Archives For Bible

Creating Powerful Silence

July 25, 2012 — 2 Comments

Silence

I currently have a 6 year old daughter and she fills the silence with her talking…incessantly. One day at a loss for what to say, she asked me,

“Daddy, what’s your favorite math problem?”

My favorite math problem, really? I’ve had no idea what my favorite math problem was, but I do know she had found an excuse, any excuse, to talk to her Daddy. With kids, parents, and families there are so many chances we have to fill the air with words of encouragement, hope, and opportunity. The Bible says we hold the power of life and death in our words.

What if you also held power in what you didn’t say?

There is great power in staying silent. The power for good and the power of evil. The current Penn State scandal, is because the administrators chose to say nothing about the child sexual abuse that was happening. By staying silent, they were actually communicating a lot. They communicated that they didn’t care. We’ve seen this evil silence in the German Christians during the holocaust, the silent American Christians during the civil rights debate in the 60′s, and every day there is someone that chooses to damage by what they don’t say.

What if you could also empower with your silence? 

Using silence for the power of good, was a skill that Jesus demonstrated to the adulteress woman in John 8. We always remember the, “He who has no sin…” speech, but the real power is in what he chose not to say to the woman. He didn’t have to give her a play-by-play on the obvious. It was through his silence that he communicated forgiveness, hope, and redemption. There was so much to say, and all He said was, “Go and sin no more.”

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A Fourth of July Reminder that Nothing Compares to Knowing Christ

July 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

The day we celebrate Freedom. We as a nation here in the USA, will spend our day grilling hamburgers, hanging out with friends, exploding fireworks, and enjoying the long dog days of Summer.

At church this weekend, or perhaps at church in the coming weekend, you will watch a video about how “Freedom is a Gift” and we should be thankful for it.  We will love the reminders of how blessed we are to live in such a great country, how fortunate we are for others willing to lay down their lives for our everyday freedoms, and how good it feels to live in a country founded by men willing to stand up for what they believed. I’m right there with you waving my red, white, and blue. I love this country.

It’s also on this great day of freedom that I’m reminded of the words of Paul.

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. Galatians 5:1

This is a great verse (albiet completely out-of-context as it applies to the 4th of July), but I’m also reminded that nothing we celebrate today compares to knowing Christ.

Philippians 3 (MSG)

7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.

10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

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Gospel Reflections

June 6, 2012 — Leave a comment

It’s a common tool when teaching from the Bible, to say that the Bible is a mirror that allows us to see things in our lives that we wouldn’t see without it.  I’ve used this example when teaching to children, adults, teenagers, and when talking to my own family.  The Bible as a mirror.

It’s only when reading scripture that areas of our lives can be exposed for the unrighteousness that is within.  It’s true that the Bible reflects the mess in my life, in ways that my own eyes can’t see.  So the solution to this is simple, just stop reading the Bible and we don’t have to be confronted with our own personal horrors.  In fact it’s such a great solution that people have been doing it for thousands of years. I know people that won’t attend funerals because it means they have to set foot into a church, and they won’t set foot inside a church because they feel guilty immediately after hearing scripture.

But there is another sort of reflection that shows up in our lives that only others can see.  It’s the Gospel reflections that we have the opportunity to display every day. Every day we have the chance to demonstrate support for others, even though they haven’t deserved it in anyway.  Every day there are severely unlovable people that need love from us.  Every day there are chances we have to let our actions, heart, and words reflect the Gospel in real-life ways to those around us.  The every day tragedy of believers everywhere is that instead of reflecting the Gospel to others, we often reflect our own need for it.  It’s there with us all the time.

We think others should love us for what we’ve done for them. This is not the Gospel.  Instead we should be giving the very thing others don’t deserve, love.

We act as if we are owed the support of those we’ve supported in the past.  This is not the Gospel. Instead we should continue to offer second-chances to those least deserving of it.

We  respond to the hurtful words of others with our own hurtful words, because this is what “standing up for yourself” is supposed to look like.  This is not the Gospel. Instead we should be willing to let others have their say, knowing that eventually all that’s true will be found out; and instead spend our time standing up for those with nobody willing to do so.

I’m a man in need of the Gospel reflection more and more everyday.  It’s a part of my life that I often cast my eyes away from, yet as I put myself in the situations and positions that require a Gospel-only response; I’m learning to reflect this great story.  I received something that took me from a bad place to a good place through no actions of my own.  The Gospel.

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Redemptive Decisions

June 5, 2012 — Leave a comment

Redemption is defined as the act of buying something back, or paying a price to return something to your possession.  If speaking to my kids, I’d say that redemption is when something has been lost, stolen, or broken; and then we make it all right again by finding it, recovering it, or fixing it.  As a believer the word redemption refers to me, and tells the story that  I’ve been the token in a redemption process.

Redemption always involves going from something to something else. In this case it is Christ freeing us from the bondage of the law to freedom of a new life in him. (source)

Redeemed from a law I could never fully obey, and moved up into a new life and new relationship with the God that offered me grace and forgiveness.  This is basic theology, but how does it affect our lives as leaders?  How would the foundation of redemption apply to how I lead leaders.

1. Take the time to listen to those you lead. The redemptive leader of leaders always takes time to let what needs to be said, be said. When we listen first, we give ourselves the space to have a redemptive reaction. There are times that as a leader you are in the place of helping others go from something to something else, and it often times comes after listening.

2. Pray for those you lead. How often do you spend quality time praying for the professional and spiritual lives of those you lead? When we submit our authority position to time in prayer, then the Holy Spirit can lead us into the conversations that helps us take others from something to something else.

3. Put grace at the center of your authority. As the leader, you have the right to lead.  You have the ability to control and dictate the expectations of the people you lead, it’s a fact. Yet, as the redemptive leader you have to let grace and humility be at the center of your conversations. When grace is in the middle, it lets our teams know that our goal is much more than what our own abilities will allow us to do.

Luke 1:27-28
At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

 

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The Gospel in Everyday Life

June 4, 2012 — 2 Comments

I love the reality of the Gospel, and can spend hours and hours speaking of the powerful thoughts that consume me as I reflect on what the Gospel is.  If that sounds like a churchy word, then I’m sorry.  I know there is some confusion of what the “Gospel” is versus what “Religion” is.  I love how Tim Keller describes it:

The gospel is, therefore, radically different from religion. Religion operates on the principle: “I obey, therefore I am accepted”. The gospel operates on the principle: “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey.”

To me the “Gospel” is the reality that I am unable (on my own) to live up to a standard set by God, yet while I was short of this standard He made a way for me to be forgiven.  It’s in this grace and forgiveness that I find my relationship with God based.  Grace and forgiveness are the pillars of the Gospel.  I can assure you that I’ve done a bunch of good in my life.  I’ve taken in orphans, fed the homeless, shared the message of Christ with the lost, loved my family, and stayed faithful to those I serve.  However, none of that makes me any more eligble for God’s grace than anyone else.  It’s the gospel that gives me my right to be a son of the Most High, and consider myself part of this family. It’s the Gospel that motivates me to live a life that reflects the gift given me in Jesus Christ.

When I serve and when I lead, the Gospel should be reflected in all things.  The idea that grace “rules the day” should be reflected in the ways I treat others, and in the legacy I’m leaving.

Colossians 3:3 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

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