Radically Real

Well the Homosexuality issue came up on one of my youth ministry lists again. As usual it will turn into a flame war and usually I stay out of those, but I did want to try to respond in a way that is real. Here's what I wrote:

Why do we always seem to have to split hairs on this issue?
It's been said on these lists a bazillion times. God loves the sinner and hates the sin. If you are a person who believes that homosexual tendencies are born into a person, (I'm still not sold on that argument, but I don't want to start a new one so I'll leave it as "if") then the person is not sinning to have that tendency. (I still say that's a huge "if") But to act on that tendency is very definitely sin as is all sex outside of marriage. Marriage is very clearly defined in the Bible as between a man and a woman, Genesis 2:24 for example.

I have heterosexual tendencies. I see many women on a daily basis who are attractive to me. To see the woman is not sin, to lust after her is. To act on the attraction in a physical manner is sin as well. God has ordained the family. God has set it up so a man and a woman get together, marry for life, have children and train those children in the way that they should go so that they will follow Him and the cycle continues. It's His will that none should perish and I believe that is the biggest reason that He set this whole plan in motion.

The tragedy is that people do not follow God's plan and they fall into sin. They are hurting and they are broken and they seek something to heal the pain. For me it was alcohol, for many it is sexual sin. Whatever the sin, the church has two choices. We can model the love of Jesus and show them the way out of the sin lovingly, guiding them toward wholeness, or we can act as if their sin is okay and allow them to keep struggling in it. Jesus said to the woman caught in sin, "neither do I condemn you (and He is God, He has the right to condemn if He wants to) but then He says Go and sin no more.

Want to start a fight?
It's simple really, just go to a Christian e-list and bring up subjects like pre-trib, post-trib, or pan trib rapture. Unless it's a rare group where everyone agrees, you will find the love thy neighbor thing flies right out the window. You want to know what I think? I think we spend too much time arguing over this stuff. My job is not to be right about the rapture. My job is to let people know about the One who will bring it about.

I preached yesterday on John the Baptist. I like John and I'd like to be like John (except I'll take my honey bug-free, thank you very much). He got the call to make the path straight for the Lord and it looks for all the world like he got up and went right out into the wilderness and got to work. He didn't sit around for 30 years debating theories on the coming of the Messiah. He started baptizing. He became the coice of one calling in the wilderness and he accomplished his mission.

Around chapter three, His disciples started realizing that people were leaving John to go with Jesus and this troubled them (you mean the numbers obsessed church isn't a recent phenomena??? I'm shocked) John hit on a key that I think the church needs to get a handle on. John told His disciples He must become greater, I must become less. John was the first prophet in Israel in 400 years and he is arguably the most important one and he knew he wasn't fit to untie Jesus shoes. Maybe it's time we stop fighting over theological things (after all how many people outside the church have a clue, or for that matter care at all about the rapture or any of the other stuff we fight about.) and start showing people the real Jesus. Of course that requires us becoming transparent, you know, Jesus becoming greater and us becoming less. Can we do it?

Getting Real!

Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. This may be the single greatest key to being Radically Real. Love God and love others. But it goes deeper. Love God more than anything else. Make Him the number one priority in your life. And then while you're at it, at the same time, love the people He has put into your life (the easy ones and the tough ones) as much as you love yourself. Their wellbeing is as important as yours because you love them as much as you love yourself.

When you see someone who is lost, you help them find their way home because that is what you would want them to do for you. When they fail to get it, you persevere because you know how important this is and you wouldn't want someone to give up on you. When they put you down, you stick it out because you know they haven't found what you've found and you remember what that was like. Make no mistake about it, this is tough stuff, almost everything that is good and worthwhile is. How much do you love God, can your neighbor see it, and then at the same time, an they see that you love them almost that much. That's the challenge. Time to get real!

What is Radically Real?
For too long people in the church have had a false view of ourselves thinking we are somehow better than the rest of the word. We use terms like the unchurched... Our attitudes often make them want to stay that way. Being radically real is about being authentic. It's about being truthful about who you are and the things that Jesus is doing in your life. It's about being able to look at a hurting person and realizing that they are a person loved by Jesus, and then sharing the love of Jesus with them, not from a position of superiority but from a postition of realizing that if it weren't for the love of Jesus and the grace of God we'd be in the same boat.

I have a pretty gory story. It's not that hard for me to relate to someone who is deep in sin because it wasn't that long ago that I was. Some have always lived in Christian families and have been influenced by Jesus from childhood. Their salvation story is not all that gory. They always had Jesus modeled for them and when they heard the Spirit, they answered the call and started living for Him. Praise God that's how I hope it will be with my kids. But don't miss this, if this is your story, you've still been rescued. By putting you in that environment, God in His infinite grace and mercy spared you a lot of pain. Remember that grace and mercy when you deal with someone who has not yet received it and you will be radically real.

While I'm on the subject there's one other area I'd like to touch on, church. If you were going on a mission trip to a country that spoke another language, for example, Spanish. You'd do one of two things, you'd learn the language or you'd get an interpretter wouldn't you. It would do you no good to share the gospel in terms the people could not understand. I wish we'd handle our pulpits and our teaching the same way. There are people in your seats that don't know what it means to "pray in the spirit," they don't know what "prepitiation" is, they have no idea how to "seek God's face", they may not even understand being "saved."

We have got to make ourselves clear. We have got to drop the "christianese" and put it out there in terms everyone can understand. You say well many people in the pews already know this stuff. That may be true, but Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. Those who already know also should know enough to realize that it's not about them. If they know everything the preacher is talking about they should really focus on bringing someone who doesn't. Keep it real, keep it simple and let the word of God do it's job.

The Submergent Church

I received an email yesterday that was troubling. It was from a magazine that had run an article on the emergent church. It obviously generated a furor, because the responses were very mixed. I left the article about half way through wanting to shout the words of that great theologian, Rodney King, who once said "can't we all just get along."

Some were for the emergent movement (as if there is a choice to be for or against, which is where the rest seemed to fall incidentally.) Some were saying that they have seen "emergent" churches that are nothing more than the same old service but with candles and a poetry reading. Others seemed to insinuate that the emergent church has thrown away the gospel. It was shocking, division in the body, what are the odds? Seems to me we need a good dose of humility on both sides.

I want to propose a third alternative—the submergent church. This is the place where we dump the pride and the program fall to our knees and say "God make my church part of what you are doing. Take my plan and throw it out the window and lay a vision on my heart to reach the people you are calling me to. I submit to you Lord, thy will be done." See, the thing is there is room for the emergent church and there is room for the traditional church in the body of Christ. There are people who will be reached by traditional and emergent and contemporary and whatever title we place on it in the body of Christ.

Here's where I fall. I love the new styles of worship and the vision God has laid on my heart leans toward the contemporary to emergent side of the scale, but I have people in my life who I love very much that could die without Jesus who will not be reached by this style of service. They need the traditional and thank God there are congregations out there that still offer it.

Where do we get off putting down another person's ministry? Aren't we many parts but one body? Don't we all have a purpose and a mission to fulfill? Can't we all just get along? Let's humble ourselves and realize it's not about us. It's about Jesus. Let's decrease so that He can increase. Let's submerge from our pride and realize that we need to be about the good news. Let's stop competing and start rejoicing with the angels as lost people find their way home in Jesus.

Sometimes blogs disappear only to reappear after the author tries to remember what he wrote and then chases it down a different rabbit trail. Case in point below...

When I was a teen my favorite band was Rush. They had a song called A Farewell to Kings. The lyrics of that sone included "When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago, will they read of us with sadness for the seeds that we left grow."

When I look at all that is going on I can't help but wonder if that line was prophetic. What are we doing? Our society is so pluralistic and so "gray." People say there are no absolutes which is in itself an absolute.

There are absolutes and they can be found in the Word of God. Jesus said I am THE way after all. But here's the thing, as much as we want to hold onto the absolute truth of God's Word and we must, we are also forced to take that truth to pluralistic society in a way that they will understand. It is a monumental task.

Here's what I see. God will raise up people and give them a vision to reach this society. God will give good seed to be planted. We must be very careful to be very faithful. We must follow Him closer than ever. We must be careful that in our zeal to reach a generation that we dont throw the babies out with the bath water. The word remains unchanged, the vehicles we use to take them out must change and sometimes quickly. In a world where all the known knowledge doubles every year and a half (unless that stat is outdated by now), what's "hip" today is passe tomorrow. It's changing so fast that the only hope we have is the only hope the church has ever had. Clinging tightly to our Lord and His word.

When I was a teen my favorite band was Rush. They did a song called A Farewell to Kings which contained the lyrics:
"When they turn the pages of history when these days have passed long ago, will they read of us with sadness for the seeds that we left grow." I look at what is going on in our world today and can't help but wonder if Neil Peart was a prophet. Are we becoming the generation that calls evil good? Our PC society has come to the point where the only thing that appears to be wrong is saying something is wrong. We do still have a standard. There is still absolute truth and it is found in the Word of God. I hear so much about our pluralistic society. I know we have to be open armed and loving but there is still a right way and when I checked there was still only one way. We need to share that truth in love or we are going to be letting some seed grow that need to be plucked out.

Jesus said then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. If this is the case, and it is why does it seem like so many Christians are not enjoying life, not letting their lights shine and not being a lot of what Jesus has called us to be? I think we've lost track of the simple truth. The first thing any one learns in Sunday School is a simple song called Jesus Loves Me. The main line is Jesus Loves Me this I know for the Bible tells me so. This is the simplest of all truths. You are loved by the creator of the universe and to find out all you need to know about that love you can look it up in the Bible, a collection of 66 books written by at least 40 people over the course of over a thousand years, all pointing to one man, Jesus Christ the Son of God. To receive the greatest reward ever offered to any person any where all you have to do is believe in Him and accept the salvation He died to buy. That is the simple truth. And that truth changed my life. Stay tuned!