Why we cannot Coexist.

There are many things about traffic that drive me nuts. Quite possibly the greatest irritant to me when driving isn't being cut off or sitting in traffic, but a bumper sticker that has the word "coexist" on it. The letters of the word are religious and secular symbols used to spell out the word "coexist" (as seen at the right). Every time I see this bumper sticker on the back of a car I can't help but start shaking my head in disbelief that someone else has bought into the lies. 

There are three reasons why man cannot coexist while practicing different religions and worldviews. 

The first reason is based on the definition of the word "coexist." Webster's Dictionary defines coexist as "to live in peace with one another."  Most religions in the world seek some sort of peace so as to worship one's god or live their lives in their own way.Here is an easy example of how this is not possible that has made the news in recent years. Members of ISIS, the extremist Islamic group, are taking to heart the words of the Prophet Mohammad concerning jihad and are murdering those who are not Muslims. I know there is a lot more to the Islamic faith than this one teaching but nevertheless when a religion has murdering non-believers (Quran, Sura 4:89) as a part of their faith there is no hope to coexist. Some will always become fanatics over it and use it for their own personal gains.

The second reason is every religion believes their religion is the only true religion. Ask a Buddhist and he will tell you there is only one way to enlightenment. Ask a Jew who has the correct path to heaven and he will say that he does. Ask any member of any religion or particular worldview if there are other ways to live or worship that are identical to what they do and believe and they will tell you no. Some religions will take an universal view of things and say that there are many paths to god or enlightenment but most stick to their guns and claim their way is the only way.

The third reason is because Jesus does not share His throne with any others. In John 14:6 Jesus tells us that He is the only way to God. Paul even reminds us, with one of the earliest church hymns, with the reason coexistence cannot happen. He writes in Philippians 2:10-11 "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (NIV). Other religions cannot coexist when they all must kneel in the presence of Christ. Dr. Walter Martin says it best when he wrote "The second person of the Trinity does not share His throne with Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed, Zoroaster, or any of the endless assortment of gurus and gods.  As the Savior of the world, He bore our sins in His own body upon the cross."

And that my friends is why we cannot coexist.

*I know that this post can come across a bit aggressive but it is not intended to be that way. With so many in this world calling for tolerance and coexistence between religions, there has become a blurring of the lines when it comes to the truth. Believers in Christ must stand on the truth of Scripture when it comes to Jesus and the salvation He offers while living out Paul's command to "as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18, NIV).

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Worship is not about you.

“I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God—I mean, that’s one way to look at it — we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy.

“So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. Amen?”

The comments above were made recently by Victoria Osteen, Joel Osteen's wife, as the two of them addressed the congregation of their mega-church in Houston. The sad thing is comments like these, and the Osteens aren't the only ones who make them, mislead people in their walk with God. Worshiping God so you'll be happy is nothing short of worshiping the idol of happiness.

Sorry to put it so bluntly but...Worship is not about you. Regardless of what you personally think or regardless of what a prosperity preacher may tell you, worship is not about you. It's not about making you happy. It's not about making you feel good. It's not about the type of music you prefer. It's not about what you get out of it. Our worship of God is about us recognizing His holiness in comparison to our sinfulness. It's about showing our love and devotion to Him for what He has done by providing us with salvation through Christ. Our worship of God should look to glorify Him (Psalm 29:2), not give us a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Don't misunderstand me to be saying that we shouldn't have our preferences of ways to worship God. Variety is the spice of life and worship. I'm also not saying that worship should be dull and boring, full of routine for routine's sake. Psalm 100:2 says "Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs" (NIV). Worship is to be a celebration of what God has done in our lives through the salvation He's provided to us. But when we start to worship God because of what we get out of it, then we start to tread on spiritual thin ice.

Psalm 99:5 wraps up the idea of worship for us. It says "Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy" (NIV). We are to exalt or lift up God in our worship. We are to humble ourselves before Him as if bowing at His footstool. And finally, we do all of this because He is holy...not to make us happy.

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Going through the motions

Last Friday, while Dru practiced football at a local park, Cooper and I went onto the baseball field to work on his pitching. Next year will be his first year in "kid pitch" so he wants to be prepared to try and pitch. Although I pitched very little back in the day, I do know the mechanics and motions of pitching and so I agreed to work with him. To put it mildly, the kid started off throwing like "Nuke" LaLoosh or Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn. He had all power and no control. After we worked on some fundamentals of his pitching motion, we were able to tame that wild arm that was hitting the back stop with more pitches than the catcher's mitt. What Cooper needed was some instruction on how to do things right and what he was doing wrong. What he needed was for someone to come along side of him and show him what he needed to do. This is similar to what is needed in developing new believers.

In Matthew 28:18-20 Christ commands all of His followers to "make disciples" of those who come to faith in Christ. Unfortunately, what we often times see is that when it comes to making disciples we will "dip" them and then we will "drop" them. This simply means we focus intensely on leading someone into a relationship with Christ and then once they are baptized and sitting in the church pew, we "drop" them and end our discipleship making process. What we do is we lead them into a relationship with Christ and then expect them to figure out how to develop that relationship without any help or guidance. We as individual believers in Christ and as churches need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help new believers develop in their faith. It may be that we need to start a "Next Steps" class at our church to lead new believers into a more grounded faith. Maybe we need to individually mentor a new believer. Regardless of how it happens, we need to make sure that new believers have someone coming along side of them to show them how to develop their faith and live the Christian life. So here's a challenge for you today. Find a new believer that you can help develop in their faith. It may be a family member, friend, co-worker, or church member, but find someone you can help develop. Then get started. Don't wait or you won't do it. Make contact today and find a way to pour into this baby Christian so that you can help them mature in their faith.

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Guarding the Archer

Saturday afternoon the boys had a friend over and they decided to go outside and play. I went outside to check on them and make sure they weren't doing anything to get themselves in trouble. Somehow my presence ended up with the four of us playing a game of "War" with bows that shot foam arrows. Dru and I played against Cooper and his friend. Living in the parsonage of the church does have it's advantages, so we ran around the outside of the church, hid in the bushes, and ran through the playground. We had a great time. We played with the rule that if you were hit by the opposing team's arrow you died. In the middle of the game I saw Cooper doing something that I thought was remarkable. Cooper was standing in front of his friend, who held the bow, as a human shield. He was regularly giving his "life" in the game for his teammate. It was an example of self-sacrifice that wasn't lost on me.

When we consider the Christian faith and bring up the idea of sacrifice, most people generally jump to one area of the faith. Most people think of Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross for mankind. But what we sometimes forget about the Christian faith is that we are called to live our lives as a sacrifice for the One who loved us enough to die for us. That means we no longer live for ourselves but we live for Christ. We are to live with an eternal perspective when it comes to every aspect of our lives. This means we sacrifice our own wants, desires, and needs for what God wants and desires from us. We start looking for areas to serve Him. We find ways to give to the work of His Kingdom. We use our gifts and abilities to praise Him in worship. All of this is done with the same attitude we read Paul had in 2 Timothy 4:6 when he wrote, "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering..." (NIV). We should gladly pour our selves out as a sacrifice to God for the salvation He's provided. We can always do more to show our devotion to God. What is an area of your faith you need to do more to pour yourself out to God?

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What are they running from?

Last week, while on vacation at the beach, I had the chance to watch an interesting sight and have some fun while doing so. We were regularly watching these small fish jumping out of the water near where we were playing in the ocean. I couldn't resist the opportunity to mess with my family, so of course I said something that caused my family to take notice. I said, in a serious dad-type of way, "That's not normal. Fish don't just jump out of the water like that unless their being chased by something. I wonder what they're running from?" Of course the boys start edging towards the beach (and to sell it I did too). Having been in the ocean near a shark 20 years ago, and having told the story to my boys, they don't doubt me (yet) when I say stuff like this. Nevertheless, we did see these fish jumping in the water for reasons known only to them.

When we find ourselves running from God we do some pretty dumb things. We react like a fish jumping out of the water when there is no predator around. We try to avoid God, like that could ever happen (just ask Jonah). We stop reading the Bible and stop spending time in prayer. We may even avoid church or friends that we know go to church. But why? What are we running from? We are running from a God who loves us and wants only the best for us. We are running from a God who is intimately involved and personally invested in our lives. We are running from grace and mercy that are far better than anything this world has to offer. Instead of running from God, especially when we feel unworthy because of sin in our life, we should instead run to Him. We should run headlong into the arms of the one who loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for us. So if today you find yourself running away from God, then take that difficult first step in the opposite direction and start the short run back to Him. He'll welcome you back with open arms, abundant love, more than sufficient grace, and mercy beyond belief.

Sorry for the short hiatus in posting. As of late ministry and life made it difficult to find time to post. Mondays will be the norm going forward. So be sure to check back each Monday for a new post.

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Consider the Perspective

Yesterday I spent much of my day in a hospital room in Asheville. I sat in that room waiting on a member of our church to be discharged so I could drive them home. As we sat in that room, I spent much of my time sending emails and texts to stay caught up on my work. My church member spent the time listening to Tennessee Ernie Ford singing hymns on TV and occasionally glancing out the window at the view. When I first walked into the room I noticed the view and took a good long look at it. Off in the distance you could see a beautiful mountain backdrop like you would expect in Asheville. On this day though the rain clouds going by sometimes hid the tops of the mountains but that didn't diminish the beauty of the view.

From my perspective the view was something similar to what I've enjoyed on numerous hiking trips with my boys. I would almost say I took it for granted. From my church member's perspective, I felt it was a glorious revelation of the majesty of God. Listening to those beautiful old hymns that praise and glorify our God, while viewing a beautiful landscape, surely gave that church member a moment of heartfelt worship with God.

Worship of God can be much like our view yesterday. We can sit in church, listen to the same songs and sermon, and yet our perspective can be completely different than someone less than 10 feet from us. From what I've observed in life, you see a picture of newer and experienced Christians in that hospital room yesterday. One of us, like a new Christian, had basically been given a changed heart. To my church member the songs had a new meaning and the view of God's glory took on a whole new perspective. One of us, like a more experienced Christian, saw the same view and heard the same songs, but they had a different meaning. Yes the songs resonated in the heart and the view still revealed the majesty of God. But the context of the person listening and seeing determines the worship experience.

As we develop in our faith, our worship often times takes on a different feel. Do we still want to worship God because of the salvation He's given us? Yes we do. Do we worship in the same style or the same form? Maybe. Maybe not. But the important thing that needs to be consistent, regardless of our perspective is that God is worshiped from our heart. We don't do it to show off. We don't do it because it's expected. We do it because He is God and He alone is worthy of our worship. Regardless of your current perspective on worship, God is still God and we should worship Him as such.

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Lead by Example

Last fall my son Cooper played football for a local optimist team. When they started practicing I noticed something about Cooper's work ethic when it came to practice. They would normally stretch out and then run two laps around the perimeter of the field. With Cooper being taller than all the other kids on his team (and 99% of the league) I was surprised that his size didn't translate into a first place finish on the two laps they ran after warming up. After a few practices I really started paying attention to the situation and the reason for him not coming in first place made me proud.

Misty and I have taught the boys from a young age that they need to be leaders in all they do rather than being followers. We've taught them that whether it's sports, school or church, they need to use the gifts God has given them to be leaders in every aspect of life. We've told them the reason they have to lead effectively is because others will follow them and they need to lead in the right way. When I started watching Cooper run I noticed that all but one other kid would cut the corners of the field and with each corner gain a sizable lead on Cooper. He was precise in his corners. He had a laser focus until he reached the corner and didn't cut the least bit of the corner. The one kid following him stayed right behind Cooper. Cooper was bummed because he wasn't coming in first but I told him not to worry about it because he was doing the right thing and he would be stronger for going the extra distance others weren't willing to go. The more laps they ran the more followers Cooper had on the outer corners. Eventually the coaches took notice of Cooper, told all the kids to follow Cooper, and because of his hard work, Cooper was made team Captain.

When it comes to every aspect of life we need to be prepared to lead and lead by example. We garner no respect from our fellow believers, employees, or family members if all we do is direct and command them instead of leading them. The greatest example we could ever hope to see on this matter comes to us from John 13. This is where we see Jesus leading by example. During His final meal with His disciples, Jesus takes time to wash the feet of the disciples. This task was a servant's job and Jesus being a renown teacher and prophet He should never have done this task. But Jesus leads the disciples here by setting the example of how to be a servant to their fellow man. In verse 15 Jesus even says, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you" (NIV). If we want to effectively lead in every aspect of our life then we need to follow Jesus' example and lead by example. When we do others will follow. Employees will be motivated. Our family will be inspired. And other believers will be encouraged.

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7 Signs You're "Judging" Others

I recently read a blog post by the popular pastor and author J.D. Greear. It definitely gives the believer who wants to grow in their faith some tools to ensure they aren't judging others. I wanted to share the link to it here so others can benefit from the wisdom found in his post. Check it out here. I hope you are able to use it to grow in your faith.

To serve or not to serve...is there a question?

I recently had a conversation with a godly man who has a passion for serving God. Not only does he have a passion for serving God, but he does all he can to encourage others to do the same. Part of the conversation we had centered on the need for more believers in the church to be active in the missions and ministries of the church. There is a definite need for more believers to step up and take on roles of service in the church. There is an old statistic that is thrown around in churches, but it actually is a fairly good representation of what goes on in the church. The statistic is that 20% of the members do 80% of the work. It's a sad statistic but it is true nonetheless. With that many people sitting on the sidelines, is not serving in the work of the church an option?

The answer is a resounding no. Search the Bible and you will never find a place where God says, "If you are this type of person, you don't have to serve me" or "If you are this old, you can take it easy" or "Those who fall into this category are exempt from serving." There is only one class of Christians and they are all called to serve God. We serve God not out of obligation, but out of love for the salvation He has provided us. Although we don't serve out of obligation, God expects each believer to serve in the work of the Kingdom. Ephesians 4:12-13 tells us that God has gifted each of us "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (NIV). God would not have given us spiritual gifts for service if He did not expect us to serve Him. God has gifted us all in some way so that we can serve Him. When we do not serve God with our spiritual gifts, talents and natural abilities, then we are defying God's desire for us to serve. And going against God's will is never a good idea.

To serve or not to serve? Is there a question? No. My encouragement to you today is to seriously consider what areas of service you can take part in at your church. Once you decide, don't wait, act on it quickly and find out how to get involved. You'll never find the same kind of fulfillment in life that you will when you are serving God exactly where He need you to serve.

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Asking God Why

Yesterday I received a phone call from a family member who is battling a serious, and often times fatal, form of cancer. This family member received a really good report and it appears that God has nearly healed this person through the treatments and wisdom of doctors. God is definitely to be praised for this healing. I also know another person battling cancer. The cancer this person has is terminal and there aren't any treatment options. The family is constantly evaluating options for pain management and any changes in this person's condition. We would normally say this is a sad situation and not give a second thought to praising God for this type of situation. But here's the common denominator in both of these people other than the fact they have cancer and it is that they both are believers in Christ.

When we look at both of these situations we often wonder why God would allow such things to happen to God fearing people. How can this be the fate of people who have served Him faithfully and want to continue to do so? Why would God allow this to happen to people who want to make a difference in the world for Him? Why did He choose to heal one and not the other? Why?

Some say we shouldn't question God. I believe part of our relationship with God is being able to question Him, but with an understanding that we do it in a respectful way. We must realize though, that just because we ask the question doesn't mean we'll get an answer? When we ask the big question of "Why," we may have an answer in a few days or a few years. God may choose to wait until we are in heaven to reveal His answer to us. Whatever God chooses, we are at His mercy because He is the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe.

So ask your questions of God. Why did You allow that? How can this be for my good? When will You lift this burden? What will You do about my pain? And whether you get an answer right now or not follow the instructions in 1 Chronicles 16:8 that I shared with my family member before the test results were revealed yesterday. It says "Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done" (NLT). Let the world know how great your God is and what situations in life He is seeing you through.

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