You're A Pastor?

If I collected a quarter for every time I’ve heard that said to me over the years, it’s a good chance I’d be able to take my bride on her dream vacation by now. I’ve grown accustomed to hearing that said to me from a variety of people I’ve met along the way. I concede that the sandals, ripped jeans, frosted tips, and the minor obsession with the world of MMA is not consistent with the typical pastoral profile, but I’ve never been a huge fan of ‘typical’. It’s no heartbreak for me to hear the surprise in people’s voices when they discover what I do for a living, but it would be tragic if someone said to me ‘You’re a Christian?’ To hear that would mean that my lifestyle is somehow inconsistent with who I claim to be. Meaning, if I claim to be a follower of Jesus, then one should be able to follow the decisions and choices I make on a day to day basis and see a reflection of Jesus not only in ALL I do and say, but in who I am as a person.

So the question I would pose is this: ‘Does the world around you know that you’re a Christian?’ Would one be able to peruse your Facebook profile, observe your entertainment choices, survey your work ethic at your job, listen in on the multiple conversations you have throughout the day, or gaze upon who you are when no one is watching and know that you are a follower of Jesus? A simpler way to put this is – ‘do you stand out, or are you just blending in?’ Jesus stood out! He did not blend! People often think that Jesus only stood out for what He said and what He did, but fail to realize that what set Jesus apart was who He was. His character. His integrity. His purity.

As a follower of Jesus, I am not only commanded to be His hands and feet to the world around me, but to imitate His personhood. On the heels of exhorting Christ followers to have the same attitude of Jesus, the Apostle Paul goes on to say that we are to “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:15) Called to be blameless and pure. In a culture obsessed with beauty, sex and hedonism, who will take a stand to be above reproach (blameless) and holy (pure) in our personhood? Will you? We are called to shine, not blend in with the fading reflection of the world around us. Rather than hearing people say ‘You’re a Christian?’, let the world around us see not only our deeds, but observe our personhood and declare ‘You must be a Christian!’

Merry Christmas!

'He will be called Immanuel.' (Isaiah 7:14) God is with US!

ONE

Bono has a song about it. Marriages fight for it. Churches are confused by it. And Jesus prayed that we would have it. According to Bono, it will leave us if we don’t care about it and the sad reality is that there are a lot of marriages that stopped caring about it a long time ago, and consequently it has left them. A shift from sharing a heart, to sharing a house – from sharing a house to dividing who gets what in the house once the divorce is settled. Then there is the church who might claim to care about it, but at best is utterly confused by it. Some estimate that there are over 30,000 different denominations world-wide with even more independent churches popping up everywhere. What is it? Oneness. Unity.

And then there is Jesus. He prayed that if anyone would be a follower of His, that we would model the type of relationship He had with His Heavenly Father – a relationship that typifies unity and oneness (John 17). Pride, self-centeredness, and independent attitudes are obvious oneness/unity killers, but I wonder if there is something beyond what appears to be obvious. The question that serves as yet another ‘splinter in my mind’ is this question – ‘do I really want to be one and have unity with others?’ If we’re honest – if I’m honest, I’m not sure that’s always the desire of my heart. How about you?

I readily confess that the desires of my heart can often be ‘jacked up’, but I know there is a greater desire within me that says I want to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer. His prayer was an expression of what His heart longed for most – and it would seem that what Jesus longed for in would be followers is that we would be ‘one.’ I see two options before me. Fight like an MMA man to make oneness/unity a reality and be an answer to Jesus’ prayer, or ignore the prayer of God’s Son. I know the road to unity/oneness will be ladened with difficulties and potential disappointments, but a greater disappointment to me would be a refusal to be an answer to my Savior’s prayer.

LOST

Boston is not an easy city to navigate. It’s happened before, and it happened again yesterday – I got LOST! I thought if I just keep going, I would eventually see something familiar that would point me in the right direction. I kept going and going even though I had the reoccurring thought ‘stop and turn around.’ But I could not stop now because of how far I had gone. I kept thinking ‘certainly I will recognize something soon that will put me on the right path or point me in the right direction.’ Yes – I could have stopped to ask for directions, but I wanted to get ‘unlost’ on my own. After about 50 minutes of going in the wrong direction and ending up in a town that I’d never been in, I finally stopped, turned around and retraced my steps. I worked my way back to where I needed to go, but I wasted a lot of gas and time in the process.


It’s one thing to be lost in a car headed in the wrong direction, but what happens when being lost is a summary of your life. Too many people travel down the highways and byways of life never stopping to ask a very simple question – ‘is where I’m headed actually going to lead me to the place I want and need to be?’ Rather than asking that question and pausing long enough to compose an answer, far too many people are content to travel along in life hoping that eventually they will recognize something along the way that will potentially point them in the right direction. What if you never recognized anything along the way – would you just keep going? Ultimately, if you don’t know where you’re going, how would you know when you arrived?


Life is far too valuable a gift to live lost. Jesus once said – “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Admitting lostness and allowing someone other than you find you takes great humility, but there is no greater joy than getting found. Live lost, or get found – which one will you chose?

Think Food!

This picture pretty much sums up the main idea behind fasting. What is it that you think about most? Not all, but a lot of us think about food constantly – what we will eat, where we will eat, and when we will eat it. There is nothing wrong with food – it is a gift from God, but what fasting does for the human heart is to keep in check the gift from becoming a god. It happens easily, quickly and often before we even realize that its taken place.

Its food for some, whereas for others it might be working out constantly in order to get the ‘perfect body.’ Still for others, it might be an obsession with the way they spend their time – TV, internet, movies, video games, or sleeping. Yes, sleeping can be an obsession. Sleeping is a gift from God in order for our bodies to rest and recover, but as stated above, has the gift become a god?

How do we know if the gift has become a god? Simple – what do you think about most? What consumes your thoughts more than anything is often the thing to which we will give ourselves.

If you are a follower of Jesus, then following Him should consume all of us. When Jesus said ‘love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength’ – He wasn’t kidding. How can I become more like Christ? How can I think more like Christ? Behave like Christ? These are all questions that we allow to permeate our minds through out the day in order that we might live out the answers.

When fasting, we communicate to God that ‘I Love you more than ______! (you fill in the blank) In fasting we tell God that I desire you more than __________! (fill in the blank) In fasting we tell God that He and not __________ (fill in the blank) is of supreme importance to us.

Fasting allows us to reorient and align our hearts, minds and bodies towards God, and not the things that often play the role of god in our lives.

One final warning from Jesus – “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18

Fasting is not ‘extra credit.’ It might be impressive to others, but we cannot impress God with empty religious rituals. Don’t fast to get something from God – fast in order to express your love to God. The reward that Jesus talks about is not ‘an answer to prayer’, but the reward is God Himself – He is always the reward.

Practically speaking, when fasting from food, you are making the conscious decision not only to not eat food for an extended period of time, but to replace the time you would have had both in thought and time spent eating food, to connect with God in a significant and meaningful way. That’s why praying and fasting go hand in hand. When we fast from something, we are committing to direct the thoughts and time usually spent on something else towards praying about a specific request, or expressing gratitude to God for something.

For those who will be fasting and praying with the GENESIS community on Thursday, August 28th – please specifically be praying for God’s clear leading, provision and blessing on GENESIS becoming a church plant. Then, gather with the GENESIS community on Thursday evening in order to worship and pray together, and then declare the fast over by celebrating communion as a community.

Fasting is a way to draw the totality of your being towards God – so as you fast know that you’re not seeking to get something from God, except God Himself. Like the Psalmist declared: “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” Psalm 73:25-26 (NLT)

WORDS

WORDS - everyday all around us words are being exchanged. Some helpful, others hurtful while others are just meaningless banter. If you were to examine some of the conversations that you have been part of say over the past week, how many were meaningful? Meaningful being defined as conversations that left a lasting impact and brought about some semblance of change. If that's the case, then I'm guessing that a better contingent of us are lacking in the department of meaningful conversations. I guess the question that one must wrestle with is this - are WE talking about meaningful and significant things to those around us, or are we just hoping that someone else will say something meaningful?

This past week, I’ve had the opportunity to be part of some 'meaningful' conversations. But what made the conversation meaningful was not anything insightful or intrinsically intelligent that I had to offer, but what made the difference was the Gospel. If I did not believe in Jesus, I really wouldn't have much to offer. The reality is we all have something to offer, but is what we're offering humanity actually helpful, meaningful and significant? Outside of Jesus, I have nothing to say when it comes to purpose, meaning, significance, value and worth. Outside of Jesus, I have nothing to offer when it comes time to wrestle with some of life’s toughest questions. I have a lot to say about a lot of different things, but what really struck me this past weekend is that without Jesus in the conversation, ALL of my (self) perceived wisdom is not really all that wise. When talking with an agnostic, some Muslims and some people who were at best indifferent to spiritual things this past week, the only meaningful things that I had to say were because of Jesus.

People around you and I are dying for someone to stand up and say something meaningful. If you know Jesus – start talking. If you don’t know what to say, quote Jesus – His words always seemed to get a reaction out of people, and His words seem to have a had a meaningful impact on people over the past 2,000 years. They have on me at least!

thinking man

Do you ever have those ‘splinter in your mind moments?’ That one thought or question that just seems to stick, and the harder you try to get it ‘unstuck’ from your mind, it actually only drives the splinter deeper in. Well here’s my ‘splinter’. Does God have a purpose? Now before you answer that question, you must realize how I and ‘Webster’ are defining purpose. Purpose answers the question of ‘why do I exist?’ This word can be used in a few different ways, but for the purpose of this splinter, I am being single-minded in defining purpose in its most pure form – ‘the reason for which something exists.'

So here’s where the splinter begins to dig in a little deeper. God has no beginning or end – meaning, there is no starting point for God. He’s always existed. There was never a point in time when God was not. So if God has always been and always will be, how could He have a purpose? Who would define His purpose? The only reason you and I have purpose is because our Creator has made clear what our purpose is. God does not have a Creator – so who defines His purpose? Does He define his own purpose, i.e. why He exists? But, how does God who knows nothing of not existing answer the question, this is why I exist?'

My purpose (why I exist) is clear – to know my Creator. To be in right relationship with Him, both now and for eternity? Jesus, God’s son made that possible. But God does not exist to be in relationship with me. He is completely satisfied and complete within Himself (the Trinity).

Scripture makes clear on numerous occasions that God has a ‘purpose’, that is He has plans, or a Will to be carried out, but again, I am not speaking of purpose in terms of plans, or a will. The splinter of this ‘thinking man’ is why does God exist? He was not created, so how does one answer that question, and how is it possible that the created being could say of its Creator – ‘this is why our Creator exists?’ Any thoughts on this particular splinter?