Month: November 2008

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the day with the guys behind the curtain at Leadership Catalyst. LCI is the mothership for the TrueFaced resources that I yammer so much about. The cool thing was when you pull back the curtain on these “wizards” there is no hiddenness or deception. It was a day of energizing and honest conversation that flowed without judgment, posturing and pride. What a joy! Do you think there has been a meeting with those dynamics in Washington in the past 50 years or so?

I pondered on the dynamic in that room as I jetted back to scenic Garland today. If only more Christians would trust these truths of identity, protective love and grace what difference would it make?

When I was a kid the preachers used to bellow about revival. We need REVIVAL! Lord, give us revival! They would have week long revival meetings badgering us to sell out. We got yelled at about our sin. We heard clearly a message of condemnation and fear. We heard that we had better shape up or else! We heard stories about backslidden Christians burning in hell because they wouldn’t repent. We heard that we had better get serious about Jesus.  And we believed we would. That fear based compliance lasted for a day or two or maybe a couple of months if we really got convicted.

Then I wondered what difference a revival centered on the grace of God might make in the church and ultimately the culture? What if a revival was based not on avoidance of damnation but on being reconciled to have an actual relationship with God? What if Christians really understood that they are new creatures when they put their trust by faith in Jesus? What if Christians really got that there is no condemnation for them because of the Cross? What if Christians really understood that they are no longer have to prove anything and they could instead trust God with their maturing into who He created them to be? What if Christians saw that Jesus stood beside them ready to resolve their sin instead of looking with disappointment from afar? What if Christians learned to trust God and others with who they really are and dropped the dadgum masks? (My grandfather’s favorite Christian cuss word). What if Christians had the courage to put their full weight on these truths of identity and grace and allowed God to love them and others through them? These are the truths I have learned, refined and had a chance to discuss with the guys at TrueFaced.

Here is what one tired and discouraged Christian learned when he began to understand the message of grace. It is changing me. And I have had the best year with Jesus of my nearly forty years on the journey. I have had some really good spiritual seasons along the way but I have never had the consistency of joy and peace that I have experienced in this past year. I have never felt such spiritual freedom until I leaned into grace that allows me love God, receive love from Him and allow that to flow to others.

What if Christians really trusted who God says He is? Could we change our walk with Jesus? Could we change our family? Our church? Our culture? Dare we believe this? To paraphrase and put a much better spin (in my opinion) on the lyrics of John Lennon.

You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one.

Perhaps I am a dreamer. In Hebrews you find a familiar passage that lays out a simple starting point.

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. (Hebrews 11, The Message)

I have seen the power of my God. I believe in His faithfulness and love for me. I believe he cares and does respond when I seek Him. I can start the revival in my heart today. You can do the same.

This last election has shown that associations can be held against you. Last week John Lynch of the TrueFaced group wrote a blog about your humble rambler and confessed that I am a guy in his grace neighborhood. Since I am not above liking others saying nice things about me I give my space to John today. And check out his blog at TrueFaced.com. Enjoy John’s blog about the message of grace.

Several weeks ago I was on facebook, instant messaging with a really funny and great guy named Dave Burchett.  He’s a writer, blogger and television producer for the Texas Rangers baseball games. Anyway, in the middle of our conversation he wrote these words:

“Hey John, my 1-year Grace Anniversary was this week.”

I stopped typing, took my hands off the keyboard and just smiled. My friend gets it. An incredibly gifted communicator and writer, Dave cannot stop talking and writing about grace these days. It flows out of every blog he writes. Check out his website, Confessions of a Bad Christian. You’ll love it.

About a year ago, he and his wife were invited, through a friend, to an event we put on in Carlsbad, California. He came for the beach, the hotel and the food. He left with his entire world rocked. The Grace of God apprehended Dave. He knew the saving grace of God before that day. But grace, as a way to live every day, grace that would cause Him to trust God’s ability to woo his new nature rather than attempting to fix behaviors and appearance through his silly efforts, grace that would free vulnerability, trust, joy, playfulness and intimacy with Christ and others, grace that would free him from managing his sin by taking it out of hiddenness into the light where it would lose it’s power, grace that would teach Dave that God’s arm was around him, and that God was absolutely crazy about him on his worst day – this was all radically, astoundingly and wonderfully new. It began to repaint his entire landscape.

The nature of who and how grace apprehends is often perplexing to me. Others at the same conference, sitting at a table right next to the Burchetts might have said, “That was a good time. Enjoyed the teaching, some interesting insights. Those guys have some good takes. That Lynch guy was strange, but funny. Great desserts!” And they would stuff whatever concepts they learned into the duffle bag of a thousand other contradicting sermons and epistemologies. And not much would change.

God does not have twenty voices. He has one. And at the core of His voice, throughout all His different dealings with man, are these indisputable truths:

“Therefore now there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”

“I have been crucified with Christ and it no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”

“I want to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”

“We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

I remember exactly where I was – back in 1987, in my office, preparing a sermon in longhand, on Ephesians chapter 1. I could no longer preach messages of “buck-up and try harder, like me.” And I could no longer bluff that I was living the life I was trying to convince others of. And God, through an environment of grace that had been enduring my arrogant, messages of religious self-effort, finally broke through. I said something like this to my audience that Sunday morning:

“Hey, I’m discovering I haven’t been preaching the truth to you. I was exegeting the text the best I could. It’s just that my methodology was bankrupt. I’ve been telling you in a hundred ways, that if you’ll just try harder, care more, be better, somehow you’ll get closer to God and He won’t be so let down by you. Something you can do to make things happen. It’s a lie. You can’t do it. It won’t work. It’ll let you down…If it’s any consolation, until this week I didn’t know it was a lie. So, if you’ll endure my learning curve, Ephesians has been convincing my heart of an entirely different way of living that God has for us. From today forth I will be preaching the grace of God and how to live out of who He says I am. I don’t know what I’m doing, but maybe we can learn this together. What do you say?”

That was over twenty years ago, and the same batch of rabble allowed me to stay and take a hack at learning these truths. Go figure.

Every now and then someone believes such verses and doesn’t try to balance them with other verses that seem to say the opposite. Instead they look at all confusing verses through the grid of the plain and clear revealed love, grace, delight and sovereign power of God for us. And they find themselves risking to stand against all the methodology, technique and impressive sounding hype of disciplined self-effort. Instead they trust Christ to live and release His power through them. It is scary. It feels like you’re giving up the store. But soon they put their full weight upon God’s ability to mature them. These are the ones who get to live free, free the captives, restore families, and experience the tender intimacy of a God who is not disgusted. They get to turn the world upside down. They have language for those who have waited for such hope all their lives. Oh, and they have a really great life – Messy, fragile, but unrehearsed, alive, authentic and full of playful joy.

Oh, and sometimes like my friend Dave, they can remember the day God apprehended them with grace to live almost as well as the day His grace first apprehended their souls to belief.

Billy Graham celebrated his 90th birthday on Friday, November 7^th. Over these nine decades he has preached, by some estimates, to over 200 million people. Only God knows how many thousands of people trusted Jesus because of his preaching. Our family did not attend church on any sort of regular basis. But we watched Billy’s “crusades” on our black and white Sylvania television every time he was on. I was influenced by Graham’s passion and by his simple message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe Billy Graham’s messages were planted seeds that God would later harvest in my life.

I still remember the familiar cadence and distinctive accent of Billy Graham as he pleaded with sinners to come forward to the strains of “Just As I Am”.

“I’m going to ask hundreds of you to come forward. If you’re with a group, don’t worry. They’ll wait…”

For some reason I loved that line. I know people personally who became followers of Jesus because of Billy Graham’s ministry. His life is a good example that no matter how much you dedicate your life to Christ there will be those who condemn you. Type in Mr.Graham’s name and heresy and you will get over 100,000 responses. You will find men and women who have had little or no impact for Christ condemning Mr.Graham for statements he has made or positions he has supported. Even if a concerned brother or sister disagrees with Billy Graham’s theology can we discount what Paul said to similar critics in his day?

It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now that I’m out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them. So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! (Philippians 1, The Message)

God has used Billy Graham in amazing ways and I celebrate his birthday. I also was touched by his comments as he looks toward heaven.

“I’ve discovered that just because we’ll inevitably grow weaker physically as we get older, it doesn’t mean we must grow weaker spiritually,” Graham, still the evangelist, said in response to questions e-mailed by the Charlotte Observer. “Our eyes ought to be on eternity and heaven – on the things that really matter.”

The Charlotte Observer story continued.

The author of many books, Graham is working – though slowly – on a final one, about aging. It’s a subject that has become real to him and one he’d like to see churches better prepare their members for. As a Christian, I know how to die, Graham has told family and friends, but nobody ever taught me how to grow old. The tentative title of his last book: “Nearing Home.”

Brother-in-law and evangelist Leighton Ford of Charlotte brought by Dennis Hollinger, president of Gordon-Conwell Seminary, co-founded by Graham.What would you like the teachers and students at the school to emphasize? Hollinger asked. Graham shot back without his normal hesitation: “Christ and the Gospel.”

Graham took it hard when wife Ruth died at 87 in June 2007. He doesn’t travel much anymore, but when he does, it’s usually to Charlotte to attend board meetings of the association that bears his name. On a visit in April, Graham asked to be driven to the adjacent Billy Graham Library grounds.

It was still daylight when he climbed out of the car and lowered himself into a wheelchair. At the end of a cross-shaped walkway, he gazed on Ruth’s gravesite for the first time since her burial.

Three times, he asked his staffers to read the message she chose for her headstone: “End of Construction – Thank you for your patience.”

I love that. The sanctification process was a life long construction project for Ruth Graham. And what a humble final epithet for a woman of fame and influence. It goes back to an observation I have made over and over. Maturity in Christ always results in humility. All of us should pray for grace as we undergo our own maturing process and especially as we watch others under construction. My friends at TrueFaced call the process maturing into what is already true about me. I am righteous. That became my status when I put my faith and trust in Christ. My construction process is trusting that truth and building my life around that truth.

As Billy Graham celebrates becoming a nonagenarian I would like to thank him for his heart for the gospel. I remember Ruth Graham for her humility and faithful journey. 

My own construction project has been erratic. It feels like I have spent a lot time leaning on my shovel and not making much progress. But then I look back and see a lot of work has been done over the years. Someday soon the construction project will, praise God, be finished. Thank you, my dear tens of readers, for your patience.

 

 

 

I am sure that I have read this particular passage dozens of times over the years. Today God’s Word jumped off the pages and especially resonated after my “bad Christian” confession written before the results of the election were counted. Here is a snippet of that article written on election day.

No matter who wins I am making a commitment today. I am going to pray for the leaders that are chosen. I may not agree with the choice. But I learned a valuable lesson earlier in my journey with Jesus. When President Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 I was extremely unhappy.

I did not pray for Bill Clinton during most of his Presidency. I did not respect him as the authority my sovereign God allowed to be in power. I said ugly things about him. In short, I sinned in my spirit and with my speech. During that time I put my trust in politics and not in God. I will not make that mistake again. I have matured in my faith since then. I am more aware of who I am in Christ and that my trust is in God and not in government. That does not mean I will be apathetic.

I will be engaged as a proud citizen of the United States. Trust me. But I must never forget as I too often did during the Clinton years that I have a dual citizenship. I will do all that I can to serve both my earthly and my eventual heavenly home. That is why the Scripture I “happened” upon today was so timely. So I give my space to a guy named Paul writing to a young man named Timothy. See if this feels timely on the day after a contentious election two-thousand years later.

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God.(1 Timothy 2, The Message)

I started today during my daily walk with dog friend Hannah. Praying every way I know how for our rulers and our government. I will be prepared to make my voice heard as a citizen of the United States when I disagree with those leaders. I will boldly speak truth wrapped in grace. But at the end of the day I hope I never forget the following charge.

This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth…what I want mostly is for (me) to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God.

I failed once to get this right. I am seeking the power of the Holy Spirit to get it right this time around.

 

This has been a long and contentious process. I have been saddened by the tone of the discourse but not surprised. Today the American public will speak. I try to avoid partisan politics in this space because it polarizes and diverts readers away from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

No matter who wins I am making a commitment today. I am going to pray for the leaders that are chosen. I may not agree with the choice. But I learned a valuable lesson earlier in my journey with Jesus. When President Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 I was extremely unhappy.

I did not pray for Bill Clinton during most of his Presidency. I did not respect him as the authority my sovereign God allowed to be in power. I said ugly things about him. In short, I sinned in my spirit and with my speech. During that time I put my trust in politics and not in God. I will not make that mistake again. I have matured in my faith since then. I am more aware of who I am in Christ and that my trust is in God and not in government. That does not mean I will be apathetic. 

For the past eight years I have heard incredibly ugly things said about President Bush. I completely understand that people disagreed with some or even all of his policies. But the hate was mind boggling. I will not be a part of that no matter who wins. Mr.Bush will be judged by history and by God. The winner of this election will be judged by history and by God. I may disagree with the policies of the next president but I will do my best to stick to policy and not engage in personal attack.

I was wrapped up in thought about the election on Sunday morning when a surprise call came with an exciting ministry opportunity. God gently reminded me that nothing changes in what I am called to do on the morning of November 5^th.

I want to spend the rest of my days passionately communicating that all truth is in grace and in grace is all truth. That is my calling and nothing can keep me from that task.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
      do not depend on your own understanding.
 Seek his will in all you do,
      and he will show you which path to take.  (Proverbs 3, NLT)

So my trust is in God and my hope is in Jesus.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace…(Hebrews 13, NLT)

Amen. Whether you are happy or sad at the end of the day one thing is true. Nothing changes in the policies of God’s Word.