A Snapshot

I recently had to discipline my 6 year old son for barking a “NO” at me. He cried so hard I thought he’d blow something internally. I really hate correcting him but I know I must do it for his sake and future. I love him therefore I am compelled to when he’s defiant. The only part I like is that after the incidence is over we make up, cuddle, tell each other “I love you” and read a story. I had an interesting thought recently about how someone might view the moment I am disciplining my boy. If someone video taped that 30 seconds of discipline then slapped that deal up on YouTube, I’m sure the masses would perceive me as a fuming Dad or a mad Dad. It’s easy to take a snapshot of someone and then lock-in their personality or character according to that snippet.

I think this is what we do to God. It’s easy to read a verse like Rev 19:11 or Exodus 4:24 and see only the wrath of God. We get a snapshot of God’s anger burning towards people and then typecast Him as primarily seething in judgment over His creation. Just as I would feel that a YouTube clip of me disciplining would create an unfair representation of me as a person, I feel much of the anger/holiness preaching is an unfair representation of God. Is it true that I get angry with my son for his defiance…absolutely. But is that the basis of our relationship? Is that my dominant character trait? The way I primarily look at him is with a love so full it sometimes overwhelms me. I do not believe that more discipline leads to more of my boy’s heart being won over. I don’t think God does either when He says in his word “it’s His kindness that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).”

I find that many theologians and teachers accept a formula of looking at everything the Bible says about God throwing it into a blender and “bam!” out comes a definition of who God is and how He relates with us. Often we accept such a God portrayed in Rev 19 and Exodus 4 as the whole story because we believe whatever the Bible says about God must be the whole truth. A large swath of American Christianity derives its understanding of God by taking all the references in the Bible to God and seeking then to delineate certain major characteristics of God. Systematic theology strongly supports that line of forming propositions and truths. Then what happens is that the relationship between the Father and Jesus looks like a good cop/bad cop story. We end up having some directly conflicting attributes of the very God we worship and follow.

This is exactly what the early apostolic church wrestled deeply with. If Jesus is the fullest revelation of God then what about all those other things we’ve came to understand from the Old Covenant? Frank Viola said in his book Jesus Manifesto “the early churches main challenge was to work out the parameters of what a Jesus-centered God and theology would look like.” For first century Jews their scriptures showed God’s holiness, God’s otherness, God’s inapproachability, God’s might, God’s standards. Those things are all true. But they were never intended to be the full picture, never the whole movie, they are more like YouTube clips. Jesus incarnated to show us the full presence of who God is, how He acts, what He’s like, how He relates, what makes Him tick. I love when Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” That is a mind blowing reality. This is why the early church struggled so much against the totality of Jesus Christ. They wanted to make Jesus an addendum, another part of the puzzle but the apostle Paul would not let them. Paul made it clear that everything previously stated, written and proclaimed about Jehovah must submit to Jesus Christ.

Some may read this and think I endorse a fluffy-bunny God, I don’t. Like I said, I get angry and so does God, and justifiably so. But there does need to be a recovering of who God is from the extreme edges He’s been pushed to over the years. I’m advocating for a more balanced recovering of God’s image, one that holds the tension in the center instead of letting it slide to one end or the other. This blazing focus on Jesus is of epic importance because Jesus is the CEO of my church. How I see and understand God embodied in Jesus changes everything. It informs everything. It commands how I represent him in my circles of influence and in the world. Snapshots of God do not typically provoke heart and character transformation (Galatians 5:22) more like visceral reactions, staunch postures and guilt inducement.

Simplicity

So I’m a rookie-practicing church planter. I’ve been a pastor in different settings and cities for the last 14 years but starting a church out of nothing certainly makes me feel like I’m in a different ball game all together. Even though I’m wet behind the ears as an official church planter there are some core values that I’ve stood on over the years to create a trajectory of spiritual vitality. With all the ministry fads and tools that have been waved under my nose I’ve always pursued loyalty to the principle of simplicity. One of our church community’s early non-negotiables is simplicity. I recently told another pastor “I don’t know much but I know it will stay simple.”

This issue of simplicity is even more sensitive with the “dechurched” - (those who likely have a significant affinity towards Jesus Christ but for some reason have found current expressions of church irrelevant to their everyday life) and “unchurched”- (their only understanding of church is from a distance; TV preachers, politics, best-selling books and maybe family history). As an insider to the church world, I perceive we’ve projected an image that church is complicated; growing in Christ is a set of complicated classes, caring for our neighbors requires a complicated approach, getting on board with the churches mission is a complicated membership process and community is a complicated program to sign up for.

Simplicity is always under assault. I remember when I first began songwriting I would hear a great song on the radio and hear all these cool sounds, beats, breakdowns, guitar licks and vocal acrobatics. I then felt like I had to somehow mash them into every song I was working on. What I ended up with was always a wannabee song that wasn’t memorable or moving, even though I included all those slick components. Then when I was 23 at a songwriters session in Nashville I heard a hero of mine, John Foreman say “obsess over the melody, forget the other stuff, push away all the bells and whistles and stick with a simple and strong melody” That statement changed and simplified my songwriting permanently.

Most churches function like a songwriter throwing everything they can into the mix of their church hoping that it comes out making a beautiful noise. The end result is often that people are busy in programs, money is spent on ministry stuff, Christian cliques are championed but the core of who we are and where we are headed is lost in the clutter. Jesus, Missionality, and Community often get relegated to a corner with all the complication.

The honest reality is some people are drawn to simplicity and others are turned off by it. I have a suspicion that some are looking for fresh air in their church life. I was so jazzed recently when I overhead someone say “I just want a large dose of Jesus, a community to share my life with and a mission to pour my heart into.” Now that’s simple but not stupid. Contrast that with those who might be turned off by simplicity looking for: a great worship band, a captivating preacher, an exciting children’s ministry, a cool building, a woman’s ministry, a men’s ministry, an active single’s ministry and a counseling ministry. I’ve ministered in these buffet settings; the drift that happens is slow and steady. It becomes seriously difficult to keep the vision front, center and accessible.

I believe that simplicity in our church expression might eventually be birthed out of necessity. I foresee that potentially the economic recession might prevent us from offering so many program options, with great facilities staffed by numerous paid professional pastors. It might force us to permanently widdle down church ministry to the lean essentials.

I’m not advocating for sloppy, boring or mediocre church. I’m advocating for pushing back the millions of program options and instead intentionally developing, excelling at and funneling people towards the essentials. More is not always better or always healthier.

When I spent time in Kenya I bumped into a growing and vibrant brand of Christianity that genuinely shocked me when I encountered it. Now I’m sure there is a temptation to not see anything transferable from a 3rd world culture like theirs but I wouldn’t want to be so arrogant as too brush them off as spiritually underdeveloped. It was their intense focus on worshiping Jesus, developing families and sharing the hope of Christ with neighboring tribes that dominated their gathering. A young and frail indigenous pastor in Kenya glared at me and said “we’d rather not have your U.S.A shopping center church, you could probably learn a bit from us.” I think he was right... keep it simple.

What Does It Mean To Be Human?

What does it mean to be human? I used to think that the more human I was the more sinful I was. My definition of being human was closely associated with sinfulness and rebellion against God. To be human was not a good thing. Being human equaled being “fleshly” or “worldly”. I think that is why so often preachers like to emphasis the Holiness of God more than the Incarnation of God in Jesus. Here is the question; do we become more holy the less human we become?

My answer… no. Humanity was and is God’s idea. There is a mysterious splendor in the concept of being truly human, this is what I believe Jesus precisely portrays and declares with his life, being and teachings. Jesus was and is the definition of what it means to be fully human. Jesus is God’s original thought of what it looks like to be in the flesh. Jesus reclaimed the fully human life that affirmed a new sense of identity and dependence on God. It was stated from his own mouth that “I do nothing except for what the Father does (Matt 27:50)”, “as I am loved by the Father so I love you (John 20:17).” and “the Father has sent me (John 15:5).” These are powerful identity markers; declarative statements of how Jesus sees himself. Jesus self-awareness of what made him fully human is completely on display. Jesus operational mode was; intense inner connectedness to the truth that he was loved by the Father, sent into the world by the Father and given direction by the Father. Jesus sense of self is God-centered not self-centered.

The enemy of this world wants to convince us that to be fully human or “fully you” is to be self-made, consumed with stuff for yourself, independent, grasping at control over your life and utterly concerned with how people perceive you. This was the trickery in the Garden of Eden. God’s rule about not eating from the tree had little to do with “just obey me”. It was more about God’s intention that humanity find their source of self, fulfillment, provision, vocation and governance in Him alone.  Instead Satan told the fattest ugliest lie, “to be human is to be self-reliant and independent of God”.

Jesus did not come to eradicate us but to call us out to a new way of being human.  Jesus inaugurated the beginning of an ever increasing way to be you. Despite a lot of church publicity it doesn’t come from the rejection of pleasure or self denial; this only leads to guilt, condemnation and legalism. What Jesus is doing is challenging us to “remain in him” as he remained in his Father (John 15). According John 15 this is how our lives will start to bust forth fruit as it was intended to.

Our humanity needs to be recalibrated under the Leadership and Lordship of Jesus. It is when we willingly submit our lives to his loving care, sense of commission in the circles around us and directives to make choices as He would, that our lives make sense and bear much fruit. This what I believe Romans 13:14 means when it says “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is a new way to work, relate, spend, and live. To stay under Jesus governance, direction, and love is a constant tweaking, refocusing and realignment. When you live life from this place you know and feel and potentially might say out loud “so this is what it’s like to be fully human."


(A.D.D moment here but this is why we need connected Christian community so bad, to show us a mirror and nudge us back under Jesus love and rule, because we slide out of this place of self-awareness so easily on our own).

Two good books to read that touch on this are Abba's Child by Brennon Manning and The Great Omission by Dallas Willard.