Monthly Archives: August 2009

Sunday Reflections

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I always find it hard to reflect on just one day in the life of our church because the sum of our parts are so much more than the 2-4 hours we gather together on Sundays. Life happens 7 days a week and as such we take our everyday, ordinary lives—our sleeping, our eating, our going-to-work, and walking-around life—we place it before God as an offering (Rom 12:1, MSG). We understand that we cannot offer ourselves or renew our minds (Rom 12:2) without the active help our community of faith. We cannot fully understand what Scripture teaches apart from dialog with others. We cannot live the life of a disciple of Jesus apart from the nurturing context of a church who encourages us, prays for us, and sets an example for us. We cannot discern our blind spots without a community to point them out. We cannot engage in God’s global mission alone.

And so this week turned out to be another great one in the life of Matthew’s Table. Our friends from The Upstream Collective made a stop in Lebanon on their end of summer tour bringing with them another practitioner of missional living Almost M. We are truly blessed to be a part of the collective and I hope those who made it to the About Europe Conference will begin/continue to live and think as missionaries joining God in his global mission.

While The Upstream Collective’s founders were here we shot a video where Larry plays the part of “Barista.” Enjoy.

Upstream Collective in Lebanon

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48005515 Upstream Collective in LebanonWe are more excited than pre-teen girls at a Jonas Brothers concert to welcome the founders of The Upstream Collective to Lebanon this Wednesday and Thursday.

As you can tell, we are glad that we are able to be a part of the collective. They have helped us, as a brand new church plant, (we were literally 2 weeks old when we first connected) develop a focused international mission stragety in a world full of opportunity.

Thursday we will be hosting an About Europe Conference from 9am – 3pm. The nice folks at The Journey Church have agreed to let us use their facilities located at 212-A Leeville Pike.

Here are some of the things we will be talking about:

• Why Europe
• People Groups and Population segments
• Identifying a Person of Peace
• The Relational Context (Oikos)
• Vision casting for missions to your church
• Innovative ways to connect
• Platforms, projects, and perceptions
• We’re Not Setting Up Franchises
• Toward an Incarnational Missiology

There is no cost to you and lunch will be catered by Java Joe’s.  Hope to see you there.

Sunday Reflections

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What a great eveing gathered around Matthew’s Table examining how our worship should always be connected to God’s mission. For far to long, we have been cheating God. Somehow we think if we just keep telling God is great. Or if we show up on Sundays and sing a song or two about how great God is and then listen to a sermon about how great God is that God will be content. Whether your words and your intentions are genuine does not matter. What matters is if your life backs up your words; whether or not you have joined God in his mission in the world. After all, words come easy. Saying and singing about how great God is makes us fell better about ourselves, even when our hearts do not back up the words that are coming from our lips.

God is not honored by words alone. Like any of us, He is moved by words that are authenticated by actions. When it comes to worship it is the total package that matters. Our words mean the most when they are amplified by the way we live our lives when we are faced with various opportunities and temptations and how we serve the community in which God has placed us.

On Sundays you might be singing with all you’ve got, maybe falling on your knees to tell God He is your “all in all.” But the whole time God is thinking, “There seems to be a lot of other things in your life lately that you desire a whole lot more than me.”

In that moment, you are no different form those Amos prophesized about.

Amos 5:21-24 (NASB)21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. 24 “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

God is no fool. He knows what is going on in our hearts. And God knows how easy it is for us to say one thing and do another. That is why the true test of worship is not so much what we say, but how we live; how we respond to God’s mission in the world – with lip service or our lives.

Worship and Mission

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This Sunday we are continuing with our “Joy Does Not Come Cheap” series with a look at how worship should always be tied to mission. Here is a brief look at where this conversation will be going.

Amos 5:21-24 (NASB) 21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. 24 “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

The Book of Amos is a rich source for Christians today. In the words of this ancient prophet we catch a very special glimpse of God as One who cares intensely for the poor. We also sense His deep commitment to personal and social justice. The emphasis of the New Testament on personal relationship with God and individual salvation does nothing to lessen God’s deep concern for justice and holiness in society.

God is concerned with the heart of man.  In turning away from God, Israel lost touch with the divine values.  Rejecting righteousness and justice, God’s people abandoned themselves to wealth and pleasure and to oppression of the poor.  The Book of Amos, expressing as it does, God’s outrage against a society that had become insensitive to justice, a society that materialistically exalted profit over people.  Certainly we too in America experience unequaled prosperity.  There are great class distinctions in our society and oppression, also.

Perhaps most important, Amos helps us review our own values.

He asks the question: Do our lifestyles reflect the heart of God?  Or do we share the selfish heart of the indifferent of Amos’ day?

In reading through Amos, we realize that God’s anger constantly flashes out against those who oppress others.  The poor of the land seem very precious to Him.  The indifferent attitude of men and women concerned with only profit and their own pleasures deeply offends God.  The Old Testament Law made careful and explicit provision for meeting the needs of all God’s people. Those laws, and God Himself, were now being denied by God’s people.

Love for neighbor and respect for the poor had long been forgotten and replaced with empty ritual.  The ritual, even when performed in God’s supposed honor, horrified the Lord.

Significant also is the insight Amos gives us into the nature of justice and righteousness.  Too often we think of these qualities as related to rules of behavior—to what a person does or does not do.  Amos, reflecting on a lifestyle as an expression of obedience to God’s law, focuses our attention on God’s concern for people.  The purpose behind the laws governing society takes on fresh meanings.

The laws were given that each person, rich and poor alike, might be treated with fairness and compassion.  In essence, Amos helps us see that the concept of God being just is in fact an affirmation that God is committed to do right by all people.  What’s more, God’s own deep commitment to justice leads Him to require that in human society we also maintain a commitment to do right by all.

What does it mean to worship God?  In all the discussion over a style of worship in our churches, traditional or contemporary, hymns or choruses, the deeper, the significant issue is the lifestyles that people follow when they leave the church, not what they do while at church.

True and acceptable worship is not about the way a particular congregation chooses to worship, but rather how the lives of the worshipers are transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Just merely going through the prescribed motions on Sunday morning is not worship.

We may call this worship, but this is fake worship and God hates, despises and rejects fake worship that draws no connection between what we “do” in worship and how we live.

Sharing My Story (2)

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As I posted on Tuesday, I had the opportunity (I was asked) to share the story of my transformation from a junkie because of my decision to follow Jesus at a local narcotics anonymous meeting. During my talk, I was interrupted and could not continue. I knew that this group of people are antagonistic to the Gospel at best and welcomed this chance to speak of my relationship with Jesus.

Now I am faced with a dilemma. Should I continue attending this particular group or find another. On the one hand I believe in having an incarnational presence in the recovery community (I earned my seat in NA) and my prayer is that all would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. But on the other hand, because of the resistance to the Gospel and many who have been hurt by the church, my presence may perpetuate this and may even be a cause (excuse) for some to quit attending meetings all together which could lead them back into active addiction.

There is also a third point to consider. People who are on the road to recovery are very open to the concept of god or a higher power. However, this concept remains very abstract and pluralistic for most. This is rooted in the idea of a coming to know a god of our own understanding. This concept has been abused in that people just make up a god or borrow one that someone else made up to turn their will and life over to. I have heard of gods being everything from someone named Ralph, to some cosmic force that is out there, to the group of NA/AA itself, etc. More than anything, I think this is a cop-out in that people still want to control their own lives rather than surrendering them.

The “understanding” language was added to the 12 steps because the founders realized that most who come into recovery have no to very little understanding of God. In this way, people are given permission to say, “I do not understand who God is, but with my limited knowledge I will begin to surrender my life to him so that I may come to an ever increasing understanding of God.”

Here I am reminded of my own conversion. I had a very twisted view of God and very little understanding of Jesus. I had tried everything else so I made a decision to follow Jesus with the little bit of understanding I had with no real expectations of any type of change. However, as I continued to follow him, study the biblical text, and serve his church in the world, my understanding grew, continues to grow, and I am being transformed into his image. I have not arrived anywhere, but I am sure further along this road than I was 8 years ago.

For me it is really simple: I cannot understand God in all of his God-ness. He knew this so he sent Jesus. And if we want to know what God is like, all we have to do is follow him.

So what would you do? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Its really more than a matter of taking a stand for the Gospel or not taking a stand. I made my stand. How do we best communicate the exclusive claims Jesus without further alienating those who have many gods of their understanding?

X Games’ Metal Mulisha Following Jesus

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As a former nationally ranked BMX racer, the following summary of a NY Times Article provided by the Church Leader’s Intelligence Report really stood out to me.

Action sports like freestyle motocross and skateboarding were originally founded as anti establishment activities. But events like the X-Games, taking place this week in and around Los Angeles, have made them more mainstream, and some have recognized a greater profile for religion. Although it is difficult to ascertain when the shift began, several years ago ESPN began receiving credential requests for members of the clergy to accompany athletes at the X-Games. Case in point: Brian Deegan and his band of freestyle METAL MULISHA X Games Metal Mulisha Following Jesus motocross riders called the Metal Mulisha wore black and were covered in tattoos. They brawled, cursed and stirred up trouble. But after a near-fatal crash in 2005, Deegan sought a pastor, began reading the Bible and gave his life to Christ, he said. Three other riders now participate in a weekly bible study with him. “All the heavy hitters of the Mulisha are now born-again Christians,” Deegan said. Christian Hosoi, 41, was a high-flying rival to Tony Hawk in the 80s and performed in the Games’ “Legends” event. He said he was “a rebel and an outlaw” in his image-driven heyday, refusing to conform to government or society. But after a drug addiction, prison sentence and consequential salvation experience, Hosoi now serves as the associate pastor for a church in Huntington Beach, CA. “In the end I said, who’s more radical than us?” Deegan said. “Everything we do is full-on. Once we went to church, we were full-on Christians, too. And we’re going to go for it. On the mic, I’ll say it. On TV, say it. The next thing you know, I have way more people pumped on me.”

The New York Times 8/2/09

Sharing My Story

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Before making a decision to follow Jesus, I lived as a hardcore iv drug addict. And I regularly attend a local Narcotics Anonymous meeting in order to build relationship with other recovering addicts. Only through relationship with other people who are on the same journey can my recovery move forward. My hope and prayer is that they will come to know God through the person of Jesus by working the spiritual principles found in the 12-Steps.

Last night I had the opportunity to share the story of my recovery, transformation, and how I came to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as we understand him (step 3). However, I did not get to finish. Four people listening to me speak, interrupted me and ask me to stop because I could not talk about Jesus – the God of my understanding.

Some Christians bristle at “as we understood Him.” As if it were a cop out, or where the Twelve Steps deleted Jesus. Like taking “in God we trust” from pledge, or is that from our money? I get my controversies mixed up. But here’s a little known fact: this language “as we understood him” comes from the Oxford Group, the explicitly Christian soil out of which Twelve Steps grew.

God as we understand Him. Not God as we create him, or want him to be. But God as we understand Him.

Understanding. It takes time & trouble to listen to someone, come to grips with who they are, what they’re thinking, feeling, saying, so that we can truly say, “I understand.” To understand is to stand under, not over.

There is no turning our will and our lives over to the care of God, unless we understand who God is. That he knows us better than we know ourselves; loves us better than we love ourselves.

That we are a factor in God’s life. That our existence, our actions, affect God.

Which brings us to Jesus. God is not understandable in all his infinite God-ness. In Jesus, God comes to us in a way that we humans can understand. Jesus is the graspable God. Jesus is the message that God cares! That you’re a factor in God’s life! Your existence, actions, joys & sorrows, affect God!

That’s the whole point of Jesus’ pain on the cross!

And that is the message I shared and and will continue to share. I did stop after a bit of back and forth between myself and these four people because it would of just ended up ugly. However, I was very encouraged that most of the people gathered in the meeting last night came up to me outside and said things like, “That is exactly what I needed to here because I am having a hard time coming to an understanding of God.”

Also, many in attendance were from a local rehab facility. So I am praying for them today as they begin this journey of recovery that they would come to understand God through the person of Jesus and turn their will and their lives over to him.

Bloodless Hymns – Sermon Notes

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The message is simply this: Total honesty before God is the deepest expression of faith in Him and is the only way to be authentically human in God’s world. It is the only path to spiritual wholeness, and the only way to heal the hurts of the past. The means Scripture gives us for doing that is praise.

In our modern culture, I fear that many have developed a distorted idea of what constitutes praise. Often it is identified only with the hand-clapping, arm-waving, warm-fuzzy, feel-good style of worship.

That is not the only kind of praise in the Bible, however. There is an entire Book of the Bible that is a book of praise. It is a real world book. It is a book for people who want to be authentically human. The Book we call “Psalms” is titled “Praises” in Hebrew.

Way over half the Psalms are lament psalms. They comprise most of the first 2/3 of the book. Lament Psalms are not often seen as praise, because we have too often associated praise only with the bright and happy moments in life. Lament psalms are prayers that articulate to God what it is like to live in a real world. They cry out to God from the darkness of the hurts, pains, anger, frustrations of life.

Sometimes lament psalms are strong. Often they offer harsh words to God. Sometimes they are downright irreverent. But they are honest. And they are praise. They are praise because they acknowledge God as God, from the midst of the pain of being human.

Psalm 22 is a good example of such a lament. Maybe today is a good day for a lament psalm.

A. The Reality of Emotions

1. (1-2) The cry of near despair; feelings and emotion

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but I find no rest.

This prayer gives us permission to be honest before God with our pain. We do not have to respond to the crises of life with a false piety that denies our humanity. If we hurt, why can we not go to God openly with that hurt?

Notice, though, what the psalmist is doing. At the same time that he is questioning God from the depth of his pain, he is praying. Why does he address God as “My God” at the same time he is asking Him where He is? How can you ask Him where He is if He is not there?!

Here is a paradox of faith that beautifully illustrates the difference between what we know to be true and how we feel. The Psalmist feels God is not there. Yet he prays. There is no more profound act of faith than to pray to God when you feel He has abandoned you. That means that the darkest of our doubts, the most desperate of our questions from the deepest of our grief can be the most honest and transparent times of our faith!

2. (3-5) Confession of trust in God who has acted

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not disappointed.

We need to follow carefully what the psalmist does next in the prayer. He expresses trust in God in the standard formula. God is Holy. He is enthroned on the Praises of the people. He has done great things in the past. God has delivered other people when they cried.

All of these things are true. The psalmist is not denying anything about God. He is quite willing to say all the traditional things about God. Yet, he goes on.

3. (6-8) Feelings of alienation and rejection; honesty in the midst of pain

But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads; “He committed his cause to the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Here the honesty breaks through again. He says all the right things. But his emotions have gone in a different direction! The traditional confessions are true. But sometimes they are not enough. As we have seen, sometimes the “Praise the Lord’s” are overshadowed by the reality of life.

4. 9-11 renewed trust in the present

Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you kept me safe upon my mother’s breasts. Upon you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.

The psalmist now moves to a renewed trust. He has come honestly before God. He has hurled his questions at God. He has poured out his pain to God.

B. The Reality of Suffering

1. (12-18) his condition

Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet–I can count all my bones– they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.

The Psalmist returns to his complaint. In very stylized and poetic language he describes his pain. It sounds like he might be facing impending death due to a creeping disease. Anyone who has watched the horrible progression of cancer in a loved one understands the language here, and the feelings of isolation and abandonment! We are still not sure what the problem is. But we know it is serious.

2. (19-21) his petition

O LORD, be not far off! You who are my help, hasten to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion, my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!

Again, the psalmist requests God’s intervention in his present circumstances. Although highly poetic, it is a simple prayer. And it is to the point. He needs help. And he asks for it. No bargains with God. Just honest request.

C. The reality of God’s Presence

1. (22-24) Move to trust in the midst of pain

I will tell of your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the LORD, praise him! all you sons of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

Here is the heart of the Psalm. The transformation of the psalmist is complete here. He has moved from the dark despair of verse one to a point where he can talk about embracing a future filled with possibilities, even proclaiming those possibilities to others!

However, we must ask what has happened since verse 1? What great event of deliverance has occurred that caused such a radical turnaround for the Psalmist.

And we will be surprised at the answer. Nothing! Nothing has changed! No miracle. No great vision of God. No promise of a solution. No hint of resolution of the problem. He is still in the midst of his crisis. Nothing has changed.

Except, the Psalmist has worshipped God from the midst of His pain. He has brought his pain honestly to God. He has prayed for God to intervene. And he has left his hurt in God’s hands. He has trusted God. He has been totally, authentically human before God. And it has brought healing and a renewed faith.

The change has not come because God has changed, or because circumstances have changed. It has come with the psalmist as he has faced his pain honestly, and released it to God in prayer, with God’s help, and strength, and grace. He has laid his burdens at God’s feet, with all the force that his emotions honestly require. And he has left them there.

He has found newness and hope simply by coming into the presence of God as a needy human being. No pretense. No nice words. Just the psalmist, and his pain. And God! That is praise in its purest form. That is worship at its most honest level. That is being authentically human before God. There God does some of His best work!

2. (25-31) Concluding doxology

From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.

These verses conclude with an renewed affirmation of trust in God. But the only way to verse 25-31, is through verses 1 and 2!

Reproducibility / Sustainability

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According the CDC’s web site:

“The main way that illnesses like colds and flu are spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. This is called “droplet spread.” This can happen when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air and are deposited on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Sometimes germs also can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk and then touches his or her own eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands. We know that some viruses and bacteria can live 2 hours or longer on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks.”

While viruses spread easily and can reproduce rapidly, they are not very sustainable without a host-surviving only a couple of hours if exposed.

So while we can simply “sneeze” the Gospel and possibly see lots of conversions by scaring the “hell” out of people, but a couple of weeks later we are unlikely to see them ever again.

Reproduction that is sustainable, however, always moves from the simple to the complex. The same principle applies in the Kingdom of God.

The third parable Jesus presents in the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel is the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus said:

“How shall we picture the Kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.”

The growth of the Kingdom of God starts at the smallest of levels. And there is much discussion these days about church multiplication. But no matter how committed we are, trying to reproduce churches complete with a multi-level staff and all the flavors and varieties of ministries all with catchy names is starting at the wrong place. They can be reproduced, but how sustainable will it be? We must go further down to the microscopic level if we want to start a reproduction process that will be sustainable.

Neil Cole writes,

“The way to see a true church [reproducible/sustainable] movement is to multiply healthy disciples, then leaders, then churches, and finally movements in that order . . . we are not to start churches, but to make disciples who make disciples. . . Many today teach that the best way to make disciples is to start churches. This is backwards; in fact, it is upside down. The best way to start churches is to make disciples.”

Making disciples simply means investing time in the lives of people. In short, disciples cannot be mass-produced. They are reproduced. Therefore, to make disciples, we will find ourselves in the organic, often messy, often troubled, sometimes harmonious web of relationships.