Easter and No More What ifs.

Happy Easter!

Easter is a celebration about the triumph of Jesus over sin, death and the devil.

He was absolutely obedient to the Father and was raised from the dead by the power of the Father.  Jesus was the pioneer.  The promise for those of us who follow him and have been spiritually united with him is that we, too, will be raised from the dead to live with the Father and the Son and the Spirit in eternity forever.  

This is an amazing promise and ought to fill us with hope, joy, love, peace and an overwhelming desire to love God and our neighbor and share this good news in every word and deed.  It is the kind of news that captivates your imagination, changes your life, and gives you meaning and purpose.

But so many Christians and so many churches seem so hopeless.  It’s like they’ve lost the power of the resurrection.  It’s like they are uncaptivated by the excitement of eternal life later and new life now.  

What if the followers of Jesus lived in the power of the resurrection?  

What if....?

1. What if the Church wasn’t afraid?
1. We wouldn’t be afraid of what people would say to us - we could preach the Gospel without fear and with joy
2. We wouldn’t be afraid to share our faith and we wouldn’t be afraid of being rejected by the world or by our friends.
3. We wouldn’t spend so much time worrying about money but would trust God to provide.
4. We wouldn’t be afraid of losing everything and even dying for what God wants.

1. What if the people who went to church strove to be genuine and real?

a.  There would be no “posers” trying to project to everyone that they were better than they really were.   No false humility, false piety, just real people struggling with real sin in light of a real savior.

1. People would speak differently:  there would be no passive aggressiveness, no gossip, no lies.  They would say what they mean and mean what they said.
2. They would seek to help each other in their spiritual struggles and bear one another’s burdens.

1. What if the church always thought long term?  

a. It would be like planting a garden that would be enjoyed by future generations and not just us.  

1. What if the church thought more about what was good for the kingdom than what was good for the congregation?  

1. We would always be thinking God sized thoughts that were bigger than ourselves.
2. We would always think about developing future leaders.
3. We could be free to “tithe” members to new churches that were starting.
4. We’d be more interested in multiplying churches and leaders than in keeping the doors open.
5. We’d be free at last to lose ourselves in pursuing a greater goal than just our own survival.  

1. What if the church learned to listen to God?

1. We’d have amazing prayer times together.
2.   We would know the direction God wanted us to go and could stop struggling internally for power and pride.  
3.   We might experience times of “inaction” as we waited for the Holy Spirit to reveal his course for us.  

1. What if the church were all about Jesus Christ and not about us?

1. We would put Jesus and his Gospel first, last and always.
2. We would learn how to separate our preferences and personal piety from what Jesus  called us to do.

1. What if the church thought about thriving and not just surviving?

1. Then 10% of the congregation would no longer give 50% of the budget - we’d all up our stake in what God was doing here.

1. What if church were fun - full of celebration, innovation, and creativity?

1. We’d all invite our friends because we couldn’t wait to show them how much fun it was to worship Jesus and follow him together.
2. Our kids couldn’t wait to get here each week and wanted to come even when nothing was going on.
3. We’d all experience a great sense of freedom - the sense of obligation to be here would be gone.

1. What if the church really believed that people could be changed by Jesus?

1. We’d always have to believe the best about people because God wasn’t finished working on them yet.
2.   We’d stop being so judgmental.
3.   We’d start seeing miracles every week.

1. What if the church were an environment in which all these things could happen?

1. Why can’t it be?

Thanks for reading.  God bless you.  PJ 

If You Believe in Your Product, Sell It!

So I had this a interesting experience. We’ve been looking at different school possibilities for our kids. So we’ve been booking tours of facilities and meeting with teachers and administrators. Recently, we toured a very impressive edifice. It had everything going for it except one thing: excitement. The kids we saw seemed happy enough, but they weren't really part of the tour and they didn't express to us a desire that our kids should join them in the classroom. What I’m talking about is the staff. We sensed no excitement from them. And what was really interesting: no one tried to convince us that this was the best place in the world for our priceless children.

I can’t say whether they just expected that we’d be awed by the edifice and the place would sell itself. Maybe they felt their excellent reputation in education spoke for itself. Maybe they thought their curriculum and teaching methods would grab hold of us and so captivate our imaginations that we'd have no choice but to sign up. Or, maybe they thought we weren’t a good match for their school. All I know is that all the people I talked to at this place made me feel as if they didn’t care whether or not my kids attended there. Frankly speaking, it wasn't that I expected to be fawned over, I just expected some passion for their school and the impact it was making in the lives of their kids.

As we were leaving, my wife said, “My, they were very laid back about things.” Then she said, “I hope we don’t come across that laid back to our guests at church.” And that got me thinking not just about church but about Christian life in general.

Christians, isn't Jesus Christ the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us? Isn't new life in him the best product, vacation, experience, or thrill you've ever had? Doesn't it just make you want to go out into the highways and byways and invite people to come to church with you and experience Jesus? Ummm.... Well.... Errrrr..... Ahhhhmmm....

I think what I'm saying is that we don't act like it. We act as if there are other options. We act surprised, even, when people WANT to worship Jesus with us. What happened to us?

I think the answer is we have forgotten our first love. We've learned to put other things in front of Jesus. I'm sure those things are good, but nothing gets to go in the Jesus place except Jesus.

Revelation 2:4 Jesus says to the church (at Ephesus but maybe to us, too?): "Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand." For 200 plus years, the North American church has dominated the Christian landscape. Now, it seems, instead of being the largest sending country for missionaries, we are the largest receiving country for missionaries. And we don't seem to be alarmed by this at all. Our so called main-line churches seem to have abandoned the teaching of the apostles. And I'm not sure that most congregations, regardless of affiliation, aren't rather luke-warm to experience on a Sunday morning. Have we lost our passion to the point where we no longer believe that Jesus is the absolute best thing for people?

You are entitled to your own opinion. I happen to think it's true. I think we've left our first love. And I thank God that he revealed the way back: repentance. Apparently that's where it all begins. Repentance.

The big question in my mind: how does the church repent? I'm open to your feedback. Stay tuned. This will be an on-going conversation. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

Grace, Cheap or Costly?

Grace and the loving forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ are one and the same thing. By God’s grace, Jesus Christ was given to die for us and for his sake, we are forgiven. But if we don’t feel guilty for our sin, if we don’t feel shame for our actions and inactions and words and thoughts which grieve the heart of God, do we really receive God’s forgiveness? Martin Luther would argue, “no.” If you don’t believe your sins are forgiven, he says, they aren’t. That’s the part that faith plays in grace. We are saved by grace “through” faith. So, if you aren’t sorry, you don’t feel guilty, you don’t feel responsible and you don’t really feel you need to be forgiven. People and churches fall into this trap all the time. They talk about how all is forgiven and yet they feel no shame and therefore they do not amend their life and they therefore make the grace of God, in the words of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “cheap.”

Bonhoeffer wrote a book called, The Cost of Discipleship, in which he lays out the difference between “cheap” grace and “costly” grace. I’m grateful to the website, www.crossroad.to/Persecution/Bonhoffer.html , for the following explanation of Bonhoeffer’s work:

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God. 45-46
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 47


Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself, now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs. 49
As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost....49