Halloween and Holy Living (repost)

Halloween is a holiday obsessed with death. It is filled with zombies, mummies and demons. There are many questions about its beginnings, some point back to ancient Roman pagans, others to ancient Celtic practices, and others to early Christian superstitions. Though the beginnings maybe unclear, what is clear is our cultural perception of it. A holiday that is dedicated to scary, horror saturated fun! Though there are costumes of witches, warlocks, werewolves and demons these are less spiritual confessions then commercial marketing. Our materialistic culture has stripped the holiday from its roots to the point that if you were to ask the average person in our community “what is Halloween truly about?” the responses would be varied but have one thing in common…they wouldn’t have to do with some Satanic worship experience. No, mostly it would be about parties, fun and candy.

So what am I to do with Halloween as a Christian? To understand this, first I must ask you a question; what is your belief about Jesus’ place in culture? Do you believe Jesus is against culture and therefore you must defy culture at every opportunity? Do you believe He is in culture and therefore you are free to participate in cultural activities? Or do you believe Christ is over culture and therefore you must redeem culture?

We see in Colossians 1:18 that Jesus is “preeminent” in everything. As a believer we must see Christ at the center of everything, we must change our perspective to align with His reality.

Halloween is a materialistic holiday obsessed with death. How do we see Christ over this Holiday in a redeeming fashion? We preach the Gospel! The Bible is full of stories that use God’s power over death to point us to Jesus. The Bible deals extensively with death. The human predicament is that we will all die, and Halloween can be looked at a way that we try to dismiss the reality by dressing it up in costume. Yet we are not left on our own to answer these tough questions. God has given us the answers in the Bible.

Halloween reveals a passion and desire in mankind that desires the superstitious, the fantastic and unexplainable. We often think that these myths and legends belong to the pagans and we should leave them alone. Have you read the Bible? Wow, God understands this, or as I believe, we desire these things because of how He has written on our hearts a desire for Him. He has placed in His Word story after story that draw us in and point us to Him.

Halloween is a time where we can deal with those weird passages of the Bible that we may not fully understand or see how they fit in. The stories of the “Nehphelim” or the “witch of Endor” certainly seem seasonably appropriate. Or how about the story of those who came to life at the crucifixion in Matthew 27? Wow that is weird! Yet what does it teach us? God has power over death! As believers we have this hope that Christ rose from the dead and therefore we look forward to a future resurrection.

We shouldn’t get caught up in the silly controversies that often arise with this holiday; instead we should look for ways to communicate the Gospel to our culture in a way that makes Jesus look appealing!

Does running a campaign against “jack-o-lanterns” make Jesus look glorious or petty? Does closing your doors on “beggar’s night” make Jesus look glorious or stingy? Does passing out Bibles or tracts but no candy draw people to the Word or make them feel ripped off? We know that the Word of God, the Gospel Message, is more to be desired then gold, let alone a Snicker bar, but the culture doesn’t realize this.

Let’s use Halloween as a way to show that Jesus is truly Lord over all. That we serve a loving and kind God who is abundant in mercy and generous. Let’s show how God doesn’t get caught up in the trivial, but has sent us out on a mission to live out His message. Maybe if we stop arguing and protesting over the stupid and mundane, and start living out the Gospel in our life then the culture around us will “see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven!”

Abide

“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming” (1 John 2:28 ESV).

Think back to a time when your parents left you home alone for a significant amount of time. Yeah you remember that time when you were like “ABSOLUTE FREEDOM AT LAST!!!” Making your checklist of all the TV shows your going to watch, movies you want to rent. Eating all the junk food…with no veggies!

Your thinking…party! Oh and of course, finishing the To-Do List they left. The reality is imminent, the question was am I going to be looking forward to their return with joy or a dreaded anticipation. The response really has nothing to do with my parents, but with my choices. If I was obedient and completed my tasks, I would look forward to their return. If I procrastinated with the To-Do list, I would be running around franticly trying to finish and praying they caught all the red lights. Sometimes (and in my case very rare occasions) when I did something I know they wouldn’t approve of, even if I finished the chores I would be filled with dread upon their return.

Why? Because I was sure they would find out what I did and be disappointed in me. The guilt of my decisions would bring a fear into my relationship. I was certain that Fresh Prince was right when he sang about “Parents just don’t understand!” Of course, I often thought I would pull one over on my parents not appreciating their wisdom and understanding.

As I matured I began to see how obedience led to more trust and more freedom. Not only that, but my relationship with my parents became sweeter and filled with more joy.

The Apostle John is writing to believers a reminder that one day the Lord will return and you should desire to look forward to that day with joy! He calls us to “abide” or “remain” in Him. This is the part that really excites me about Christianity. Biblical Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. Something that can be developed and is intimate and personal.

By spending time abiding in Jesus Christ we gain confidence in Him and look forward to His return. Later on there is a promise that says, “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning.” Abiding is to develop the friendship with Jesus, to spend time in His Word and learn about Him. It is talking to Him in prayer and growing in prayer. It is understanding that true Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever!

John further describes the reasons we should desire to abide in Him by describing His love for us. He loved us so much that He adopts us into His family, promises one day to makes us like Him and that we will be with Him forever!

Everyday we can choose to live in obedient fellowship with God and have confidence in His presence, or we can indulge our flesh and feel shame before God. Jesus Christ came to put an end to sin, He won the victory on the cross and He rose again to bring new life! Choose today to abide in Him, your eternity is worth it!

An Unlikely Love: The story of Jesus

Fill in the blank: Love makes us __________________________ !

How would you respond to that? My initial response was “Love makes us do crazy things!” Then I found out, thanks to Facebook friend, that “Love makes us do crazy things” is also the number 1 response on Google. I suppose our answers will vary depending on what we are doing, how we are feeling, what our experiences with love have been, and what our hopes about love are. Maybe our answer will reflect whom we are thinking about when we hear the word “love.”

Sometimes we have a hard time distinguishing between true love and infatuation. Yet it is all part of the process of getting to know someone and pursuing him or her. Yet “crazy” to me is a good word. Love should get you out of your comfort zone. Love has to be expressed and demonstrated to be known as love.  Love has to be visible.

Do you believe in love? Does love really exist? You may laugh at these questions, you may think it is a stupid question, but really think about it. Prove to me that love exists. You can’t. You cannot bottle love. You cannot see love. Yet we all believe love exists. Proving love is a lot like trying to prove God exists, but that is another post for another time.

What we know about love is based on subjective feelings, verbal statements and physical actions. Every one of us is wired just a little different and so we speak love in different ways. The one thing we do all hold in common is that we all desire to love and be loved.

Now back to my initial thought “love makes us crazy,” yes this is not original with me. Yet it is the thought that first came to me. It’s because when it comes to love I don’t understand me. I don’t understand why I think and feel the way I do when I do. If you know me, I tend to be a very even keeled kind of guy. I don’t make a lot of decisions based on emotions. Always seem to have my feelings in check and life is generally pretty good and that is the way I like it.

Can I get a little vulnerable with you? Throw into the experiment of my life the prospect of dating and everything goes out of whack.  All of a sudden I don’t know what I am thinking, why I want to do what I want to do, why things make me nervous and wondering “where did all my words go?” It’s crazy to me. Yet it is also inspires me to do something, in all its frustrations it causes me to move. Even if my movement is only little steps at a time, every step puts me a little further out there.

Whom do you love? Now I am not looking for youth group confessions here to reveal our secret crushes. I want you to think about the persons in your life you love. Family, friends, significant someone? What makes them an object of your affection?

Let’s be honest, we love people who are loveable. We love for many reasons, some shallow and some very deep. We love someone because we find him or her attractive, fun to be around, we have things in common, a shared dream. We love someone because they have been kind to us, cared for us, protected us, loved us.

How many of you immediately think of the most unlikely person as the object of your love? How many of you love a murder, a drunk, a rapist, a liar, thief, etc.? How many love someone who is unworthy of your love? No we tend to love the loveable.

Let me share with you a story from John Elderidge about love:

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist—no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.

The king clothes himself as a beggar and renounces his throne in order to win her hand. The Incarnation, the life and the death of Jesus, answers once and for all the question, "What is God's heart toward me?"

In this story we get a little picture of God’s amazing love for us. You see love moved God to do the crazy!

 ^“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

One translation states, “God demonstrated” his love. Love has to be visible to be understood. God doesn’t just say a lot of empty words He proves His love! Yet the story above still doesn’t fully grasp the extent of God’s love for us. We are not just humble maidens, but we are worthless sinners who live in direct opposition to God.

Even on our best day, when we do everything right, the Bible says “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6 ESV). Our entire being was rebelling against our Creator when He pursued us. He stepped out of Heaven, wrapped Himself in human flesh, lived a perfect life, was rejected by the people He came to save, crucified, died and buried to show He loved you. Three days later He rose again from the dead, for death could not hold Him! He could have just said “forget these humans, they killed me, let them get what they deserve!” Instead He opens His arms toward us and says, “Come to me, trust me, be my child!” That is a very unlikely love! Have you received His free love?

For those of us who follow Christ, He has shown us what unlikely love looks like. How are you living your life as an example of His love? Don’t just love the loveable. Learn to love the unlovable, the undesirable, and share Jesus with them!

An Unlikely Mercy: The Woman Caught in Sin

Caught!! What a frightening word! The funny thing is that it wouldn’t be a scary term if we never did anything wrong. Yet we all have a sin nature and a guilt complex.

For instance, personally I hate having a police car driving behind me. I can be driving the speed limit, with my seatbelt on, both hands on the wheel and not even listening to music, but I feel like I am going to get pulled over. It’s just a scary feeling at times.

Maybe it’s because of the dozens of times I was speeding and got away with it. One night I was driving home from youth group really excited about what God was doing in our teen’s lives. I was listening to praise and worship music and not really paying attention to the speed. Driving down Sandrun Parkway there is a little dip in the road that runs through water. As I slowed down to cross the water, I thought it would be fun to gun it on the way up out of it. I accelerated to 45 miles per hour on a 25mphs road. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw the park ranger’s truck just up a head. “Oh it’s only a park ranger, they don’t give tickets,” was my excuse for breaking the law.

I was wrong!! Yes, wrong to excuse my speed, but also wrong about park rangers. She quickly pulled me over and extended to me a ticket for speeding. I was penalized $75 for my speeding, yet she extended to me some mercy. Mercy is not getting what I do deserve. Though she wrote me a ticket, she ran it through the Parks instead of through the city, so it wouldn’t put points on my record. I was wrong and she would have been justified in issuing me the full penalty for my crime. Yet she did not!

To be honest, I didn’t think my speeding was a crime before I was caught. I got used to doing my own thing. I guess I rationalized my sin by saying “if I don’t get penalized for doing it, then it must not be wrong.” Others may say it this way “if it makes me happy and doesn’t hurt anyone then it can’t be wrong.” That is often our approach to sin. We don’t think sin is as severe as it really is. Just because God doesn’t lay the “Smack Down” on us every time we sin, doesn’t mean He condones our actions. God would be justified to strike us dead at the very moment we sin, but He doesn’t.

There is a great story in John chapter 8 about a woman caught in the sin of adultery. Now we know very little about this woman, her life circumstances and her normal behavior. We see her in this vary narrow window. But what we know about her is she was committing adultery. Whether this was her first offense or not, we don’t know, but we know she was guilty.

Very likely she was a normal person just like you and me. Life can be overwhelming and her marriage may have become very difficult. She may have felt over looked, uncared for, or just angry at her husband. Along comes a nice guy who treats her with kindness. He listens to her and compliments her. She longs for the times she passes him in the market place because she knows he will affirm her. It feels so right to be around him and then, one thing leads to another, she sleeps with him. She probably didn’t wake up one morning and say “I want to commit adultery today!” No, I’d imagine it was a slow process, one moment at a time that led to this sin. I’m sure she was conflicted with a sense of it being wrong, but also making her happy.

Many today assuming God wants them to be happy and so continue to do sins they think make them happy, when in reality they are robbing themselves from true happiness. The truth is God is far more concerned about your holiness then your happiness. What we need to learn is that the pursuit of a holy life is removing the things from our lives that actually make us unhappy. It is removing the cheap imitations of the real blessings God has in store for us.

Back to the story: the Pharisees found her in her sin. This fact always begs a couple of questions for me. How did they know she was committing adultery? Did they send a PI to tail her and report back to them? If they new she was headed down this road, as religious leaders, shouldn’t they have cared more about her soul then her sin and tried to lovingly reach out to her before this point? What about the man involved in this? Where was he? Was he just using her so they could trick Jesus? And so on…

We don’t know all those answers, but we see what happens next. They throw her at Jesus’ feet and say “the Law of Moses commands us to put an adulterous woman like her to death by stoning! What do you say we should do?” Now the Roman law of the land was strict that only Rome could give the death penalty. These religious leaders where trying to get Jesus to either agree with Rome and therefore make the Jews mad, or to agree with Moses and they could report him to Rome.

Jesus does the unexpected thing when he challenges the crowd “he who has no sin should throw the first stone!” And then he stoops down and writes in the dirt. There is not an argument with Jesus. I can imagine some hesitation on the crowd’s part, and the religious leaders part. Everyone knew they had sin at some time or another. They knew that if they were guilty of one part of the Law they were guilty of all.

What did Jesus write in the dirt? It could have been the 10 Commandments that everyone was guilty of. We are not given the specific details. However His words were convicting enough. They all dropped their stones and walked away.

Jesus’ charge to the crowd showed that only the perfectly sinless could judge sin. Only God Himself is the just Judge. His own statement said that He was the only one who could throw that first stone. He had every right to throw the stone at her. Yet He didn’t!

She was indeed caught in sin! The Law did say she deserved to die for her sin! Jesus was the just Judge who could enact judgment. But instead, He had mercy! He did not give her what she did deserve. He chose, rather, to forgive her and charge her to “go and sin no more!” He did not condone her sinfulness. He did not give her permission to keep on sinning. He showed mercy and called her to life.

How did she feel at that moment? Death seemed to be imminent and now she sees life! How grateful she must have been! How much love she must have felt for the One who saved her! Think of the zeal she must have had to live in the new freedom and life she was given!

The truth we all face is that we have been caught in our sin. We stand in judgment already. We are desperately wicked and headed for an eternity without God on our own. Yet Jesus came to meet us where we are at. To offer us life when we are facing death. To remove from us the penalty that we deserve and give us life.  Jesus calls us to “Come and follow me,” and when we trust Him he forgives us and calls us to “go and sin no more.”

Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever! Every day is an opportunity for us to live in the mercy He has given us. Not only that, we can extend that mercy to others! Instead of judging others, we can show them mercy and love them to Jesus! Look for ways this week to extend mercy and reflect Jesus to a lost and dying world!

Unlikey Giver: the story of Zacchaeus

“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he!” What an unfortunate little jingle this man has to be remembered by, but that is how the song I learned in Sunday School years ago went. The song accomplished its purpose as it has taught many children this story in an easy to remember way. I suppose I’d like it better if I could sing it with an Irish brogue haha.

Yet the story of Zacchaeus has so many truths for us to learn. I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to take a little poetic license to understand Zac. What we know for certain is he was a “wee little man,” that means he was really short if you missed the subtle hint from the song. And he was not only a tax collector, but the Chief tax collector. 
As the chief we know he was powerful and most likely hated by the Jews because of his position and sympathies toward Rome.

Not to be offensive to anyone who happens to be vertically challenged, but we might suppose that Zac had the “Napoleon complex” or “little man’s syndrome.” I picture a man who felt the need to overcompensate for his physical stature by pursuing the most powerful position he could get. Like the kid on the playground that was always picked last for the team grows up to be the owner of a ball club so he could boss the superior athletes around. That may not be a true depiction of Zac, but that’s how I envision this guy.

In my mental picture of this story, Buddy the Elf would describe Zac as “an angry South Pole elf.” I see a man mad at the world who thought he got the raw end of the deal. He gained power, and then extorted more money from the people just because he could. He built himself an empire. Yet he was alone.

Loneliness has a way of eating at our souls. The first thing God said that was not good was for man to be alone, and He said this before the Fall, before sin entered the world. He said that because we are wired for relationships, for community. And Zac’s anger and bitterness led him to power and aloneness.

Until one day he hears news that a great Rabi, teacher, is coming to town. This Jesus has performed many miracles that he has heard about. He heard about demons being cast out, the blind receiving their site, the sick healed and the dead raised back to life! Could it be that He may be able to work a miracle in Zac’s life. Maybe make him taller, or give him friends? Thinking Jesus is something like a Genie in a Bottle.

So you think that is a ridiculous assertion? Really? How many of you have glasses and sometimes wake up first thing in the morning and say, “dear God I know you could heal my eyes if you really wanted to!” Or the moment you feel sick you pray for the miracle cure immediately. Or...you name it, you know your heart better then I do. We love ourselves so much that we want what is best for us. You might whisper it in a prayer or speak it in a wish, but to be certain, if you could improve anything about yourself miraculously you’d have a list!
At the news of Jesus’ arrival, Zac does what every business man of his stature would NOT do...he ran! In that culture, the more important you were the more people would wait on you. Running is what the servants would do, not the masters. And Zac ran.

Than Zac couldn’t see because of his size. So what’s he do? Does he command everyone to move or else he would raise their taxes? Nope! He looks around, sees the nearest tree and runs and climbs it! Now that would be a site to see! A Bill Gates type climbing a tree to see an itinerate preacher man!

It’s here that the story amazes me. What happens next should warm your heart, should capture your mind and excite your inner most being! In this vast crowd of people clamoring down the way, Jesus SEES Zac up in the tree! I can imagine what Zac was thinking as their eyes met. How many times had Zac tried to see things in the past when the important guys saw him and made fun of him. Shoved him in a locker, put him in a trash can or just simply called him out in front of the crowd to humiliate him. All Zac wanted to do is see and hear the preacher man and now it’s going to happen all over again.

Yet that is not what happened! Instead Jesus pays Zac the highest of compliments. First He sees Zac, then He calls him down and says “I must go to your house!” “Hey Zac my friend! I want to hangout with you tonight!” Zac goes from expecting ridicule to receiving highest honors! It was such a distinct difference from the norm that Zac’s entire life was changed! He gave Zac community, friendship and a new sense of belonging. Zac was no longer alone!

We don’t know what Jesus said to Zac, we don’t know what sermon He might have preached to him. What we do know is how Zac changed from being with Jesus. Zac stands up and proclaims his new faith in a tangible way! Because of being with Jesus Zac wants to pay back everyone he defrauded! He wants to give to anyone he mistreated! He wants to reflect the generosity of his Savior!

Jesus didn’t declare Zac saved because Zac did these things. Zac believed in Jesus and his heart was changed. The saving faith was evidenced by the thief turned giver!

Jesus tells us in John 15 that when we hangout with Him we will become like Him. We won’t change on our own power but we will change from His presence. Jesus came to love you and change you. He sees you and calls out to you! He also came for that mean girl at school. He came for that self obsessed guy on your team. He came for the one you would think is very unlikely! Jesus changed Zac and He can change them. Spend time with Jesus today and look for ways to share Him with someone!