Why I Appreciate My Church of Christ Heritage

As many of you know, but some of you may not, I was brought up in the Churches of Christ and membership goes a few generations deep on either side of my family.  As I grew up and began studying and exploring on my own, I came to different conclusions than what the mainstream Church of Christ fellowship believes. After a few years I ended up attending a different fellowship. Many people who go through this experience become bitter and only find negative things to say, and to be honest, I went through a similar season. But as I was thinking the other day, I am very glad that I grew up in the Churches of Christ and thought I would share why I am so thankful!

1. I am thankful for being taught the importance of correct doctrine: The Bible has a teaching on the subjects it speaks about. There is a doctrine and proper Biblical understanding of subjects like grace, salvation, baptism, marriage, and many other subjects. There are many who believe we should disregard these things for the sake of unity. While I don't believe we can ever fully understand a subject like grace, we should never simply give up but seek to know the truth. Even though we may not always believe the same things about different points of doctrine, I am glad we can still be united in Christ!
2. I am thankful for being taught the importance of the Bible: It is astonishing to me the amount of young people I meet who don't know how to find a verse in the Bible. Of course this issue transcends many fellowships and denominations including the Churches of Christ and it is probably a due to a combination of issues. I am thankful that I grew up in churches where we studied the Bible and learned about the major stories and themes of the Bible! I was taught to use the Bible as a grid for my life and worship and continue to do this into my young adulthood!
3. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn the hymns: The hymns are great! Though I got really tired of singing exclusively hymns week after week, I am very grateful that I know them. I woke up singing "Living By Faith" the other day and it struck me how powerful those lyrics were. If I walk by faith, I can trust in him and I don't have to worry about the situations and circumstances in life. I love to revisit the hymns with fresh eyes. They are rich and full of beautifully expressed truth! I've also been enjoying "He's My King!"
4. I am thankful for simplicity in worship: This may seem odd to some people. Currently I play or sing in three different worship bands regularly and I love it! I love getting to play that roll of leading others in worship. But the setup and time investment for practice time is astronomical in comparison. I love that we don't need all of that to worship God and I am glad I learned that from an early age. Some days it is nice just to sing to Him with nothing but my voice. Other times, it is great to have my acoustic guitar or a full band!
5. I am thankful for the community and sense of belonging: Some of my favorite memories growing up in the Churches of Christ is community of "likewise believers" that I got to fellowship with. I always enjoyed area-wide fellowships and singings. But nothing could match the excitement of church camp and the area wide youth singing group called the Singing Youth of Denver. I loved hanging out with kids my age who loved God and believed the same things I did.

I know some people may think that I have some sort of animosity or distain for the Churches of Christ, like many people do. In reality, I am thankful for my upbringing and the role of the Churches of Christ in it and I am thankful for the part they play in the Body of Christ! If you are part of the Churches of Christ, know that I love you all and pray nothing but blessings upon you!

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23

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Cigarettes and Glory

**There is a point to all of this at the end**

My wife and I are driving back home from an anniversary trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. We had a great time riding some incredible roller coasters!

While we were on the way there, we had a little accident. All of a sudden the roads were wet and I didn't think anything of it until we hydro-planed and started spinning down the Kentucky interstate at 75mph. Instincts kicked in and I turned the wheel into the curve and braced for impact. We finally slid into the mud and grass in the middle and came to a stop.

I knew no one anywhere close by, I had no tools, and I had on white tennis shoes. We were STUCK! Thankfully some people stopped and called their dad who had a truck that pulled us out. The car ran fine so we drove to the next exit to check it out. I realized my bumper and wheel well were dragging, but I had no way to fix it without tools.

A guy pulled up and got out of his car smoking a cigarette and wearing a Budweiser shirt. I told him what happened and he said, "I bet that scared the shit out of you!" I said, "Yes sir, it did!" So let's review. This man smokes, I assume by his shirt that he drinks, and he just cussed. All the things I am not supposed to do as a Christian.

The guy offered to help and I reluctantly agreed. He proceeded to check it out and went to get his wife and some wire from his house. Then we tied everything up and followed him to his shop to take a better look because he insisted. 

When we got there, I told him it drove great and thanked him for his help. But he insisted that we take a look under the lights in his shop and he got to work! We were probably there for an hour and a half until it was all bolted back together and strong as it was brand new! I was not expecting all of this at all. I was even trying to go on, but he wasn't quitting until it was done right. The whole think probably took 3hrs. 

After talking, for a while when we were tying up the bumper, they find out that I am a studying to be a minister. He tells me his nephew is studying to be a minister as well and I ask where. He says at a place called The Ramp (a relatively well-known church in my circle of friends and churches). I am surprised because, after all, this guy smokes, drinks, and cusses! Then I find out he himself is a Christian! 

And then I am ashamed for assuming otherwise. I have never seen another person be so determined to go the extra mile and love a person they have never met before, and I can't imagine that I was the first or the last person to ever receive that treatment! I assumed he was not a Christian because of three things he did that we count as the typical sinful lifestyle (when, in fact, most of these things are arguably not even "sins"). I don't smoke, I've never drank a beer in my life, and I don't make a habit of cussing. But I seriously don't think I would ever do what this man did for me. 

The Point: Maybe we should spend less time worrying about people drinking a beer and spend more time figuring out how to love our neighbors, go the extra mile, and help those who can't help themselves.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Orphans and widows were the helpless in James' day. I think I counted as helpless on that day and I'm thankfully someone cared enough to help!

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A Kingdom of Weirdos

The Kingdom belongs to the weirdos.

From the beginning, the Kingdom was not made up of the elite in society. It was made up of people who were whores, tax collectors, drunkards, and common fishermen. The elite didn't have much interest in the kingdom and often left when it called for too much sacrifice. Throughout his ministry, Jesus seemed to be a lot more concerned with the outcasts and his buddies were the ones no one wanted to hang out with. Not to mention the eccentric characters (i.e. John the Baptizer, aka the bug-eating wilderness man). I think this is clearly seen with Jesus' conversation with  the Samaritan woman at the well.

On his journey, Jesus goes through Samaria and to a town called Sychar. Not much until your realize that Samaria was the scorn of the Jews and Sychar was regarded as the worst town in Samaria. The worst town in the worst country in the world. So Jesus walks straight there and gets to the well at noon. In those days, hoses didn't have plumbing for baths or drinking or cooking water. women would get their water from a well. Usually they would go in the morning, when it wasn't blazing hot like it has been lately, but at noon a woman comes walking up. A woman who was talked about, cold shouldered, and treated so badly by the Sycharians that she would carry gallons of water for a good distance in the heat of the day. Jesus also perceives that she has had 5 husbands and is living with a man who is not her husband. We often lump her in with the other whores and loose women, but woman in the that time couldn't divorce her husband. This means that this woman was forsaken and betrayed five times and the guy she was living with wouldn't even give her the respect of marrying her. The most scorned group of people even rejected her because of things that were out of her control.
First of all, she was a woman and it was scandalous for a man to talk to her. Second, she was a Samaritan, one from Sychar at that, and Jesus was a Jew. Third, she was a used and abused woman who was the outcast of an outcast society. Jesus reputation was on the line. What was his decision?
Jesus talked to this woman. Not only that he offered her the Living Water and showed an interest in her. He even had a word of knowledge for her and told her that God was seeking worshipers from all peoples and nations, even the Samaritans. When the disciples came back, they didn't understand why he was talking to her, but she went away rejoicing. She told many people, brought them to Jesus, and many were saved.

What should we do with weirdos? Forget your reputation and talk to them. Tell what Jesus has done for you. And as a result, many may be saved.

The kingdom is a place where whores become evangelists. Fishermen and crooked bill collectors become apostles. Law enforcers become powerful preachers who are thrown into prison for it. The poor become rich in Christ and the sick are healed. The kingdom of God is for the weirdos.

These are the people that God cares about. These are his precious ones. These are the ones who need Him. Us middle class, white people in the USA are excited if someone cracks a smile in our church. Churches in the poorest places in Africa have the greatest joy on the planet and are the fastest growing as well. Maybe Jesus had the right idea. a kingdom full of people who actually wanted and needed him.

Jesus proclaimed his mission when he read from the prophet Isaiah, who was speaking of him, in Luke 4:18-19

      “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,
             for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
      He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
             that the blind will see,
      that the oppressed will be set free,
             and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

A kingdom of weirdos.

Sermon: Prayer

Amazing what you find sometimes. I found this hidden away and I sure needed to hear it. My own sermon on Prayer from two summers ago! A sermon I preached during my internship during the summer of 2011 at Hawley Church of Christ in Hawley, TX.

Lines of Fellowship

While I was driving to school last week I started thinking about why people draw “lines of fellowship” in the Church. I remember growing up and we didn't work together or fellowship with this church or that one because they clapped after baptisms or ate during Wednesday Bible class. As crazy as that sounds, there were churches that didn't fellowship with us because we were too “liberal”, after all, we had more than one communion cup.

Maybe you go to a church that is more “free” in their expression of worship but you have a hard time seeing people that don’t express themselves like you do, or even think it is wrong to, as part of the same body of Christ.

I read an article recently that was an extreme example of this. A church actually picketed, threw rocks through windows, and eventually split up and stopped fellowshipping all because of the spelling of the word “hallelujah” (or “alleluia”) on a banner in the church. I think we have gotten off track somewhere.

While I was in my truck on the way to school thinking about these things, I remembered a section of scripture in Romans 14. Paul was dealing with a church composed of people who were religiously Jewish in their recent past and people who obeyed the Gospel out of a Gentile context without any organized religious laws. The Jews were fully convinced that they needed to continue to keep the Sabbath day and abstain from eating foods that were sacrificed to idols. Then they wanted to impose these things on the Gentile believers who had no desire or reason to keep those laws. The Gentiles wanted to be free from the Jewish ways and rightly believed that they could because of Christ. Sounds like a lot bigger mess than the people in the church down the street clapping or raising their hands (or not doing that). Paul’s response was not, “Well you guys better restrain yourselves and keep the Sabbath and not eat that meat so you don’t upset them.” Instead he said,

“Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”

He also said if it grieves your brother to eat, then we are not walking in love, but he also says not to let what is good be spoken of as evil. The Kingdom is not ultimately about these little issues, but about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul wraps up by with a challenge for the church: 

“So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”

Let’s aim for peace and encouragement in the church and unity under Christ!

"New Law" and Perfect Sinners

I have always known about the rules. There were always rules and most of them were about what you could not do or, if they were something you could do, they always started with the word only. We always used to talk about how God gave such specific instructions to his people in the Old Testament so he obviously must have the same amount of specific details for us to follow in the New Testament. After all, that was the Old Law and we are now under the New Law. So we found all kinds of small verses, inferences, and examples from what the early church did and turned those things into the law. We made laws about communion (number of cups, the only day it could be taken, the appropriate words during the prayer, who is allowed to pass the plates, and the frequency), worship (the only acceptable method, posture, and day), the order of salvation, how and when we are required to give, and a number of other things all based off of inferences and examples which were in the midst of a particular set of circumstances. When we look at the context of the entire story of God and his redemptive plan, and especially the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, something just does not jive.

The point of Christ was never to take away the Old Law and create a “New Law”. That is almost the exact opposite of what he came to do and I think he grieves for his children when they come under this deception. Christ came to bring something different. I think John puts it well when he says in John 1:17, “ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Law came through Moses; it was not the “Old Law”, it was the law. Jesus brought something new and different: grace and truth. He came and defeated sin on the cross. Hebrews 10:11-14 teaches us that his sacrifice makes us righteous and justified once and for all. This does not mean “once saved, always saved” as some would have us believe, because verse 26 says if we willfully go on sinning we lose the effects of this sacrifice, but it defeats the idea of “once saved, barely saved” that many of us carry. Some would have us believe if we mess up any of these “New Laws” then we are in a state of damnation until we pray a prayer of repentance. Christ sacrifice is much more powerful than that.

People who come to us need to know that their salvation is weighty and strong. Christ paid a great deal for our salvation and defeated death on the cross. The salvation he paid for is once and for all. That means two thousand years ago he made a self-sacrifice that would never again have to be repeated. This one sacrifice is the atonement for every sin you have ever committed. For many people this is a somewhat easy stage to get to, but many people that come to us keep messing up and are coming to us looking for help. They come with lots of guilt and shame because, though they are saved and their past sins are forgiven, they cannot stop from sinning. They have the expectation that they should be past their sin. We need to share these verses with these people; they need to know that Christ has already made them perfect and that it is both okay and expected that they are in process. The process proves they are perfected. The Hebrew writer says it so well in verse 14: 

“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified”

We often think when we mess up that God is angry at us. I have believed in my past that if I died after I had messed up without saying a prayer of repentance that I would be damned to hell. What we often do not realize, and what people who come to us need to realize, is that salvation is much bigger and wider than we have often understood it. Sanctification is a part of our salvation. Because we are saved, God is making us holy. When we mess up, see that we have messed up, and are convicted to change it we should rejoice. This does not mean we are screwed up, it means that we are perfect and that God, through his matchless grace, is making us holy.

Recieve the Word

This is an assignment for my Christian Counseling class. It is a reflection on James 1:22-25 (really vs. 19-26). The first part is personal reflection and the second part is how I would use it in counseling someone else. Just thought I would share

I grew up as a church kid. I was in the doors of the church building just as soon as my parents could bring me. Every time the doors were opened I was there, whether I wanted to be or not. I heard a lot of preaching. I heard a lot of Bible class teaching. I heard scripture, Bible stories, funny stories, good ideas, good theology, bad theology, and everything in between. When I was a young boy I loved it, but as time went on I began to despise going to church. I did not enjoy it and nothing was produced in me. I was blessed with parents who loved God and loved me, but I did not have and supernatural blessing of fruit springing forth from my life. I went to church and I did not cuss, drink, do drugs, or have sex. I thought I was being a doer of the word.

Something changed in my heart. I wish it was a fanciful story that happened in the midst of worship one night, but it did not happen like that. The first time I was awakened that there was more to God than church was in worship at a summer camp, but the road was longer than that. Jesus changed my heart and my actions. Deep inside I felt like I would never be able to be a good Christian because I could never measure to the perfection that I always heard about and that was portrayed by so many people I saw around me, but God taught me about a relationship with him. He showed me that true worship required more of me than singing a song in the correct form; it meant presenting myself as a living sacrifice before my king and singing with a heart full of love, joy, adoration, and praise during those times of corporate worship.

I thought I was being a doer of the word, but I did not know what being a doer of the word really meant. It means being quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, putting away filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receiving the word. When I began to receive the word and let it transform me, blessing began to flow out. When I step where God has spoken, blessing flows out. When I let anger and my ideas rise to the top, blessings are stopped up.

Many people who come to us with problems are those who are in church. They sit through all kinds of services and seminars and hear the word. These people still come to us because their lives are a mess. Often we blame the word they are hearing and try to develop more relevant curriculum for students and preach in a more engaging manner. The problem is not always presentation; the problem is often a failure to receive the word. We do not need to send people to read more books and hear more sermons. We need to teach people how to receive the word.

The people who come to us must learn to let God transform their hearts. When they read scripture, hear a sermon, or read from a book, they need to let those words penetrate their hearts. This happens when they take the word they have heard and meditate upon it. When hearts are transformed and the word is received, blessings can begin to flow. The blessing of Spirit-empowered transformation can happen. The angry person who explodes with rage can become a peaceful listener when the word is received.

Often times we hear a word from the Lord, we know it is from the Lord, and we still do not receive it. James reminds us that we are only deceiving ourselves. We cannot think ourselves to be Christians if we sit in church and hear great messages but continue in filthiness, rampant wickedness, and raging anger. We must learn to, through the blessing of the Spirit-empowered life, to sin longer and partake in the righteousness given to us in Christ Jesus.

God has transformed me. When I began to receive his word deep into my heart, I was able to give up my raging anger, secret pornography addiction, and live in the blessing of which James speaks. I went from despising church meetings to actively being a part. Fruit is now produced through my life because I am where he has told me to be and am living by the word he has spoken. The blessing still leaves me when I leave partnership with him and do not receive the word and do not participate in what he has said.