was bad but it could make me stronger. I needed to pick myself up and get back to school.

I don’t know why he wrote it, but it meant the world to me.

It got me back to college where I finished my degree and then went on to school even further.

He took a chance.

When you read Crazy Love, you get the impression that Pastor Chan wants you to sell your home and move to Thailand and become a Bible translator.

That’s not necessary.

He did that and more.

He sold his home and took his wife and five children to Asia to find where God would lead them. That’s fine.   He was married two weeks and then he started a church in his home which grew into a mega-church. That’s fine. From his church, he started a college. That’s fine also.

All those things are great. Those are examples of a man who is willing to take a chance, but you know the things we do don’t need to be on a grand scale to do the Lord’s work.

Make the phone call, tell your friend that you care for them, send out the card to someone who is going through a hard time, pat someone on the back and tell they are doing a good job.

Take fifteen minutes and write a struggling, lost, young man a letter, telling him his place is back at college.

I could make all the difference in one person’s life.

Take that chance.

If I could tell Professor Ben Jones what I thought about him today, I would say “I thank God for you.”

You took a chance on me.

*Comments on Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love…

Philippians 3: 13-14:  “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead press on toward the goal…”

Have you ever felt stagnant in your faith?  Have you ever known someone who is?  Are you that way now?

I stumbled across the “Plainsimplefaith” webpage run by Ben Giselbach, a pastor at Montgomery, Alabama and he makes some interesting points that tie in well with Chapter 5 of Crazy Love.

First of all, you cannot be stagnant if you are truly a Christian.  Stagnant means “still, motionless, static, stationary, standing, dead and slack.”  Either a Christian is growing stronger or they are growing weaker.  They are either moving closer to God or they are moving away.

In Hebrew 2:1, the Bible says “We must pay more careful attention therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”

What are 4 signs that you are drifting away?

1.Your relationship with God becomes “old hat.”  It is not interesting anymore; in fact, it is boring.  The amazing opportunity God has provided for you is not exciting.  He asks you to try to love Him and follow His commandments and promises you will feel a peace, you know that peace “that passes all understanding.”

Folks that is real and it is the payoff of a life devoted to Christ.

That in itself is excitement enough for anyone.

But you are not feeling that anymore.  You are drifting.

2.You don’t understand the Bible any better this year than last year.  I was talking to a Bible teacher yesterday and he is looking forward to teaching a class at church and he said something that is all too true.  “I hope I cause some people to pick up their Bibles and knock the dust off of them.”  That’s the state of things in too many churches today.  If you are not growing, Bible study has probably stopped.  You are drifting.

3.You need coaxing to grow.  You aren’t excited about worship.  You aren’t excited about attending any events at church.  You are shying away from taking the lead on anything that needs your help.  You need motivation and encouragement to get up and go to honor your God.  The problem with all this is that you should not need encouragement.  You should want to go.  You are drifting.

4.You have reached the point in life where you know you are beginning to blur the line between right and wrong in your life.  Pastor Giselbach says “Do you find yourself constantly trying to justify sinful behavior? Are you reluctant to take a stand on moral issues? Are you always willing to ‘push the envelope’ when it comes to your own moral boundaries?”  Moral stands are tough and it is hard to comb through a complex issue and figure where the truth is.  It is not bad to keep an open mind and collect facts before coming down hard on an issue.  However being wishy washy forever and having no stand whatsoever is the sign of a weak moral character.  Eventually Matthew 5: 37 comes into play: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”  You are drifting.

“Spiritual growth is a result of a determination to grow” Pastor Giselbach says and he is right.

God does not want us to be stagnant.

Let us press on in life to the point where we desire “solid food”.  That is the food for the mature Christian.

This drifting is bad, for it is moving away from God.  It is a slow process and it occurs in increments.  We drift further and further away every day until we are no longer capable of calling ourselves Christian.  There is nothing that would distinguish you from any worldly person walking down the street.

You have forgotten your Christian goal.

You are drifting…

It is so discouraging to realize that Christians lack assurance that they are saved.

I have had times like that in my life, when I thought I was so mired in bad behavior that I thought I would never see the light of day.

How could God cover my sins, especially those I do over and over?

You know those bad habits that you think have become part of who you are.

You think they have become part of who you are.

I tried to repent over and over,  over a period of many years, but the problems I had were still there no matter how hard I tried.  I knew I was doing wrong but I just couldn’t stop it.

Can you relate?

We all know the famous verse from Romans, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  And we know that we are never going to “get it right” here on earth.

That’s why reading “Serving Leftovers to a Holy God” is so hard to read.  Pastor Chan said it was the hardest chapter to write but what about the reader?  It is the hardest chapter in the book that we have to read.

It makes you think you have lost your salvation.

He throws down the gauntlet.  He says God expects excellence.  Pastor Chan calls it “evil” when we give God less than our best.  Read how he describes ordinary Christian behavior “A mumbled three minute prayer at the end of the day, when we are already half asleep.  Two crumpled-up dollar bills thrown as an after-thought into the church’s fund for the poor. Fetch, God!”

Hard to read, isn’t it?

Because it is so true.

Does this Pastor know about grace?

Of course he does.  He quotes verse after verse about how God’s grace is sufficient but Chan still holds our feet to the fire, so to speak.  We can’t go to the recliner and expect God’s grace to be all that we need.   Everyone messes up but Chan says we have to move forward beyond the sin.

I had a friend who is now a pastor.  Before he became a pastor he had some good advice.  He said, “we all mess up, but the key is not to wallow in pity.   God knows you and He knows you are prone to mess up, but pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep moving forward.”

Now we are getting somewhere.  What Pastor Chan really cannot stand is stagnant Christians.

Grace does cover the weakness we feel from time to time and the penchant to sin.  We are born to sin and we don’t lose our salvation when we sin, but when we stagnate, that’s when Pastor Chan says “I won’t see that person in heaven.”

People get used to the mediocre and they think that is all they can do.  It becomes a habit and they don’t try anymore.   We get comfortable with our sins and they become who we are.

Back to me being mired in sin.  I have another friend who is a very astute student of the Bible.  Once he told me that I don’t have what it takes to conquer my sins.  If I have a sin that is recurring and I want to conquer it, I have to turn it over to God.  God will fix the penchant to sin in you.  God will respond to the prayer “I don’t have what it takes to rid myself of this Lord.  You take over.  Do what you have to do to rid me of this.  I will obey.  What suffering I have to endure, I will endure in order to be rid of this recurring sin.”

I have had to change…because He did what I asked Him to do.  It took a while [God’s timing] but He altered my life to the point that I learned a new way of living.  I am not the same person I was before but I asked for His help and He helped.   He has taken some things away and that was painful.   Change is always painful, but He got my attention.

You see God means business, especially when you ask Him to clean your house.

He will.

It is scary though because you don’t know what He is going to do.  It hurts when some of your stuff is thrown away but He knows it is for the best. Once it is gone, it’s gone.  Once you have given Him control, He will fix things.

You may not be happy in the beginning but you will have joy when you realize that you are a better person without some of the stuff that you once had.

Want to assure your salvation?

Don’t call yourself a Christian if you are not working to grow better.  Pastor Chan says you can’t join the Marines without having to do all the work.  The same goes for the label “Christian”.   Don’t tell people you are a Christian if you aren’t doing the work.

Truly and faithfully following Jesus is all about growing.  Growing Christians are the ones we will see in heaven.

I believe Francis Chan would have appreciated the founder* of the United Methodist Church.

I really want to draw a layman’s parallel between Pastor Chan and Wesley.

A man is influenced by his historical context and that must be said about Wesley.  You just can’t pull him out of the historical times in which he lived.  He lived in a period of spiritual decline for the Church of England [1703-1791].  The social climate was an ever widening gap between rich and poor, the rich flaunting their opulent lifestyle and the poor living in squalor.  Major population shift was occurring as the people of England were moving from the countryside to city life where they took industrial jobs.  Most industrial bosses had little concern for their workers; pay was bad and working conditions were dreadful.  Believe it or not, to make matters worse, 18^th century England was wracked with a gin addiction.  People who struggled in life turned to the gin bottle to drown their sorrows.

John Wesley was born in the middle of this situation, and he grew to be a man who felt that Christians should give God their best effort to make things better.  There was a lot of work to be done.

He knew of the suffering in his country and he was determined to do something about it.  It began with his own soul.  He worked hard to study the Bible, and had a daily Bible study, prayer group and accountability group at Oxford.  His group’s  Bible study lasted three hours daily.  He was ridiculed by his fellow students.  That is where the term Methodist came from.  Originally his group was labelled the “Holy Club” but they soon were referred to as Methodists because they had a method in their approach to their faith.

From his own soul, Wesley branched out.  He saw the problems in his world and he and his group started witnessing to people in prison and they started preaching on the street.

This was the beginning of a life devoted to Christ.  He was tireless in his effort to spread the message of Jesus.

Wesley felt that there were different stages of the Christian life and he coined terms to designate the stages.  He felt that God was active in every human’s life and he called the “pre-born again” grace, prevenient grace.  God has an active presence on our lives even though it is not that evident.  It is a gift from God.  When one accepts God, the next stage that is reached is called justifying grace.   One who feels’ God’s presence and acknowledges it, is justified or “made right” with God.  This is for many people a “born again” experience.  Sanctifying grace is the ongoing experience of God’s gracious presence transforming us into the person God intends us to be.  Wesley felt that Christians could enjoy sanctification their whole life, loving God and their neighbors, living a life of meekness and lowliness of heart, abstaining from all appearance of evil and doing all for the glory of God.

Sanctifying grace is not a one-time event; it is a never-ending event—a lifelong event.

I like to refer to it as steady Christian growth.  Pastor Chan calls it giving God your best.  It is life-long devotion to learning God’s work, witnessing to others and doing God’s work as God asks you to do it in this world.

Life-long work represents the man named John Wesley.

Wesley said of his mission in life:  “The world is my parish.”  In the 18^th century one had to get around on horseback and by the end of his life he had traveled 4,000 miles.  By the end of his life he has preached 40,000 sermons.

He was on fire for God.  He wanted to help his country out of the malaise it had fallen into and when it came to doing God’s work, he gave it his best effort.

As we have been studying Christians who give God leftovers and Christians who are lukewarm, this would not be John Wesley.  I can’t believe Pastor Chan would characterize John Wesley as one of “those” kind of Christians.  He preached right up to the last days of his life.  One of the last things he said on this earth was “The best of all, God is with us.”  Truly God was with John Wesley.

The more one studies his life, the more it is inspirational.   The more you learn, the more you realize that he was a man who went crazy with his love of God, many years before Francis Chan wrote Crazy Love.

One of Wesley’s most inspirational quotations is “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.”

This is not a quote from a man who gave God leftovers.

*[Some of you knowledgeable church historians know that Wesley did not “found” the Methodist Church but his denominational credentials are not the focus of this post.]

Pastor Chan says that writing chapter 5 was hard.  I thought chapter 4 was tough as he talked about how we are lukewarm as Christians.   Every lukewarm example sounded pretty familiar.

Now he says 5 was even harder; he comments on scriptural examples of poor responses to God’s gift of love.

It is bad enough to be lukewarm.

Pastor Chan says he won’t see the lukewarm Christian in heaven.

That is pretty strong stuff.

What about the person who serves leftovers to God.  I guess the Scripture he quotes [1 John 2: 3-4] says it all:  “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.  The man who says, ‘I know Him’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

I guess that is pretty clear.

God does not want our leftovers.

He wants our best.

In the Old Testament, there were many debates about what was sacrificed to the Lord.  The people wanted to bring blind animals to sacrifice.  They wanted to bring crippled or diseased animals.  The people figured that God knew that they needed their best animals to raise and eat and it was just good common sense to put the imperfect animals on the offering table.  God did not think so.

“I am not pleased with you…and I will accept no offering from your hands….When you bring crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices…cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.  For I am a great king, says the Lord almighty and my name is to be feared among the nations.”  [from Malachi, Chapter 3].

Today, the church is adapting to the type of Christian who wants to bring leftovers to God.

Don’t tell me I have to bear fruit from my beliefs in God… I have to love my   enemies, I have to help the poor, I have to support the church financially, I have to turn the other cheek etc. You are asking too much God.

Don’t tell me I have to follow the commandments.  Who does that anymore?  It is just too hard.  I had a 10 week Bible study on the Commandments not long ago and every week, the Sunday School hour in my class was a “squirm”, as I constantly made the class anxious.   We soon saw we were falling short of the commandments…the basics.

Don’t tell me I have to read the Bible and try to understand it.  I don’t like to read and that Bible is hard to understand.  Also, is it “cool” to carry a Bible around all the time?  Isn’t that a little extreme?  You are asking too much God.

Jesus said  “ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” [Matthew 28:19]   Does that mean that I have to speak to others about my belief in God?  I don’t want to do that.  It is embarrassing to be treated like an oddball.  I don’t know what to say anyway. I don’t deal well with rejection.  You are asking too much God.

Yes “we want to have our cake and eat it too” is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech.  The proverb literally means “you cannot both possess your cake and eat it”. Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. It can be used to say that one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or can handle.  Most Christians cannot handle being a Christian because it demands too much of their time, their behavior, their commitment but we want the label  anyhow.

What do we have when we have the label Christian applied to our name but we don’t practice what Jesus and God ask us to practice?

A meaningless label.

What do we give God when we don’t bear fruit with our faith, we break the commandments, we refuse to study God’s word and we decline to share our faith with others?

We give Him our leftovers.

Pastor Chan says he won’t see the lukewarm Christian in heaven.

What about the folks who are Christians but serve God the leftovers?

Must I say?

http://www.rightnowmedia.org/

Feeding Your Mind…

As we get ready to read, study and comment on Chapter 5 together, let’s take a moment and look at the intro video.

You may be subscribed to Right Now Media, a gift from our Pastor, Janet Carden.

Maybe you have not done that yet.  Maybe you think it is too hard to access this study tool.  Maybe you just can’t fit this into your life right now.  I don’t know.  There are multitudes of reasons why we don’t do things that maybe we should do.

But consider…

Using the link above.

Creating  a username.

Creating a password.

Logging on and watching the video.

Scroll down the array of videos and find a teaching that interests you and watch it.

Grow…

This transitions into my introduction to Chapter 5 pretty well.  Chapter 5 is about what we are feeding our mind.

I have been a member of St. John United Methodist church since March 1^st, 1998.

It has been a long and mostly enjoyable relationship as I have continued to worship there and volunteer there over the years.

I know my church pretty well since (in my volunteer role) I get to meet a lot of people.  I can truthfully say I love every one of my church family.  Some are harder to love than others and from time to time, sometimes I don’t like what someone does but that’s ok.  I know there are usually reasons why people behave the way they do and I certainly don’t have all the answers.

One thing I have noticed is that many folks at St. John are often stuck in the logical fallacy of “appeal to tradition.”  This is not unusual.  A fallacy is an illogical way of thinking and appeal to tradition is a very easy fallacy to believe.  It is based on this basic thought: “We have done things this way in the past and it has always worked.  There is no reason to find a better way, a smarter way, an easier way.  It has worked well in the past; let’s do it that way now.”

What is the problem with that type of thinking?

Maybe there is a better way.

Maybe there is a smarter way.

Maybe there is an easier way.

Maybe we have not been doing things in a Biblical way?

Oh no, I can’t believe I said that!

Get ready, Chapter 5 will step on your toes.  Maybe I just stepped on them.

Who does your thinking?  Do you probe your Bible?  Do you spend time thinking that Christian bracelet admonition “What Would Jesus Do?”  What that bracelet reminder makes you do is ask what you would do as a believer of Jesus and the New Testament [it seems to not be that “stylish” anymore].

Do you just blindly follow tradition?

Do you follow the crowd?

Are you a group thinker and not an independent thinker?

Granted, it is hard to think for yourself.  It is so much easier to follow others.   It is easier to blind yourself to how you really want to believe and adopt the beliefs of the “herd”.  Don’t consider the best way; follow the traditional way.  You will “fit in” better with others.

What do you need in order to do things differently?  What do you need in order to follow God’s path for you?

You know that the crowd is not doing the best thing.  They are doing the traditional thing.

You know that tradition is not the same thing as doing “What Jesus Would Do.”

You know in your heart that you are being led a different direction.

What do you need in order to do things differently?

You need God’s strength as you do what is right; not what is easy.

The big question of Chapter 5 is this:  what are you being fed?  A related big question is this:  are you in charge of feeding yourself?  A third big question is this: is your food coming from the New Testament?

Prosperity…

A wonderful home, a fine car, and all the luxuries of life.

Wow, this is the American dream isn’t it?

That is what we all work for in our American culture.  We turn on the television every day and see the “good life” depicted on the screen. Many of us are highly motivated to work hard so we can pay for it or maybe we are highly motivated to   apply for credit cards or bank loans so we can have it.  Yes many of us go into debt to get it.

We really want it.

But what good does it do us?

Pastor Chan quotes Frederic Huntington as he begins Chapter 4.  Let’s look at the quote.  “It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel.  It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.”  At first glance, this quote is not shocking.

Scientific doubt can quench the love for God’s word of course.  The idea is that science completely rules out the need for God.

Atheism is the belief that there is no God and that can certainly put a damper on the Gospel.

Pantheism is the idea that nature is the thing to worship; nature is the power of the universe, not God.

Agnosticism is the idea that if there is a God, then he is unknowable.  At least agnostics do not rule out the idea that God exists [like atheists]; they just think he is not connected to man in any way.

Prosperity is the thing that can quench the light of the gospel.

Prosperity.

The American dream.

Let’s do a little research about the Huntington quote.  When did Mr. Huntington write down this profound idea?

1890

Do you think this condition is any better in 2015?

You know the answer to that question.

The really sad thing is the church is not an encouraging place for us to escape the effect of gospel quenching prosperity.   When you get Americans together as a church family, the worship of prosperity happens there too.

You know what I mean.

What do you wear to church?  What kind of car do you drive to church?  What do you talk about in church?  Church can be a “dog and pony show” if you know what I mean.

Pastor Chan says “Most of us have too much in our lives.”  He quotes David Goetz by saying “Too much of the good life ends up being toxic, deforming us spiritually.”

I have been at my church for 18 years and I have been blessed by having a few ways to help out.  One thing I have been doing is arranging opportunities for church members to learn and grow in their faith.

I bring my American attitude into this.  I become overly concerned from time to time about the number of people who attend our classes at church.  The worry is about numbers, not the content of the class that will touch a person’s heart.  Pastors count the people in the pews.   Pastors feel success or failure by the number who come forward to join the church.   Pastors feel success or failure by the number of people who come to pray at the altar rail.  For Americans, numbers impress us.

Really, is that what is important?

Our American attitude is not helpful for a strong relationship with God.

It’s a shame.

Pastor Chan writes about Luke Chapter 8 and the parable of the seed.  The world is the source of the thorns that choke out the seed and keep them from growing.  The church is the source of the thorns that choke out the seed and keep them from growing.

Are you choking out God’s kingdom in your life by spending too much time, energy, money and thought on the things of this world.

What is important?

The luxuries of life, how prosperous you appear to others or keeping the light of the Gospel burning in your life?

You know the answer to that question.

Pastor Chan is pretty hard on us in Chapter 4.  He describes “lukewarm” Christians in great detail but today, let’s flip it over and describe a person who is “hot for God.”

First of all, when there is something going on at church the “hot for God” person [hfG] will be there.  We all know the sporadic attenders who come as an afterthought.  We all know the special holiday attenders.  The hfG person comes to meetings, fun groups, VBS work days, United Methodist Men events etc. etc.  When the church door is open, they are there.

The hfG person gives of their money.  They may give until it hurts.  They know that God will care for them no matter what, but they like to share what God has given them with others.  They recognize the needs of others.  They are not into luxuries and realize that luxury is not a requirement for life.

Popularity is not their concern.  When there is a tough issue, they let God guide their decision-making process.  They are not worried about what others think of them.  Their number one concern is doing the right thing in God’s eyes.  Worldly popularity may diminish but they are not concerned.

The hfG person wants to be cleansed of their sin.  They realize they have done wrong and desire to repent.  They don’t just want to avoid punishment; they want the sin to stop.

When a hfG person hears an inspiring story, they act on it and they change.  The work of others leads them to do better.  They are not afraid to take a chance for God.  They will work outside their comfort zone.  They are not content to do the bare minimum.

The hfG person is not afraid to share their faith with others.  They share often and feel called to do so.  They believe the Holy Spirit helps them in this process.

Comparing themselves to others is not on the hfG person’s list of things to do.  They realize that the world’s standards are not good enough.  They follow God’s standards as much as possible.  They love Jesus as completely as they can.  They don’t put Jesus into a small compartment that they use as needed.  He is the main theme of the hfG person’s life.  They love God with all their heart, soul and strength.  In fact, the hfG person loves God so much that love of self is not high up on their list.  Love of others is.

If God asks a hfG person to serve, they will, no matter what God asks.

A hfG person thinks about heaven a lot and they realize that time on earth is short and we need to make the most out of it.  They have something special about them.  They are “set apart” in their behavior.  Living by faith causes them to seem different from the usual Christian.

Why have I done this “flip” of Chapter 4?

I would rather give us all something to aspire to than make us feel guilty as we see ourselves as “lukewarm.”

That’s exactly what will happen as we read the inventory of the lukewarm Christian.

Pastor Chan wants us to take stock of our belief in God.  He says as much in the lines, “We are all messed-up human beings. And no one is totally immune to the behaviors [of the lukewarm Christian].  However there is a difference between a life that is characterized by these sorts of mentalities and habits and a life that is in the process of being radically transformed…now is the time to take a serious self-inventory.”

Lukewarm or hfG?

What type of Christian do you want to be?

Ok this is hard to admit but over the years, I have watched a few minutes of “The Jerry Springer Show” and I have thought, “I have problems and I am not doing what I should be doing, but at least I am not like those people.”

Just being honest here…

Wow, what a wonderful example of the mental exercise of rationalization that is.

I am comparing myself to people who are so brazen with their life challenges that they parade their problems on tv for money.   You may know the show.  Jerry has all kinds of guests.   People who are two-timing a spouse are a regular.  Individuals with unique sexual needs are often on the show; in fact his website today is calling for transgendered people to contact the show.  He can make you a star.

Springer does not just talk to people; he sets them up to confront each other and the audience.  They usually yell at their friends and family members on the show and eventually have an altercation with Springer bouncers trying to keep people apart.  The audience participates as they hurl derogatory comments at the guests.

It is a spectacle.

I am ashamed that I even know about it but “at least I am not like those people.”

What a cop out.

The point I am trying to make is, do you think God is calling us to a higher standard?

Of course He is, and I say that without being hateful about Springer’s guests.  No one should look down on another human being; we should have empathy for people who have greater problems than we do.  Disgust is not the right response.  Arrogance in my “at least” statement is not the right response.  Pity is not the right response either.

All these thoughts I am having about the Jerry Springer Show are leading me to one idea.  Why do we compare ourselves to others?

Jerry Springer’s guests may not be the best example of the comparison game we play, but what about the people you run around with in your church?  Do you want to fit in with them?  Probably you do.  But what if they are just being as Pastor Chan says “godly enough” to be acceptable in their social group at church?  Is that enough?

What if you want more?  What if you feel God is asking more of you than those in your social group?  What if you know that you need more?  Down deep inside, you know that you need to face your problems honestly, you need to change and you need to grow.

Are you going to let your need for acceptance from others hold you back?

That’s what happens to many of us.

I have a friend that is so worried about acceptance from others that he does all kinds of mental gymnastics to please the people he is with.  Granted, he is a businessman but do business people have solid opinions?  Of course they do.  Not him.  When he is with a conservative crowd, he takes strong positions on gun control, free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.   When he is with people with liberal minds, he talks social justice, voting rights for minorities, reproductive rights for women, support for same-sex marriage, and government programs such as education and health care.

What is this guy?

A chameleon.

He is taking the idea of fitting into a social group to the extreme, all in the name of social comparison.  He has an overpowering need to “fit in.”

Pastor Chan says in chapter 4, that Jesus spoke in parables so he could separate true believers in the crowd from those who were just faking it, people who think they are “godly enough.”  He says that “He [Jesus] just wasn’t interested in those who fake it.”

It is not good to compare yourself to others, unless the person you are comparing yourself to is what we call a “saint”, a mentor, a person who can teach you, stretch you and take you in directions that are closer to our Lord and Savior.

Being “godly enough” is ok I guess, if you are going to let your social group rule your life.

Letting God rule your life can be lonely.  You may be doing things that others just don’t understand and maybe they will see you and wonder if they are ok.  “You seem to be more godly.”

One of my best friends who continues to inspire me, mentor me, and lead me is Brian Coatney.  He writes about the road of life that one takes where the Holy Spirit is the guide.  “All roads start with the Spirit in you, and no road is the right road until that is settled. When it is, every road is the right road, no matter how curious or odd it seems.”

Dare to be different.

Dare to be odd.

If God is your mentor, your life will feel right.

That is all that really matters, isn’t it?

*special note.  Some of you know I am married to a wonderful woman but you may not know she is dealing with a sick mother and sick sister right now.  I tell you this to give her credit, for she is my editor.  In normal circumstances, she proofreads every post and corrects my errors, points out unclear sentences and debates issues with me.  For the past two weeks, she has been in the hospital with mom and sister more than she has been at home.  If you notice an error or two, please know that I am missing her at home and the blog is missing her sharp eye and intelligent editing mind.  Pray for Martha and Shawna please.