Monday Morning Rewind: The Blessings of a Unified Family

"Family."

Almost every time this word is used in our culture, the intent is to portray an overwhelmingly positive picture of warmth, openness, acceptance, and love.

But let's be honest.  More than a few in our world have had experiences with family that were anything but the way that word is described.  Additionally, even those of us who come from "healthy families" have to admit that few moments in our lives resemble a Norman Rockwell painting.  For most of us, "family" includes times of hassle, drama, conflict and dysfunction.

Likewise, when we speak of a "church family," we are speaking of a group of people related to each other by our common faith in Jesus, but who are often very different from each other.  And sometimes, those differences come out in ways that make us look less like  Norman Rockwell painting, and more like a scene from a National Lampoon movie.

But the danger in moments like that is to treat church as something less than a family.  Too many in our culture do this today, "hopping" from church to church when they finally grow weary of something about their present faith family that they don't like.  The result is "trendy" churches that last for a decade or so, and then fizzle out when the people in that church get tired of each other.

Anybody remember "one hit wonders?"  That term emerged in the 1980s to describe rock bands whose single made it to the top of the charts, only to leave the band who performed it without a sequel.  Now, more than 30 years later, "one hit wonder" describes a band or performer you have never heard of, but a song everybody has heard of!

Yesterday, we finished out study of Paul's letter to the Philippians.  He has taught us about joy, contentment, release from anxiety, and effectiveness in our mission, and he has continually tied all of these things to unity--living, thinking, and acting as one body (hence, the title of our message series).  The big idea is this:  Your church family is not a means to an end.  Its not a place to find the latest, hottest "Christian trends."  Its not a way for you to build power and influence, or find a job (though sometimes relationships with other church members may be beneficial to you).  Your "family" is the reason you are part of a church!    For those who get this and stay faithful to a church, there are multiple blessings to be found.  The people of Philippi understood this, and through their example, Paul concludes his letter describing the blessings, as well as the requirements for those blessings to continue.

They are committed to each other.  "I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength."  That verse looks great on a coffee cup, but it has a context that we need to understand.  The "all things" Paul refers to here is related to the idea of being content in all circumstances.  This stands in contrast to Prosperity Theology, which teaches us that God always wants us healthy and wealthy, and Poverty Theology, which teaches that it is a sin to be rich.  Apparently, Paul in his life had been both super rich, and broke!  And neither affected his walk with God or the power of his ministry.

Do your circumstances affect your commitment to Jesus and His church?  Right now, things are pretty exciting around Covenant.  But it won't always be this way.  We need to ask ourselves if our commitment to our church changes because of financial stress, internal conflict, or decisions we don't like.  One of the blessings of a unified church family is that they are committed to each other.

They invest in each other.  Paul describes a synergistic fellowship with Philippi--a deep partnership of multiple people who are all headed in the same direction.  And the primary way this was expressed by the Philippians church was by their financial support of Paul.  "No one else came to my aid like you did," he says, specifically mentioning Thessalonica, where his work caused a great uproar and he ultimately had to leave the city.  No matter what he faced, the Philippians were there with him.

The point is that Jesus' people are a giving people, and their giving isn't conditioned on whether times are good or bad.  They invest in each other regardless!  Yesterday, we talked about how this principle applies to us.  We owe $800,000 on our facility.  If you understand what it means to be one body, then you understand that this debt belongs to all of us!  I wasn't the pastor when this debt was incurred, but that doesn't matter.  The moment my family and I joined Covenant Church a few weeks ago, that debt became my debt.  If you are a member of our church family, its your debt too!  Once we all understand this, it will be much easier, not only to pay that debt, but to do anything else we are called to do together.

No, not everyone will be able to give the same amount, or even the same percentage.  And no, God never calls you to give Him what you don't have.  But your bank account is a statement of your values.  Anyone who truly loves their church family expresses that value, at least in part, by investing in their family.

They glorify God together.  "Just as you have provided for me, God will provide for you," Paul says.  Think about what that means--Paul's provision wasn't just monetary.  It was also the capacity to complete God's mission for him even when he was lacking in physical and monetary resources!

God has given us--in each other--that very same capacity!  God bountifully blesses people who give to each other.  And all the riches in Christ that we need, we already have!  We have it in each other!  And if we are truly committed to each other, the result of all we do together brings God the glory He deserves!

They build a family together.  The closing verses of this letter reveal that there were a lot of people in the room as Paul finishes writing.  As he prepares to hand this letter off to Epaphroditus for delivery to the church, he identifies a number of "brothers" in the room with him--including "those of Caesar's household," civil servants now part of the larger body of Christ.

Remember the sociological context of Philippi.  This is a highly diverse region, and Paul writes this letter mostly to address how the church should get along with each other in the face of all those social, political, and cultural differences.  I find it encouraging that Paul concludes the letter with his own very diverse crowd--men from a variety of different backgrounds, but united in their support of the Gospel.

God's family is diverse.  We won't always see eye to eye on everything.  We won't always view everything the same way.  And when there are moments of conflict, we will handle it much better if we realize that at the end of the day we aren't ultimately just building an organization.  We are building a family--God's family!

Too many churches treat the church like a shopping mall.  They come to get religious goods and services, going where they want, and avoiding what they don't want.  And when really cool, new stores open up across town, they are gone.

But true churches aren't shopping malls.  They are families.  I long to see that at Covenant.  One day, I want to see a retired, black executive showing a white single mom how to make ends meet with her budget, because race isn't what defines us.  I want to see one of our custodial staff discipling a wealthy investment manager who isn't as far along in her faith, because socio-economics isn't what defines us.  I want to see our youth included as substantive participants in corporate worship, and learning more from our senior adults, because age isn't what defines us.

This is what families do.  This is how families behave.  And with God as our Father, and Jesus as our elder brother, we have everything we need to commit to each other, and change the world together!

Monday Morning Rewind: Joy and Unity

For the last several weeks we have been looking together at Paul's letter to the Philippians--a letter written to a highly diverse congregation encouraging them to maintain unity in spite of their differences.  We we enter the final 2 weeks of this series, we begin to see specific examples in the church at Philippi.  In particular, Paul now begins to address a sharp dispute between two prominent women in the church--Euodia and Syntyche.

For the first three chapters of Philippians Paul has hammered the concept of unity--an inseparable bond between believers that finds its commonality in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  At this point in the letter, Paul reveals the reason this issue is so important at Philippi.  Two women are in a sharp dispute that threatens the very unity he knows the church needs to survive and accomplish its mission.  And in his interaction with these two ladies, we see what is required if we want to be a unified body.

Reconcile with Each Other.  At some point in the recent past, Euodia and Syntyche had served alongside Paul in ministry, and also alongside each other, but they now find themselves on opposite sides of an issue.  Though we aren't told what the particular issue is, the dispute itself helps us understand two things.

First, maintaining unity and reconciliation with each other are perpetual exercises until we see Jesus.  Because we are all sinners, we will for a lifetime encounter situations that require us to reconcile with each other over something.  Conflict will always exist on this side of eternity, so we must always be aware of it, and working through it together.

Second, the problem between Euodia and Syntyche isn't mentioned, because the problem itself isn't the issue.  The issue is that there are two sisters in Christ at odds with each other in a way that threatens the unity of the body of Christ at Philippi. So Paul says to them "agree in the Lord."

When conflict exists in the church, many times the issue isn't the issue.  The issue rather, is a broken relationship that God wants reconcilled

Embrace Each Other.  A word that is getting a lot of use in our day is the word "tolerance."  Admittedly, tolerance is a good thing, because it helps maintain a level of "peace" among civilizations.  But Paul is calling the church here to a much higher goal than mere "tolerance."  Tolerance is what I give to the TSA every time I get on an airplane so that I can maintain my Christian testimony in the airport, and not get arrested!  But Paul has something much more significant in mind when he describes the relationship we are supposed to have with our church family.  We know this primarily because what he says is filled with the theme of joy.

He tells us to "rejoice" and then immediately follows it up with a warning against anxiety.  All sorts of things cause anxiety in our lives--heavy traffic, financial difficulty, job loss, sickness, and a general unease about the future.  The world we live in provides us unlimited opportunities to be anxious, and Paul's larger point is that the church should be the one place where our anxiety level goes down, not up!

When that happens, the result isn't "tolerance" or detente, its a true "peace" that comes only from God that the world can't understand.  It's a peace that has been promised to His people, but we will never find it until we learn to embrace each other as the brothers and sisters we are.

See the Best in Each Other.  Dr. Ellinore Kinarthy says that the average person has more than 200 negative thoughts a day.  And every religious system in the world has some way of trying to help its adherents deal with the negative.  In most eastern religions, the answer is seen to be "meditation" that involves an emptying of the mind.  But here's the thing:  your mind is never a blank slate!  And since there is always something in there, Paul tell us to ensure that our minds are disciplined to think of truth, purity honor, justice, beauty, and compassion.  "Think on these things," he tells us, and then put them into practice in the church.

Simply put, its easy to see the worst in people--and its true, we are fallen and all of us have some really bad things happening in our hearts and lives.  But the larger point is powerful:  When you look at your brother or sister in Christ, before anything else we should see the image of God.

How will we know that has happened?  One powerful indicator will be when you can look at the person in our church who is least like you and see the work of God's grace in them.

We are the people of God, who have a clear mission from God.  And, we have a peace from God that world can't replicate that is available to us.  Let's joyfully "agree in the Lord" and move forward together!

Four Ways to Know if Your Church is Out of Touch

"We want to reach our community!"  In 24 years of ministry, I've never served or consulted with a single congregation that didn't say this.  But for too many churches, they just weren't getting it done.

For many years, church leaders have attended conferences, listened to church growth "experts," and copied strategies that were successful in other contexts in the hope that the result would be people coming to Christ and communities being impacted.  But too often, the most critical piece of the puzzle wasn't even considered.

Too many churches are implementing "strategies" that have little to no connection to their community.  This is because too many churches are completely out of touch with their surrounding community.

How do you know if your church has lost touch?  Over the years, I've observed four primary indicators:

1. The members of the congregation aren't from the community.  Driving through a not-yet-gentrified area of Louisville Kentucky years ago, we saw prostitutes on the corner, witnessed people entering the local crack houses, and sensed the obvious presence of darkness.  But once we turned into the church parking lot, we saw a Lexus, parked next to a Mercedes, which was in turn parked next to a Cadillac.

Those who had been members of this church for decades claimed they wanted to reach this community.  But the community had drastically changed over the years, and the church members no longer lived there!  They understood nothing of the poverty and addiction that surrounded them, and had no personal desire to envelope themselves in the lives of "those people," but they fully expected the community to   come into a facility, structure, and approach to ministry that was totally foreign to them.  If no one from your church lives in the community, it may be time to relocate your church, and give the building back to believers who actually live there.

2. Church meetings don't include substantive discussion of the community.  It was a three hour business meeting that included a lot of very important issues: what should the worship service look like?  How should we structure ourselves?  And of course, "who is going to be in control?"  But for 180 minutes, this dying church said nothing about Jesus, or the community that surrounded them.

If you spend more time analyzing the church than you do serving the community your church was put there to serve, its a sure sign your church is completely out of touch.

3. There is no link between church ministries and the common concerns of your community.  The church was seriously considering spending $3 million on a brand new, state-of-the-art "family life center," complete with a full-sized gymnasium, free weights and nautilus equipment, and aerobics classes.  Problem was, no one had considered that there was already a $15 million facility just across the street that provided all those things already--and did so in a way the church would never be able to compete with.

Too often, churches start food pantries, ministries for single moms, recovery ministries, divorce care, financial counseling, and a thousand other things without so much as asking a single person from the community what the needs are.   A church that truly serves its community listens to its community, connects community needs with its own ministries, and those ministries with the Gospel.

4. Community Transformation isn't part of the vision.  When I teach church planting courses, one of the assignments always includes the students assembling an initial strategy plan for a new church that includes community analysis, vision, mission, and an overview of the first 18 months.  And I warn the students that if the vision stops with a picture of the church, they will have earned a failing grade!

Church is essential to the mission.  In fact, without the church, there is no true mission!  But though the church is necessary, it is not ultimate.  God's Kingdom is ultimate, and the result of any effective church that is aware of its surroundings is a community that reflects more of the Kingdom of God.  How will the community look different 10 years from now if your church is truly obedient to Jesus.  If you haven't answered that question, then whatever you have described isn't vision.  If you've never asked the question in the first place, your church may be completely out of touch.

Monday Morning Rewind: Defining the Target

There is an old Peanuts cartoon that shows Charlie Brown firing an arrow into the side of a barn with Lucy watching.  In the second frame, he walks over to the arrow, paints a target around it, and then says to Lucy "see? This way, I never miss!"

In too many churches, this is how "success" is judged.  With no clear objectives, they continue doing what they have always done, rightly celebrating any good things that come, but wrongly refusing to critique their trajectory or their accomplishments to ask the question "Are we headed in the right direction?  Are we aiming for the right goal?"

In the first part of Philippians 3, Paul shared how his past informs his present ministry--including his ministry to the church at Philippi.  As we close out chapter three, he begins to speak about where he is headed, and from his words come great encouragement to move forward together, and clear guidelines about how to move forward together.

The big idea is simple:  Its hard to divide from each other when we are focused on a common goal rather than merely focusing on ourselves.

Move in the Right Direction.  Verses 12-14 are a picture of forward movement, and the two steps toward effectively moving together well are clearly outlined here.

First, you have to know where you are starting from.  Every church needs a picture of its current status that is realistic.  Yes, one day we are headed to heaven together, and in heaven there won't be conflict, and the church will be pure and beautiful.  But right now we aren't in heaven.  We are on earth.  And on earth, sometimes the church can be an ugly woman!

Paul understand that this is true not only for the church, but for himself.  Similarly, we start by realizing and admitting that all of us are at a place of imperfection.  All of us are still and will always be growing.

But to grow, we have to know where we are headed.  Paul says to "forget what lies behind." which is another way of saying we need to deal with our past!  These words aren't some trite instruction to push to the back of our minds things that have not been reconciled.  They are words that command us to deal straightforwardly with each other so that we are able to truly leave things in the past.  Once we do this we can "strain forward to what lies ahead."  The imagery here is an athletic picture that would have reminded the Philippians of the Greek games.  Paul employs it to describe himself and the church using all energy, strength and focus to aim toward a particular mark, which he describes as the "upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Again, we see clearly that our unifying theme is, and always will be the person and the work of Jesus.

We need to ask ourselves at every level, throughout every department, and in examining every ministry, "are people becoming more like Jesus?"  This is how we know whether we are moving in the right direction.

Stay On Course.  Ever been distracted?  Sometimes its something as innocent as walking into another room, then immediately forgetting why you walked in there.  But sometimes distractions can be serious.  Texting while driving can result in people dying, for example.  Even the most innocent distractions can be deadly.  This is why verses 15 and 16 are Paul's way of saying "guys, don't just set the right course and direction.  Be constantly checking yourself to ensure that you remain on course."

There are multiple ways that churches can be distracted.  We can descend into endless theological debates about non-essential issues that keep us from our mission.  We can fight over strategy and structure decisions.  We can also be so incredibly busy paddling the boat or riding the stationary bike that we never stop and ask the simple question; "are we still heading in the right direction?"

Verse 15 also reveals that the source of our direction is God Himself.  What He has given us to do is too important for us not to constantly ensure that we are on course.

Emulate the Right Example.  Paul understands that everything he has is by the grace of God, but as a trophy of that grace who has walked in obedience, he can also humbly contrast himself with those who presume to be leaders, but are ungodly.

We don't know exactly who these ungodly leaders are, but we do know from the closing verses of chapter three that they long to simply satisfy their own desires, and they are prideful people who "glory in their shame."  That sort of posture can manifest itself in many harmful ways.  It can take the form of immorality--a pastor or leader who can't keep his pants on or his hands out of the offering plate--or it can manifest itself in people who presume a veneer of godliness but are duplicitous.  These kinds of leaders don't mind being divisive, underhanded, or doing anything else necessary for their own gain.  They often lie, gossip, and jockey for power and position within the church.  All of these actions Paul classifies as shameful behavior, and he warns the Philippians, "don't follow people like this, or you will be distracted from your mission."

These are solemn words we have to take seriously in our own day, because the wrong leaders will move us in the wrong direction.  We serve a Savior who is coming back for us, and we serve His Kingdom, which we are all headed for.  Keeping our focus on that mission requires leadership who understand this--men and women we can emulate without losing our focus.  In the future, we want to raise up other godly men to be pastors and elders.  We want to raise up godly men and women to be deacons, small group leaders, and spiritual guides in our church.  That will require looking past divisive people, and examining the lives of potential leaders closely.  The "upward call of God in Christ Jesus" requires no less.

This is our target and our mission--the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!  Let's set our sights on it together, and push forward toward it with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, no matter what it costs.

Monday Morning Rewind: The Kissing Cousins of Division and Deception

"False teaching."  Its a term that evokes strong emotion--mostly the fearful kind.  The Scriptures frequently warn us about it.  But what exactly is "false teaching," and why is it such a threat?

Yesterday, we covered part 7 of a 10 part series moving through Philippians entitled "One Body."  Throughout this letter, Paul repeatedly commands unity from the church.  And as he opens Chapter Three, he makes a close connection between the lack of unity at Philippi and false teaching.  It is in this connection that we find the essence of what it means to be a false teacher.

All of the major religions of the world--including a few perverted, dysfunctional forms of Christianity--use a system of  "walls" to define their faith.  In other words, if you want to be faithful to a religion, you must stay inside the "boundaries" of belief and action that have been prescribed by that religion.  But that isn't what it means to be Christian.  Following Jesus truly and purely is, at its essence, "joy in the Lord."  That's how Paul describes it anyway.  In short, if I'm tethered to Jesus, that's all that matters.  I don't need "walls" or "boundaries" because I am tied to Him, and so long as I respect and find all my joy in that relationship, it will keep me from crossing inappropriate, sinful boundaries.

But false teachers aren't satisfied with that.  Their desire is to build walls and boundaries, and insert those boundaries between Christ and His followers.  The end result is that faith then stops becoming about a relationship with Jesus, and becomes about the boundaries.  This is precisely what was happening at Philippi through a group known as the "Judaizers."  These men taught that to truly follow Christ one had to submit to the Mosaic requirement of circumcision.  Paul's response to this was strong and clear, and he associates false teaching with the division happening in Philippi for five reasons.

It Creates a False Faith.  Paul teaches us here that true believers "put no confidence in the flesh."  The false teaching at Philippi had some convinced that something needed to be added to their faith in Christ in order for them to become "real Christians."  But the truth of the Gospel is that faith alone in Christ is all you need.  There is nothing you can do with your body, your works, your efforts, your vote, your relevance or your experience that can make God love you more than He already does.  Christ is enough.

It Creates a False Confidence.  As we look at verses 4 and 5 we are starting to get into a bit of Paul's own personal testimony.  Truly, if good works, religious rites, ethnic identity or Scripture memorization contributes in any way to salvation, Paul wouldn't have needed Jesus.

No one hates addiction more than the former addict.  No one hates sexual sin more than the person who has lost his or her marriage because of it.  And no one hates religion more than the person who has been delivered from its enslavement.  Here, Paul is telling the Philippians and us "I hate what the Judaizers are teaching, I hate this false faith, because I used to be a follower of it!"

Nothing destroys unity in a church like false confidence in something other than Jesus.  Such arrogance inevitably creates two groups of people in the church.  The first group are actually foolish enough to think they are keeping the law all by themselves.  They become arrogant, proud and judgmental.  The second group feel defeated because they are honest enough with themselves to admit that they will never meet the standard.  In churches with this false teaching, the first group ascend into positions of leadership, and they lord over and spiritually abuse the second group.  Its a truly sick thing to observe, which is why Paul hates it.

And by the way, God hates it too!

It Creates a Dangerous Zeal.  Paul was so sure of himself and his own righteousness that he felt obligated to hunt down, detain and kill those who disagreed with him.  Today, we have a term for that kind of activity.  We call it terrorism.  Prior to his conversion, Paul would have made an excellent candidate for ISIS.

That's what flesh-based faith does.  It takes secondary issues and makes them primary.  It creates a false zeal that harms others.  But it also does something far worse.  It damns the false teachers themselves.

It Creates a False Person.  The last verses of this section describe the powerful story of Paul's conversion.  Up until He meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, his entire identity has been lost in his religious system!  But Jesus sets him free on his way to Syria, and in that moment, everything Paul though he knew was re-engineered around the person and work of Jesus Christ.

But prior to that moment, Paul was like a lot of religious people today.  Religious people can do a lot of damage to others, but the greatest damage they can do is to themselves.  And too many people in the church today are so lost in their own religious systems, preferences, practices and ancillary beliefs, they don't even know who they are anymore!

It Keeps you from the real thing.  Paul had to lose everything in order to "know Him in the power of His resurrection."  And the ultimate reward for that is the "resurrection of the dead" he mentions in verse 11.  He is referencing that final day when the spiritually dead and spiritually alive are forever separated.  On that day, if you are putting your confidence in barriers, walls, rules, regulations, or other works of the flesh, you will not be resurrected.

These are serious implications, and they should prompt each of us to ask two questions:

1. What is keeping you separated from your church family?  Do you need to repent of self-righteousness that has caused division in the body?
2. What is keeping you from Christ?  What are you unwilling to lay down to seize Him as the ultimate prize?  That is a more serious question, because if you get this one wrong, your religion will send you to hell.

The close connection between division and false teaching should scare us all enough to know the truth, and let it drive us together in unity, as we all continue to pursue Jesus.

Monday Morning Rewind: The Qualities of a Unifying Leader

I am in no way recommending the movie Horrible Bosses, but there is a reason that films like that are both popular, and spawn a sequel.  Its because everyone who has worked for any significant length of time knows what its like to be under the authority of bad leadership.  Bad leadership can take the form of incompetence, narcissism, authoritarianism, or some combination of all three.

Being subjected to a "horrible boss" is exhausting, depressing, and mind-numbing.  But the worst kind of leader is the divisive leader--the manager, team leader, or even pastor or small group leader whose modus operandi is to lead through division.  For the past several weeks, we have been studying Paul's letter to Philippians, and focusing on the theme of unity.  We've learned some hard but valuable lessons along the way regarding what it takes for a church to achieve the kind of unity Paul speaks of--the kind Jesus prayed for in John 17.

But as Chapter 2 comes to a close, Paul gives us a glimpse of a different kind of leader--a leader who unifies.  And through his praise of Timothy and Epaphroditus, we see four clear characteristics of the kind of leaders every church needs to seek and submit to if they truly want unity.

1. Selflessness.  Paul gives his highest commendation when he says "there is no one like Timothy."  This compliment is particularly noteworthy when compared with others Paul doesn't name, but describes as "those who seek their own interests."  Epaphroditus likewise, in spite of what was apparently a serious illness, continued to think primarily about his church family back in Philippi, ad pushed through in order to complete the task given him by the church  When the church seeks leaders, it should seek those who are always thinking of others.

2. Faithfulness. Paul described Timothy as having "proven worth."  In other words, Timothy had a track record of faithfulness!  The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and Paul knows this, so he says of both these men "I trust them, and you can trust them too because they have already proven themselves through their actions."  The best leaders are those with a track record of faithfulness that says "I will always be there for my church family."

3. Teachability.  The relationship between Paul and Timothy was very much like a "father-son" relationship.  And it is apparent from what we read here that Timothy continued to learn much from Paul.  Though he was a mature pastoral leader himself, Timothy remained a life-long learner, and was always willing to submit to godly authority.  Unteachable people make horrible leaders because they want to be in authority without being under it.  All of us need accountability and humility that keeps us from assuming "I know this.  I have it figured out.  I don't need anyone telling me what to do."  Those who bring unity to a church by heir leadership are teachable.

4. Kingdom-focused. Of Epaphroditus in particular Paul says he did what he did "for the work of Christ."  This is what keeps a real leader going.  Can't you imagine that somewhere along that 1600 mile, round-trip journey, Epaphroditus wondered to himself, "is this really worth it?  Good grief!  I'm just carrying supplies, and I almost died from it!"  I imagine quite a few followers of Jesus sometimes feel the same way when they are charged with doing something that seems mundane.  But think about this: Paul is sending this man back to the church with the letter we are now studying 2000 years later!  Had Epaphroditus not completed this "mundane" journey, you and I might have had 65 rather than 66 books in our Bibles.

My point?  When you serve Jesus, however you are serving Jesus, it is of immense importance and there is nothing mundane about it--even if it seems that way!

Serving in KidMIN might seem mundane and meaningless, until you recognize that you are raising up the next generation of men and women who will take the reigns of leadership in less than 20 years--and one of them might even be our next pastor!  If you serve in the parking lot--especially in this unusually cold weather we've been having--you might wonder if its worth it.  But if you have read the statistics, you know people are more likely to return to the church because of what they experience in the  first 10 minutes after leaving their car than they are because of the worship, or the preaching.

Absolutely nothing done in the name of Jesus is meaningless.

Those who realize this and model selflessness, faithfulness, teachability, and a Kingdom focus are the sort we should all be looking for when selecting those who will help lead us into a unified future.  Education is a great asset.  Experience is also beneficial.  But either of those divorced from the measurable characteristics Scripture describes only leads to arrogance and self-centerdness in a leader.  You can educate the ignorant, and give the novice experience.  But you can't fix bad character.  So as we move forward together, we will be examining that aspect much more closely, and in light of the examples we have here in two godly men from the first century.

So if this letter were being written today to Covenant rather than Philippi, would you get a mention?  If so, what would be said about you?  Would you be described as faithful?  Or would you be numbered among those who seek their own interests?

What do you want to be said about you?

Monday Morning Rewind: Shining Brightly Together

Perhaps your sense of humor is too refined to appreciate "light bulb" jokes.  But I love them!

For example, how many Gorillas does it take to change a light bulb?  Only one, but you better have a truck load of light bulbs!

How many Oregonians (I'm all the way over here on the east coast, so I can talk about them) does it take to change a light bulb?  Nine.  One to change the bulb, and eight to protest the nuclear energy plant that powers it!

Sorry, I can't help myself.

But Paul does prompt a question we should ask when he says in Philippians 2:15 that we should "shine as lights in the world."  How many of us will it take to get that done?  Well, if you are part of a church family, it will take ALL of you to do it the way your Lord and mine wants it done!

We we continue in our "One Body" series at Covenant, we find in Philippians 2:12-18, three postures--actions that are essential for every church to shine brightly in a dark world:

1. Obedience.  Ever cuss around a preacher, and then try to apologize?  As a preacher, I find those experiences to be hilarious, chiefly because I'm a little unsure of why they are so apologetic since they don't ultimately answer to me.  That's the same spirit in which Paul writes verses 12 and 13.  Essentially, he says "behave yourselves whether I am present or not, because the One you answer to is always present!"  We do that, first of all, by seeing the promise we are given here--that God is ALREADY at work inside each one of us.  In other words, we can put on the mind of Christ, we can avoid selfish ambition, act in humility, and put others before ourselves.  And we can "work that out" because God has already "worked it in!"  And obedience is when we work out in our lives the very things God has already worked into our souls through the person and work of Jesus.

When we obey in these ways, in the context of our church family, we help each other grow toward Jesus  In fact, the only way to truly "work out" what God has "worked in" is, according to Paul, doing it within the community of faith that is the church.

2. Holiness.  It is unfortunate that there is so much confusion in our day regarding what holiness is.  Too many people hear this word and think of all sorts of unpleasant things--cold showers, hard beds, no sex, no laughter, little rest, and a generally miserable existence.  C.S. Lewis commented a generation ago; "How little people know who think that holiness is dull.  When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.  If even 10% of the world's population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before the year's end?"

What was his point?  That we have defined holiness in such a way that its the last thing on earth anybody wants to be!  Thankfully, we get some help from Paul, who uses a different but very similar word--"blameless."  And when he applies this concept to the church corporately, the lesson we learn is that truly holy and blameless people work through their problems much differently than the world does.

Think about how our world tries to solve its problems:  Presidential "debates," Jerry Springer-style drama, polarization, biased media, and the non-stop grasping for power and prestige over others.  Paul's message to the church at Philippi, and to us, is that we are supposed to be better than that.  But are we?  Perhaps the first step in becoming what Paul envisions is to admit that we are far more like the world than we want to admit--and the primary evidence for this is that we try to solve problems and navigate conflict in EXACTLY the same way they do.  But people who seek unity, put on the mind of Christ, and put others before themselves are those who give the strongest evidence that they are truly holy.

3. Joy. Think joy and holiness don't belong in the same message--let alone the same sentence?  Then perhaps you need to re-define what both mean, because they go hand in hand.

We talked a lot yesterday about the Jewish ceremonial background of Paul's comments in verses 17 and 18, but what he is basically saying is "If I am sacrificed--poured out completely for your sake--and the result is that you are unified together in your service to Jesus, I will rejoice in that!"  Another way of putting it is this: "What you are doing in Philippi as one body is more important than what I do from a jail cell 800 miles away."

That is also true for any church.  A truly unified body is so powerful that even if their spiritual father is removed from the equation they continue to shine as a bright light in a dark world.

So what if something terrible happened to me?  What if through death, or chronic illness, or something else beyond my control I am removed from the picture as your lead pastor?  Hear my heart when I say this; the greatest joy I could have would be for Covenant to be so strong, so unified, full of both holiness and joy to the extent that my absence wouldn't matter.  If our church family can find the joy Paul talks about here, we won't just "be fine."  We will thrive, regardless of what transpires.

Conversely, we can have the best communicator in the pulpit, the most talented musicians on stage, the slickest programs, the most well-run system, and the most wealthy donors in the world, but if we don't learn to take joy and delight in each other, we will never get where Jesus intends us to go.

Are we really that different?  Because we should be.  That is who God calls us to be.  And to the degree that we embody these postures, to that same degree the world looks at us and says "there worship the children of God!"

Monday Morning Rewind: A People Just Like Jesus

Goals are easy to set, but often much harder to reach.  Think for example about weight loss (yeah I know.  I could have picked a less convicting one, right?  But its pretty relevant I think)  Its easy to look at a particular physique in a magazine, cut it out, paste it on your bathroom mirror, and say "I want to look like that guy/gal!"  But getting there is hard and annoying work!  You have to sacrifice your favorite foods (which for me is ice cream.  I just can't stay away from it!), exercise, and go through those awkward phases on your way from A to B that leave you between belt loops and wardrobes.

The path is MUCH harder than the destination!

For the past several weeks, we have been moving verse by verse through Paul's letter to Philippians, and we have seen a beautiful picture drawn for us--the picture of a church that moves, thinks, and acts as ONE body!  And with that picture now posted metaphorically in our minds, Paul begins describing in depth what its going to take for us to get there.  In this too, the path is much harder than the dream, but the destination is worth it, and the three sequential steps we see in Philippians 2 lay that path out clearly for us.

1. Seek Solidarity by Seeking Unity.  The Gospel is unstoppable.  We have already seen that.  But we can be stopped from sharing in its advance if we don't seek unity.  Paul says to the church; "I will be filled with joy when I see solidarity among you.  And you will achieve that when you are of "one mind."  That's the goal!  Again, its not easy when we have so many varied and strong opinions, perceptions, ways of processing information and handling conflict, but here we are promised that if we want solidarity, the unity we need to have it can be ours!

2. Seek Unity by Seeking Humility.  Let's face it.  Humility is a hard thing to practice.  For one thing, we live in a culture that rewards pride.  But on the other hand, the church as a whole often misunderstands what it means to be humble.  Fortunately, Paul gives us an accurate definition of both pride AND humility.  Pride is when we are focused on ourselves.  Humility is when we are focused on others.

The old saying is true:  Humility isn't thinking less of yourself.  But it is thinking of yourself less.  I can say this from experience: In my 24 years of ministry, nearly every time I've seen relational breakdown in the church its been due to the exchange of godly humility for selfish ambition--"looking out for number one!"  But there is no solidarity without unity, and there is no unity without humility.  The great news is that we have a model for precisely this kind of posture in the person of Jesus!

3. Seek Humility by Seeking Christ.  Verses 5-11 are, I believe, not only the most powerful in the entire letter.  They represent the best of Paul's writing!  These seven verses are so rich with meaning we simply didn't have time to plumb their depths yesterday.  But we did have time to cover the "big idea," which is that the humility we need to "start the engine" toward unity as one body is found in how Jesus humbled Himself.  We are told here that Jesus "emptied Himself" for us all, suffered for the sake of His bride, and in doing so modeled the very kind of humility we need to assume.  True humility as members of the church means we are willing to give of ourselves for the sake of others, and suffer for, and with the other members of the body.

For Jesus, assuming that humility was repaid with His victory over sin and death, and the promise that one day, every knee will bow--every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God.

Don't confuse humility with weakness!  Jesus' humility will one day result in His triumph over all.  And our Christ-like humility toward each other will likewise produce a unity and solidarity that will be unstoppable!

Someone once told me that to lose weight "you have to be convinced that skinny feels better than chocolate tastes!"  Well, to be the unified church God has called us to be, we have to come to the conclusion that unity feels better the selfishness.  And why shouldn't it?  After all, when we move, think, and act as ONE BODY, we are no less than a people just like Jesus!

Approaching Scripture; Approaching Culture

This week, I'm teaching a doctoral seminar at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on current issues affecting the church.  Western evangelicalism faces an increasing number of challenges when it comes to engaging its surrounding culture in a way that is both faithful to Jesus, and fruitful within our current environment.  And sometimes, we find ourselves at cross-purposes with one another regarding an issue.

Whether we are dealing with family, sexuality, ecology, technology, or any other issue which has proven to be a "moving target" in our day, our approaches are sometimes divergent.  For example, you may find between two Christian theologians that both talk an awful lot about Jesus and claim a high level of reverence for the written Scriptures, but come to very different conclusions when it comes to particular social issues that currently dominate our national conversation.

Most of the time, our differences in approach are merely that--varied and sometimes contrasting perspectives on how to effectively engage the world Jesus died to save.  But occasionally, the divide is much deeper.  The advent of what has been commonly called "post-evangelicalism" has, on the surface, seemed to be about engagement.  But beneath the surface, it becomes apparent that the issue is far more serious.

Its about how the authority of Scripture is perceived.

As a result, I will be leading our Doctor of Ministry cohort this morning in a discussion of the three prominent approaches to interpreting Scripture that are currently driving a lot of discussion within the western churches.  For pastors and other ministry leaders, this is crucially important to understand, because its not just our belief about Scripture that drives our approach to culture.  Its also how we approach its interpretation.

Currently, there are three predominant schools of thought in regard to how Scripture should be approached and interpreted.  While each approach brings perspectives that can be helpful to those who follow Jesus, some contain inherent dangers that can lead to failure rather than fruitfulness.  What follows is a very brief, and therefore admittedly somewhat oversimplified, overview of these approaches.

The Historical-Grammatical Approach:  Current approaches to this method emerged in the early 20th century in response to European higher criticism.  Like the higher critical approach, this method seeks to understand and respect the literary aspects of the Scriptural texts, and as a result gives heavy consideration to the literary, linguistic, contextual, historical, and canonical factors when seeking to determine meaning.

What sets this method apart however, is the presumption that authorial intent should govern our approach to interpretation.  And this presumption is informed by a view of Scripture that assumes a plenary verbal understanding of inspiration.  This is to say that advocates of this approach (myself included) come to the Bible presupposing that The Holy Spirit ensured that every word left to us in its pages is the fully inspired Word of God Himself.  And since this inspiration is expressed through the personalities, writing styles,  and employed literary genres of the more than 40 human authors who penned the Scriptures, the best way to arrive at Scripture's meaning is to ask one simple question: "What did the Holy Spirit-inspired author intend to say here?"

Admittedly, this approach results in some degree of circular reasoning, and some of its advocates have occasionally fallen victim to epistemological idealism--the idea that we can know truth absolutely in spite of the fact that our minds are as fallen as our bodies.  Nevertheless, this approach best undergirds a high view of Scripture as God's inspired Word, and is therefore the best starting point for understanding appropriate application to any context in which we might find ourselves.

The Postliberal Approach: This  school of thought emerged out of a view of Scripture known as "Neo-orthodoxy."  George Lindbeck, Hans Willhelm Frei, and Stanley Hauerwas, all of whom were deeply influenced by Karl Barth (the founder of Neo-orthodoxy), developed this approach to understanding Scripture while the three were teaching together at Yale Divinity School.  For this reason, the postliberal hermeneutic is sometimes loosely referred to as the "New Yale school."

Though this approach employs a non-foundationalist approach to the text, there is a very helpful side of it that recognizes--perhaps more clearly than their historical-grammatical counterparts--the noetic effects of the fall and the resulting inevitability of subjective interpretation.  Additionally, postliberal thinkers do affirm a "normative element" in every interpretation informed by the history of the church, and the way the global body of Christ has approached a given text.  Therefore, this school of thought sees a solemn responsibility of the present church as a "sub-community" which seeks to stand on the shoulders of those who read and interpreted in the past, while simultaneously forming active responses to current issues themselves.  As such, they focus on the community of faith as Holy Spirit-filled and thus competent interpreters of Scripture, further emboldened in their attempts by their brothers and sisters who interpret Scripture together with them in the sub-community.

The problem with this approach is the tendency to see the sub-community as the final authority in itself.  In many ways, this approach is an advocacy of Neo-orthodoxy in reverse.  Karl Barth taught that the transcendence of God meant He could not be fully and finally revealed in human language, and therefore Scriptural interpretation becomes an exercise in "listening past the scratches [human error in the text] in order to hear the Master's voice."  In other words, the Bible isn't the Word of God, but becomes the Word of God  as we encounter it and respond to it.  Conversely, postliberal hermeneutics require that the sub-community impart present meaning to the text, thereby placing the final interpretive authority not int he text itself, but in the sub-community.  In Neo-orthodoxy, Scripture isn't the Word of God until it meaningfully encounters us.  In postliberal thought, Scripture has no meaning until meaning is imparted by the sub-community. Current voices like Leonard Sweet have advocated this approach as the preferred approach--especially when seeking to address issues affected by philosophical postmodernism.  The inherent danger, however, is of a presumptuous sub-community that sees itself imparting meaning, and thus authority to the Biblical text.  The authority of Scripture is inherent.  Scripture doesn't need the church to be Scripture, or to have inherent meaning.

The "Redemptive Movement" Approach.  Canadian scholar William J. Webb is currently the most visible advocate of this interpretive approach.  His 2001 book Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals is a thoroughly researched, comprehensive description of this school of thought, which views Scripture as calling believers toward an "ultimate ethic" To do this, redemptive movement advocates seek to locate common "voices" in the text which collectively call believers toward a "progressive trajectory."  As a result, critics of this view will sometimes use the pejorative term "trajectory hermeneutic."

Webb point to three distinct recognitions that must be ascertained in order to properly interpret any Biblical command.  The first is the specific Biblical command itself.  The second is the cultural context in which that command appears.  The third is the "ultimate ethic" that can be determined by understanding how the command and surrounding culture relate to one another when they are placed together on a "trajectory."

This approach assumes an "arc of history" understanding of human progress.  That is, it views human history as a history of moving forward, becoming constantly more enlightened, and progressing forward in more effective ways.Though positive, this is a rather naive and simplistic view of history that sometimes results in what C.S. Lewis called "chronological snobbery."  Thinking that my grandfather probably wasn't as smart and enlightened as me simply because I grew up 6 decades after he did is historically adolescent and full of hubris.  But thinking I have a better view of the "ultimate ethic" of God than Jeremiah or the Apostle Paul is simply spiritually dangerous.

The biggest issue with this approach is that the "ultimate ethic" is never clearly defined within Scripture.  When you leave the end result open like this, the inevitable result is that culture's prevailing views will determine meaning.  Such is precisely the kind of scenario that can end with entire churches who have their feet planted firmly in mid-air, and ultimately irrelevant to their communities and the world.  Though Webb stops short of full cultural capitulation, many who have come behind him have taken those additional steps, and there is nothing in this approach to interpretation to stop them from doing so.  In particular, when you read Justin Lee or Rachel Held Evans on homosexuality, you are reading opinions that are largely informed by this approach.  One does not have to employ this approach to recognize the culturally and covenantally-bound nature of some Biblical texts.

For followers of Jesus, every subject is ultimately a spiritual conversation, and consequently, a conversation that should take us back to our source of authority.  Understanding the proper way to interpret that authority source is perhaps more important today than it has ever been.

Monday Morning Rewind: What We Face Together

When someone says they are "looking forward" to something, we generally take that in a positive way.  But truthfully, not everything we look ahead to is a good thing.  A group of Marines about to deploy have much to "look forward to," but most of it isn't good.

And sometimes, even what seems good is accompanied with less pleasant prospects.  A bride and groom standing at their wedding altar, for example, have much to "look forward to."  Some of it is great.  Some of it is horrible.  The issue isn't so much that what they face is good or bad, but that what they face, they face together.

This is also true for any church family.  Two weeks ago we saw where Paul painted a picture for the church at Philippi--a picture of the power of perspective, courage, and focus that comes to any church that finds its ultimate identity in the person of Jesus.  Yesterday, we saw in the closing verses of Chapter 1 some of the things churches that find this kind of solidarity have to look forward to.

1. Confidence.  Paul was certain that, no matter how circumstances transpired around his imprisonment, the Gospel would go forward.  To be sure, he'd much rather be released and have the freedom of movement that would help him be personally involved in the spread of this message.  But either way, he is confident, not only that his circumstances can't hinder the spread of Jesus' message, but also that his circumstances can't stop his own spiritual growth and progress.

When we stand in the fullness of the faith Jesus provides for us, there is absolutely nothing that can shake our confidence or stunt our spiritual growth.  Even when the water is over our heads, our confidence in our Lord grows.

2. Contentment.  Paul is going to speak a LOT more about contentment later in the letter, but his basis for everything he will say later is expressed clearly in verse 21, which may be the most powerful statement in all of his correspondence to Philippi!

We talk a lot in our culture about "quality of life."  Usually those conversations are related to health care, mental health, maintaining a certain standard of living, and having peace of mind.  But the darker side of those conversations are fueled by fear of economic adversity that takes away our ability to live at a certain standard, or adverse health that limits our mobility, or even to be able to think clearly and be in our right minds.

Paul dispenses with that fear with four words: "To live is Christ."  That is the greatest quality of life statement in all of history, because it enables him to say "its OK if I'm in a prison cell.  Its OK that I don't know my own future.  Its OK that the circumstances surrounding me are completely out of my control, because the essence of life only consists in union with and devotion to Jesus.  He is my whole being!"

What would it look like for an entire church to be filled with people who assume this attitude? What power would exist in the midst of one body of believers saying in unison "Our whole life is Christ!"  That's a powerful picture of a contented people.

3. Blessing.  We in the Christian community talk a lot about "being blessed.  We hashtag the term on social media, emblazzen it on T-shirts and tatoos.  But what does it really mean?

For most of us, our default is to use this word to describe when our lives are going well.  I have a tax-refund coming and don't have to pay, so I"m "blessed."  I got the promotion, so I'm "blessed."

Though its not inaccurate to use the word in that way, using it only in that way is a failure to grasp the depth of what it means.  Paul is describing a life of blessing, which he defines as a statement of contentment that allowed him to see God's work in absolutely everything--including his own hardship, persecution, or even execution.  Verses 22-24 are a picture of the most positive internal struggle that can take place. In the end, Paul expresses a feeling of "blessing" that is completely unconnected to his own personal future.  "Whether I remain with you, or go to be with Christ, my biggest struggle is that I can't do both and I can't decide which I want more!"

4. Self-Denial.  In the midst of all he faced, Paul's mind wasn't primarily on himself.  It was on his church family at Philippi.  This is a guy who is committed to live out his life for the good of others!

This comes because he realizes--as we should--that what transpires around us is always, ALWAYS bigger than us!  We will see with much greater clarity what this kind of self-denial looks like as we move deeper into Philippians.  But for now, Paul's example should prompt a question in each of us:  How willing are we to deny ourselves for the greater benefit of the ONE BODY Christ has called us to be?

5.  Solidarity.  Verses 27-30 aren't just a wish Paul has for one local assembly of believers.  Its a picture of where we all should be headed.

If you don't grasp fully what he is talking about here, find a believer who is a combat veteran and talk to them about what this means.  We have many of them in our church family, and as I'm sure they would tell you, when soldiers are in a foxhole together they don't argue over the wording in their "mission statement" of debate for hours about their "values."  They lock and load, stand shoulder to shoulder, back to back, and do what has to be done--EVEN if what has to be done is to throw myself on a live grenade and die for the benefit of my unit!

That is the solidarity that Paul describes in the spiritual realm--ONE body, with ONE mind, striving TOGETHER.  In other words, moving forward, thinking and acting, not as several hundred people, but as ONE body under the Lordship of Jesus.  And everything I do as part of the body of Christ--every action, thought, and word--is either contributing to that solidarity, or destroying it.  

There is a reason we have euphemisms in our vocabulary like "laser focus."  I have to think if Paul were writing this letter in the 21st century with our knowledge of how to convert light into laser power, he might have expressed his desire for Philippi in this way: "I want all of you to be laser-focused, as I am, on the glory of Christ."

That's our task:  stand together in such confidence, contentment, and blessing that we are, together, able to rise above our own foci and help each other grow toward Jesus in the process.

Monday Morning Rewind: Easter Changes Everything!

The early church began as an offshoot of Judaism.  So it was a very big deal when they changed their primary day of worship from the "Sabbath Day" to the first day of the week.  But the early Christians made the move, and did so for one reason--the resurrection!

In that sense, Christians consider every Sunday to be "resurrection Sunday."  But yesterday was Easter--the day we set aside on the Christian calendar that demonstrates us to be truly crazy.  Yes, we believe a dead man rose from the dead 2000 years ago, is still alive, and is coming again.  When such an audacious claim is made, there can only be one of two explanations.  One is that there is some sort of mass hysteria that is causing hundreds of millions of people around the world to give into a delusional psychosis.

The other explanation is equally simple:  that it actually happened.

Don't want to believe it?  Well, you are in good company, because neither did the first disciples.  Luke 24 records their walk along the road to Emmaus when they first encountered Jesus after He had been crucified two days before, and their response gives new meaning to the word "cynical."

We've all been there.  "Fool me once," the old saying goes, "shame on you.  But fool me twice, and its shame on me."  The world is full of people who have seen more than their share of dissapointment, and aren't about to allow themselves to be victimized again.  That's pretty much the attitude assumed by Jesus' first disciples.  But the lesson they learn in their encounter with Jesus is that His resurrection changes absolutely everything!

It changes personal expectation into providential hope.  The disciples made clear to Jesus that they had unmet expectations.  The expected that He would free Israel, kick out the Roman occupiers, and maybe even install a few of them into high level offices.  So focused are they on their disappointment, that Jesus joins them on their journey, and they can't even see Him!

One of the saddest things that can be said of a person is that greatness passed by and they missed it.  Is God doing something incredible in your life, but you can't see it because you are focused instead on what you didn't get?  We are far too easily discouraged.

It changes cynicism into trust.  Here is Jesus, risen from the dead, walking among them.  How do they not see this?!?!  That's what cynicism will do to you.  The world kicks you around to the point that you have hardened yourself, and don't want to believe anything anymore.  You are afraid to accept any good news at all, because you have an inherent fear that you will discover its not true.

The resurrection can change all of that.  After finally realizing who was walking with them, the disciples say "did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road?"  Nothing gets rid of cynicism like a once dead man showing up unannounced!

It turns washed-out people toward the Word of God.  These men are done!  Complete exhaustion by trial.  What they have been through the past two days is a world away from a long line at Wal-Mart, a bad day on the golf course, or unexpected traffic that makes them late.  When Jesus died, they watched their dreams die with Him.  Everything they were living for was crushed--or at least they thought so.

But Jesus responds by taking them back to His Word--reminding them that all of this was part of God's plan to redeem for Himself--a plan He had spoken about through His prophets for thousands of years.

If times are hard, don't wash out.  Don't give up.  Instead, turn to the Word of God and read of the Israelites escaping an inescapable situation.  Read about these Emmaus-bound disciples who encounter a guy they just saw die two days ago, now walking right beside them.  And remember that God never goes back on His Word!

Years ago, an S-4 submarine was rammed by a ship just off the coast of Massachusetts.  The sub sank immediately, leaving the entire crew trapped in a prison of death.  Every effort was made to rescue the crew, but all ultimately failed.  Near the end of the ordeal, divers went down one last time to see if there was an option they had missed.  One heard tapping coming from the inside wall of the sub.  Putting his head against the hull, he recognized the Morse code coming from a sailor on the other side----"is there any hope?"

That's exactly how the disciples felt.  Its how many people feel today.  But Jesus is risen, and that changes everything!

Islam, Muslims, and the Importance of Knowing the Difference

"I've never met Islam.  I think Islam owes me $5.  But apparently Islam hates America, which is fascinating."  -Wajahat Ali

"Islam is a diverse religion with many expressions, though unfortunately there is a demonstrable tendency among Muslims to assume only one legitimate interpretation of Islam"  -Nabeel Qureshi

Prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks on our country, few people in the west gave much thought to Islam.  Most non-Muslim Americans were aware of their fellow Muslim citizens, but because they kept their distance and never really got to know them, they had summarily stereotyped their understanding of what it meant to be a follower of Islam.

After 9/11, rather than seeking to understand through relationships, many Americans just added a suicide vest to that stereotype.  Too many of this year's Presidential candidates have jumped on that bandwagon with suggestions that range from monitoring American mosques to special ID badges for Muslim citizens.  And all of this is fueled by the generalized assumption that "Islam hates the west" or "Islam's values are antithetical to America's values."  These are strange statements to the many Muslims who have lived peacefully among us for many decades now.  I have a friend who served as a Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush, who currently works with an organization that promotes global religious freedom.  He has been a devout Muslim his entire life.

In December while at a meeting in Washington I met a former Ambassador who served during the Reagan administration--also a devout Muslim. Fighting back tears, her concern was obvious.  "I don't recognize my own country any more," she said.  I have another dear Muslim friend, a young professional with a wife and young child who is building a quiet life in the country for his family.  He is pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-business, and believes in small, limited government.  And just recently he told me "I'm a Republican, but I fear voting for one this year might be voting for my own extermination."  I could go on, but these stories alone should demonstrate that Islamophobia is alive and well.  That national tension was exponentially increased with this week's ISIS attacks in Belgium.  The temptation to assess based on fear is understandable, but dangerous to our civil discourse, and for those who follow Jesus, it is simply antiChrist.

As an Evangelical pastor, I'm not particularly fond of Islam--not because I believe it is a threat to national security, but because I believe it endangers the soul.  But I know and walk in relationship with numerous Muslims, and I love every one of them.  Some of them have become like brothers to me, and in watching those relationships develop I've learned many valuable lessons.  But perhaps the most important lesson is this:  Islam is a highly diverse religion, practiced in at least three "denominational" expressions among more than 1.7 billion people worldwide.  Any religion with that many adherents can't simply be painted into a simplistic corner.  In fact, the best way to understand isn't to read a book about Islam, but to simply get to know your Muslim neighbor. In other words, if we want to have a meaningful conversation about what is transpiring in our world, we have to distinguish between "Islam" and "Muslims."  There are several reasons for this:

1. Faith is not a Monolith.  Think of the difference between an Eastern Orthodox Priest in Armenia, and a Pentecostal preacher in Alabama.  Both are "Christian."  But they don't look or sound very much like each other, do they?  That same sort of diversity exists within Islam.  My Turkish Muslim friends in Baltimore are anything but identical to my friend in Hagerstown who is a Burmese Imam.  Faith is a very personal thing to devout Muslims, and beyond the "five pillars" you will find a wide degree of opinion on a large number of issues.  Just ask them!

2. Systems are not People.  There are numerous Catholics who are on the pill.  Multitudes of Baptists consume alcohol regularly.  I have a Reconstructionist Rabbi friend who will not refuse a good slice of ham.  In this regard, Islam is no different.  Once you actually get to know the people who call themselves "Muslim" you discover numerous opinions on everything from shellfish to alcohol to head coverings
.
3. History is not Theology.  In recent years, an understandable question has emerged regarding which Islam is the "true" Islam?  While I sympathize with this curiosity, as a Christian theologian I have to refuse the premise of that question.  For Christians, our faith is rooted in and dependent upon the death and bodily resurrection of the Jesus of history (among other things).  But to appeal to "true Islam" by seeking its historical roots is, in my view, to commit a two-fold error.  First, doing so assumes an historical timeline that bears the same validity as our own faith, and I simply reject that.  But additionally, seeking to trace the historical roots of Islam in order to ferret out its "real" theology is to ignore that Muslims themselves worldwide rarely connect the two.  Though Muhammad is revered by all, his life, beliefs, and actions are understood very differently even within the Muslim world.  It is, therefore, unfair of us to ascribe a belief system to our Muslim neighbors that is rooted in an understanding of Islamic history they themselves may reject.

4. Lecturing isn't listening. I was 12,000 miles from home, sitting with my wife across the table from the only other white people in a Chinese city of more than 2 million.  The husband--an Indianapolis police officer--asked me what I did for a living, and when I said "I'm a Baptist pastor," he responded with the only reference point he had--Westboro "Baptist" Church, and said "so you are the folks who hate gay people?"

Feel that sting?  That's the same sting your Muslim neighbors feel when you lecture them about what they "really" believe.  So just don't do it.

Too many Christ followers make generalized claims such as "well, if they were really following the Koran they wouldn't be so 'peaceful.'"

I'm really thankful that when most non-Christians read Exodus 31:12-15, Leviticus 20:10, Numbers 21:34-35, Joshua 10:40, 1 Samuel 15:2-3, or any of the other 842 violent passages in Scripture, they give me the benefit of the doubt. Some even allow me the courtesy of explaining where these passages fit within the larger context of my faith.   I think we owe our Muslim neighbors the same courtesy with regard to Sura 2.  I'm not even saying their interpretation is the right one.  But let's allow them to tell us what they believe.  They can't do that if we are lecturing instead of listening.

Instead, get to know them, assume you really don't know what they believe--because you don't.  Ask questions.  Have a conversation.  Get to know each other.

There is much fear in our culture, but followers of Jesus who walk in the Spirit don't walk in fear (2 Timothy 1:7).  So let's stop talking about "Islam" and get to know a few Muslims.  For one, we have a mandate to share our faith--a topic most of them are eager to discuss.  But even if they never believe as we do, there is a pretty good chance that a deep friendship will result that will bless you both.

It also happens to be an excellent way to defeat terror and bigotry at the same time.

Monday Morning Rewind: All, Always, and Only About Jesus

Yesterday, we finished up part two of our ten week series "One Body."  If you were asked to describe the "one thing" that holds the church together, what would it be?

In the opening 11 verses of Philippians, Paul describes a number of things that unite us, but yesterday, we looked at the "one thing" under which our faith, service, love for each other and trust in each other must meet, and that is our common identity in Jesus.  There are three ways this common identity empowers us to move forward together.

1. It Gives Us Perspective.  Among the Philippians there was apparently a fear that Paul's imprisonment would slow down the forward progress of the Gospel.  Paul counters that fear with some very bold words.  He clams his imprisonment has actually been used by God to advance the Gospel!

I have to be honest here.  I'm not sure if I was in prison whether I would have Paul's same outlook.  But if that day ever comes and I'm unable to look at that circumstance the way Paul looked at his, it won't be because Paul didn't clearly tell me how here.  This is a guy who, after leaving Philippi, had experienced a riot, threats on his life, a combined two years in jail, an appeal to Caesar, a shipwreck, and is not imprisoned again and awaiting trial.  In the face of all that, a number of the correctional officers who were guarding him had come to faith in Christ, and that faith had spread to a number of others throughout the Praetorian guard.  It's as if Paul is saying to the church; "You think I'm chained to these guys, but the reality is, they are chained to me!"

What's the point?  Simply, that nothing can stop the advance of the Gospel!  That perspective will give us something else.

2. It Gives Us Courage.  No one likes to live through hard times.  But the witness of Scripture (and if we are honest, the witness of people we know) tell us that hard times in the life of a believer usually results in a bold witness.

Think about it.  What moves you the most?  What motivates your faith the most?  Is it watching a TV preacher who seems to "have it all together," flies around on a private jet and wears $1000 suits?  Or is it that brother or sister in Christ you know is suffering, but remaining faithful to Jesus?  I have never been more challenged in my own faith than when a member of my church family responds to suffering with the words of Psalm 73: "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And on earth there is nothing I desire besides you.  My heart and my flesh [i.e. my job, my family, my health] may fail, but you are the strength of my life and my portion forever!

There is nothing about a life of luxury promised in the false "prosperity Gospel" that builds courage.  The World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker said it well.  "Courage is doing what you are afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you are scared."

Believing this is necessary because otherwise, when we are faced with bad situations, our temptation will be to think "when my situation changes I will be able to serve God again."  The truth is we all have everything we need right here and right now!  Our church doesn't need a bigger platform, more people, or more money to be faithful to Jesus.  And if Paul can empower and coordinate the global communication of the Gospel from a prison cell, you and I have everything we need already.

The only thing lacking is courage.

3. It Gives Us Focus.  Paul apparently had a number of fellow preachers who didn't like him very much.  We are spared the details of why this is, but what we hear loud and clear from the Apostle is "whatever their motivation, I'm happy they are preaching the Gospel, and I don't have time to be bitter or think about retaliation."

This is a great example for us, especially when we are faced with brothers and sisters in the church that we don't always agree with, or people in our church family that rub us the wrong way.  In those moments, if we can manage to lift our eyes above our differences and toward our common goal of making Jesus known, we get a wider understanding of what God is doing through us all!

A.W. Tozer said that if you have 100 pianos all tuned to the same fork, they are automatically tuned to each other.

We, as the body of Christ, are truly one body when we find our common identity in the person and work of Jesus.  It is all, only, and always about Him!

Monday Morning Rewind: What Holds Us Together

Yesterday, we started a brand new series entitled One Body.  Because our culture champions individualism, one of the darker elements of that mindset we have to avoid is thinking of the church in an individualistic manner.

For example, if you find when speaking of your church family that you use the singular "I' or "me" more than "we" or "us," you may need a good, healthy dose of what Paul offers in his letter to the church at Philippi.  For that reason, we are spending the next ten weeks moving verse by verse through Paul's letter to the Philippians.  This church, which was planted when Paul crossed the Aegean Sea in Acts 16, was a highly diverse reflection of of the port city in which it was located.  It's members included a wealthy owner of an import-export business, correctional officers, Greeks, Thyracians, blue collar port workers, and even a small number of Jews.

In other words, their diverse makeup was similar to our own congregation, which consists of white collar D.C. commuters, local business owners, public servants, University students, faculty, and administration, artists, and even rednecks!  Any time you have a congregation that diverse, unity is always a challenge.  This is because different backgrounds bring different points of view, opinions, cultures, and ways of looking at life.

But diversity was never intended by God to be a barrier to genuine unity.  Diversity is the richness of our human experience, and when we all find common ground under the Lordship of Jesus, such diversity makes for the most powerful kind of unity--because it is a unity governed by the mind of Christ.  Paul opens this letter describing for the people at Philippi--and us--the things that hold us all together, no matter who we are or where we come from.

1. Faith.  Paul's love for this church is revealed early, and its revealed strongly!  And the biggest reason for his love is the "partnership" he shared with the church.  From the very first contact with Lydia up until this moment, there has been an unbreakable bond, and its unbreakable because it is "in the Gospel."

If we all truly believe the Gospel, we won't be the kind of church that breaks up like a teenage garage band at the first sign of conflict.  For Paul, this meant neither the differences of opinion and arguments going on inside the church, or even his own imprisonment could shake the bond they shared.  Genuine faith is stronger than that!

2. Service.  Facing hardship together is a great cure for disunity and division.  For Paul, it was prison.  Can you imagine after receiving this letter how conversations leading to division might have been stopped?  I imagine someone probably said "hey guys, one of our own is in jail!  Is there really anything more pressing than that?"  Indeed, is there any conflict so great that we should let it overcome us and keep us from seeing the more important things?  When we work together with a focus on our common mission, that service does much to hold us together.

3. Love.  Paul expresses a deep love for the church, but as we will see later in the letter, this isn't a romanticized "love" that always feels good and is always pleasant.  A love that never offends anyone, or never makes anyone feel uncomfortable isn't real love.  In fact, we in the west have romanticized away everything about genuine love that makes it so powerful!  The genuine love that challenges for the good of the other is what Paul will model throughout this letter, and its a fantastic glue that holds God's people together on mission.

4. Trust.  Paul's desire here is that the love he is expressing through the letter be replicated in the church, and that it create the kind of intimate knowledge of each other that allows us to make moral distinctions.  Trust requires that we see clearly the good, bad, and ugly in each other so that we can make each other better and grow together toward Jesus.  But that can't happen if we don't trust each other!

5. Destination.  Yes, we are all going to heaven together, but Paul has something else in mind as we approach verse 11.  Namely, together is how we reach the goal of becoming more like Jesus.  This always happens in the context of church community.  There are no solitary routes to becoming like Jesus.  And this is why you need your church family.  We need each other.

The late evangelist Dwight L. Moody said "There are two ways of being united.  One is by being frozen together, and the other is by being melted together."  I think that's a pretty good picture of our choices.  Covenant Church can have a union that is cold and shallow--a union that centers around organizational documents, buildings, membership roles, and a budget.  It doesn't have to be any deeper than that.  But that's not what God wants for us!  If we truly love each other, we will aspire to the picture Paul draws for us in these first 11 verses.  Those are the things that will "melt" us together into a genuine unity.  That kind of unity, when grounded in the Gospel, is inseparable.  And as we continue this series for the next nine weeks, its exactly the kind of unity I'm praying for--for all of us.

Will you join me?

What Small Church Pastors and Andy Stanley Can Learn from Each Other.

Hopefully the headline didn't chase too many people off.

Last week, Andy Stanley, Lead Pastor of Northpoint Church which meets in multiple locations throughout the metro Atlanta area, said something very discouraging to many smaller church pastors. While preaching to his own congregation and praising the way the church had invested in his own life, Stanley apparently went off-script for a bit to berate anyone with children who would keep them in a small church.

The rant climaxed with this declaration by the Atlanta mega-church pastor:

If you don’t go to a church large enough where you can have enough middle schoolers and high schoolers to separate them so they can have small groups and grow up the local church, you are a selfish adult. Get over it. Find yourself a big old church where your kids can connect with a bunch of people and grow up and love the local church. Instead… you drag your kids to a church they hate, and then they grow up and hate the local church. 

On this subject, there really is no room for nuance.  What he said was really, really stupid.  Seriously, there was just no excuse for it.  It was simply boneheaded.  But Andy Stanley knows this, admitted it, apologized, and has since done an interview with Christianity Today to further explain himself.  It takes a big man with a lot of humility to do that, and I'm thankful for it.

I've learned an awful lot from Andy Stanley over the years, and there have also been things he has said that have highly discouraged me.  While planting my first church, I read a book he co-wrote with Texas pastor Ed Young Jr.  It was full of ideas our church just couldn't afford--ideas that had been cooked up on a Caribbean island they had visited together that I couldn't afford to get to.  I never finished reading it.

Fast forward many, many years.  I'm now serving as a professor teaching Doctoral students, and my most recent syllabus contains Stanley's book Deep and Wide on the required list for a Contemporary Issues class.  Why?  Because I find that looking into Stanley's ministry philosophy--whether or not I would approach ministry in exactly the same way--to be very helpful and challenging.

I share that piece of personal history as a way of illustrating that like many smaller church pastors who felt the unmerciful sting of Stanley's remarks, I too have been wounded by him.  But I've also been highly encouraged by him.  And more than a few times, the people I minister to have been the beneficiaries of practical wisdom that came from one of his books.

My point is simply that at heart, Andy Stanley is very much like all the rest of us in ministry.  He just happens to have the misfortune of a MUCH bigger and brighter spotlight.  So when he says something that unintentionally wounds a smaller church pastor who is slugging it out in the trenches, and is then man enough to own his mistake, it might be a good idea for all of us--regardless of the size of our churches--to learn some lessons.

1. All pastors say stupid things.  Only Scripture is inspired and inerrant.  Pastor's mouths are not--not by a long shot!  In 24 years, there have been more than a few times I have declared with authority something I found out later the Bible gave me no authority to declare.  A few times, I've had to stand in front of the people I pastor and apologize for misrepresenting God and His Word.

In other words, I can identify with Andy Stanley, because I too, have said a LOT of stupid things while preaching.  I credit providence for the fact that my earlier sermons aren't stored away in cyber-space--since my ministry began way before the day of the podcast.  Today, nearly everything I publicy say or write usually ends up on the internet, but I'd like to think I'm a little wiser in my 40s.

But that doesn't mean I won't say something stupid this coming Sunday. (although God willing, I'll be able to resist being an idiot).  We all say things that sometimes we have to retract.  That's something pastors of churches of ALL sizes have in common.

2. Most pastors suffer from "size myopia."  Andy Stanley has never, ever ministered in a small church.  That doesn't make him a bad guy.  It just means that from the standpoint of experience, he has no real reference point for what it is like to be the guy who preaches and prints the bulletins and takes out the trash and stacks the chairs.  He himself will admit that he is not a "church planter" in the truest sense of that term.  Northpoint's "core group" started with 450 people.  That's more than 5 times the size of the average congregation in North America.

This myopia explains a lot.  Our family spent 11 years at the same church where my wife and kids worshiped while I drove or flew all over the country and the world preaching in other places.  During that time, my kids--ALL of my kids--grew in their faith at a church that was never larger than 150 people.  They cried when they learned their Dad was going to be a pastor again because they loved our small church family, and didn't want to leave it.  Now they attend the church I pastor--a large one with the very kind of structure Stanley contends is necessary so they won't "hate the church," and they love it too!  My own family is living proof that the size of the church has very little to do with whether your kids will grow in their faith.

When Stanley assumes that kids will hate church if they go to a small one, I can counter that assumption with my own kids!  But I don't expect him to understand that because again, he has no reference point for it.  All he has ever known his entire life is large churches.

But if we are honest, most small church pastors have to admit that they too suffer from size myopia.  If all you have ever known is a small church environment, you don't have a reference point for Andy's world either.  I've repeatedly heard the stereotypical critique of the "mega church" by many small church pastors who assume that every mega church pastor is a spoiled rock star who is only concerned about his own "brand."  Problem is, I've met many of these guys, and with few exceptions (yes, some of them are total jerks, but so are a few small church pastors I know!) they are godly men with a vision for the Kingdom that is sorely needed in our culture.

Last week, Andy Stanley spoke out of ignorance.  Given his willingness to own his mistake, let's not respond with more ignorance.  The myopia on both sides could be easily cured if we were willing to learn from each other.

3. A few pastors are big enough men to admit it.  A couple of years ago I was consulting with the pastor of a large church with a budget of just over $4 million.  During that conversation he described how financially tight the chruch was, and told me "Joel, some weeks I wonder if I will even get paid!"

A couple of hours later I was sitting with several church planters in a coaching session.  One of those planters, whose church budget was around $75,000, told me "Joel, some weeks I wonder if I will even get paid."  He was shocked to learn that a large church pastor had, in the same day, told me exactly the same thing!

The thing is, when you have a $4 million budget, its because you also probably have $4 million in liabilities to cover, and tight financial margins feel the same no matter how large you are! (Actually, the pressure is greater in the large church, because so many more people are depending on your leadership)  We don't need more churches of one size or the other.  What we need are men godly and humble enough to admit that we all struggle, we all occasionally say stupid things, and we are all limited by our own experienes and points of view.

Jesus loves the grand mega-churches of Korea that make our mega-churches look small!  Jesus also loves the hidden house churches of China.  He loves the large, vast auditoriums full of people growing in their faith.  He loves the small building built by volunteers who worship there each week. He loves the networks of house churches led by tent-making leaders who are passionate about His truth.  Anywhere He is worshiped, His Word is taught, and His people are equipped to extend His Kingdom is a place and a people He looks at and smiles.

If Andy Stanley's recent gaffe can be the catalyst that drives us all to understand this more deeply, then I thank God for it.