As I've mentioned in my recent set lists, we just finished a series on 1 Peter.  The whole series was great, but there's one particular passage from a couple of weeks ago that has really been working on me:

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."
                                                         -1 Peter 3:15-16

This is such a great picture of evangelism, but how often do we miss it in the evangelism culture of our churches?  As I read it, Peter has two instructions for us here:

1.) ALWAYS be ready to talk about our faith
and
2.) Do it in a respectful, non offensive way.

It seems to me that most Christians are fully engaged in one or the other of these two points.  Many folks are ready to talk about their faith any time, day or night, with anybody.  The problem is that they don't approach it in a respectful way.  In their eagerness to share the "reason for their hope", they offend the very people they are sharing with!  On the flip side are folks who are utterly concerned with the "gentleness and respect" that Peter speaks of, but find themselves unable or unwilling to share their faith because of it.

In truth, Peter calls us to do BOTH.  We are to be constantly ready to answer for the hope that we have in Christ, and we are to give that answer in a sensible, informed, respectful way.  In my opinion, what Peter is telling us here is that we should be dialoguing with the world around us about our faith.  What a different culture of evangelism we could create within the church if Christians and churches everywhere started taking this approach!  An evangelism culture that seeks to dialogue with others about our faith, a culture that desires openness and honesty and sharing of beliefs... I strongly believe that such a shift would not only improve Christianity's relationship with the rest of the world, but in the process expand our mission field in a way we can only imagine right now.

God, please help us to be Christians that are always ready with an answer, and respectful in the way we give it.

In July of last year, I had the privilege of being able to teach a course on worship at Covenant Gathering in Michigan.  I was only able to be there for the two days I was teaching, and as such it was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but I was able to attend a couple of other sessions while I was there which really challenged me.  One was a roundtable on the Missional church led by John Sterner.  John is truly passionate about making the church better, and I was blessed to be able to listen and participate in the conversation that day.  John has written a short book, which he calls his "Missional Church Primer".  I stumbled upon that book the other day and was reminded that I had a PDF copy & permission to distribute, so I thought I would share it with all of you.  Trust me, this is worth the read... great stuff here.  Not always the kind of stuff that is easy to hear/read, but definitely some things that the church needs to be reminded of.

John Sterner - Missional Church Primer
File Size:	74 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Shaun Groves, who writes one of my favorite blogs on the internet, has a great post up today about things he's witnessed in the church overseas.  This one is a must-read, especially for church leaders:

http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog/comments/our_witness/

The Saturday before Easter has always fascinated me.  For a lot of us church-types, Saturday falls between a pretty major service on Thursday or Friday and what is arguably the biggest day of our year on Sunday.  It takes it's place as either a day of rest or (as in my case) a day of reset.  There's nothing wrong with that, but we also have the advantage of knowing what's still ahead.  We know that Sunday is coming.  We know what a great celebration that will be and we prepare.  We know that the story isn't over.

I wonder what it would have been like to be a Christ-follower during that in-between time all those years ago.  The great Teacher that they had followed, listened to, questioned and believed in was dead.  He had been killed for upsetting the religious establishment.  At that point, there were two possibilities - He was either who He said He was (which had yet to be proven), or He had fooled them all.  The Bible says that some of the disciples had their doubts even after He had been raised & appeared to them, so I'm sure the conversation among the 11 was very interesting during this time.  I wonder if it was a day full of anticipation, of hoping in the future?  Or was it a day spent mourning and wondering whether any of it was true at all?  Probably some of both, I suppose.  Either way, they were in between chapters.  The rest of the story had yet to be written...

Thank goodness we know the ending!

For our small group this past Wednesday, I was asked to teach about the differences between Old Testament law and Christ's "new covenant" in the New Testament.  In the end, it ended up being very appropriate for this Holy Week.  I want to share the last section of that teaching with you all today:

I do want to discuss one incredibly important change that came out of the new covenant, and it is one that gains particular significance in our thoughts at this time of year.  I’m talking of course about the way we as humans are able to relate to and communicate with God.  The Bible states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NIV), but OT believers were left largely to their own merits to achieve redemption from that condition.  God was certainly present and working in their world and in their lives, but most of ancient Israel’s direct contact with God came through intermediaries, specifically animal sacrifice and interaction with the Levites (priests).  Access to the inner courts of the temple was extremely limited, and the central room (the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant) was off limits entirely except for the head priest, who was allowed to enter once a year.  (It should be noted that this was not a job you wanted – the other priests would tie a rope to the head priests ankle so that they could pull him back out if he died… which happened more than once!)  With Christ’s death on the cross, God changed this forever, and He did it with a striking visual display:

“And then when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
                                                          -Matthew 27:50-51 (NIV)

I would give almost anything to have been in the temple that that moment – the moment when God literally removed the barrier between Himself and His people.  From that moment on, anyone who has believed in Christ has been cleansed of their sin and given the honor of being able to stand in the presence of God, both now and forever.  The sacrificial rituals and intermediaries of the OT are no longer necessary, because we now have a “direct line” through Christ and the Holy Spirit, and that is the essence of the new covenant – forgiveness and fellowship with God in love.

Today is my 36th day of water.  I've slipped up once.  It wasn't anything temptation-related either... just forgot.  Didn't even realize it for two days.  But even that was 3 1/2 weeks ago, and I'm holding strong.  In a way, it's the hardest it's been.  It's been a long time since I've had anything tasty (with the exception of that wayward Sprite), which makes it that much harder to resist when I see it sitting in front of me.  At the same time (and anybody who is currently fasting or has fasted in the past understands this), there's an incredible resolve that comes in at about this point.  You look at the calendar, and realize that you're over 3/4 of the way there, and it's suddenly much easier to hold strong.  That's where I am, and I suspect it's where most of you are, too.  But this is the final push!  I'm going to make it 10 more days!  I am!

Isn't it funny how you never think about how much you take something for granted until you can't have it?  We're 10 days into this season of prayer.  36 to go.  I know that it's already been very interesting for me.  Last Wednesday I wrote that I was drinking nothing but water for Lent in support of blood:water mission.  I know others who are doing all sorts of other things, from giving up sweets or red meat (or FACEBOOK! *gasp!*) to full-fledged Biblical fasting.  There seems to be a pattern to fasting... the first couple of days are usually pretty easy... but then you start to want that thing that you gave up.  Your body is wondering why you haven't given it any of that thing that you've taught it to love so much... 

And then you start to notice it everywhere. 

Friday night I spent 9 hours in a club that offered just about any alcoholic or nonalcoholic drink you could want... I spent the whole night working on a Nalgene full of water.  On the way home, I blew through the Steak 'N Shake drive-thru: talk about TEMPTATION!  Something about a burger and a bottle of water just doesn't feel right!

...And yet, I've been able to keep myself on track.  I've also been fairly amazed at how quickly the dollars have added up for blood:water mission, which is very cool. I'm sure most folks are still doing well at this point.  And it gets easier... you get used to not having that thing, and you learn to live without it.  But that's not the whole point.  I still want that root beer in the fridge.  I still desire that milkshake.  The point of Lent is to refocus that desire on God, to go deeper in our pursuit and love of Him.  That's the hard part.  I can drink water for 46 days, and it will be good for me.  I can donate the money I saved to blood:water, and it will support folks in Africa who don't have clean water.  Until it draws me closer to God, though, it's still pointless.  Tomorrow night, when I'm sitting at a table with friends listening to the music and sipping on a water (that bartender is going to HATE me... have to leave a good tip!), I hope I can remember the real reason why I'm doing it.  I hope I'm thinking about the reason why I'm drinking water, rather than how much I wish I had a beer.  Because it's not about me, and it's not even about others (as cool as it is that I can support some folks in the process).  It's about refocusing on my Creator.

Lord, as we continue in this season of prayer and fasting, may You be the sole desire of our hearts... may You fill the voids we have created in our lives, and may we know You more.

Well, here we are.  Christmas has come and gone.  Christ was born, and we celebrated.  The kids sang "Happy Birthday" in the children's sermon, and we looked at the little baby in the manger sitting on top of our mantle.  Nothing wrong with that at all.  But now we come to Lent, a very different season.  A season of prayer and fasting leading up to our recognition of the death and resurrection of Christ.  It can be a very solemn time, a time of meditation and preparation.  Very often, I see folks looking inward at this time of year.  We all "give things up for Lent", but very often, we do it for selfish reasons.  We give up chocolate, because we need to lose some weight, or television, because we know we could use that time better anyways.  But in the end, Lent isn't about us!  It's about remembering Christ's sacrifice and sacrificing ourselves.  The things we give up should be things that we will miss, and our sacrifice should be to the glory of God and the service of others.  We're going to be doing a whole series about this at Centerpoint this year, talking about giving up things to God that we would like to think are ours.  We've got some great stuff coming down the pipe.  But here's what I'm personally doing:

Not only is Jars of Clay my favorite band, they're also some pretty cool guys doing some great work in Africa, and I'm more than happy to support this effort.  When blood:water mission was founded in 2004, they set a goal of building 1000 wells in Africa, and they've already raised enough money for 617.  That's great, but that means there's still almost 400 to go.  So the concept is simple: drink water for forty days and donate the money you save on coffee/pop/beer/anything else you might drink towards building wells for those who don't even have clean water (not to mention any of the other things I just mentioned!)  You can get more info & resources here.  Technically, this doesn't start until Sunday, and ends on Maundy Thursday, but I'm going to go ahead and do it for all of Lent.  Would you consider doing the same?  It's a great cause, and it's something that I think most of us will really notice is gone during this season of preparation.

Christmas Eve.  A night that often focuses on quiet reflection and meditation.  We talk about the tiny baby born in Bethlehem.  We focus on his innocence.  We sing songs like "Away In A Manger", and, of course, "Silent Night".  But was it a silent night?  I don't think so.  Jesus was born in a stable.  Animals.  Donkeys, Cows, Sheep.  He was laid in a manger.  Hay.  Feed.  Manure.   All is calm?  I hardly think so.  A great choir of the heavenly host came to the shepherds in the fields, proclaiming the good news of the Savior's birth.  I can't imagine what kind of "silent" night that must have been!  The truth is, Christ's entry into this world was not gentle, it was not calm, it was not silent.  It was rude, difficult, dirty, and loud, just like the world He came to redeem.  It was NOT what the world expected for the arrival of the King of Kings, but it was an excellent prelude to the way they would treat Him, the way He would live, and the way He would die.

Do take time this Christmas season for meditation.  Do take time for quiet.  Ponder the mystery of the arrival of God's Son who came to take away the sins of the world.  Wonder at the reality of Emmanuel, God With Us.  But remember why He came.  Remember how He came.  He truly was the Man of Sorrows (or as Rich Mullins so elegantly said it, the "Man of No Reputation"), even from His birth.

I'm going "off grid" for a couple of days to travel for time with my family.  It is my prayer that each of you will be able to do the same.  Treasure the time you have with friends and family, celebrate the arrival and sacrifice of our Savior, and have a blessed Christmas, everyone!