In the first paragraph of the final chapter of the book, "Forgotten God" (which I highly recommend), Francis Chan writes:
"My hope and prayer for you, the reader, is that church people don't try to normalize you. What I mean is that we often try to calm people down who are just too passionate or too sacrificial and radical..."
Possibly, a situation is already coming to mind. Maybe you were the one living passionately and your church tried to calm you down, or even worse, they did calm you down. Or maybe you were on the other side of the situation, and you were the one trying to calm someone else down. This is quite a contradiction to the early church (found in Acts 4). Peter and John were living radical lives and were preaching with boldness, even under arrest. Those around them were astonished because they could see so much of Jesus in their lives (4:13). Right after their release, they returned to the other believers and prayed for even more boldness (4:29), and the church joined them in that. THE CHURCH JOINED THEM IN PRAYER. THEY DID NOT TRY TO CALM THEM DOWN!
What is going on with the church today? I have had several experiences where I have stepped out of my comfort zone and tried to live passionately and some church people have tried to pull me back. Thankfully I also have a lot that are encouraging me to press forward and are promising to pray for me. But I can't help but to think of those who try to pull me back or calm me down. I have also seen this happen with many other people. How dare we try to destroy the passion that God has given them! Who are we? What authority do we have?
The most common excuse that people give is that you need to start thinking about your future. But what about those who don't have a future? What about those in Cambodia who will die of starvation unless we help them? What about the orphans of Haiti who aren't even old enough to fend for themselves? What about the young girls in Poland who will be sold into prostitution? Or what about the little boys in India who will be forced into child trafficking? Or let us not forget about the homeless in the very streets of America who aren't even promised a meal tomorrow. Who will offer them a future? Who will fight for their rights? Who will give up their future so that others can have one?
I know a few people who barely live above the poverty rate, yet they still give everything they have to the poor. Some declare them to be irresponsible with the gifts that God has given them. But why do you think that God has given them those gifts? To buy a new TV? To get a new car? If you are one who lives this way, keep doing it! Don't let the church normalize you. Be like the widow, in Luke 21, who gave all that she had. Your money has been given to you for that very purpose: to give to others. If we were to go back to the model of that first church, we would see that everyone shared everything they owned (Acts 4:32). Live this way! Live radically!
A personal one that struck me the hardest was this, "Why risk your life in going overseas? Can't we just let the locals do that?" Do you realize that there are still 6,642 unreached people groups in the world that have practically zero access to the Gospel!? What local is going to tell them? Most of those countries won't even permit a Bible in their country, nor will they allow you to view any Christian material online. The only way to get the Gospel to them is to take it to them yourself. And if I may backtrack a bit, what sort of message would it be if we simply just sent a message to them and weren't even bold enough to show our faces. Is the Gospel not worth it? Personally, I would gladly die for just one unreached person to hear the Gospel for the first time.
And this last one is probably the most pathetic: "You are making us look bad." Well who's fault is that? I once heard someone say, "I want to live a life the makes other Christians feel intimidated." Oh, how I love that statement! I don't think that person meant that his goal was to simply intimidate others, but rather his goal was to magnify Christ so much in his life that others would feel convicted and be urged on to do the same. So what if you suffer persecution? So what if you sometimes you are the only one standing? So what if you are mocked? I want to be like David who responded to critics in 2 Samuel 6 that one day he would be "even more undignified than this."
Have you ever performed on stage before? If so, you may remember what it is like to have the spotlight on you. You have no idea whether that theater is empty or full, because all that you can see is the spotlight. Well the goal of my life is to live in the spotlight. By that statement, I don't mean that I want others to see me (that would be the perspective of the audience). But rather, I want to be so focused on that spotlight that I can't see anything else (the perspective of the performer). I want to be so focused on God and so passionate about living for His glory, that I wouldn't even see what the rest of the world is doing.
I wish I was a better writer, or that I could convey this message better. But it is what it is. My prayer is that this message would connect with you where ever you are. If God has given you a passion, run with it! Never let the flame die! Surround yourself with people who will support you in prayer and in whatever other means you need support in. Live a life that is radical. Live a life that is passionate. Be who God has called you to be. And lastly, don't be normal.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Who Am I?
Who am I? That is a question that has been on my mind a lot lately. This question is not centered around my purpose or my future. I know that God already has those things taken care of. But in this big story that He is writing, who am I?
When I look at the world today, and I am sure that it has always been this way, people care so much about their image. They care about their outward appearance. They care about their financial status. They care about their athletic/musical/artistic reputation. They care so much about how the rest of the world perceives them, but in the big story of God, who are they? Who am I?
I think back over my past and I can recall sin after sin after sin. I could probably tell you of how I have broken every one of the Ten Commandments in just the past week alone. The first part of Isaiah 64:6 summarizes my life when it says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." When you study the original language of this passage, you find that by "filthy rags", Isaiah is literally meaning "menstrual cloths". And some people think that we can get to Heaven by works alone? What are you planning on giving God? Your menstrual cloths?
Or let's think about it this way. If we were to number our sins each day, I am sure that we would all be in the double, triple, or even quadruple digits. But for easy math sake, let's say that we sin only 3 times a day. That's pretty good, huh? Well if I could use myself as an example, I am 21 years old. Let's multiply 3 times the total number of days I have been alive.
3 x 365 (days in a year) = 1095 sins in one year
1095 x 21 (years old) = 22,995 sins by my 21st birthday
I will exclude all the days since my birthday. Imagine now that you died tonight and you were standing before God and He asked, "Why should I let you into Heaven?" Can you imagine handing God that sort of resume? What would you expect Him to say? I would absolutely dread each day of my life if I knew that my salvation rested upon my works.
I say that last sentence as if it doesn't apply to me because, well, it doesn't apply to me. My salvation is NOT based off of works, it is based off of grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "By GRACE you have been saved through faith, it is a gift of God, not by works..." By grace, God provided His Son, Jesus Christ to die for my sins. It was as if Jesus met me in Heaven with my resume and claimed it as His own. And then He gave me His, which was a completely clean, sinless list. It was a gift from God that was so undeserved.
But just like any gift, you are not forced to receive it. In fact, you have to make a decision as to whether you want that gift or not. Do you want grace or do you want to take your chances? Do you want Jesus or do you want your resume? Which do you think God will accept?
I have somewhat gone off on a tangent, but I will come back to where I started. In light of all that has just been said, who am I? Who am I to stand before my Savior and think that I am anybody? Who am I to stand before the Creator of the universe and think that I am anybody? Who am I to stand before the all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal God and think that I am anybody? My righteousness is like filthy rags.
For some reason, God has chosen to make me His son (Romans 8:12-17). He has chosen to give me salvation (John 3:16). He has chosen to give me His Spirit (John 14:16-19). And all of this is so amazing to me because who am I? Who am I that God would look down upon me and send His only Son to die for me? Who am I?
Really, based on my outward appearance, and my financial status, and my athletic/musical/artistic reputation, I have nothing to offer you. I have nothing to offer the world. I am just a sinner saved by grace. I have failed at every area of my life, but God has still given me salvation. And in that, I have everything to offer. I have faith, I have hope, and I have love. I have been given the Gospel (literally, "Good news") of Jesus Christ, and that is what holds me together (Colossians 1:17). As I have pondered the question of who I am, I have found my answer in Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." What a beautiful description of who we really are. We are all jars of clay. Some jars are older than others. Some jars are more broken than others. But in reality, there is no value in any of us. But there is a treasure in some that gives it infinite value. And there is enough treasure to spread to every other jar, to every other soul on this earth.
When I travel the globe to share the Gospel, or when I stand before my church, or when I share my life with anyone, it is not because I see myself as valuable. It is because I see what I have as valuable. I have been given a treasure from the living God, and this treasure brings salvation. I could care less about my image. I could care less about my reputation. If only you could see past this jar and see the real treasure...
When I look at the world today, and I am sure that it has always been this way, people care so much about their image. They care about their outward appearance. They care about their financial status. They care about their athletic/musical/artistic reputation. They care so much about how the rest of the world perceives them, but in the big story of God, who are they? Who am I?
I think back over my past and I can recall sin after sin after sin. I could probably tell you of how I have broken every one of the Ten Commandments in just the past week alone. The first part of Isaiah 64:6 summarizes my life when it says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." When you study the original language of this passage, you find that by "filthy rags", Isaiah is literally meaning "menstrual cloths". And some people think that we can get to Heaven by works alone? What are you planning on giving God? Your menstrual cloths?
Or let's think about it this way. If we were to number our sins each day, I am sure that we would all be in the double, triple, or even quadruple digits. But for easy math sake, let's say that we sin only 3 times a day. That's pretty good, huh? Well if I could use myself as an example, I am 21 years old. Let's multiply 3 times the total number of days I have been alive.
3 x 365 (days in a year) = 1095 sins in one year
1095 x 21 (years old) = 22,995 sins by my 21st birthday
I will exclude all the days since my birthday. Imagine now that you died tonight and you were standing before God and He asked, "Why should I let you into Heaven?" Can you imagine handing God that sort of resume? What would you expect Him to say? I would absolutely dread each day of my life if I knew that my salvation rested upon my works.
I say that last sentence as if it doesn't apply to me because, well, it doesn't apply to me. My salvation is NOT based off of works, it is based off of grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "By GRACE you have been saved through faith, it is a gift of God, not by works..." By grace, God provided His Son, Jesus Christ to die for my sins. It was as if Jesus met me in Heaven with my resume and claimed it as His own. And then He gave me His, which was a completely clean, sinless list. It was a gift from God that was so undeserved.
But just like any gift, you are not forced to receive it. In fact, you have to make a decision as to whether you want that gift or not. Do you want grace or do you want to take your chances? Do you want Jesus or do you want your resume? Which do you think God will accept?
I have somewhat gone off on a tangent, but I will come back to where I started. In light of all that has just been said, who am I? Who am I to stand before my Savior and think that I am anybody? Who am I to stand before the Creator of the universe and think that I am anybody? Who am I to stand before the all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal God and think that I am anybody? My righteousness is like filthy rags.
For some reason, God has chosen to make me His son (Romans 8:12-17). He has chosen to give me salvation (John 3:16). He has chosen to give me His Spirit (John 14:16-19). And all of this is so amazing to me because who am I? Who am I that God would look down upon me and send His only Son to die for me? Who am I?
Really, based on my outward appearance, and my financial status, and my athletic/musical/artistic reputation, I have nothing to offer you. I have nothing to offer the world. I am just a sinner saved by grace. I have failed at every area of my life, but God has still given me salvation. And in that, I have everything to offer. I have faith, I have hope, and I have love. I have been given the Gospel (literally, "Good news") of Jesus Christ, and that is what holds me together (Colossians 1:17). As I have pondered the question of who I am, I have found my answer in Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." What a beautiful description of who we really are. We are all jars of clay. Some jars are older than others. Some jars are more broken than others. But in reality, there is no value in any of us. But there is a treasure in some that gives it infinite value. And there is enough treasure to spread to every other jar, to every other soul on this earth.
When I travel the globe to share the Gospel, or when I stand before my church, or when I share my life with anyone, it is not because I see myself as valuable. It is because I see what I have as valuable. I have been given a treasure from the living God, and this treasure brings salvation. I could care less about my image. I could care less about my reputation. If only you could see past this jar and see the real treasure...
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