No Matter How You Voted, Remember This!

I've hesitated to write again on anything political, as I still have so many questions myself as to what to do on election day.  However, as that dreaded election Tuesday rapidly approaches, I have three encouragements with which I'd like to strengthen us all.   If you've read anything I've written before, chances are you know I try to write with a pastor's heart to exhort my brothers and sisters in Christ.

First, always remember to keep America and the Church of the Lord Jesus separate in your thinking.  You may believe that is a superfluous statement, but I'm not so sure.  Because of America's strong Christian heritage, many have come to see those two as somehow synonymous--but they are not.  I was in a meeting recently when a brother commented, "If Clinton wins, we're doomed." In context it seemed pretty clear the "we" referred to us as followers of Jesus.   I know we all appreciate much of the Christian morality that has permeated our American culture, and as we see that slipping away from our land we feel that loss, but know this--we Christians are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us!  No matter what America does as a nation or as a culture, we the Church are not doomed.  The Church will not only continue strong, but we will be triumphant at the conclusion of all things.

Second, let's not allow this election to steal our unity as followers of Jesus.   It really is amazing to me how passionate believers are, both for Trump and against him.  Unfortunately that passion has led to a division between Christians.   I touched on this in my last article when I wrote about how vitriolic the language and tenor have been by both Clinton and Trump supporters.  Sadly, that same vitriol leaked from the "pens" of many Christ followers, and was even directed at other believers.  I really believe, no matter how strongly you hold to the rightness of your "Trump/No Trump" vote, we would be best served by applying Jesus' admonition to not judge one another, but rather entrust each other to God's Spirit.  For some of us, "A Christian must vote for Trump" or "A Christian should never vote for Trump" seems as clear as high definition, and we can't understand how anyone would see it differently; but they do--with equal conviction.  It would be nice if we all agreed, though personally I can understand why believers fall on either side of this divide.  What we need even now is to stand united in our Savior, even if we disagree on who to vote for.

Finally, don't let fear or despair over take you, but instead be filled with hope and joy.  I realize that it is disheartening to see our culture and our nation move away from Biblical morality, especially at such a rapid pace, and there seems so little we can do to arrest its retreat; but none of that is cause for despair.  Remember that God commanded us to "Rejoice always!"  Did you hear that?  We are to be filled with joy all the time--not just when it's going our way.  Over 150 times the psalmist commands us to rejoice.  Maybe you are wondering how we choose joy when the outlook seems so bleak?  Easy!  Don't forget that God is still Lord and He will never abandon us.  He's given us the power of His Holy Spirit, not only to live holy, but to enable us to thrive even in the most difficult of times.   Even if your candidate loses, the truth is this election may bring about a revival in the Church that sparks the beginning of a national awakening.  So keep that perspective-- choose joy and hope and expectancy!  Remember what the multitude of heaven said in Revelation 19-- “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns."

Why don't I change?

Jesus once asked a group of people who claimed to be His followers, "Why do you call me Lord, but don't do what I say" (Luke 6:46)?  I remember as a young man, that question had a profound impact on my life because I would have said that I was a Christian; but I also knew there was much that Jesus said and did that I wasn't doing and had no intention of doing.  Now, as a pastor for all these years, I find it so troubling that many people who I know claim to follow Jesus, invest such little effort in that following.  Actually, other than claiming to follow Jesus, there hasn't been much change in how they live, what they do, or how they relate to God or others.   Their love for God and others isn't seen in what they do or what they say.   Did you know that God has an expectation, a goal for each one of us who follow Jesus?  Here it is--God is committed to our changing and being conformed to the person who Jesus is.  What that means is God desires us to think like Jesus thought, behave like Jesus behaved, and love like Jesus loved.  Paul, that early Christian leader, said to the Galatian Christians, "I labor until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).   We are to be like Jesus.

Well, how does this transformation to be like Jesus take place?  Who's responsible for it?  The truth is that God is--and we are.  Some folks want to make it one or the other, and people often get out of balance; but Paul makes it pretty clear that God is working and we should be working toward the goal of being like Jesus.  Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."  Depend on God whose Spirit indwells you and empowers you, but also recognize your role.

So back to my original question, why are so many of us not being changed?  Why is there so little difference in us now from the time we began to follow Jesus?  Well we know that God isn’t failing in His part, so the issue must be with us.   I want to suggest three reasons why we don't change.

We operate on the basis of felt needs rather than faith.  I've noticed something in my observation of professing Christians, and I've noticed it in my own struggles.  We tend to do only the things that we feel like we need to do.  We are feeling driven rather than faith driven.  Faith says I believe that God's greatest desire for me--and consequently that which would be for my greatest good-- is to be like Jesus; therefore, I'm going to do what God calls me to do whether I feel like it or not.  Feelings, on the other hand says, how do I feel about that?  Do I feel like I need to do that?  And if our feelings don't want to do it, we don't.  If our feelings are up to it, we may do it.  Let's face it everyone--we've bought into the consumer-driven mentality of our culture that says it's all about me, and if I don't feel like it, I won't do it.  Jesus wasn't like that, and we shouldn't be either.  Jesus said to God the Father, "Not my will but yours be done."  Let me put that in our everyday context.  When my feelings say: I don't need to love that person, or I don't need to share my resources, or I don't need to invest that time in serving others, or I don't need to do that task, or I don't need to pull aside to meet with God one on one, my faith says yes you do.  We should walk by faith, not feelings.

We are not willing to put in the hard work necessary.  Maybe this is another way of saying our feelings rule.   In the last part of Hebrews 5 the author says that maturity, or what I would call Christlikeness, comes about through practice which trains the senses to discern good and evil.  Did you catch that?  Maturity comes through practice.  Practice is hard and arduous work.  The world champion platform diver Tom Daley didn't even make it to the finals, and the commentators were suggesting it was because he added a new dive only one and half years ago.  They stated that might not have been enough time to learn it, yet he practices daily.   Remember what Paul said?  "Work out your salvation."  Becoming like Jesus takes work on our part.  It is daily practicing to walk in His steps.  I don't always get it right, but I work hard at it.  Let me ask you, believer in the Lord Jesus,  how hard are you willing to work at being conformed to the image of Jesus?  The Olympians work hard for a piece of gold and earthly glory--are you willing to work that hard to hear our Father say, "Well done!"?

We fail to invest in our minds.  Paul made it clear, "Don't be conformed to this world but be transformed."  Obviously, he meant transformed into the image of Jesus, and then he goes on to tell us exactly how to do it.  He says "by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:1-2).   Furthermore the Bible makes it clear, "As a man thinks in himself, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).  This is why our worldview, how we think about the world, affects every area of our lives.  Let me be the first to admit that changing the way I think doesn't often feel like a felt need; and if you have ever tried to change your thinking, you know it's hard work.  Most of us have ingrained patterns of thought that have been with us since childhood and changing them is never easy.  But how do I do that?  How do I change my thinking?  How do I even know where my thinking needs to change?  Someone said to me the other day, "Jimmy, you don't know what you don't know," and they were so right.  Now remember, the goal is to be like Jesus and think like Jesus; so if I'm going to change my mind, I need do the hard work of reading Jesus' thoughts, seeking to understand Jesus, and then by faith adopting His mindset.  But don't just read to read; read to understand, and if you are His follower, read so you can begin to think like Jesus.  If this is new to you, start reading one of the first four books of the New Testament--they contain much of what Jesus said and did.  Read other too-- followers of Jesus who can help you understand Jesus.  Ask someone you trust to teach you what Jesus thought.

Even as I type these words I hear God's Spirit asking me, "Jimmy, are you willing to do the hard work of transformation?  Are you willing to stop being led by your feelings and instead be led by your faith in me?  Are you willing to let Me change your mind as you continue to understand My thinking?  Are you willing to let Me change you all the more?"  I imagine God will bring me back here again to these same questions, maybe many times, but in this moment my emphatic answer is, "I am."  What's your answer?

Why a Christ-Follower Should Surrender His or Her Permission to Drink Alcohol

Things are changing.  Surely we see the changes in our American culture but things are changing here in the church of Jesus as well.  Some of those changes are good and needed.  The denominational divide that once sliced us into different pieces is slowly giving way to a greater sense of Christian unity across those once firm demarcations.  Yes, we still have a long way to go in that division by ethnicity and race still prevail, but even that is being challenged by many Christ followers.

But not all change is leading us to good places, so let me speak to one area that I see especially prevalent among Christ's youngest followers, though not limited to them.  I'm referring to the new found freedom to bring alcohol into our lives.

First, let me acknowledge some things that are absolutely Biblically true.  God doesn't forbid the drinking of alcohol.   Many have tried to make that case, but they can't do it using the Bible.  In fact, wine was most likely the choice drink in Old and New Testament times.  Wine is often portrayed as an example of some really good things.  For example, the Song of Solomon often compares the sweetest of loves to choice wine.   In fact, he says that love is better than wine!   Our Lord Himself even turned water into wine so that the festivities at a wedding might continue.

Now with that foundation, let me agree that drinking alcohol is not in itself morally wrong or a sin.   I'll even acknowledge that drinking wine with a meal would have been the norm in Jesus' day, but nonetheless I'd like to argue against the growing use of alcohol among the body of Christ.

Most followers of Jesus are familiar with Paul's admonition to us: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything" (1 Corinthians 6:12).  Actually, twice in this same letter Paul says the same thing and both times it has to do with eating and drinking in context.  Side note here, but it's amazing how often we quote this verse as saying 'All sinful things are lawful for me but all are not profitable.'  It doesn't say that at all.  Sin is still sin and holiness is God's expectation of us.  Sin is never permissible.  There is nothing that fits the context of these verses, for us 21st century followers of Jesus, more than this issue of alcohol.  So let me give you three reasons why drinking alcohol, though it may be permissible, it is not profitable.

First would be the constant warnings against the over use of alcohol.  I've never met a Christian who doesn't agree with the Bible that drunkenness is wrong.  "Do not get drunk with wine," Paul told us, "but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).  Proverbs 20:1 says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise."  And one more; Proverbs 21:17 says, "He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not become rich."

One of the reasons for these warnings, I believe, and something that I think is lost to so many young Christians, is the power of alcohol to addict the soul.  In Proverbs 23 the author writes, "Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.  Buy truth, and do not sell it, get wisdom and instruction and understanding... Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause?  Who has redness of eyes?  Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine.  Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.  Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things.  And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.  They struck me, but I did not become ill; they beat me, but I did not know it.  When shall I awake?  I will seek another drink” (Proverbs 23:22-23, 29-35).  The author is clearly warning against the power of alcohol to control and overpower our lives.

I've watched many a man and woman who starts out seeking to drink in moderation only to find that it's addictive powers overtake them.  Everyone thinks that it won't happen to them, but when alcohol overtakes you it's a battle to overcome, and the effects can be devastating.  Who hasn't heard of the recent dismissal of Perry Noble from New Spring Church in South Carolina?  Perry is obviously a brother who loves the Lord Jesus, who had freedom to drink, but in time the alcohol overtook him.  He was removed from his ministry and even his family was under intense pressure from his addiction to alcohol.  Another pastor friend of mine found himself more and more controlled by alcohol and more and more given to drink in excess.  Finally, able to admit that to himself, he gave it up.

Yes, it's permissible to drink, but as powerful as alcohol is to master us, is it profitable?

A second reason why alcohol, though permissible isn't profitable, is because we don't need it.  We don't need it on two fronts.  First, we don't need it as a drink to sustain life.  Whenever I travel to the third world, I'm often given Coca-cola products to drink by my host.  Do you know why?  It's because the water isn't potable. and the soft drink products are far less dangerous.  There was a day when wine was much safer to drink than water.  That's not true in our day.  We have more choices and more varieties of drinks available to us than in any generation of the past--we don't need to drink wine or alcohol because it's "safe."  And on a second front, we don't need to drink alcohol for an emotional reason either.  Proverbs 31:6 says, "Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to him whose life is bitter."  Fellow believers, we have been given joy--great joy!  Jesus said I came that you might have abundant life.  He spoke often of the joy of life that is ours in Him.  It's not a circumstantially caused joy, but a joy that flows from us like rivers of living water--if we let it.  It's a joy that we can choose.   Have you noticed that more and more celebratory events in the lives of Christ-followers must be punctuated with alcohol?  Rarely do I go to a wedding that there isn't alcohol for the Christians.  I'm sure the goal is merriment and joy, but isn't joy ours without substance help?  I suggest it is--we merely must choose it.

Finally, I suggest a third reason why alcohol isn't profitable and it's because it blunts our testimony.  What I mean by that is it blurs the lines and erases the distinctions between those of us who have the joy of the Lord, and those who do not.  One of the marks of the believer should be our joy and our peace, but if we can't have either without the help of a wine cooler, how is our faith transforming our lives?  Why do we need to pitch the corn hole bag with one hand while we hang on to our second or third beer, wine cooler or hard cider in the other?  Please don't misunderstand.  I'm not saying that not drinking makes us joy-filled or peace-filled--I'm saying that if we are joy-filled and peace-filled, why would we want to hide that behind a bottle?  What if people saw our joy and happiness, our peace and contentment, and they saw it not as a result of alcohol but our relationship with Jesus?  Wouldn't that sharpen our witness?

It's funny, but in this day when the call for a Christian's freedom to drink alcohol is so strong, I feel like I'm stepping out in traffic as I call for the opposite, but nonetheless I do.  Follower of Jesus, I'd like to encourage you to consider that maybe drinking alcohol isn't the most profitable path to take.  Would you consider giving up what is permissible, for something that may be much more profitable for you and for the Kingdom of God?

Celebrate Christmas Well!

As one who follows Jesus, do you ever struggle with celebrating Christmas?  I know I did.  I always asked myself, how can so many people who don’t hardly know anything about Jesus, much less follow Him, celebrate Christmas?  Obviously, they are not celebrating what I’m celebrating.   But then, what am I celebrating?  Certainly, as a Christian I am celebrating the fact that God chose to enter the world He created as one of us, and He chose not to do so with fanfare and accolades, but incognito and among the poorest of the poor.  But what do Christmas trees and colorful lights have to do with that?  How does exchanging gifts with those I love and sharing meals with people I treasure have anything to with God becoming a person?

Maybe this confusion has bothered you too.  A number of years ago I accepted a couple of realities and made a couple of decisions that have helped me—maybe they will help you too.

First, I accepted the truth that for most people in America Christmas as we know it isn’t about Jesus, God or even anything spiritual.  In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that this has probably been the case for generations, maybe from the very rise of Christmas as we know it.  Don’t get me wrong, I accept the reality that in days gone by more Americans tipped their hat to Jesus at this season, but I doubt the coming of Jesus has ever been what most people celebrated at this time.  People, by their very nature, love to celebrate family, friends, joy and happiness; and however it happened, those things came to be associated with Christmas.  Parents love to see the joy on their kids’ faces as they open gifts.  Most everyone loves the joyful music, the festive lights and the obvious good will that seems to permeate this time of year.  However it came to be, this is what most people are celebrating.

Now here’s the second truth I accepted—it's ok for me as one who follows Jesus to celebrate all these things too.  It’s ok to love the lights and the songs and the joy of watching my kids exchange gifts of love with each other.  It’s ok to decorate my house and cook great Christmas cookies just for the fun of it—just for the joy!  Actually, God made us to enjoy festivities.  He himself gave the Israelites so many joyful festivals for their pleasure and happiness.  I’m not a Jew, at least not a natural born Jew; I’m an American.  Christmas is a time my culture celebrates family and friends with feast and fun and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Accepting those two realities helped me immensely sort out my confusion about the season, but I also made two coinciding decisions.  

The first was that in the midst of celebrating with my culture, I was going to not forget, but purposefully celebrate, what the Bible calls the incarnation of God.  Jesus is often called “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”  As a Christian, I wanted the truth that God came to earth as a man to be something I prioritized in my celebration.  Over the years Anne and I have done some things at this season to help us remember this great event.  You might think they are simple, even crass, but we put red and white lights on our tree to remind us of Jesus' holiness and his death on the cross.  We set up a manger scene in our living room to help us commemorate.  In our family it is tradition to worship together with other believers on Christmas Eve.

The second decision was that in my heart I’d not separate the celebration of Jesus’ birth from the remembrance of His death.  When Jesus was born the angels said, “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  The birth of Jesus was joyful news because God had Himself come as our Savior, but Jesus’ saving work wasn’t complete until His death on the cross some thirty-three years later.  His birth and His death are inextricably tied together and I promised myself not to celebrate the cradle without remembering His cross.

So if you are a follower of Jesus too, let me urge you celebrate Christmas well!   Celebrate this festive time with our culture.   Enjoy the lights and the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Take advantage of that mistletoe!  But don’t forget the greater joy that Christmas brings to your heart.  Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day and later died on Calvary that you and I might know God and have a personal relationship with Him.  Take special care to worship Him joyfully and purposefully at this special season of the year.

"Christians are such hypocrites!"

"Christians are such hypocrites!"  "The church is full of hypocrites!"  As a pastor I've heard those two statements quite a bit over the years.  Maybe you've said them or at least thought them.  I confess I've always wondered why people have said that when Christians have never claimed to be anything but flawed, failed and fallen people.  Our platform of belief begins with a foundational stone of our own sinfulness and wickedness.  However, the other day I had an 'a-ha' moment and I now think I understand why so many think of us as hypocrites.

As followers of Jesus we teach that we should submit to God's will.  We believe that God reveals His nature, character and will in the Bible so we seek to surrender ourselves to what God desires of us.  In other words, when Jesus called us to follow Him we believe He meant for us to live like Him, and more specifically, we believe it meant for us to follow the morality that God has delineated in the Scriptures.  We truly want to live the morality the Bible lays out for us.

But what I just said is really the second half of our message-- the outflow of the first and primary piece.  The central message of a Christian's faith is that he or she is selfish and thus a sinful person.   We are all morally flawed and thus rightly and consequently under the judgment of a righteous God.  You may manage to be more moral than me, but you still fall short of moral perfection-- especially morality as God delineates in His Bible.  Moral failure includes selfishness as lived out in lying, stealing, bitterness, lust and murder.  We tend to compare ourselves and say, "As long as I'm better than most, God will accept me, forgive me, because he obviously grades on a curve."  Unfortunately He doesn't grade on a curve; just one sin is enough to condemn us before this perfect, righteous, loving God.

So the Christian good news begins by understanding the bad-- I need help.  I can't earn God's forgiveness by being better than others.  You may have heard the old joke of the two friends who come upon a grizzly bear and one starts to put on his tennis shoes.  "You can't outrun that bear!" says one friend.  "I don't have to", replies the other.  "All I have to do is outrun you!"  That's not how God's justice works.  The 'grizzly bear' of God's justice will run us all down-- we need a Savior.

The good news the Christian puts his hope in is that God so loved him (and all of us) that He sent a Savior-- Himself.  Jesus as God came and lived a morally perfect life and then gave up that morally perfect life in exchange for my morally sinful and flawed life.  In dying for me, both physically and spiritually, Jesus became my Savior!  Because of Jesus all my sin is forgiven.  Not by my merit.  Not because now I'm perfect but because I trust in Him to be my substitute.  By faith I rely upon His love and His work for me.

Why would anyone believe that?  Really for one reason only.  Because the testimony of many a man and woman is that Jesus proved it by rising from the dead.  They killed him by hanging him on a cross and they buried Him and thought that was that, but history says it wasn't.  On Friday afternoon He dies and on Sunday morning He walks out of the grave.  The resurrection of Jesus, that truth and that reality, changed history without coercion and force.  That truth is still changing men and women's lives today.

We're back full circle to where I started from.  Because Jesus is now my Savior, I want to follow Him.  I want to live as God desires me to live.  I still fall woefully short.  I'm still capable, and even struggle with, wanting to be just as selfish as I ever was.  But nonetheless, God has given me a new heart and His Spirit to help me-- there will be a change.  Not a perfect change, but a change.  I will be more like Jesus.


But here's where I had the 'a-ha' moment-- people outside the church hear us talking about this change and our desire to follow Jesus and be Biblically moral men and women, and without understanding the primary piece, they think that being a Christian simply means seeking to live as moral people.  That conception is reinforced in their minds as they see Christians fight vociferously and politically for Biblical morality.  And then-- then they see us fail.  They watch us fail morally in about every way a person can fail.  They even see those Christians who have been most vocal about God's declared morality fail, or maybe I should say they especially see those who are most vocal fail.  And because they believe the Christian life is merely about living morally-- they see us as hypocrites.  Think about it for a minute; if you thought Christianity was simply about following a moral code, and you saw people who preach and promote that code fail often and openly, wouldn't you think we are all hypocrites too?

So I conclude this note with two challenges.  To the Christ follower I want to urge you to do your best to help people understand the heart of our Christian faith.  It's not about being moral.  We can't be moral so as to earn God's forgiveness or eternal life.  Jesus died to give us what we need-- He rose from the dead to prove He had succeeded.  Be careful not to confuse the message.

Finally, to the one who might be reading this and thinks all Christians are hypocrites, I want you to know that we all agree with you.  We live hypocritically of the morality that we believe God desires of us.  Even now as we follow Jesus we still fail.  We all too often lie, cheat, steal, lust and live selfishly even as we know that is not what God desires of us.  But please understand that is not our central message.  The primal truth we cling to is that in our moral sinfulness, Jesus died for our sins that He might give us freely, by grace through faith, the forgiveness we need.  It's not earned by living to some degree of moral perfection-- its simply received with a grateful heart.  If you've not understood the bedrock truth of the Christian faith, dig in until you do.  You may still reject it, but don't confuse it with mere moralism.