St. John Studies

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.

“Sometimes I feel like when I make decisions that are remotely biblical, people who call themselves Christians are the first to criticize and say I’m crazy.”

Pastor Francis Chan

What is wrong with the Christian who just likes the label “Christian”?  You know what I mean.  This type of Christian wants to associate with other Christians, they want to be accepted by a church, they want people to think they are nice…but they don’t want to do anything with their faith.

That is the real kicker.

Doing something with your faith.

Do you think God is happy when you put on the “label” Christian but you do nothing except wear that label?

In addition, do you think that “Christians” who work hard for Jesus are any better?    I have friends who do a lot of good works and they keep a long list that they will report at the drop of a hat but are they really working hard for God or for themselves?  Works without faith are dead.

I know that some may question that idea.  Also you may have the attitude that any good work is better than no work at all; however, if the work is a way to earn your way to heaven, do you think God is going to honor that?

We can’t bargain with God.  He knows all our ulterior motives.  From Hebrews 4 the author writes “The word of God is living and active….it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

We kid ourselves when we think we can put on a label and that is enough.  God knows it is only a label.  We may fool people here on earth but not God.  We kid ourselves when we try to leverage our way into an eternal reward.  God knows what we are doing.  Our good acts are not for Him; they are for us to look good before Him.

What is Pastor Chan talking about when he says “Christians are the first to criticize?”

He is talking about people who think he is doing strange things, he is defying cultural norms, he is “acting out”.

Maybe he is just doing what God demands.

In chapter 4 Pastor Chan goes right to the heart of the problem of lukewarm Christians with his reference to the parable of the sower.  In Luke, Jesus talks of the seed [the word of God] that is flung in the path and is quickly stolen away.  The seed that is tossed on the rocks cannot root because there is no soil.  The seed that is tossed in the thorns cannot grow because it is choked out by the thorns.  The seed that goes into the good soil takes root and grows.

Then Pastor Chan says it.

“Do not assume you are good soil.”

Tell that to a Christian who is only wearing a label and what will you get?  A negative response.  Tell that to a Christian who is working their way to heaven and what will you get?  Indignation.

But is it true?

Where is your heart?

Will you respond to God’s urging when he asks you to do something that everyone else tells you is crazy?  Will you respond when you are uncomfortable doing what God demands?  Will you give to someone with a serious need when God calls you to part with something you value?  Will you aid someone when God’s urging causes you to stretch your finances?

Crazy love, follow your heart kind of love, doing God’s will kind of love, secret acts that only you and God know kind of love…the kind of love that proves you are good soil.

Revelation 3:15-16  (NIV)  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

In John’s vision, recorded in the book of Revelation, Christ instructs John to write a message to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The message to Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-16 is one of judgement with a call to repentance.   The Laodiceans were being criticized for their neutrality or lack of zeal (hence “lukewarm”).

It is not a positive reference.

Tepid

Apathetic

Indifferent

Uncommitted

Unconcerned

World-weary

Uninterested

Wow, do you want any of those words applied to you [all synonyms for lukewarm]?  Probably not.

Pastor Chan is writing in chapter 4 about the lukewarm and I hope you do not see yourself in this chapter.

Chances are that you will…chances are I will too.

What does Christ demand?  Full commitment.

Have you ever done research on the 12 Disciples?

What did He say to them when they joined his ministry?

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:34-36).

What happened to them?

Peter and Paul were both martyred in Rome about 66 AD.   Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified, upside down.

Andrew went to what is now Russia and was crucified.

“Doubting” Thomas was probably most active in the area east of Syria. He died there when pierced through with the spears of four soldiers.

Phillip had a powerful ministry in Carthage in North Africa and then in Asia Minor where he was arrested and cruelly put to death.

Matthew the tax collector and writer of a Gospel, ministered in Persia and Ethiopia. Some of the oldest reports say he was not martyred, but many others say he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.

Bartholomew had widespread missionary travels attributed to him and on his travels he met his death as a martyr for the gospel.

James the son of Alpheus ministered in Syria. The Jewish historian Josephus reported that he was stoned and then clubbed to death.

Simon the Zealot ministered in Persia and was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.

Mattias was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. He was sent to Syria with Andrew and put to death by burning.

John is the only one of the company generally thought to have died a natural death from old age.   This is not to say that he did not suffer.  Of course he was exiled to the island of Patmos.  An early Latin tradition has him escaping unhurt after being cast into boiling oil at Rome.  In short, he suffered for his faith.

What does Jesus ask of you and me?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s a heavy duty request.

It’s no wonder that we have to admit to being “lukewarm”.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Chapter 3 in Crazy Love is all about Pastor Chan trying to get us to realize that God loves us.

Yesterday in Sunday School I discussed another reason why we can’t deal with this idea.

The Jonah Complex.

This is a fairly well-known psychological term based on the Old Testament character Jonah who ran from God.  God sent Jonah on a mission to Nineveh to warn the people of His impending wrath for their behavior but Jonah does not want to go.  Instead he goes in the opposite direction.  He runs from the work that God gives him to do.

Psychologists have taken this story and applied it to the common problem that all people have, the tendency to settle into a rut, living life as if it will go on forever, wasting your time in the comfort zone.

Abraham Maslow coined these ideas based on his hierarchy of needs pyramid that explains that man must take care of lower order needs in order to meet higher order needs like esteem needs or self-actualization.  In fact this is where the Jonah Complex comes in.  People will never be self-actualized because they are too busy taking care of lower order needs;  paying the bills, taking responsibility for their family etc.

The excuses go deeper.  People don’t dare live their dreams because they are too worried about being perceived as selfish.  They are afraid to be arrogant.  Victor Frankl said regarding the Jonah Complex “What is to give light must endure burning.”  In other words, to grow is to deal with change, pain and uncertainty.  Some people do not have supportive people around them; in fact, they have the opposite.  They have people in their lives who want them to stay the same.  Why?  Because if they change, others begin to question their own lives.  They think maybe I need to do something to be a better person?  Who is this new friend?  I don’t know how to deal with them.

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as fear of greatness.  If you self-actualize, you may be put up on a pedestal and that is a very uncomfortable place for people to exist.  Too much attention and too much notoriety can be a scary thing.

What do we do?

We stay in the rut.

I have quoted this before but I am going to throw it in again.  A.W. Tozer says “A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God.  That is man’s greatest tragedy and God’s heaviest grief.”

Pastor Chan lost his mother in his childbirth.  He lost his father at age 12.  Pastor Chan has a sense of urgency.  He admits in his book, we are only here for a brief time and we should not waste our time.

Henry Drummond, the great Scottish evangelist said “I pass through this world but once.  Any good therefore, that I can do, or any kindness I can show any human being, let me do it now.  Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”

Have you ever wondered why you are alive on earth right now?

Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is?

Have you ever wondered what God has in store for you?

Are you running in the opposite direction from the work God has for you to do, like Jonah?

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

I don’t believe God created me to live in a rut or a comfort zone.

I don’t believe He intended that for you either.