Dancing before Angels

Have you ever been lost? You find yourself in a place you don’t know and have no idea how to get to where you need to be? Once as a young child, long before the cell phone era, I was probably not where I was supposed to be and therefor got left at church. At first I thought it was funny and exciting. Even when people started leaving I was excited to have the whole place to run around it. Then the lights started going off. Have you ever been in a big church as the lights were going off? It’s soooo scary!!

I ran to the front door just in time to catch the janitor as he was locking up. He called my parents and they came and got me. Wow it was so good to be found again!! The fear of the dark, of being alone and of being lost finally gave way to relief at the sight of my parents. Joy and celebration replace the fears of before.

There is great joy being found! Fast forward a few years later when I took the youth group to Winter Jam in Cleveland. Winter Jam is a concert with probably close to 10,000 people attending. When the concert was over I led our group out to the hallway to regroup. Only to find out that one young lady, I won’t mention her name here, was missing! I do not know who was more scared at that point, me or her!

One of my greatest fears as a youth pastor is losing a student! It’ such a horrible and sickening feeling when you feel completely out of control. She did not have a cell phone either. So one leader stayed with the group, I ran back to the van to see if she ventured out, and Steve ran back to our seats to see if she was still there. Thankfully she did have an iPod, signed into the wifi and Instagramed me a picture of were she was. After finding the picture I was able to track her down. Again, I felt joy and relief at finding her safe and sound. It was something to celebrate!

These stories help me understand what Jesus was trying to tell His disciples in Luke 15:3-10. How a man celebrates after finding his lost sheep, or a woman who finds her lost coin celebrates is a picture of celebration when someone comes to repentance. Here were two very relevant stories to that culture and the people would have understood the joy of finding what was lost. It’s as if a man lost his wallet after just having cashed his paycheck. Or if a woman lost her engagement ring right before the ceremony. Finding them would bring relief, joy and even celebration.

What I love about these stories is the verses about the celebration that takes place when a sinner comes to repentance. Look at verses 7 and 10. What stands out to you? Some have said, “the angels rejoice when a sinner is saved,” and I am sure that is true. But what is significant about these verses? Who is the one rejoicing, particularly in verse 10?

God! God is celebrating in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents. When someone realizes they have sinned, are headed in the wrong direction, turn and trusts Jesus, God erupts into celebration.  What that means is that when you chose to follow Jesus, God threw a party for you in heaven! If you trusted Jesus, then God celebrates you! Think about that for a moment. THE…GOD….OF….THE….UNIVERSE….CELEBRATES….YOU!!!

WOW! That is exciting to think about. God dancing before the angels because one of us has come to know Him. We do not deserve His great love, yet He pours it out on us, not begrudgingly but with great joy!

Have you ever been in the presences of someone who is really joyful? It’s contagious! God’s joy and His love are contagious!

This is the type of love we should want to talk about! This is what we should be celebrating! This is why Paul writes in Philippians 4 to “rejoice always and again I say rejoice!” How could we not be a joyful people when we understand that God has rejoiced over us? Celebrate with God today, be full of joy and live for Jesus!

Follow the Leader

One of the favorite games children play on the playground is “Follow the Leader.” You remember playing it right? One child shouts, “follow me!” and everyone lines up and does exactly what the first child demonstrated. Run up the slide, climb down the steps, jump on the tire, etc. However, just a few moments into the game, another child tries to take the lead. All the children begin to think that their ideas and routes are better. Before you know it, the game ends and everyone is a bit upset because nobody is following them. Everyone wants to be the leader.

Really we push leadership on everyone today, don’t we? If you walk into the bookstore, even a Christian bookstore, you will find dozens of books on leadership. How to become a leader, the effective habits of a leader, leading a team, and the list goes on. These are excellent books. Yet not everyone can be a leader. Not everyone is gifted in leadership. Not every idea is a good idea.

It becomes evident when the one child finally gets his chance to lead the group and he has no idea where to go. He tries to remember what somebody else did, but then becomes dependent on what others think. Soon the other kids are yelling, “this is boring! Let so-and-so lead!”

It’s not so different in life. You hear all the time that you are to be a leader, but then when you get the opportunity you don’t know where to lead. It becomes frustrating, scary and some just give up. “Why can’t I just follow?” Where are the books telling me how to be a good follower? If someone is leading, the others have to follow, right? Help me do that better, cause I don’t want to lead.

In reality, you have to be a good follower if you want to be a good leader. The best leaders are the ones who remember what it was like to follow. They remember what motivated them, what frustrated them and then they lead in such a way to bring others along with them. It’s called followership. After all, you are not leading if no one is following. What are you following?

The beautiful thing about Christianity is that you do not have to be the leader! We are all called to be a follower. Follow Jesus Christ, do what He does and say what He says. The pattern has been set; it is your joy to follow. Notice how I didn’t say, “job,” but “joy!”

Knowing and following Jesus is a privilege, not a job. However, it is hard work. He does not lead us down all the easy paths, but there is a great cost in following Him! What we do not realize is that we think we are following Jesus, but we are just one of those kids running around doing our own thing and nobody is following. We have made “following Jesus” into our own game and in reality it looks nothing like what Jesus has called us to.

The question is, are you going to stop doing your own thing and join in the one true journey?

Bearing the Cross of Self Denial

Although Jesus attracted great crowds with His miracles, His teaching caused many to stop following Him. You see, the Gospel is simple, but it is not easy. Jesus said in Luke 9:23-26 that if you want to follow Him, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him. What in the world does that mean?

This does not mean that you grab your gold cross necklace and wear it everyday. It doesn’t mean wear your Christian t-shirt. The call to take up your cross is a call to die.

Consider what the first century crowd would have thought. See, crucifixion was not a distant event that the occasional drama or provocative movie to them. It was a very present reality. Crucifixion was originally intended to torcher and kill the worst of the worst criminals. Over the years, it became a very compelling device to dissuade any rebellion.

They would walk the main roads possibly seeing friends and family members hung by crosses. The Romans did not put the crosses on hills far away, but on the main roads where everyone had to walk by and see the humiliating and painful death. They would have seen the humiliation of many who had to carry their cross down the public roads, stripped naked and beaten, only to suffer the indignity of dying in a public place.

Jesus’ command to deny self and take up their cross would bring very vivid pictures to their mind. This is death row. This is acknowledging that this game of follow the leader has no place for pride and there is no return.

To obey Christ call, you must daily strip yourself of pride, arrogance and die to self. You must live in such a way that causes people to see that you no longer belong to yourself, but to Jesus.

Kingdom of God

We get so caught up in our own pride and trying to take care of ourselves, that we begin to create our own path. We worry about what people will think about us, what are the popular styles, what we are going to eat (or not eat). We are caught up in the latest fades. Our Christianity becomes our own creation.

But to follow Jesus, denying ourselves and carrying the cross, is to look to Jesus first. It is to seek the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Jesus is not calling you to destitution and poverty. He is promising that He will take care of you. Our motivation is that we get Him. We are His children, part of His family and He will give us our needs.

Looking to Jesus everyday, gives us strength to deny self and follow Him. Looking to Jesus allows us to forget ourselves and imitate Him. Remember what He endured for us, should motivate us to joyfully surrender and join the eternal line of faithful followers. As we do, people will see our lives and glorify God in heaven.

Our New Desire

John the Baptist is one who really got it. He gave up everything to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ arrival. He was a spectacle to some, a radical to others and a voice of hope to others. He saw crowds come to hear him, and kings arrange to meet him. Yet his perspective was continually, “I must decrease that He might increase” (John 3:30).

His job was to point others to Jesus. Through his voice, his life and even his death, he wanted others to know Jesus. His humility and love for Jesus became the testimony of his life.

He demonstrated to us what it means to deny self, pick up a cross and follow Jesus. Are you a Christian? What does that mean to you? Can you say that when people look at your life, your desires and your passions they would see Jesus?

You have to understand, that Jesus’ call to deny yourself and pick a cross daily was not a command only to the few super spiritual Christians. It is not only to the pastors and missionaries. It is the call to every Christian. It is His call to you!

Jesus does not want mediocre followers. He doesn’t want you to be half in and half out. He does not want you leading your own little game on the side. He wants you all in or all out. The choice is yours!

The cost is great! Deny self, empty yourself of pride and follow Jesus. The clear sign of a disciple is one who thinks of themselves less and more of Jesus. Who or what are you following?

G.O.A.L. 2015

It’s January of a brand new year! With a new year comes new year resolutions, goals and challenges. The local gyms fill up with new memberships with clients that believe this is finally the year they will get in shape. Budgets are readjusted with promises of spending less and saving more. People are filled with hope of achieving their dreams.

But what is fuelling their goals? Just taking a moment to glance over the covers of 2015 magazine covers you find the source of many people’s motivations. Here are just a sampling:

“Reboot Your Life: the wardrobe, gadgets, cars and extreme diet every man needs” – Loaded

“Wake up hotter” – Cosmopolitan

“Insta-glam your best skin, hair and makeup ever” – Teen Vogue

“Parrrty! The modern man’s guide to throwing a legendary bash!” – GQ

“Crazy cool confidence: crush it at school, on insta, with guys” - Seventeen

This is the message that the magazines, media and entertainment world are pushing. The focus is on the external, the toys, and the clothes. It’s superficial and temporal. They sell the lie that you will be happy if you look like this celebrity, or if you have this brand, or if you do your hair and makeup this way. These things look good, but they are empty. Paul describes their true nature of these promises 2 Timothy 3:2-4, summarized in the last phrase as “lovers of pleasures rather then lovers of God.”

And so people begin their year with high aspirations of becoming the celebrity they worship. Yet within a month or two the gyms are empty again, the credit cards have been max out and people have fallen back into the ruts from which they came. Their expectations, hopes and dreams have been shattered or were so unrealistic that they gave up on them.

It doesn’t have to be this way!

When Jesus came, He came to set us free of the worldly passions and the meaningless of these temporal pursuits. The hope we have in Christ is to see the lies for what they are, fix our focus on Christ and train to reach the GOAL He has for us.

Jesus desire for our life is that it is Gospel Oriented Abundant Life. If we want a life full of purpose, meaning and joy we will only find it in living a Gospel Oriented Abundant Life. But what does that look like?

Read 1 Timothy 4:6-10

Step one is “Don’t Believe the Lies!” Paul says to “have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths.” Everything this world throws at you is an attractive lie to deceive you and cause you to get caught up in a meaningless cycle. The enemy wants to destroy you with these lies, but Jesus wants to give you life (John 10:10).

Although loosing 10 pounds isn’t a bad thing, it won’t give you the joy and happiness you are craving. Thin people can be just as miserable as fat people. Pretty people can be just as lost and lonely as ugly people. These lies tell you that if you fix the temporal superficial stuff you will finally arrive. Don’t believe the lies!

Step two is to “Fix Your Focus!” The author of Hebrews tells us to firmly fix our eyes on Jesus Christ because He is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). And Paul says that our motivation is found in the hope we have in the living God, who is the Savior (1 Timothy 4:10). When we look to Jesus we begin to understand what the Gospel is all about and how we can become Gospel oriented people.

The lies tell you that you need to improve yourself to find favor. The enemy has crafted intricate lies to get you to think you can earn God’s favor and be liked by man if you just become something that you are not. Jesus says that you can do nothing to earn God’s favor, but He will freely give it to you. You cannot be perfect, but Jesus is perfect for you. You will fail, but Jesus did not. He loves you so much that He provided a free gift for you. The lies lead to guilt and shame, the Gospel speaks grace and freedom into our lives.

Step three is to “Train for Godliness!” Anything you want to develop in requires a great deal of training. You identify what you need to become and strive to become that. As believers Jesus is our GOAL, we are to become more like Him everyday (Ephesians 5:1-2). 

If we are going to imitate Jesus we need to learn about Him by reading the Scriptures. One verse that patterns a healthy GOAL style is found in Luke 2:52 describing Jesus as a youth. He matured in wisdom, stature, favor with God and favor with man. Training for godliness is to become more like Christ. These are four great areas to set goals to develop in each year.

1.     Wisdom – God has given you the capacity to learn and to think. You need to always be learning, seeking to understand and growing in discernment. Being eager to learn, keeping a humble and teachable spirit is the attitude we need to continue to grow in wisdom. We should study and grow continually (2 Timothy 2:15).

2.     Stature – God as given you your body, you need to take care of it. Paul says that bodily exercise does have some profit (1 Timothy 4:8). We care for our bodies because it is a gift from God and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

3.     Favor with God – God wants to have a vibrant relationship with you. He doesn’t want to just be some concept you believe in, but part of your life. He wants you to be friends with Him. Unlike physical exercise, which is only good in this life, training for godliness impacts this life and the next (1 Timothy 4:8).

4.     Favor with Man – God wants you to know how to be friendly and make friends with others (Proverbs 18:24).

A Gospel Oriented Abundant Life is a life that follows Jesus. It prioritizes the Jesus over the world. It is life that recognizes the lies of the enemy and refuses to fall into their grip. It is a life that looks to Jesus everyday. It is a life that strives for godliness in all areas. The promise given by God Himself is this kind of life is Abundant with meaning, purpose and joy. A GOAL is for your ultimate joy and God’s glory!