In the past month I have read some incredible books that I have been meaning to post about here. Francis Chan's FORGOTTEN GOD, Tim Keller's PRODIGAL GOD, Rob Bell's DROP LIKE STARS. And wouldn't you know it, they all related to each other specifically in ways connected to my faith and growth at the moment.
They connect together by addressing a certain attitude we have towards God as believers. If we were to consider ourselves morally upright, then we run the risk of claiming to be our own Savior. We do this when we pray as I did earlier with the mindset that God owes me (us) something. Whether it be a simple request like wanting to go back to sleep or for major requests, it runs in danger of being selfish. Sure, God wants us to ask for things and develop that trust in Him. I do believe that. I do, but when those requests become demands, then I have gone to far.
In FORGOTTEN GOD, Francis raises a few questions and concerns I believe are brilliant. (Such as) What if the level of faith, energy, time, devotion into my God was the same for all Christians everywhere? How effective would we be as a community of believers? Would we even make a difference in the world? This was challenging for me because of two things. One, I see people with so much stronger faith than me and see where I could be so often. And two, well, let's two remain silent for now.
He also challenged the way I view church services. I am guilty for having considered a church service "good" or "bad" based on the worship, which I usually think is not that good, or the speaker and how dynamic that person is. Francis says we should consider the movement of the Holy Spirit. Is God speaking to us? Then why complain or raise issues with the way something turned out? You just heard from GOD and yet complain because you did not like the style of worship?
I believe this hits me hard because I do lead worship from time to time at Icon Church and my biggest fear is being a stumbling block to someone labeling the service "bad" because I missed a chord or forgot the words, etc. I do put pressure on myself and I do believe in being prepared. I want to honor God for His grace in allowing me to lead and play. That is my heart.
And it is a challenge for me to get up there and focus on pleasing God and not the people attending the service.
In PRODIGAL GOD, I was simply blown away at the depth of knowledge Keller has. It has been a while since a book has floored me like this one. Good thing it was short! A couple of things really stirred me up. One was his description on how Christianity was never labeled a religion in the beginning as it is now.
I have often heard how people say "It's not a religion, it's about a relationship" when talking about their faith. That always bothered me. Honestly, I thought it was cheesy, a play on words. But Keller has been the first one to really be able to tell me why. He points out that in the beginning there was no temple. this would mean there was no where to sacrifice to God, which is something most (maybe all) religions of that day had. They had places to gather and worship and sacrifice. not Christians. They met in homes. They broke bread together and prayed for one another. Their sacrifice was their reputations, their attitudes, their...lives. It truly was about community and relationships, which put this way changes the perspective on how important relationships with other believers are in enhancing my relationship with God is.
Imagine America not allowed to have the institutional church. Not hard to do with politics the way it is today, in my mind at least. What would Christians be left with? Get this. Each other. That is it. We would actually have to be loving towards one another, instead of simply being nice to one another once or twice a week.
Rob Bell discusses ever so briefly in DROP LIKE STARS how important it is in not suffering alone. To be in community allows suffering to release pains and burdens of thinking you are all alone in the world, that no one suffers like you do. I do believe this is what Jesus had in mind. There is a passage that says "where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I with them." John Ortberg once wrote this means a people who have come together "to relate to other people with the same spirit of servanthood, submission, and delight that characterizes Jesus in the Trinity." This next like by Ortberg is brilliant, "a community of loving people is God's signature."
Where does this leave us? We are a suffering world of natural enemies called together for one purpose, God's glory. How do we get there? As hard as it may be, it is to leave all the pretentious claims of ownership. It is reconciling with that person we know we wronged, but because it honors God and not to serve ourselves. It is praying when we would rather be sleeping, if need be. It is, for me, not trying to please everyone so they like me or I think it will work in my favor down the road. It is, for me, serving people because God wants me to.
I have begun to tell myself "I am not my own Savior. I am not my own Lord. Jesus is."
And in the past month or so, I have seen this play a major role in the way I am received and perceived. Many new friendships have developed and I have been very intentional about how much I want to be there for them, because I know suffering should not be done alone. Life should not be done alone.
And this comes with a shift in how we view sin, as Keller discusses. In relaying his story of the Prodigal Son (which he appropriately says should not be labeled so because the first verse says there is a man with two sons, meaning both sons are equally important), he shares the two views I have previously written about here. The older son can be seen in this story as the morally upright. He does all the right things. He would be the one today that attends church, possibly serves somewhere. He loves and is faithful to his wife. He pays his bills. The younger son, I see as that lost soul, possibly a college kid with no hopes, no ideas what to do. He took out a student loan he can't pay. He does not talk to his parents. He may have lots of friends, but no one would really rely on him if in a bind. So you have the morally upright and the self serving souls, both out for their own good, not their fathers.
This is why sin is not just disobeying a rule or law or command. It goes deeper than that. In every message Jesus shares, it is about the posture of the heart. In the sermon on the mount, when Jesus discusses things like murder, lust, righteousness, (I do need to blog about the sermon on the mount one day!), it is always about the heart. Just as it is with sin. It is not the act itself that is sin. It is when you have taken the place of Jesus as Lord and Savior of your own life. This is key in the transformation of (as Kyle so eloquently put it last Sunday) "believing in God to believing God."
I leave you with this quote from Francis Chan that has been bouncing off the walls of my heart and mind for the past two weeks. He says (and I quote)
"I do not want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit."
May this be the prayer for all of us.
Grace and peace to you, my friends, my community.
