Back surgery and recovery have taken longer and a deeper toll on me than once expected. I will be posting again soon.

Please come back!

Aaron

If Victory is in Jesus Where Do I Report That on the Annual Church Profile?

In watching the Olympics this past week or so knowing who wins is not complicated. The one with the most points wins. The one with the fastest time wins. The one who crosses the finish line first wins. There is an agreed upon measure of evaluation. There is nothing subjective or opinionated. Even with those sports where there are several judges deducting for flaws or miscues, these are averaged among them.

Simple. Clean. Efficient.

How can we evaluate our lives and our churches? We should not judge ourselves by the questions we are so often asked.

"How many in Sunday School?"
"How many baptisms?"
"How many in worship?"
"Have you built new buildings?"
"How many deacons have you ordained?"

The answers to these questions are for measuring sticks only. We ask people these questions because we do not care to take the time to ask better ones. We can, in our own form of religious piety, measure our superiority and walk away prideful or our inferiority and run away before the tables are turned. These answers might be indicators of trends but not of the totality of church health. Jesus said in John 15

1 "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

What if a church was going through a pruning so that God could burst forth with something new and fresh? The church and leadership would be viewed as failing because the "answers" are not what others think they should be.

What questions could we ask? What rods of evaluation could we use?

Some of the comments being left yearn for an answer in this arena of life. I have a group going through masterlife right now and we came up with some interesting thoughts on the subject. When it comes to victory how do we know? Certainly salvation is a victorious moment! Obviously baptism is victorious moment as a step of obedience!

Now what? Where is the next moment of victory? Heaven? WOW! That feels like a long time to wait! God wants us to have victory in our present. When churches and leadership grasp that relational faith lives among the individual then we can begin to uncover new forms of evaluation.

• How many children do you have that enter youth knowing salvation and baptism?
• How many children do you have that enter youth knowing what there life purpose is?
• How many youth graduate knowing their purpose and seek colleges and majors that extend their potential in fulfilling that purpose?
• How many adults are impacting their home and daily work out of the purpose God has for them?

These numbers are deeper in meaning. These are questions that reflect progress and victory. We must look to the individual. The parts are more important than the whole. Traditional evaluations look to the whole. Post-Modern, and Biblical, evaluations are designed to investigate the parts.

Journey to the Center of Faith

Do you remember the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth? We were promised an adventure like none other and that we would see things never before seen in a movie. They promised a journey that would forever change their lives.

We offer a similar adventure. We tell people that when they accept Jesus they will never be the same. We tell them that life will be different and then they go back to their same jobs, same houses, same families, etc. What exactly is different? They have a relationship with the One True God! They have embarked on a new journey and we are now responsible for providing the necessary tools and equipment to succeed on this journey. Why do 80% of high school graduates not return to church? The only thing they know is a religion that is powerless and a ritual that is exhausting. We have not shared with them the pathway of passion. We must show them the way.

In an earlier post I mentioned the potential off-ramps and side paths that grab our attention and massage our human wants and desires.

1. We off-ramp into rebellion because we don't allow the control of our lives He deserves after having forgiven us of all wrong-doing, providing hope of eternity in peace, and establishing a spiritual do-over in life. We deny the need to follow and choose our own way.
2. We off-ramp into ritualism because we become passive in our relationship. We let the teacher and preacher do it all for us. We go through the motions of having "quiet times" that are anemic which leads to lives that are apathetic. We become believers that someone else is handling that issue or ministry and put our spiritual life on auto pilot.
3. We off-ramp into religion. The devil, if he can convince you of nothing else, wants you to be fully committed followers of the church. God wants you to be fully committed followers of Christ. There is a huge difference. The church does not save. The church does not eternally forgive. The church did not die for us. Christ is the answer. The church is a product of that relationship designed to assist, support, and develop the follower of Christ into maturity.

Relational faith is what the "straight and narrow" is to a degree. Wide is the path of religion and many find that path. Narrow is the way that leads to life. Jesus promised us that he came to give us life and give it more abundantly. That life is freedom found in a relationship with Christ not a religion about Christ.

How do we develop this relationship?

Get centered on Christ.
Communicate with God through a dynamic style of Bible reading and talking with God.
Connect with other believers for support, development, and encouragement.
Concern yourself with the lostness of those around you.

If we will discipline ourselves in these areas we become open to the Holy Spirit's presence and guidance. We become filled with Him. We are the bride. He is the groom. For this relationship to work we must submit to His leadership as he has graciously submitted his life for us.

At the center of faith is a relationship and not religion.

How can we transition into this relationship? What are your stories?

Where Are We Now?

All over America it’s happening. People are shopping for just the right spirituality. Some people are shopping because of poor experiences in church. Some people are shopping because they want to “feel” a certain way. Others are shopping because they are looking for relational faith, though they might not say it this way. The options are endless. There are the charismatics and conservatives. There are traditional and ultra contemporary. There are small, large, and in between. Every shape, size, and flavor to fit your needs and your wishes is available. We live in the age of “MeChurch” because it is all about me right?

Where are we?

As each successive generation takes its place on the stage of life we increase the number of options for spirituality. The devil has clearly infiltrated through the means of feeling and preferences into our churches. People get bored and want something new. Arguments and fights ensue over music selections and version of the Bible. Gone, it seems, are the days when the church would split over carpet color and piano positioning. Now we are breaking up and having come-a-parts over music style, dress code, scripture version, and convictional preaching. How far we have come! We don’t want to offend anyone when in reality we care not about who we offend as long as it isn’t our friends.

Spirituality is on the rise. Christianity is on the ropes in this battle for the next generation’s souls. What is the problem? The problem, as will be discovered, is that for far too long we have been consumed with salvific and baptismal numbers rather than the development of the person into a mature follower of Christ in relational faith. We would far rather gain the accolades of our peers through numeric awards than do the hard work of helping a new believer become relational in his faith. Lt. Col. Frank Slade [Scent of a Woman] puts it best when he says that he has always known the right path but it was too hard and he choose the wrong path every time. We must choose the right path which is relational faith in Jesus Christ. I qualify the concept of faith with relational because I believe what we have been selling people is not relational faith but actually religious faith. Amid all the distractions of the world offerings we must be clear about the terms of God’s forgiveness and salvation. It is a free gift in that we could not earn our way into Heaven. Yet, it is a gift of freedom that demands responsible and dutiful living.

Throughout scripture God reminds His people that broken hearts, humble attitudes, servitude, and submission are pre-requisites to the fullness of God in one’s life. Listen to Paul

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters,* I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.*2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Listen to Jesus...

1 "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
9 "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love.11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.13 There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.14 You are my friends if you do what I command.15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.16 You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.17 This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:1-17

Did you hear the activeness of a relationship? Relational faith is the desire of God. A gospel that does not delineate transformational and relational living is not the true gospel. The Galatians were being accused of following a different gospel then what Paul had presented to them. He called them (us) to the original gospel. We are being summoned to a pure and honest delivery coupled with an understood and taught response.

How do we deliver a pure gospel?

What is the response we should call for from a person? How can we help others respond?

Down the Rabbit Hole

Nahum had the responsibility of delivering the bad news to Israel that they had strayed off the path. A closer examination establishes for us two truths: God wants a relationship and the dangers of the spin cycle. Nineveh, in dramatic fashion, came to believe in God and judgment was averted. There was a moment of belief; a moment of faith. While Jonah was moping around under a tree he did not plant or grow, Nineveh was slowly reverting back to their former ways. Jonah shared the minimum. The Ninevites apparently didn’t know about submission and lordship. They did not, possibly, understand the need to be active in relationship to God. Nineveh returned to her former self and is regarded as ones “who oppose Him [God]”. (Nahum 1:2) They are further described as “scheming against the Lord”. (1.9) Nahum further admonished Nineveh for their trust in wealth. How could they have fallen so far? There was a time when they believed. The king sat in sackcloth and ashes confessing and repenting. Where did it all go wrong? How did they get off of the straight and narrow of relational faith into the spin cycle of rebellion and religious faith?

We who have believed, who have confessed and repented, who have placed faith are often no different. We, too, had a moment with God but were without development. We knew not the dangers of denial, passivity, and religious faith. The devil has sent us on a seemingly endless detour. We are spinning out of control and need to get back on the straight and narrow path of relational faith.

Take the red pill for it will simply show you the truth of life on a straight line; life without the dizzying effects of the spin cycle.

Honey...We Have a Problem

The phone rang and I my wife immediately launched into a story of a wall of water and a broken machine. I asked her to slow down and explain the whole situation. Apparently, she opened our front-loading washing machine and the drain cycle had not done its job. A wall of water had cascaded into our laundry room creating a flood effect of Noahic proportions. We had a problem. The machine was not working properly and something had to be done. The machine looked fine. The knobs, buttons, and timer all worked properly. There was something internally wrong with the machine. I got my tools and began investigating the problem. After a lot of tinkering [praying] it began working again.

When we pray to receive the forgiveness of God and the Holy Spirit we begin a lifelong journey with Jesus. We are told that we now have our very own relationship with Jesus. We are told to get baptized and attend church regularly. In other words, we are told that religion is the key.

Honey…we have a problem.

As Morpheus offered Neo the choice of the blue or red pill, so you are offered a choice of religious or relational faith. One will let you remain where you are. The other will take you on the journey of truth and expose you to a world far beyond our comprehension and well worth your time.

The blue will let you remain where you are in the religious faith of our fathers. You can remain in the blissful ignorance of religion and experience neither the fullness of joy or sorrow. You can continue on as is without knowledge of the truth. Religious faith is a dangerously subtle approach of the devil to get us into a spin cycle. I believe that many have had a true experience with Christ, but never taught what to do. We were told to come to church. We were told to have this relationship. We were not taught and shown what to do. We were given marching orders of read and pray every day and be at church every service to prove yourself. Somewhere in the midst of all the rhetoric, we feel empty. Everyone faces challenges, crises, or circumstances that challenge our faith. We splash each other with spiritual platitudes:

“It will all work out.”

“God had a purpose.”

“It will be OK.”

“God would never put on us more than we can handle.”

The reality is that it does not always “work out” the way we want. The consequences of our choices are not always “OK” and if we could handle everything then what is the point of faith? We need God. We need a real, live, conversational, powerful God with whom we can relate.

Take the red pill.