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Or Faith that Transforms?

One of the most agonizing things I experience as a Christian, and especially as a minister-pastor, is the struggle that I witness people go through in the process of their faith. I remember a saying we used when I was growing up in the Pentecostal church that we would use to describe folks that were going through particularly difficult times (specifically the inner changes that were part of the ongoing process of transforming sanctification). We would say, “Brother or sister so-in-so really needs to get the victory.” I think about this a lot these days. I’ve been leading, mentoring, counseling, and discipling people in the ways of Christ for quite a few years now; not a lifetime, but enough years to see the trends. The thing I have noticed is the “lack of victory” so many people display in their lives. It’s almost as if the Christian life is a life of drudgery and “beat down” for them. They exhibit very little joy and almost always are teetering on the verge of being sucked back into their old life (Christianese alert::::) aka backsliding.

Eugene Peterson’s Message Bible paraphrases this portion of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 7:14-23) as follows:

I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience? Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary. But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

This might sound even more depressing if it weren’t for (as Paul Harvey used to say…) “the rest of the story.”

Romans 7:24-25 — ²⁴ I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? ²⁵ The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

What does it mean? It means we can get the VICTORY. We can live a life free from the continuous and tumultuous “pushing and pulling” against our soul of sin. We don’t have to live the Romans 7 life; we are freed to live the Spirit-filled life of the Romans 8 saint.

The Problem:

Why do Christians stay in the realm of Romans 7? I can’t say for sure, but I have a pretty strong theory. I think, like so many things, we simply add Christian faith to our lives like we do any other supplemental stage of life or personal development tool. We have the propensity to approach Christianity with “Transformer Mentality” bolting on to our lives something that will make us a better person…or something that will fix the problem I’m in so I can resume my life. And, the majority of time…the vast majority of time, this approach fails us. The Transformer-bolt-on-Jesus approach to Christianity and faith in the Living God is the antithesis of the “Follow Me and Count the Cost” call of Jesus Christ. Faith in God is not an upgrade package to an over cluttered life. Faith in God, becoming a disciple of Christ, is a complete life overhaul…and must be counted as such.

You Must Be Born Again…

What do we think when Jesus declared to Nicodemus; “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3).  In the Gospel of Luke (Luke 14:25-33) Jesus is even more explicit in his demands for becoming his follower (disciple). He says we must deny self and give up everything or we cannot become his disciple. He gives an illustration for “dying to self” in order to become “reborn” in the passages of John’s Gospel (John 12:24) as follows:

²⁴ I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

The faith, the life, that Jesus offers us is not Transformer Faith; it is FAITH THAT TRANSFORMS! The Apostle Paul writes; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Don’t settle for “bolt-on” faith; go for the real deal and the Victory that is eternal… Faith that Transforms.

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I begin with part one of my Reveille series although it might serve more as an extended introduction; I’m calling it part one anyway. Please feel free to share comments in the comments section of this post or you can send them to me through email. I am interested in any thoughts, comments, and discussion.

“Lord, make me see thy glory in every place.”
— Michelangelo

“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplish.”
— Michelangelo

I continue to sense a discontent in my spirit. I am not downcast, I am not discouraged, but I am not satisfied. I read the pages of God’s Word and see people invited into something miraculous and divine and I want it. I sense the Spirit of God alive in me; hungering for community with similarly awakened souls. I feel the unction and commission of God to spread this Good News; that God has invited us to share His Spirit…He desires to dwell within us, and give us resurrected life in the present and in the now. I speak these words to people today and hear them affirm the words, but discern doubt in their heart. While this may sound judgmental, I am inclined to examine the fruit…and where there is none or there is little, I question the veracity of the root system and the soil of that individual’s life.

I am determined to live the life taught in the gospels. I am determined to build upon the foundations and teaching of the apostle-disciples and I will not be quieted. A curious phenomenon has emerged during this season of my life; when I talk or share my thoughts about this brooding of my spirit, the most common response from others is to encourage me or try to “fix” me. The problem is I don’t see myself as the one needing “fixed” or “encouraged.” You see, I know it is God, The Holy Spirit, who has “broken” me and I don’t want this brokenness to be fixed. God has placed a hunger for Himself in my soul and nothing less than overflowing portions of HIM satisfies. For this reason, I am mystified when I encounter others who profess love for and relationship with Jesus, but seek their satisfaction from worldly endeavors. I don’t get it.

I know the call to follow Christ is one that demands everything. I know that once we have given our life to Christ, we are given to the mission of Christ. Therefore, any agenda other than the mission of God is anti-Christ (see Matthew 12:30).

I am just ending a 60-day meditation in the Gospel of Matthew. Some things I take away from it are (1) the incredible life that Jesus offers to us; both on this earth and in this physical life and the immortal-eternal life spent (physically) with Him in the new heaven and new earth, and (2) the incredibly narrow path and high bar that life calls us to be accountable to until Christ returns or our physical life ends.

Highlighting the fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus begins to teach the precepts of His Kingdom; for living now and tomorrow-eternal. I believe, in my own words, the Beatitudes, which depict true followers of Christ, can be summarized as follows:

1. True disciples are dependent upon God
2. True disciples are discontent with the sin nature
3. True disciples are confident in their Christian position
4. True disciples  desire to reconcile and restore God’s Kingdom
5. True disciples are compassionate, patient, forgiving, and merciful
6. True disciples are innocent and childlike in their purity of heart, not cynical, skeptical, doubting, flippant, and/or selfish
7. True disciples are “reconcilers” (and this should not be confused with compromiser)
8. True disciples willingly release their rights and/or lives for the sake of and salvation of others

Indeed, Jesus raises the bar for those who answer the call to “follow him.” Jesus makes it very clear (Matthew 5:13-16) that our Christian faith and our ability to reflect the image of God (Imago Dei) is a non-negotiable. Jesus says we will truly reflect His glory, or we will be “thrown out.” He says our acts of mercy, justice, healing, and righteousness should illuminate our world (community). He goes on to make clear (Matthew 5:17-20) that we “do not misunderstand why he has come…” Jesus says; “Unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Ouch. If these words do not convey accurately his intent; I find these closing words difficult to argue with; “You are to be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

I have been reading from the letter of Paul to the Colossians and from the prophet Jeremiah this morning. The following passages captured my attention:

Colossians chapter one –

• vs 1: “…chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.”
• vs 6: “This good news is bearing fruit everywhere changing lives…”
• vs 9-10: “…God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.”
• vs 25: “God has given me the responsibility of serving His church by proclaiming His entire message to you…”
• vs 27: “The message; CHRIST LIVES IN YOU!”
• vs 28: “…so we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect (mature) in their relationship to Christ.”
• vs 29: “That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.”

Jeremiah chapter one –

• vs 7: “You must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you…”
• vs 9-10: “Look I have put my words in your mouth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”
• vs 17: “…Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them.

I do not know what this next season is on the horizon and I’m not sure when it will fully break into the “now,” but I am very aware that God has been stirring me for a long time and the next season will bring change. I vow faithfulness to Jesus, my Savior, my God. I know, in my heart, I trust Him implicitly.

“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
— Michelangelo

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I’ve taken a bit of a blogging break over the past month. It’s not like I haven’t had much to say, but more like I haven’t been able to fully express it. I’ve been working out some things in my head that I feel in my heart as I’ve been reading, praying, and meditating over the past several months. I am sure that I will be sharing these things in the coming weeks as I finally feel ready to start putting the thoughts to paper and work them out in a more formal way… (Warning) I don’t have everything figured out (I doubt I ever will), but I am feeling pretty confident and affirmed in what has been stirring me for some time now.

More to come…

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I have quite a few photos that I never posted over the Summer… I had stuff going on that was pressing for my attention and never really got around to it. I seem to be finding “holes” in my schedule now (Thank you Jesus) and will try to upload them into galleries for viewing as I get the chance. Here is a gallery from a local Balloon Festival in Dansville, NY. We got up early one morning during this three day event and were treated to some cool sights and colorful balloons.

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Hey icrucified blog readers, sorry that I’ve been neglecting you guys. My “plate” has been really full lately on a different front and I simply haven’t had the creative energy to maintain my responsibilities and regular posting on my blog. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now, so I wanted you to know that semi-regular to regular posting will resume soon enough.

“What have I been up to;” you ask?

• Maintaining my relationship with Jesus
• Being a Husband
• Being a Father
• I’ve been spending time working on development and launch of the fall programming at our church
• In the process of a complete rebuild of our church website (see it in process here)
• Organizing and directing the fall small groups ministries and keeping up with weekly curriculum requirements
• Beginning a new adult Sunday school class (studying and preparing curriculum) – Spiritual Formation: Creating a Personal Rule of Life
• Directing the next steps in our maturing community outreach ministry Master’s Hand. This ministry has grown over the last two years and has needed some attention in the area of policy and procedure oversight. If we are to grow in the direction God is leading us, it is imperative that we implement policy guidelines for this ministry.
• Staying atop of my book review obligations.
• Personal mentoring and discipleship counseling
• Unplanned ministry opportunities… Divine distractions
• Preparing to move to a new apartment (just across the street, but we got to move nonetheless)

So, yeah…my plate is full, but God is awesome in my life. Living a rich and abundant life in the counsel and Presence of the Most High God is the most incredible and fulfilling experience of my life. I love it…and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Praise Him!

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Bleh.

I don’t like distractions.

I don’t like that I don’t like distractions.

I know enough to know that each and every distraction holds within it the opportunity to grow spiritually and to bring glory to God. So, distractions bug me. They bug me because they remind me of how messed up I am…when I think of my own discomfort or inconvenience before asking God what His intent for the distraction is (was) for in the first place.

He is Sovereign. He is Omniscient…

I think, many times… My distraction is His attempt to get my attention. I should worry less and be perturbed less with the distraction. I should be joyful that my God loves me enough to distract me… and, I should seek to gain that for which He distracted me in the first place.

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Day 13: Made It Home…and final vacation 2009 post.

Nothing but travel today…

We hit the Holiday Inn Express Breakfast hard like champions before dominating the highway. Early afternoon we landed at a Long John Silver’s just outside of Cleveland (don’t say anything…LJS isn’t anywhere near my favorite 100 places to eat, but there were other riders that wanted to stop). Still Northeast bound, we arrived in Erie, Pa and I couldn’t help but stop off at the Krispy Kreme for a late afternoon snack. The quick sugar rush was enough to propel us on through our trip to Castile, NY.

Nothing real exciting on the way home; like I said, we were intent on getting back and getting ready for the weekend. Laurie and I will be sharing the pulpit this weekend with a message from God’s word on the topic of marriage. I’m pretty excited about our “co-teaching” this weekend. It will be a first for us and hope there will be other opportunities like this in the future.

One other note of interest, we started an audio book authored by Andy Andrews called “The Lost Choice.” We didn’t get to finish it yet, but it is really good. Maybe I’ll review it when I’m done listening. Heard from the boys out in La-La Land for the X-games tonight and they’re doing well too. That’s all for the vacation posts. Back to our regular blog for awhile.

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Day 12: Homeward Bound and Answers in Genesis

Still making our way North to NY state…much of the drive today was without event. We listened to an audiobook along the way this time, Affabel, by John Bevere. It is an allegory about the Christian life. I thought it was good and could provide some excellent family discussion. It probably would have for us except for the fact that two of our boys are in California and Josh was asleep. Nonetheless, we (Laurie and I) enjoyed it.

We arrived at the intersection of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky and spent the late afternoon at the Creation Museum (Answers in Genesis). I think it was very well done and the quality of the displays and wax figures was excellent. I think, with regard to Creation, that many of the explanations and alternative viewpoints of intelligent design were very well presented and some of them highly plausible. In fact, many of them I do believe. Some, on the other hand, were quite a stretch (in my mind) and hard for me to accept; of course, I’m no scientist and have no basis for what is or is not other than what I can conceive in my own mind. I guess this is where I come to the point of saying at some place in the life of every person as they journey the path of their faith, they will have to come to a point of acceptance of God’s word. You either trust Him with what He has passed down to us or you don’t. Trusting Him does not mean that we have to understand all the details of how things are, or how they came to be… That’s my position. I don’t understand all the details of Creation. I know what God has given us and I just don’t get tripped up on things that I don’t understand.

We had a great time and I wish we’d arrived earlier because we missed some of the displays and the nature hike outside of the museum. Oh well, maybe there will be a next time.

Laurie and Josh are ready for the Holiday Inn Express breakfast buffet, so I better roll. We’re on the final leg of our homeward bound journey, so the next update will include our arrival at home and me typing at my familiar dining room table. Peace and Grace be yours this day!

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Day 11: On the Road Again…

We hit the road early today (well, yesterday now), as Stefan and Garrett had a flight they weren’t willing to miss. We dropped them off around 11:00am for the first leg of their West Coast adventure. I tried to chronicle what I could of this day with my best photojournalistic eye, but was shot down by my proof editor refusing to allow my posting of the images without extensive editing.

Did I mention it was/is Joshua’s birthday today…? I granted him executive privileges all through the day reminding him that the preferential treatment he was receiving was because of his birthday. Immediately following this declaration, I quickly reminded him that “today is your birthday; tomorrow is not.” (heheheheheh) – We treated him to a “Smorges”-borden at the Golden Corral for lunch and we dined at his favorite eatery (sigh) Arby’s for supper. (The things we do for love…)

Our journey took us mostly by highway today making for a very quiet and scenic drive…until we landed on the periphery of a tornado warning in Northwestern Alabama for around two hours of our drive. It was exciting if not taxing for that little piece of the drive anyway. About the time we crossed the Tennessee border, the boys called to let us know they arrived in Los Angeles safely and were proceeding to their hotel; we heard from them a little later once they got settled in to their hotel.

We settled in to a Holiday Inn Express in downtown Nashville for the night and plan to hit the Creation Museum in Kentucky tomorrow. I’ll try to do better with my photojournalism….maybe a good night’s rest will help.

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Day 10: Leaving “home” to go home…

Yesterday was a pretty mellow day…trying to get things ready for the journey back north, get the boys ready for their west coast adventure, and saying good-byes. More family pictures were on the agenda (I now have well over 300 “family” photos to edit), but the memories they will rekindle are worth it. I can’t say enough about the joy I have had spending the past week with my immediate and extended family; joy does not convey the delight of my heart. Really.

I’m not entirely sure what our journey home is going to entail, our route and itinerary has not been finalized just yet. I think our first priority is to get our oldest two (Stefan and Garrett) to the airport on time. Once we get that item completed, we’ll concern ourselves with where we’ll end up tonight. We’re trying to decide whether or not to shoot through Atlanta or Nashville (our site seeing choices will dictate that, but we plan to discuss this on our way to the Jackson airport).

I’ll try to update our trip along the way with photos and will share a brief synopsis of what we’re doing and what we decided when we land at a hotel for the evening. I better get running so I can pack up the Trailblazer now…I’m hearing the sounds of Willie Nelson and “On the Road Again” in my head, so I better be off. Ta Ta Till Latah!

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