TYLER ZACH | INSPIRVIVAL

Billboard Hits and The Gospel: Part 1

2011-04-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready) was number one on the US Billboard R&B chart for twelve consecutive weeks. The song was co-written by Alicia Keys and rapper Drake. Mariel Concepcion from Billboard magazine said of Keys: "the singer/pianist goes from entertaining puppy love to confessing deeper emotions… She finally builds up the courage to share a serious desire with her lover ... atop a building, thumping beat. For an artist who has built her career on songs about love, lust and heartache, Keys has never sounded quite as vulnerable and exposed as she does here." As we’ll see in a minute, the realistic sounding emotions that played a part in the track’s success could be attributed to the fact that Keys is singing to a real person.

The music video for Un-Thinkable was awarded Outstanding Music Video at the 42nd NAACP Awards. The concept is a noble one. It tackles the issues of interracial dating. Keys told Rap Up magazine before the video came out, "The [video] will highlight the past and present stigmas surrounding the subject." The gospel affirms the video’s concept of rejecting racism. Genesis 1:26-27 says that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. One of the bible’s central figures, Moses, was married to an Ethiopian woman (Num. 12:1-6). The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that people of different ethnicities and cultures are to be considered our “neighbor.” And we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (James 2:8).

I appreciate that the music video intends to promote cultural unity and an awareness that racism still exists. But, only the gospel has the power to get our society over the wall of racism. We see the solution as we look at what God has done to remove the barriers between us and him and us and others. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 5 that we were once God’s enemies and that there was a separating wall between him and us. But, through the death of Jesus we were reconciled to God. There is now nothing that can separate us from his unconditional love (Rom. 8:38-39). In addition, Paul addresses in Ephesians 2 the relational tension between the Jews and Gentiles. For thousands of years these two groups had kept their distance. But, through the death of Jesus, the dividing wall of hostility was destroyed (Eph. 2:14). All who trust in Christ are adopted into one family and become brothers and sisters with the same Father God. The gospel offers hope for our broken relationship with God and broken relationships with others.

While the music video promotes unity, as we pull back the curtain, we see that the song itself was not originally written with this message in mind. MTV reports that in a BET.com interview Drake revealed that the song was written with his lover and Keys’ lover in mind. "[Un-thinkable] is [about Minaj], I'm not gonna lie," Drake said. "The concept came from a conversation that we had, or conversations we have. I wrote it based off two things: Number one, based off that, and then two, based off Alicia and Swizz [Beatz] and their situation, and it just seemed fitting. It was like the perfect concept." We see here that the song wasn’t written to combat racism but illustrate Drake’s desires for a girl as well as parallel Keys’ desires for her new crush. So far, this is a pretty normal as far as song writing goes.

Where the gospel would confront Keys is in the fact that she is longing for a married man. Another MTV.com article, which traced the history of their relationship, reported that in 2008 rumors spread that Swizz and Keys were forming a relationship while Swizz was married to a popular nightclub singer Mashonda. Later that year, Keys threw a surprise birthday party for Swizz after him and his wife had separated (but still weren’t divorced). In 2009, he confirmed his relationship with Keys (through the lyrics of a remixed song) while he was engaged in a messy divorce with his wife.

Keys sings in Un-Thinkable “I know you said to me ‘This is exactly how it should feel when it’s meant to be.’” The warning that Keys needs to hear is that love is much more than a feeling. Love is a choice that is binding and covenantal. Who is to say that Swizz in a few years won’t go on to say “this is exactly how it should feel when it’s meant to be” to another lover? Divorce plagues America but especially those in the movie and music industries.

The gospel confronts this shifting from one marriage to the next. It is sin and it dishonors God because a) it rejects his design for how we are to live and b) it distorts the picture of how we are to live in relationship to God. He has provided us all with the gift of marriage so that we can experience a strong, pleasurable, and secure love with another person that will withstand hard times and keep us safe from our disordered emotions. For those who are united with Christ, he goes further and gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower us with agape love.

Listen closely. I’m not writing about Alicia Keys to say that people like her is what is wrong with the world. Sin is the problem and everyone has it by nature. All of us are tempted break our covenant with God and one another. Thankfully, the good news is that Jesus died to forgive our constant straying from God and put us in a secure relationship with him forever. Each week, when we as Christians attend church, we practice covenant renewal, which includes asking God to forgive us for being “staying sheep” (Isa. 53:6) who continually break our marriage covenant with the One who will never break his commitment to us.

The Gospel and Success

2011-03-12T12:53:00.000-08:00

The Gospel confronts the way we pursue the praise and admiration of others through our accomplishments. Pastor Tim Keller explains the futility of such a pursuit: “Many people pursue success as a way to overcome the sense that they are somehow ‘outsiders.’ If they attain it, they believe, it will open the doors into the clubs, into the social sets, into relationships with the connected and influential. Finally, they think, they will be accepted by all the people who really matter. Success promises to do that, but in the end in cannot deliver.”

Both the irreligious and the religious are guilty of selfishly pursuing worthiness through our accomplishments. The irreligious use their success, which was made possible by the gifts given to them by God, not to bring him praise but themselves praise. And the religious do the same thing in a different way. They use their good deeds not to bring praise to God but rather to receive selfish praise from him and the Christian friends around them. The bad news is that in the end God will turn away those who either use their success to rob God of praise or use it to earn God’s praise. This includes even good religious people (Matt. 7:21-23), for “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) when we try to make ourselves worthy enough for God with them.

But, the good news is that when we admit our failures, God offers forgiveness (1 John 1:9). In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the son returns home and says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Then the father clothed him with his robe and threw a huge feast (Luke 15). This is an illustration of what happens when we admit our sinful failures to God and are covered by the success of Jesus. The greatest accomplishment we could ever receive was not earned by us, but was purchased through the blood, sweat, and tears of Jesus. Keller says, “...the salvation of the world came not through climbing the success ladder, but through surrender, service, sacrifice, and death.”

Jesus’ death on the cross is where our success begins. It was there that our failures were placed on him and his righteousness was imputed to us (2 Cor. 5:21). The power that success has over us is broken when we realize that we have been made worthy by Jesus and have nothing left to prove. When we have nothing left to prove, we can live sacrificial lives that look “unsuccessful” to the world around us and climb down the ladder to help those below us.

Heaven will not be filled with people who have the most impressive resumes. Rather, it will be filled with people who cast the crown of their successes at the feet of Jesus crying out "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power” (Rev. 4:11).

This content was taken from a gospel-centered bible study series that I'm working on called Gifts of God. To download the Success study and others go to: http://t-zach.com/giftsofgod/

Lady Gaga and the Gospel

2010-12-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

by Tyler Zach

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, or Lady Gaga, is a Grammy-winning singer who has sold more than 15 million albums and 40 million singles worldwide. She is a highly talented songwriter who writes almost all of her music and even writes for other singers as well.

Larry King describes her as a musical and social phenomenon. She was on the cover of TIME magazine earlier this year - which included the 100 Most Influential People In The World. Gaga is one of them because she is not just an average entertainer. She speaks at rallies, writes letters to her US senators, and recently wrote a repeal to fight against the abolishment of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law.

The Fans

After Gaga went on tour recently, she said that her fans were “salivating at the mouth” and that they “behaved like monsters.” Thus, she now calls them her “little monsters.” She even got a “Little Monsters” tattoo on her microphone-holding arm this year.

Perhaps the reason for the intimate relationship with her fans is because they are the first group of people to approve of her. Gaga said on Larry King Live “Since my childhood in school, and for a very long time, I used to always feel like such a freak. I didn't have very many friends in school. I had a few close friends. And I -- I wasn't a popular girl. And got made fun of every day and couldn't really relate to anyone and didn't want do dress like anyone else and liked different things… And I felt like a freak, and I had nowhere to go.” Lady Gaga now has the friends she never had. Millions of them. One of her fans recently tweeted, “I love my life because my life is you, Lady Gaga.”

Gaga has become somewhat of a savior for the unpopular misfits of society. Later on in the interview with Larry King she says, “…And I guess, through the music and the performances we've done -- the clothing that I've worn, and as the fan base has begun to grow, I've sort of watched this massive group of misfits join together to liberate themselves. They love the music and they love what the House of Gaga is creating, because it has a sense of individuality, a sense of freedom, a sense of non-conform -- conformity. And I -- and I celebrate that.” She admits that her fans are “really, really, really troubled” and that “I still am fairly troubled.”

One of the unique things about Lady Gaga is that she aims not to monopolize her new fame, but to invite her misfit fans to be a part of that fame. The bio section of her web site includes “The Fame [music] is about how anyone can feel famous… But, it’s a sharable fame. I want to invite you all to the party. I want people to feel a part of this lifestyle.”

The Music and Performances

The overarching theme of Lady Gaga’s music and performances is tolerance and acceptance. Gaga told Larry King, “I’m more interested in helping my fans to love who they are and helping them to reject prejudice and reject those things that they're taught from society to not like themselves.” She called her latest tour, Monster Ball, a “celebration of shame,” a “rejection of insecurity” and “in essence an exorcism for my fans and for myself where we sort of put everything out on the table and reject it.” Fans are invited to come, lay all of their shame at the foot of the stage, reject it, and find acceptance through each other.

She particularly appeals to the insecurities felt by women and gays. The costumes Gaga wears on stage and on camera (many of which are not flattering) are “meant to be a rejection what people view about women.” Her new song “Alejandro” is a celebration of her love and appreciation for the gay community. Since the gay community has been heavily persecuted, the “House of Gaga” has been a refuge for this crowd. She has led the way for her fans to be open and honest about their insecurities. In a recent twitter post, Gaga said, “I'd wear any of my private attire for the world to see. But I would rather have an open flesh wound than ever wear a band aid in public.”

While Gaga’s “The Fame” CD focused on fame, the follow-up album “The Fame Monster” focused on the darker side of fame, as experienced by Gaga while traveling around the world in 2008-2009. She said, “While traveling the world for two years, I've encountered several monsters, each represented by a different song on the new record.”

Here are the monsters she encountered (all tracks on The Fame Monster):

1. Monster (Fear of Death Monster)
2. Bad Romance (Fear of Love Monster)
3. Don't Call My Name (Fear of Men Monster)
4. Speechless (Fear of Loneliness Monster)
5. New York (Fear of Heights Monster)
6. Bloody Mary (Fear of Alcohol Monster)
7. Take It Slow (Fear of Sex Monster)
8. Kiss & Run (Fear of Commitment Monster)

What has Lady Gaga done with these fears?

The Monster

Lady Gaga claims to be a very spiritual person. She admitted to Larry King, “I'm very religious. I was raised Catholic. I believe in Jesus. I believe in God. I'm very spiritual. I pray very much.” However, since every religion to her seems to be prejudiced against some other racial, religious, or social group she added, “I’m quite a religious woman that is very confused about religion.”

Where does Lady Gaga go then for spiritual clarity? Deepak Chopra - who began his career in the 1980’s publishing books self-help books on New Age spirituality. Chopra recently debated Pastor Mark Driscoll in a Nightline Face-Off: Does Satan exist? Chopra’s answer was no. Evil is just an illusion to him. That is why, when Lady Gaga came to him for help with her reoccurring morbid dreams, Chopra said “Don’t worry so much [about the dreams]. You’re just very creative.” Since Gaga was a little girl, she has had nightmares of an Anglo fish. Chopra said that in order to get rid of this childhood monster Gaga needed to put it in her show. She told Larry King in her interview that she took Chopra’s advice and created a gigantic Anglo fish for her to fight and kill right before the big finale. Will that be enough to get rid of her monster?

The Gospel

I appreciate Lady Gaga’s authenticity. She admits that she is troubled and that those who follow her are troubled. That is more than most Christians would like to admit about themselves. Also, her dream for the world is a noble one: “I dream and envision a future where we have a more peaceful religion or a more peaceful world, a more peaceful state of mind for the younger generation. And that's what I dream for.” In order to fulfill this dream Gaga has been using the tools of tolerance and acceptance. But, will these two things produce the kind of peace Gaga is longing for?

The idols of tolerance and acceptance may draw people in but it doesn’t a) provide the wisdom needed for what should and shouldn’t be tolerated, b) offer any spiritual resources for defeating our insecurities, and c) offer any resources for forgiving our enemies – which is part of the peace-making strategy. Gaga’s concerts may help people to feel accepted for a night, but what about when they go home? Will simply putting our insecurities on stage before the idols of tolerance and acceptance do any good?

Lady Gaga said herself that is confused and troubled. She is a sinner just like me. She has been guilty, as I have been, of tolerating sin, trying to save herself from her own fears and demons, and worshiping the approval of others. Her life and work has not been about glorifying God but about making herself famous and inviting her fans to share that glory with her. Is there still hope for her? Of course! As we look at the life of Nebuchadnezzar, we see that God is very merciful to the proud and famous when they repent. Not only can Gaga find forgiveness through the Gospel, but she can also find the resources needed to accomplish the goal of a more peaceful world.

The good news for Gaga and her fans can be found in Isaiah 9:6-7:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.

Jesus has come. He is the Wonderful Counselor who shows us who God is and what he expects from us, which is better than the confusion of tolerance. He is the Prince of Peace for our troubled world. He has already, decisively, and triumphantly defeated Satan, sin, and death and reigns over all things. He is just and will punish everyone who has ever acted unjustly toward those who have been rejected in our society (including Gaga’s misfit fans).

The gospel is the answer to Lady Gaga’s fears:

· Death (Jesus has conquered death)

· Love (Jesus displayed how much he loved us by laying down his life)

· Men (Jesus died for his bride, the church, and commanded that all men protect, provide for, and lay down their lives for women)

· Loneliness (Jesus said that he will never leave or forsake us)

· Alcohol (Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to control us instead of alcohol),

· Sex (Jesus has taken the fear out of sex by putting it within the boundaries of marriage)

· Commitment (Jesus has publically displayed his commitment to us on the cross so that we wouldn’t be afraid to commit ourselves to him)

When the fame is gone and the fans are too, Lady Gaga, Jesus’ love and approval won’t be. And in the new heavens and new earth, we will get invited not to a stage, but to the throne of God’s glory where we can enjoy him forever.

Gaining a Husband

2010-08-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

What do Christians gain from the work of Jesus on the cross? We cannot be exhaustive here, so I will focus this blog series on four overarching blessings that come from Jesus’ work of salvation. The four things we gain are a Father, Husband, Family, and Ministry. We will split each of these up into a different blog post. We will focus on Husband today.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).

We, as the worldwide church, have Jesus as a husband. The Scriptures repeatedly say that we are the bride of Christ. Jesus, as our husband, performs the most sacrificial act that any husband could ever do when he “gave himself up.” As pastor Mark Driscoll often says, “He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.” Jesus loved his bride, the church, so much so that he took responsibility for our sin and paid the penalty for it.

Jesus not only died to pay the penalty for our sin, but to make us “holy and blameless” (Eph. 1:4). This is what is so beautiful about the storyline of Christianity. Jesus wants us as his bride but can’t have us because we aren’t worthy enough for him. So, he steps down from heaven, enters human history, takes responsibility for our sin on the cross, and purifies us so that we can be deserving of him.

Just as a husband and wife become one flesh, we become one flesh with Jesus through our union with him. To this point, Paul says, “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church…” (Eph. 5:29-30). Jesus is our husband who chooses us, offers himself up for us, and takes care of us daily. He is strong and courageous in his sacrifice, yet also tenderly “nourishes and cherishes” us. In addition to his sacrifice and ongoing nourishment, he protects us by dressing us with the armor of God so that we are able to “stand against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). Jesus’ work on the cross disarmed Satan and at the same time armed us with the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of readiness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:14-17).

Jesus is the perfect husband.

Gaining a Father

2010-08-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

What do Christians gain from the work of Jesus on the cross? We cannot be exhaustive here, so I will focus this blog series on four overarching blessings that come from Jesus’ work of salvation. The four things we gain are a Father, Husband, Family, and Ministry. We will split each of these up into a different blog post. We will focus on Father today.

Theologian J.I. Packer said that he thinks the main theological theme of the whole bible is adoption. Paul said that we were adopted as sons through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5). When we are adopted into the family of God we no longer have to go after things like approval, comfort, pleasure, power, status, or identity in any other created thing. We get a good Father who has blessed us “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 1:3).

Therefore, we can resist idolatry - which is turning a good thing into a god thing. It is making something in our life more ultimate than God. Paul said, in his letter to the Galatian church, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you worshiped the things that by nature are not gods” (Gal. 4:8). Nothing that God has created in this world (spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, athletics, career, etc.) can fulfill us like God can. If we have the God of the Universe as our personal Father, we have available every spiritual blessing that we could ever need – in this life and the next.

As we all know, when earthly parents pass away, it is customary for them to leave an inheritance to their kids. Similarly, Paul says, “in Christ we have obtained an inheritance” (Eph. 1:11). This means that our heavenly Father will leave us with an inheritance that will never perish. This is an inheritance that we can’t lose once we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13).

Lastly, what is implicit about adoption is that we have a Father who will never leave or forsake us. In our culture, where many people don’t have a father due to abandonment, abuse, or divorce, we can be assured that we will always have a heavenly Father that is always there for us. We should be extremely thankful to Jesus for reconciling us to God the Father since we were once his enemies due to our sin (Rom. 5:10). Because of his work of redemption, we now have "full rights as sons [and daughters]" and have his Spirit within us crying out "Abba Father" (Gal. 4:4-6). Next week, we will look at what it means that we have gained a Husband.

The Gospel and Sex

2010-04-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Gospel confronts our views and practice of sex. If sex becomes our ultimate pursuit, then we will be severely disappointed. That is why those who are trusting in sex as life’s highest pleasure are often the most unhappy. When sex doesn’t come through for them, they have to have more, jumping from one relationship (or porn site) to the next.

Sex gets reduced to an appetite that we feed when we have urges. On the flip side, if sex is reduced to producing offspring, then we strip sex of its power to produce radical pleasure and oneness in the marriage bed. Both of these practices reduce sex to something far less than what it was intended to be.

The bible tells us very clearly that everyone who misuses the gift of sex will be judged. Those who engage in adultery, sex before marriage, pornography, rape, bestiality, voyeurism, incest, pedophilia, prostitution, and the like will not not inherit the Kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21). Included in this group are those who might not have acted out their sexual fantasies, but who have lusted in their heart (Matt. 5:27). Ephesians 5:3 reminds us that “...there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.” Not even a hint.

But, listen very closely to the good news. Even though the way out of the Kingdom is sexual immorality, the way back in isn’t to clean up your sex life. In one of the most remarkable stories in all of the bible, the religious leaders drug a sexually immoral woman out in front of everyone to kill her as a punishment. Jesus stepped into the hostile situation, saved her from death, and told her that he didn’t condemn her (John 8). How did she get off the hook so easily? Because Jesus was on his way to die for her on the cross. Like the woman in the story, Jesus dies for us while we are in sexual sin, not after (Rom. 5:8).

Jesus was even bold enough to say that prostitutes who repent will enter the Kingdom of God before the hypocritical religious leaders (Matt. 21:28-32).

Even though sex is a great gift to the world, it is important to remember that Jesus lived a single life. This is something we shouldn’t overlook. As we look at the life of Jesus, we see that sex is not the highest end a person’s life. Sex is a signpost that points beyond itself. Psalm 16:11 says, “...in [God’s] presence there is fullness of joy; at [His] right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Through Jesus we can receive unceasing pleasure from God. And those who do experience this kind of pleasure will be freed from using sex in all the wrong ways.

Sex is a visible sign of two people becoming one flesh forever. It is a vulnerable, self-sacrificial act that communicates a heart of commitment to the other.

The cross is our visible sign that God sent Jesus to die for us so that we might be one with him forever. On the cross, Jesus became vulnerable and self-sacrificial to prove his commitment to his unfaithful bride, the church.

This content was taken from a gospel-centered bible study series that I'm working on called Gifts of God. To download the Sex study and others go to: http://t-zach.com/giftsofgod/

The Gospel Confronts The Way We Use Beauty

2010-03-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Gospel confronts the way we use beauty to get acceptance. We can spend hundreds of hours on a treadmill or in the tanning booth and spend thousands of dollars on beauty products and treatments and still have no guarantee that the world will accept us.

If you try to attract someone who cares more about your physical beauty, you’ll have to spend your whole life maintaining your body to hold onto them. If you try to win God with your inner beauty, you’ll have to spend your whole life morally outperforming everyone else to hold onto him - which doesn’t work anyway because the bible says that all of us are morally unclean despite our best efforts (Isa. 64:6).

Having a nice body may get you into a night club or fraternity party and having a nice moral record may get you into a certain spiritual community, but neither of these are enough to get you into the gates of heaven.

Tim Keller points out: “If we struggle to live up to others’ standard of beauty, how will we ever become beautiful enough for God’s standard?” In other words, in the end, is there any hope for us?

The answer lies in the person and work of Jesus.

Jesus had unimaginable beauty and acceptance in heaven, but he gave it all up when he came humbly as a plain man into a world that rejected him. Isaiah 53:2-3 says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men... like one from whom men hide their faces...” Jesus lost his beauty so that you could gain yours.

Ephesians 5:25-27 says, “...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her... to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish...”

The good news is that the story line of the bible is not what people think - that the gospel is about following all the rules so that we can make ourselves look more beautiful. No, at the heart of the gospel, is Jesus coming down out of heaven to cleanse his bride (the church) so that we might stand acceptable and confident in his sight.

This free gift of beauty is offered to all who trust in The One who purchased it for us at great cost on the cross.

Only when you realize you’ve been cleansed of all your internal beauty flaws by God through the work of Jesus, and know that even your physical beauty will one day be renewed (Phil. 3:21), will you be free from using and pursuing beauty in all the wrong ways.

Deep down we all fear being physically and emotionally exposed for who we really are. Thankfully, we have a God who was stripped, mocked, and rejected in public for our imperfections (on the cross) so that we might be covered with his perfection and never experience shame again (Matt. 27, Ps. 22).

This content was taken from a gospel-centered bible study series that I'm working on called Gifts of God. To download the Beauty & Appearance study and others go to: http://t-zach.com/giftsofgod/

The Gospel Confronts Our Use of Alcohol

2010-02-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

I'm creating a series of bible studies for the college students I work with. Here is a sample from the first one on alcohol...

The Gospel confronts the way we use alcohol to get happiness. The more we drink to find comfort, the more uncomfortable our hangover is. The more we drink to get approval, the more we feel unapproved of in the morning after the regrets set in.

Only in Jesus will we get the happiness that we long for, without all the side effects. And only when we realize that all the things we are looking for in alcohol can be found in Jesus, will we be freed to enjoy alcohol the way God intended. We have all been guilty of slipping toward legalism or drunkenness at some point in our life. But here’s the good news.

Jesus lived the life we should have lived - a life without legalism and drunkenness. And instead of coming to condemn a world full of drunks and legalists, he died to save it (John 3:17).

Jesus is not a cosmic killjoy as many have thought. His very first miracle was turning over 100 gallons of water into wine at a wedding party. Pastor Tim Keller mentions that in the same way Jesus saved the wedding party from a disappointing end, he will also save you and the rest of the world from a disappointing end. Jesus died to keep the party going! His sad death has made it possible for us to have a happy, eternal life.

And one day very soon, Jesus promises that those of us who are his, who have been filled with his Spirit (Eph 5:18), will enjoy a drink together with him. The very night before Jesus died he said, “I tell you I will not drink again until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

Isaiah also point us to the future Feast: "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine... He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces...’" - Isaiah 25:6-9

The feast in heaven will be filled not with those who have made the gift of alcohol ultimate, but with those who have made Jesus ultimate and use alcohol as a way to heighten our fellowship with him.

This content was taken from a gospel-centered bible study series that I'm working on called Gifts of God. To download the Alcohol study and others go to: http://t-zach.com/giftsofgod/

Jesus is the Better Solomon

2010-01-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

As Christians, we get into trouble when we read Old Testament books out of context. Let’s take Proverbs for example.

Reading Proverbs alone might cause us to think that there is an evil path and a righteous path – and that what it means to be a Christian is to try hard to stay on the righteous path.

After Jesus’ crucifixion he cleared this up when he was walking with two of his disciples (still unrecognizable to them). Luke in his gospel reports, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (24:25-26).

Could it be that even Proverbs was about Jesus?

Wisdom is personified as Woman Wisdom or Lady Wisdom in the book of Proverbs. There have been many debates as to why wisdom here is a woman. One suggestion is that, since there are some strong ties between Proverbs and ancient Egyptian wisdom literature, that the author of Proverbs is using a well-known Egyptian goddess Maat (who has been viewed as an expression of Divine Wisdom) as a bridge to explain the wisdom of the biblical Israelite God. If that is the case, then it is a brilliant example of contextualizing truth to the surrounding culture. We know that the book of Proverbs wasn’t just read by the Israelites, for even the queen of a distant land came to hear Solomon’s wisdom (Luke 11:31). Paul also contextualized truth for the Greeks when he took the Greek wisdom term “Logos” and applied it to Jesus.

It would be wrong of us to think that as wise as Solomon was, that the Proverbs are pointing us to “be like him.” For even Solomon drifted from God, disobeyed him by taking on many foreign wives, and became an emotional wreck at the end of his life.

So, how are we to read Proverbs?

After Jesus was born, we learn that he had “wisdom beyond his years” (Luke 2:40). When he was twelve, the religious teachers watched with amazement “at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47). When Jesus started his ministry those who knew him well said, “Where did he get all his wisdom…?” Jesus himself said in Luke 11:31, “…and now someone greater than Solomon is here.” Paul goes even further in 1 Cor. 1:30 to say, “God made Christ to be wisdom itself.”

Biblical scholar Tremper Longman says, “The ancient Israelite would read the metaphors of Woman Wisdom and Woman Folly as a choice between Yahweh and the false gods of the nations. This decision would have little relevance to modern readers… The gospel choice [in the NT for us] is a decision whether to follow Jesus. Thus, to understand the invitation of Woman Wisdom as the invitation of Christ to relationship with God makes the book contemporary Christian readers.”

Proverbs 2:3-5 says, “and if you call out for insight, and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Many years later, in Col. 2:3, Paul beautifully adds that in Christ “lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Reading Proverbs, with the NT in mind, we see Jesus as our wisdom. He died to free us from the foolishness that our sin brought us as well as the punishment that we deserve for our foolishness. He is the better Solomon.

Jesus is the Better Jonah

2009-10-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

The story of Jonah's sacrifice prepares us for a better Sacrifice.

Jonah, who was guilty, was drug and thrown off the ship and sacrificed so that everyone could be physically saved from the storm. Jesus, who was innocent, wasn't drug, but willingly went to the cross and was sacrificed so that we would be spiritually saved from the storm of God's wrath.

Jonah went down to the whale for three days and three nights while Jesus was placed in his tomb for three days and three nights. Just as Jonah was spit out of the whale after these three days Jesus was resurrected out of the tomb after three days.

Jonah then went unwillingly to his enemy nation to preach the good news, but God willingly sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to ensure that every enemy nation would hear the good news.

Communicating With Angry Teens

2009-10-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

I don’t have a teenager yet (or any kids for that matter), but I do work with teens and am interested in how to connect with them better.

Here are some good nuggets that I learned from the book “Get Outta My Face: How To Reach Angry, Unmotivated Teens”.

Repent of your own sin before approaching others.
Teens can and must think about their choices in light of goals and consequences. Nearly 700 times Proverbs urges teens to think about their choices in light of positive and negative outcomes of their decisions.
Most angry teens are used to being interrogated, not listened to. Teens are asking: “Are you going to talk to me about what you want or what I want?” It’s interesting that Jesus asked people multiple times, “What do you want?”
Every person has good desires given by God. The problem is that we try to get good things in the wrong ways. Therefore, we affirm the underlying desires but challenge the path they are on to fulfill those desires.
Teens have underlying motives for disobeying authority. They don’t disobey “just because” they are teenagers. Getting to the heart motives (or heart idols) is necessary to change the behavior. Why are they talking on the phone 24/7? Do they want approval? Do they want intimacy? Do they want respect? Find the root problem.
You give them the choice rather than telling them what to believe or do. Giving someone the power and authority to decide something themselves lightens the resistance and forces them to choose good or bad for themselves. You can outline the consequences of either choice, but then you must put the ball in their court. This clarification often dramatically pits the teen against himself instead of against you.
The teachings of Jesus demonstrate the value of communicating in stages. “I still have many things to say to you, but you can’t bear them now” (1 John 16:12). God does not confront us with every area of sin and weakness in our lives in a single week. He works in stages, as we can bear it. Do we approach others with one small challenge at a time?
The worst thing that can happen to our teen is not contracting AIDS, or having some other permanently life-altering experience, as tragic as that would be. The worst thing would be losing his own soul. Are we focusing on moral issues primarily or helping them to treasure Christ?
Repeat what the say. Translating a teen’s feelings into your own words can show that you are tuned in (i.e. “So you are frustrated every time you try to talk to the teacher. She won’t take any time with you?”)
If you try to give advice before the relational bridge is secure, you will probably see the conversation collapse from the teen’s disinterest.
My favorite: Blame your teen for the good choices they are making to throw them off balance. We usually blame others when they do something wrong. But “blaming” others when they do something good can be very encouraging (i.e. Why did you do so well on that test? Why were you so respectful when my friends came over?). This will put a smile on their face.

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What Are Your Idols?

2009-10-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

“Beloved children, keep yourself from idols.” – 1 John 5:21

Tim Keller says, “An idol is anything which occupies God’s place – it is anything upon which you will base your life. It is what you look to for your sense of meaning, happiness, and validation. When something becomes your idol, you will give it your unquestioned loyalty. You will let it run your life, determine your choices, and govern the use of your money and time. You will give yourself to it effortlessly.”

What are your idols?

Scott Sauls, in his article “Building a Christ-Centered Message and Ministry Culture” lists and expounds upon some of David Powlison’s idolatry diagnostic questions:

1. What do people feel they cannot survive or function without? In other words, what do they feel they have to have in order to enjoy life, or to be acceptable as a person? What are the things that they are terrified of losing?

2. Where do people spend their time and money with the least amount of effort? We always, without exception, will give our time and resources effortlessly to the things that give our lives the most meaning.

3. What do people tend to think and talk about the most? Another way to frame this question is to ask, “Where do their thoughts go when they are driving alone in the car, when they first wake in the morning?” What does this say about where the utmost treasures of their hearts are residing?

4. Which biblical commands are people the most hesitant to obey? This is always going to be the most revealing questions about the nature of a person’s particular idols. Whenever we choose to disobey a command of God – any command of God – at that moment in time our hearts are treasuring something or someone more than Him.

5. When do people become most angry? What kinds of people, things, or circumstances irritate them the most, and what is it about these people, things, or circumstances that give them such power over their hearts? What, if it happened, would tempt them to become angry with God?

6. How would people fill in the blank? “I cannot be happy unless ____.” Whatever is on the other side of the “unless” is the idol.

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Joseph Foreshadowed Jesus

2009-09-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

All of the Old Testament gets us ready for Jesus. Here's some ways that Joseph's story gets us ready...

Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers. Jesus was betrayed by one of his own disciples.

Joseph was sentenced to die by his own brothers. Jesus was sentenced to die by his own Jewish “brothers”.

Joseph was used by God to prevent the death of thousands of lives from famine. Jesus was used by God to prevent the spiritual death of thousands of lives.

Joseph said to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good - to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives,” In the same way, God used the harm done to Jesus on the cross for the purpose of saving many lives.

God delivered Joseph from death by bringing him out of the well. God delivered Jesus from death by bringing him out of the tomb.

God used Joseph's saving act to reconcile his brothers to him. God used Jesus' saving act to reconcile us to Him.

Didactic Wisdom Leads to Despair

2009-09-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

According to Charles Drew in his book “The Ancient Love Song” there are two types of wisdom: Didactic and Reflective.

Didactic wisdom fills the book of Proverbs especially. This type of wisdom promises blessing for righteous living and warns of judgement for disobedience. This type of wisdom teaches that if you do the things written in the bible then you will get a certain reward.

But, you are probably thinking to yourself that life isn't so simple. It may be generally true that those who live rightly live well. But you may know plenty of people (yourself perhaps?) that have done what you are supposed to (followed didactic wisdom) and are not living the good life.

The book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon illustrate the benefits of following didactic wisdom. But, things start getting really confusing when we read the book of Job and Ecclesiastes. Suddenly, we see a guy named Job who is following didactic wisdom really well but gets all of his blessings for obedience taken away. What the heck?

The fine print of Job and Ecclesiastes reads: “If you follow didactic wisdom you may not receive the blessings promised.” When The Fall happened and sin entered into the world, didactic wisdom was fractured.

The problem with a lot of preaching today is that a lot of sermons leave out the fine print. The sermon becomes a list of things to do so that you can be blessed by God. But what if you do what you are supposed to do and aren't rewarded? What if you love your wife or husband and they verbally or physically abuse you? What will you do then? Most church members have no clue.

That is why God is usually the one who gets blamed. But we are the ones to blame.

We brought sin into the world and fractured God's system of obedience and blessing in the world we live in. However, there was One who did come into the world to redeem this fractured system. Job suffered even though he was perfect from a worldly standard. But Jesus, however, not only suffered but died even though he was perfect from a heavenly standard! Jesus suffered the consequences like one who disobeyed God in every way even though he didn't deserve it.

Jesus suffered to restore the blessings promised from didactic wisdom. In other words, because of the Resurrection, we don't have to live without hope that we will not get what we have been promised. Because of Jesus' work on the cross, if we follow God's wisdom, we will be rewarded. The rewards might not come right away or even in this lifetime. But the rewards will eventually come.

The second type of wisdom, reflective wisdom, is reflecting on Jesus and what he has done for us. Didactic wisdom leads to despair because we often times don't see the benefits when we do the things we are supposed to. But when we reflect on Jesus, it leads to hope because he promises to give us blessings that we deserve AND don't deserve... sometimes right now, but often much later on.

So let's not be quick to blame God when things aren't going well even when we are doing everything right. Instead, let's praise Jesus and thank him for securing eternal blessings that are drawing nearer day by day.

How Do You Deal With Your Guilt?

2009-08-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

People deal with their bad consciences in many ingenious ways (from Charles Drew's book “The Ancient Love Song”):

Practicing denial by keeping themselves busy working or entertaining themselves (cable TV and video movies can easily fill every leisure hour with nonreflective stimulation).
Balancing off the bad stuff with religious or philanthropic activity.
Purging (subconsciously) their guilt by vigorously condemning similar failures in other people.
Developing a philosophy or a psychology that denies the existence of true guilt.

How do you deal with your guilt?

No matter how you deal with your guilt, the good news is that Jesus (not having any guilt of his own) died to clear you of a guilty conscience. So now, if you are trusting in Him and His work on the cross for you, you no longer have to work ingeniously to suppress your guilt. You are free and can live without the weight of condemnation on your shoulders.

If you are a Christian and still doing any of the following (above), perhaps you need to reflect on how well you understand the gospel.

If you are walking around trying to rid yourself of guilt, chances are you struggle with pride - since you are not letting Jesus take the guilt from you.

Perhaps you have been holding onto your guilt out of a desire to fix, clean, and redeem yourself.

Tim Keller Talks To 4,000 Campus Crusade Staff

2009-07-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Pastor Tim Keller, author of “The Reason for God” and “The Prodigal God”, addressed 4,000 Campus Crusade for Christ staff at the national staff conference in Ft. Collins, CO.

Here are a few highlights from his two talks:

Many people who pray the sinner's prayer don't understand imputed righteousness. They think that their “surrender” or their “giving their life to Christ” is what merits God's approval. We need to be very clear that when God saves us He imputes the righteousness of Christ to us - which is the only merit we have to stand before God.

Free justification is different than forgiveness. Forgiveness is being let go but justification is the allowance to come and partake. Jail analogy: Many Christians act like prisoners who have been set free from jail but then go out and try to get a job and make money to prove themselves – because they forget that Christ has justified them already. There is nothing left to prove.

Christian ministers who haven't had the gospel sink into their hearts fully will forget that they have been justified by Christ. Therefore, they will spend their entire lives trying to produce a successful ministry as a way to justify themselves before God and to the world. If the gospel reality that Jesus is our justification isn't grasped, our motivation for evangelism will always be tainted. We will continue to share our faith to enhance our reputation, not out of gratitude because our names are written in heaven (Luke 10).

The gospel is good news, not good advice. The gospel is about something that has already happened (Christ's death and resurrection which makes us right with God) not advice (this is what you need to do to get right with God). All other religions offer advice, not good news.

Evangelism is no longer an irritation to the culture, it is an offense to the culture. Just knowing how to share our faith isn't going to cut it. We are going to have to learn how to do apologetics for apologetics.

You won't be a good messenger if you are not a good neighbor. The message is what makes us good neighbors because its purifies our motives. We can love and serve our neighbors and cities no matter how undeserving they are because Jesus sacrificed himself for us, the undeserving.

Love Through The Pain of Plagues

2009-07-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

I never knew that most of the plagues that God sent to the Egyptians attacked a specific “god” that they were trusting in. Check this interesting insight out...

“The plagues were actually a “declaration of war” against the gods of Egypt (see 12:12). The Nile River was worshiped as a god since it was their source of life (Deut. 11:10–12), and when Moses turned it into blood, God showed His power over the river. The goddess Heqt was pictured as a frog, the Egyptian symbol of resurrection. The plague of frogs certainly turned the people against Heqt! The lice and flies brought defilement to the people—a terrible blow, for Egyptians could not worship their gods unless they were spotlessly clean. The murrain attacked the cattle which were sacred to the Egyptians; Hathor was the “cow-goddess” and Apis was the sacred bull. The gods and goddesses that controlled health and safety were attacked in the plagues of boils, hail, and locusts. The plague of darkness was the most serious, since Egypt worshiped the sun god, Ra, the chief of the gods. When the sun was blotted out for three days, it meant that Jehovah had conquered Ra. The final plague (the death of the firstborn) conquered Meskhemit the goddess of birth, and Hathor, her companion, both of whom were supposed to watch over the firstborn. All of these plagues made it clear that Jehovah was the true God!” - Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament

I love how God has not ceased to send various plagues into our lives to tear us away from the “gods” that we cling onto for hope.

I love that God causes someone who is worshiping their work to lose their job to show them that they can't trust in that job to bring them the fulfillment they are looking for.

I love that God causes a student to get dumped by their girlfriend or boyfriend who they are worshiping to show them that they can't trust in that person to bring them ultimate satisfaction.

I love that God causes unexpected emergencies in our lives to pry us from worshiping money and to show us that we can't rely on our finances to bring us the ultimate comfort and peace we long for.

Have we been overlooking the plagues that God is putting in our lives? Have we been resisting His plagues not knowing that they are for our good?

God is always after our good.

But, to get us to that place of rest and fulfillment, He has to pry us away from the things that we are going to other than Him. And that process of separation (a.k.a sanctification) is a very painful one.

A Day on Campus: Sabastian and His Girlfriend Idol

2009-07-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ty Stevens, a UMKC junior, and I got to share our faith with five San Diego State University students a month ago on campus. The last conversation we had turned out to be the best.

When we asked Sabastian, an SDSU junior who was sitting in Starbucks, to describe his life in a few words he said: sad and lonely. He didn't go into the specifics right away but we eventually learned that his girlfriend of nine months had just broken up with him. Sabastian said that it was funny that we ran into him because he has been thinking about going to church for the first time in his life due to the hard situation he's in right now. Since he was ready and willing to hear the gospel, we took the opportunity to apply the gospel to his situation.

I shared Romans 1:25 with him which says that all of us have turned from worshiping the true God and have instead worshiped the things God's given us in creation. In Sabastian's case (and hey, I've been there too) the object of worship was his girlfriend.

Making a girlfriend a “god” creates problems.

First, by making his girlfriend a god he was putting unrealistic expectations on her that only God Himself can meet. This is part of the reason why his girlfriend broke up with him.

Second, since all his time and energy went toward making sacrifices for his girlfriend, he sacrificed all of his guy friends in the process. So now that Sabastian's “god” girlfriend has rejected him, he has no friends to help him through his loneliness – since pursuing his girlfriend isolated him from other relationships.

I reminded him that God is the only one who, if you seek Him and worship Him alone, will never fail you. Sabastian said that all of this made a lot of sense and that he wants to continue learning about the bible. He is going to join us for bible study next week.

We were really excited and thankful to God for connecting us with Sabastian today – who was so open, honest, and humble due to his circumstance. I think he is close to following Christ.

The conversation today reminded me that students seem to be the most receptive to the gospel when the “gods” they are pursuing fail them - when they realize that they need something else, something stronger, to both save them from their brokenness and fulfill their deepest longings.

The Beautiful Plan of Redemption

2009-06-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

These are some verses that I've been meditating on a lot lately. I've arranged them to help me think through telling the story of redemption to others.

God created us in His image and was in perfect relationship with us (Genesis 1-2).

We were deceived and turned our backs on God (Genesis 3).

Since then, no one has been righteous. Not even one. All of us fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 23). We deserve to be eternally separated from God for all eternity (Romans 6:23).

Since all of us have turned from God and are unable to save ourselves, God planned a rescue operation that was only His doing (Jonah 2).

Jesus was the plan (John 3:16).

He went to the cross to give us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

We receive Jesus' righteousness as a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) after we hear the gospel proclaimed to us (Ephesians 1:13) and the Holy Spirit convicts us (John 16:8) of the bad things we've done and the good things we've worshiped apart from God (Romans 1:25).

Some religious people reject God's rescue plan through Jesus and so they create other things to do to appear righteous before God (Romans 10:3). These people will not spend eternity with God (Matthew 7). These people experience worldly grief (a guilt that spurs them to make themselves holy by doing good things), not godly grief (a guilt that spurs us to call out and plead with Jesus to give us His holiness) (2 Corinthians 7:10).

For those who do not cling to their own righteousness, but plead for mercy, the Holy Spirit is sent to dwell in their hearts and renew them them day by day so that they can become the people that God intended them to be (Titus 3:4-6). The Holy Spirit produces in these people the same kind of loving affection for God the Father that Jesus had (Galatians 4:6).

These people become confrontational messengers and go on to spread the news (Acts 2:38) that Jesus is our only hope to get back into right relationship with the Father again (John 14:6).

One day Jesus will come back to completely put an end to Satan, sin, and death (Revelation 12:10).

When that happens, just like the beginning of the story, we will live in perfect relationship with God and dwell with Him forever (Revelation 21:3).

Quick Musing On Heaven

2009-06-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have heard over and over again from students back in Nebraska and here in San Diego that good people are going to heaven. The problem is that morally good people are some of the worst out there! We tend to view sin in terms of outward behavior rather than an inward reality. It's easier to spot sin in a guy getting drunk than a religious person's pride who judges that drunk.

This is the problem with our view of heaven.

If these type of “good” people are going to heaven, then heaven will not be heaven at all. Heaven will be filled with tons of morally good prideful people who do not worship God as their savior but worship themselves as being their own savior.

When someone comes up to me and says that most people are going to heaven (minus a few Hitler types) then I let them know that heaven won't look much different than the world we live in now.

What if heaven was a place where pride didn't exist? What if heaven was not place of boasting in self, but a place where Jesus was boasted in as being our savior?

That is the true heaven and most people don't want to go there. How can we know? Well, if people aren't willing to enter into gospel-centered communities here on earth – places they can come into, confess sin, and worship Jesus – why would they want to do that when they die?

God is a God of justice. He will let people have what they want.

If some people want a heaven where they deserve to be, filled with morally good people who think they deserve to be there as well, then God will let them have that. But, it will be hell since this place will be void of people who are humble and void of the presence of God.

If other people want a heaven where they don't deserve to be, and they trust in Jesus as their only hope to get there, God will grant them their request.

A Day On a Cali Campus: Tuan and Tolerance Idol

2009-06-01T07:43:00.001-07:00

In the last post I talked about encountering Edgar who has made family the end goal of his life. One of the other students I met, Tuan, has made tolerance his end goal.

Jon, a Virginia Tech student, and I listened to Tuan talk about how much he appreciated Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and so on. He tolerates all religions.

Tolerance is the air that post-modern students breathe. It sounds so good on the outside, but is one of the most destructive ideas on the college campus right now. Tolerance is the idea we should accept the beliefs or worldviews of everyone. It's the belief that there are many roads to heaven as well as many ways to live.

I told Tuan that tolerance at first glance seems like the most ultimate form of love. But, when you put tolerance through a “real life grid” its weaknesses are exposed. For example, if a father or mother does not have a worldview for his kids to grow up in, the family will fall apart. If every idea that the kids acted on was tolerated by the parents, it would end up bringing chaos to everyone's life. True love is shown when the kids are restricted to listening to and following their parent's wisdom. The way which seems narrow to the kids is actually the best way.

To use another example, if a patient has cancer and is in need of chemo or radiation, why would he/she want the doctor to tell them that there are other people out there with other alternatives – such as “positive thinking”? Would that be a loving thing to say or do? Of course not.

Christianity is amazing. It is the only religion in the world in which God came to the earth Himself to clear up the confusion on truth. He said, “I am the way.” This leads us not to speculation, but to revelation.

Yes, Jesus' message is narrow (exclusive), but it is also good news since it offered for everyone (inclusive). When we worship Jesus and trust in Him as the only way to salvation, it makes life much less confusing.

When every answer is right, no answer can be right. That's what tolerance promotes - a false sense of love by accepting everything. But in the process, everyone stays blind because no one has knows anything for sure.

A Day On a Cali Campus: Edgar and His Family Idol

2009-05-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Today I spent all day at UCSD sharing my faith with some top notch students from around the country.

UCSD is an interesting animal of a campus. They are incredibly smart. Their library is designed to be the “tree of knowledge”. There is even a long sidewalk shaped like a snake that stretches hundreds of feet next to the library. We heard today that this liberal University is allowing students to put student-made pornographic videos on the campus TV network for the whole campus to see.

The students are chasing after noble things. One of the students I met with today, Edgar, is a non-practicing Catholic who said that is greatest goal in life is to have a great family.

Having a wonderful family is a great thing, but if it is the end goal, life will be much less than what God intended it to be.

If you are like Edgar, you need to know that if family is your ultimate object of worship, comfort, and security then you are in danger. What if a member of your family dies? What if your spouse leaves you? What if your child doesn't become an “A” student or a star athlete?

If any of these things happen, it will result in depression or bitterness. Why? Because the thing (in this case family) that we make an idol or god, if fractured or destroyed, will leave us with nothing to fall back on. Hope, comfort, and security will be stripped away from us.

The good news is that Jesus confronts family idolatry and offers a better solution. He died on the cross so that we could have the opportunity to have Him be the supreme object of worship in our lives rather than family. And if we trust in Him, our families actually become better!

How?

If someone in your family passes away (and Jesus is supreme in your life), He offers to be your comfort and offers to give you hope that you will get to see your family member again. If your spouse leaves you (and Jesus is supreme in your life), He will remind you that He will never leave or forsake you. If your child doesn't meet your academic or athletic standards (and Jesus is the supreme in your life), you will be able to love your child unconditionally since Jesus loved you without any conditions even though You didn't meet his expectations.

Family is a good thing, but when made ultimate, becomes a very bad thing. Jesus is Edgar's only hope to have the family he desires.

The Curse of Technology

2009-05-06T15:03:00.001-07:00

Is technology a blessing for the world? Yes and no.

Yes, because technology allows us to fulfill the cultural mandate in Genesis which tells us to subdue and bring order the created world. We are to beautify and cultivate creation using our creative juices. Technology helps us to advance good in the world.

But is technology always good? No, because technology can bring a wedge between us and God. One of the first instances of this that we see in the bible is The Tower of Babel story (Genesis 11). The technology of bricks had been invented and so the people were eager to do something with this technology. The bible says that they “wanted to make a name for themselves” and so they started building the biggest, baddest, tallest building they could. They didn't use their technology to worship God, but they used it to try and become like God (which is how the serpent enticed Adam and Eve).

Technology increases our pride and decreases our dependence on God. It increases our ability to control ourselves and the world we live in.

Today, we really don't have a huge dependence on God. We can walk into our cool garage, get into an air conditioned car, drive to our air conditioned work and repeat the same steps on the way home. Because of technology we can be comfortable all day long without recognizing the scorching heat outside. Meanwhile, the farmers a few miles away are pleading with God to send rain! But even now days, we don't even have to depend on God to grow things. We can just engineer what we want. We are like God!

Technology can allow a sermon about Jesus to be spread to a million people but it can also allow a porn film to be spread to ten million people. The internet porn industry makes more money than professional basketball, football, and baseball combined.

I was reading a puritan prayer this morning and I am amazed at the amount of dependence this writer has toward God. He writes, “May the gales of they mercy blow me safely into harbor. Secure me by thy grace as I sail across this storm sea.” He sees himself as a ship with no engine (this was easier to picture for him because they had no engines at the time). He realized that all he could do was set his sail and depend on the wind of God's Spirit to guide him, protect him, and carry him along to the harbor of heaven.

I love technology more than most people. But I need to repent often of the way it insulates me from thinking about and depending on God.

Jesus Raised The Bar To Impossible

2009-04-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Sermon on the Mount almost blew the audience out of the... well, off the mount. It was profound and engaging, but probably the worst news some of the people had ever heard.

Sure, all the verses with “blessed” in them sounded pretty good. But when Jesus said (Matthew 5:20) “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” That's when the jaws dropped.

Modern translation: “Unless you become more holy than your favorite priest or pastor, there is no chance of you getting to heaven.”

And then Jesus decided to rub it in a little more (vs. 48) when he says, “Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus keeps raising the bar throughout the sermon: First, he tells us that we can be blessed by living a Kingdom-centered life (Our response: I can try hard to do that). Then, he tells us that we can be blessed if we become more holy than the holiest pastors in our lives (Our response: That seems impossible). Finally, he tells us we can be blessed if we are absolutely perfect like God Himself (Our response: That is impossible).

I know its good for us to raise the bar every now and then, but it seems like Jesus is taking the bar and beating us with it! What's going on?

Well, like all good mystery novels, Jesus inserts a clue earlier on the sermon. He says (vs. 17), “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In other words, Jesus is saying that He didn't come to bring a new teaching or start something new – but to perfectly obey all the laws and to fulfill all the prophesies that had been around since the beginning.

Simply, Jesus was telling them: “I'm here to live the life that you should be living, but can't.” And we know that Jesus also went on to fulfill the prophesies by dying the death we should have died.

Jesus raised the bar to impossible, but instead of condemning us for not being able to jump over it, he was condemned (even though he was perfect) for our sake on the cross and therefore transfers his victory to us. In addition, he has given us the ability now to work towards the bar of perfection through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hiding Behind Religion

2009-04-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Many of us are deceived into thinking that we are saved by either a) our religious knowledge, b) our religious acts, or c) our religious tradition.

RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” - John 5:39-40

Jesus drops a bomb on the seminary students of his day. These young shooting stars, who had memorized large chunks of the Hebrew bible, had no idea that the bible was all about the Father's plan of saving the world through Jesus, not a self-help morality book that gives us strategic plan for saving ourselves.

RELIGIOUS ACTS

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” - Matthew 7:21-23

This one will make your head hurt a little. So, ummm... some people doing religious things will enter the Kingdom of God (vs. 21) but other people doing religious things (vs. 23) are called evildoers? How do we clear up that fog?

Jesus is always about the heart. He makes the case that two people can do the same act but for different reasons because they have different heart motivations. So, how can you change your heart and its motivations? Well, you can't.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

There are two kinds of people:

those who trust in their own heart and try to impress God with the religious acts that flow out of it
those who ask Jesus for a heart transplant

Because of Jesus and the work on the cross, we can have a new heart with new desires. In the end, it is Jesus' religious act that justifies us.

RELIGIOUS TRADITION

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them... do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” - Matthew 3:7-9

These religious nut jobs bragged about finding their identity in father Abraham. It would be the equivalent of a Catholic today bragging about Jesus giving the keys to Peter (him being the first Pope of the Catholic church). Catholics, even non-practicing ones, find a strong sense of worth by belonging to “The Church”. But Protestants do the same thing in different ways. They will hide behind the banner of “evangelical” or “bible-believing”. Or, I've heard some college students say that they were raised in a Christian home. They hide behind their parents' faith.

No matter who we are, we can't take refuge in religious labels. Putting on a name tag (I'm Catholic, I'm a Seminary student, I was raised in a Christian Family, I go to a Bible-believing Church, etc.) may fool the people around you but it won't fool God.

One day everyones' heart will be scanned and the bar code will not lie. The litmus test: Were we finding our identity, security, and hope in Jesus or in our religious knowledge, acts, or tradition?

The Gospel of Signs, Sageness, and Success

2009-03-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tim Keller shows us that Paul preached one gospel but it was distributed in two different forms to two different audiences. This helps us think through what form of the gospel America needs to hear the gospel in.

“So yes, there must be one gospel, yet there are clearly different forms in which that one gospel can be expressed... After [Paul] insisted there is only one gospel (Gal. 1:8), he then speaks of being entrusted with "the gospel of the uncircumcised [Greeks]" as opposed to the "gospel of the circumcised [Jews]" (Gal. 2:7). When Paul spoke to Greeks, he confronted their culture's idol of speculation and philosophy with the "foolishness" of the cross, and then presented Christ's salvation as true wisdom. When he spoke to Jews, he confronted their culture's idol of power and accomplishment with the "weakness" of the cross, and then presented the gospel as true power (1 Cor. 1:22-25).”

Paul appealed with the “gospel of signs” (my phrase) to his fellow Jews. They desired to experience God's power through miraculous signs. But they totally missed the biggest sign of all when Jesus showed up on the scene and accomplished the biggest miracle the world had ever seen.

Paul appealed with the “gospel of sageness” (my phrase) to the Greeks. They desired to be wise through reflection and experience. But they totally rejected Jesus, the wisest person to ever walk the planet.

The gospel confronted both audiences while... rebuking their earthly desires to have power and wisdom while at the same time offering them the opportunity to have heavenly power and wisdom by clinging to the person and work of Jesus.

I think that today we as Americans desire success more than anything. We desire high-paying jobs, big ministries, mega-churches, super-athlete kids, big retirement packages, and anything else that sets us apart as being important or on top.

But the gospel of success confronts these idols because true biblical success does not always match up with earthly success. What if God calls you to give up your high-paying job to raise your own salary and work with a non-profit instead? What if God doesn't give you a super-athlete kid but rather gives you a kid with a birth defect? What if he calls you to give away your retirement savings before you get to retirement for the sake of advancing His Kingdom on earth?

When we think of success as preaching watered-down messages to get more people into our churches, skipping church to take our kids to ball games so that they'll become heroes in high school, creating Christian business directories to increase the success of only those inside the church, I think we start missing godly success altogether.

Yes, the gospel of success confronts our culture's idols but it also gives us the opportunity to cling to Jesus and have true success – that which isn't always measured in dollars, numbers, or prestige. It gives us the chance to leave a real legacy here on the earth – one that glorifies God and helps us to be set free from our bondages to sin so that we can enjoy God more and experience Him more deeply.

The gospel of [true] success needs to be distributed to all Americans.

Works-boasting Is Wrong But Faith-boasting Isn't?

2009-03-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Just last week a student's grandma came with her to a bible study I was leading. When one of the other students started to go in the direction of earning our salvation through good works, the grandma immediately turned to Ephesians 2:8-9 to correct the heretical student. Every good protestant knows these verses: “For it is by grace you have been saved, not by works; it is a gift of God so that no one can boast.” Salvation comes from Jesus' merit alone, not ours.

So far so good.

But the problem I have noticed is that this group of anti-boasters has become well – boastful. Not boastful in the sense that they slip into a works-righteous mentality too, but that they become boastful of the fact that they “believed in faith” and everyone else hasn't. They start thinking that this “work of the heart” in turning around and trusting in Christ was their doing, not God's.

When we talk about when we decided to “trust in Christ” isn't there always a hint of “I looked at the options and the facts from the bible and made a good logical decision?” Don't we tend to think that we came to God and not that God came to us?

Why does this matter?

If we start to think that we came to faith in Christ through our own intelligent decision-making process, then we will start to judge others and make war against non-Christians. We will begin to feel self-righteous since we made a “duh” decision to follow God and that everyone else needs to follow in our footsteps.

The problem is that yelling at a blind person won't make them see. However, if we walk up to the blind, take a hold of their hand, and pray to God with all our might that He would open their eyes, then I think we'll start to reach the world as God intended. Realizing that God is the only one who can make the blind see (us included) is the only way to true humility.

Hopefully, as faith-boasting Christians begin to boast in Jesus and not in their “decision for Christ” we'll start to have more compassion on those around us and in the culture at large. I'm pretty tired of seeing “faith-boasters” wage war against the culture. They need a dose of their own depravity.

I Want Blood

2009-02-25T12:10:00.000-08:00

I've been reading "Death By Love" which is a new book by Mark Driscoll. I have to share an excerpt from the book that is absolutely fascinating.

Pastor Mark Driscoll talked to a Christian guy in his church directly after his wife confessed to him that she had cheated on him by sleeping with his friend in their own marriage bed (back before she became a Christian). As you could imagine, this guy was ticked off. Driscoll said, "What do you want?" to the guy. He replied, "I want blood."

Here is an excerpt from the pastoral letter (found in the book Death By Love) to this man regarding the friend who stabbed him in the back:

"God does not have a heart of grace toward [your friend], because he is an unrepentant sinner. Second, Christ's death has not applied to him and will not unless he repents of sin and receives Jesus. Third, he is not justified and, therefore, stands guilty and condemned before God. Fourth, he is an enemy of God. Fifth, he is not reconciled to God. Seventh, the wrath of God remains upon him. Eight, if he continues in unrepentance and unbelief, Jesus' blood will not cover him, and he will spend eternity suffering in conscious, eternal torment. [He and the other] unrepentent sinners will be thrown like grapes into the winepress and Jesus will stomp them underfoot so that their blood flows as high as the bit in a horse's mouth for one hundred eighty miles (Rev. 14:19-20)."

Driscoll wrote this to encourage this guy by reminding him that he will get the justice he wants. He will get his "blood" in the future when his friend finds himself under the "boot of Jesus."

HOWEVER...

Driscoll reminds the guy that IF his friend-turned-enemy becomes a Christian and truly repents and follows Jesus, that Jesus' blood on the cross will cover his sin and cleanse him. When someone comes to Jesus, the punishment and wrath that the person deserves is absorbed by Jesus. Justice is served - but not on the guilty party, on Jesus. He substitutes himself for the guilty.

So, once again, if his friend-turned-enemy repents and follows Jesus, the justice blood that he wants and will get... will be Jesus' blood, not his friend's.

Pretty profound if you ask me.

Driscoll's last piece of advice is this: "Though not to minimize what your wife has done in any way, your sin against God is even more painful for [God] to bear than your wife's sin against you. Therefore, I would encourage you not only to look at the sin of your wife [and friend] but to also look at your own sin in other parts of your life to see where you too have betrayed God as your wife has betrayed you... Simply, your wife treated you like God's people in the Old Testament treated him, which is why the Bible repeatedly calls Israel a whore. Yet Jesus lovingly pursues and redeems [her]."

Wow.

Godology

2009-02-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

On my day off today, I went to a Christian bookstore. I went in and was angry when I saw that there is now a Christianized “Guitar Hero” video game called “Guitar Praise” with a new sanctified guitar inside.

However, I was extremely happy to see that Christian George has a new book out. I read the first two chapters of “Godology” and it is just as good as his first book “Sex, Sushi, and Salvation”. His audience is twentysomethings and writes creatively like Donald Miller. But before you start making assumptions, know that J.I. Packer has this 27-year old author's back.

Here are some quotes from my reading of the first two chapters of “Godology”:

“God isn't as tame as we thought. He bursts from the tupperware we seal Him in, and He's on the move. He's calling us to wipe off our spiritual milk mustaches, exchange earthly habits for holy ones, and gorge ourselves on the nourishing Bread of Life.”

“Christ is the real superhero. He is the One who dueled with the Devil in the desert and changed the molecular structure of water into wine. He's the One who x-rayed hearts, hushed storms, and absorbed the evil of humanity.”

On prayer: “It's always tiring being the subject of the sentence. God doesn't want to be our footnote, but our title. It's time to elevate God with prayers that revolve around His ability and beauty.”

“We want a jack-in-the-box Jesus who appears at our command. But God is wilder than that, and harrier, too. He's not the clean-shaven gentlemen we pretend He is. We want an Easter bunny, but God's a tyrannosaurus rex – a growling King who protects his cubs from the enemy.”

“Christians are not robots, lacking power to make real choices. We're made of guts not gigabytes. Yet in God's mysterious mainframe, our decisions run in harmony with His program.”

“We discover there is more to God's musical than our own short solos. There's more to His symphony than our brief melodies. Any by dethroning ourselves, we applaud the God who gets the encore.”

Satan’s Schema – Part 4

2009-01-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

Jesus is tempted three times in Matthew 4. The third and last temptation goes something like this: “Worship me and I will give you all of the kingdoms of this world.”

This temptation is a little less subversive than the others. Satan simply wants Jesus, the Son of God, to worship him. It is no secret here that this is what Satan wants. That’s his motive for everything he does. That’s why he got kicked out of heaven (FYI: he used to be an angel). He stopped worshiping God the Father because he wanted to be like God and be worshiped.

This temptation can be broken down into two temptations: WORDLY AMBITION and IDOLATRY- yet both are linked together.

An idol is anything we worship other than God. Idolatry is not simply worshiping Satan or other gods, but can be a worship of money, sex, our boyfriend or girlfriend, our family, our job, or even our favorite Sports team.

An idol is anything we elevate and make supreme over the one true God.

If we are worshiping (talking about, praising, meditating on, etc.) anything more than God it is idolatry - which is Satan’s desire for us. As long as he takes our attention off of worshiping God (which is the only worship that is truly satisfying to our souls) he wins. There is no middle ground. There is no gray area. There is only lightness and darkness. There is the kingdom of God and kingdom of Satan. If we aren’t worshiping God as supreme, we are in the realm of Satan’s kingdom.

In Matthew 4, Satan was trying to transfer Jesus out of the kingdom of God and place him in his own kingdom.

And how did Satan try to accomplish this with Jesus? By appealing to his fleshly need for power – which is exactly what he does with us.

Here are a few examples of how Satan uses power and ambition as a temptation for us to worship in his kingdom:

Satan: If you just put in more hours at work you’ll be a) richer and b) more powerful within your company. You won’t have time to worship God, and your family will be left in the dust, but you’ll be powerful.
Satan: If you spend all your time studying for your classes, I will give you a wonderful job someday. A job that will give you power and prestige. Even if you don’t have time for God or time to go to church or time to serve others, you’ll get a lot of money someday which will take care of all your needs.

Now, I think that working hard in school and working hard in the workplace are good godly desires. However, my point is that Satan’s goal is to take good things and make them ultimate in our lives so that we worship those things and not God. If Satan gets our eyes off of God, he wins.

What are the idols in your life? What are you fixing your eyes on, thinking about, praising - that is not God Himself? How is Satan using worldly ambition to tempt you away from God?

Satan’s Schema – Part 3

2009-01-18T16:28:00.000-08:00

Jesus is tempted three times in Matthew 4. The second temptation goes something like this: “Throw yourself off this building so that they angels can catch you.”

Is Satan board and looking for some entertainment, or is something else going on here?

Underneath the surface, Satan is trying to get Jesus to TEST God the Father. In other words Satan is saying: “God is a good God. Therefore, he will protect and defend you at all times no matter what you do.” This sounds very “Christian” but it doesn’t take into account the sinful actions that God doesn’t want you to take. Satan is trying to get us to test God by acting imprudently and then expecting him to show up.

Some examples of TESTING God might look like:

A couple who goes on handling their finances foolishly because they think that God will probably come through for them in the end and send them a big check through a family member of friend. They are testing God to see if he will cover for their foolishness.
A college student who goes on having a sexual relationship with their boyfriend/girlfriend thinking that God will just forget about their actions someday and allow them to start over when they get married.
A person who goes on living the Christian life by themselves, rather than getting involved in a spiritual community. They are testing God to see if he’ll actually grow them spiritually without any help from others.
A person who buys more things than he can afford because he was told by his preacher that God wants to bless those who love Him.

All of these examples are of people who are living in sin and are believing Satan's lie that God blesses those who disobey Him.

If we are testing God, we are desiring to be in control of our spiritual lives. Satan is trying to get us to reject the authority of our loving Father and replace it with a doubtful skepticism.

Satan’s Schema – Part 2

2009-01-01T21:42:00.000-08:00

Jesus is tempted three times in Matthew 4. The first temptation goes something like this: “Turn these stones into bread so you can have something to eat.”

On the surface, it looks like the temptation has something to do with a meal, but it goes much deeper than that. The root issue here is that Satan is trying to get Jesus to DISTRUST THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE AND SUPPORT OF GOD THE FATHER.

In other words, Satan is saying: “Because you are hungry and God is obviously not providing for you, you should take matters into your own hands.”

This temptation comes in many forms to us on a daily basis.

Here are three ways in which we are tempted to distrust the divine providence and support of God the Father:

1) IN PRAYER

Often times I find that it is rather hard to spend a significant amount of time in prayer in the mornings or throughout he day. I am tempted to instead get on my laptop and start working away. I doubt that my dependence on God through prayer will actually be more productive than my ability to get things done. Instead of relying on God to work and provide for my family and ministry, I take matters into my own hands and rely on myself.

2) IN GIVING

Research has shown that the average person tithes about 2% of their income. And with the economy the way it is, that number is expected to go down. Many churches currently are getting hit hard – finding that their giving has dropped 30% in 2008. Satan, during this financial crisis, would tempt us to believe that we need to stop trusting in God’s providence and to cut back on our giving. Are you listening to this temptation? Or are you trusting that God will take care of all your needs?

3) IN PATIENCE

Since I work with college students, I have to mention that many of them neglect patience when it comes to friendships or dating relationships. I have seen many college students make poor decisions on the friends they select or the guys/girls that they choose to date because they have lost patience with God. Since God is obviously not providing them with their dream guy or girl right now, they have to take matters into their own hands and lower their standards. This leads to one big mess. Are you continuing to trust in God’s providence in the relationship area in your life, or are you giving into the temptation to neglect patience?

We’ll cover the second temptation in the next blog.

Satan’s Schema – Part 1

2008-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Most people would not claim to be following Satan - because they are not hosting Satanic parties in their homes or participating in evil rituals. But you are under his power and control if you are not under God’s power and control.

First of all, Satan is a lot smarter than you think. Remember, Satan was once an angel in heaven with God. He knows the system. He knows how to win the hearts of Christians and non-Christians alike.

He doesn’t appear in the form of a monster or a man in a red cape with a pitchfork. He comes in the attractive form of a helper or savior. He even appeals to Christians by using Scripture to back up his main points. Therefore, there are many government officials, actors, musicians, and even pastors (to name of few) who claim to be in the God camp but are actually in the other camp. They are not following the true God because they have been deceived by the "angel of light" - also known as Satan.

Jesus ushered in the Kingdom when he came to the earth. However, the fulfillment of the Kingdom has not yet come – therefore, we live in a age where Satan still has some authority and power to do as he wishes.

Jesus gets a dose of Satan’s crafty self (in Matthew 4) when he goes off into the wilderness. He tempts Jesus in these three ways by saying:

Turn these stones into bread so you can have something to eat.
Throw yourself off this building so that they angels can catch you.
Worship me and I will give you all of the kingdoms of this world.

The next three blogs will be unpacking these seemingly trivial temptations by looking behind the scenes to figure out what Satan is really trying to do.

If we understand how Jesus was tempted, we’ll get a clearer picture of how Satan subversively attacks us on a daily basis.

The purpose of these writings will not be to help you get a one-up on Satan, but to realize that Satan has already been defeated by Jesus (because of the cross) and therefore we have the power available, if we are in Him, to overcome temptation and to live in peace with God and others.

Salvation is Past, Present, and Future

2008-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

My Old Testament professor said something profound that I still remember two and half years later.

He said that we were saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Theses three stages of salvation are past, present, and future.

A person who has received saving faith is one who:

Has trusted in Jesus death on the cross and resurrection as the means of our eternal salvation (justification)
Is trusting in Jesus to save us from the bondages of sin that we still find ourselves in right now (sanctification)
And continues to trust that Jesus will come back someday to fully save us from our decaying bodies and broken world by restoring and renewing everything (glorification)

Why is this important?

Many Christians are trusting in the past and future saving acts but not the present one. That is why you will find many Christians still addicted to pornography, stuck in broken marriages, or living anxiously from day to day.

They go in and out of church every Sunday, thinking about how their neighbors need to be saved (justified) and that their world needs to be saved (glorified), without taking a second to think about the ways in which Jesus wants to save (sanctify) them of the broken areas of their lives right now.

I am guilty myself of thinking a lot about how God wants to change other people and change the world without giving much thought to how God wants to change my life.

Justification is the starting line, not the finish line, for sanctification.

Are you an Epicurean or Stoic?

2008-10-31T05:28:00.000-07:00

St. Paul, in his great Acts 17 address, walked the fine line speaking to two different audiences. Even though this address was a few thousand years ago, I think that many people in our culture fall into these two categories.

EPICUREANS

“The Epicureans, we recall, believed that the gods, if they existed, were very far away, and had more or less nothing to do with human beings. As a result, they were supremely happy… to live as quietly as possible with just the right amount of everything. The ideal life is independent, untroubled, unworried about larger questions, including that of one’s own destiny.” – N.T Wright (Acts for Everyone)

You might be an epicurean if your view of God is one who stands far off in the clouds, watching us from afar, occasionally pulling some levers to make sure that the world keeps going. If you lean this way, you might find yourself thinking a lot about comfort – staying away from messy relationships, thinking about the next apartment or house that you want to live in, or looking at magazines to find out what the next upcoming style is going to be. The goal, since God is far off and will probably send everyone to heaven someday, is too live a quiet life and be comfortable in material things.

STOICS

“The Stoic, by contrast, would be happy to hear that there is indeed a divine life which is in all human beings.” – N.T. Wright (Acts for Everyone)

You might be a stoic if you consider yourself spiritual. Stoics, as they looked at the beauty of the human race or of creation, did not ignore the impulse in their hearts that something divine exists. The problem is that because of their uncertainty, they worshiped lots of different idols – clinging onto whatever the latest spiritual fad was.

RESPONDING TO THE TWO GROUPS

To the Epicureans, Paul proclaimed that the God that they thought to be far away was right here, right now. In fact, God came down out of human history to be with them! No longer could they live a quiet life, minimizing God as a distant, isolated, unknowable Being.

To the Stoics, Paul proclaimed that their divine inclinations were true, but that there was one way, one truth – which God proved through the death and resurrection of Jesus. No longer did they have to go from spiritual idol to spiritual idol – from fad to fad. They could be clear on who to worship and who to follow. They could turn around, repent, and follow someone who could actually change their lives and equip them to change the world. They could remove their fuzzy spiritual life that sounded good on the outside but was hollow on the inside.

Which side do you lean on?

God Saves Both Irreligious and Religious

2008-10-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

“Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life. Let’s call this the “moral improvement” view. Christianity teaches the very opposite. In the Christian understanding, Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.”
– Tim Keller (The Reason for God)

I would submit that there are three types of people in your fraternity or sorority: religious, irreligious, and gospel-centered Christians.

The Irreligious

Whether these people claim to believe in God or not, they live how they want to live. They are on the throne of their life. External sins are easier to spot in this crowd – getting drunk, sex with whomever, stealing, verbally or physically abusing someone, etc. Everyone will practice external sins to varying degrees – so don’t think that someone who “isn’t that bad” is not irreligious. They key here is that they are on the throne of their life and that they don’t see a need for a Savior.

The Religious

These people claim to believe in God and practice regularly in a religious denomination – trying hard to devote themselves to the teachings of that religion. Their sins are not as easy to spot as the irreligious because they are mostly internal – greed, selfishness, envy, judgment, jealousy, and most of all – pride. These people are climbing up the ladder of morality trying to become better people. Yet, at the same time, they have a sense of pride that they are much further along than everyone else. This leads to judging others who aren’t as religious as them. They think that if they keep up their performance, then they will have a better chance of being accepted by God. Rarely does a religious person see sin in his life, and if he does, he tries to hide it.

Gospel-centered Christians

These people recognize that they are deeply flawed and broken. They realize that the gospel says that we are all sinful and in need of a Savior – which means that the irreligious and the religious are all in the same boat. No one is better than the other. Instead of spending their time rebelling and doing whatever they want (like the irreligious) or trying to earn God’s favor and judging the people who aren’t like them (like the religious) - they are confessing their brokenness daily and asking God to save them and restore them.

What do I need to do?

If you are living irreligiously, it is not too late to ask God to forgive your sins and to put Himself on the throne of your life. 1 John 1:9 says that He is faithful to forgive you if you simply ask in humility.

If you are living religiously, you need to realize that you are way more sinful than you think and that all of your efforts to earn God’s approval are useless. Ask God to give you a bigger awareness of your sin so that you can have a greater awareness of God’s mercy through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And as you experience this great mercy, you’ll be able to extend it to your fraternity brothers or sorority sisters instead of pride or judgment.

Inspiring and Robbing Your Passion for Christ

2008-10-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

What is it that inspires you? Who is it?

Matt Chandler recently wrote an article on the things that fuel his passion for Christ and the things that drive him away from Christ.

I decided to set aside some time to meditate on these things in my own life. I want to a) take more initiative in pursuing the things that ignite a passion for Christ and b) cut out the things that rob this passion.

What stirs my affections for Christ? What, when I’m doing it, when I’m around it or dwelling on it creates in me a greater hunger for, passion for and worship of Christ and His mission?

My list:

1. Hot coffee and my bible in the morning
2. Listening to sermons on my iPod
3. Electronic Music (Djing)
4. Worship music (usually the slow, meditative kind)
5. Missiology discussions (engaging the lost and culture)
6. Spiritual conversations (with those seeking God)
7. Greek ministry discussions
8. Creative media – Short films or inspiring movies
9. Writing/thinking/dreaming
10. Listening to my best friends talk about how God is convicting, challenging, or encouraging them

What, when I do it or spend time around it create in me an unhealthy love for this world? What robs me of my hunger for Christ and passion for Him?

My list:

1. Checking my email constantly
2. Spending hours browsing the web
3. Being physically lazy around the house
5. Time with friends/family that is filled with shallow conversation
6. Listening to too many sermons
7. Watching too many TV shows on DVD (Netflix)

What increases your passion for Christ and what robs you of that passion?

Social Justice and the Non-Christian

2008-08-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

When Tim Keller was in college, he kept asking himself: “If [some say that] morality is relative, why isn’t social justice as well?” He’s alluding to the fact that some people think life is gray when it comes to issues of morality but very black and white when it comes to issues like poverty and oppression.

To stand firm on the idea that giving money to the poor is a “duh” black and white issue but that having sex before marriage (for example) is a gray issue – is inconsistent and contradictory.

Someone might reply to this by saying that pre-marital sex is controversial, but giving to the poor is not. They would point out that giving to the poor is known worldwide as a “good” thing. It is not relative. It is just a fact. Pre-martial sex however is not.

Let’s break this down a little more. Because there is a consensus in our culture or country that giving to the poor is a good thing, doesn’t mean it is a fact. There have been billions of people scattered through many cultures and countries who have disagreed with the idea of social justice. There has been much injustice and oppression and murder since the beginning of time by various nations. So which cultures are right? Who gets to claim that they have a better grasp of the truth?

If anything, the people who have practiced injustice are more logical than anyone. If no God exists and a “survival of the fittest” is in play, then giving to the poor would be counter-productive to us staying on top of the food chain. If we are going to survive, then moving to the suburbs, ignoring the poor, and holding onto our money is the most rational option!

However, we all know that there are millions of people who don’t believe in God, yet they want to give money to the poor. Why? Is it because the reasoning behind social justice is logical? No, it is rather more illogical if God doesn’t exist.

It we are here because of a random natural act, then everything is up for grabs. Everything is relative. However, if Creator God uniquely created and shaped the world and the people in it, then our passion for every human to have dignity and value seems very "black and white".

Self-Boasting and Self-Loathing

2008-08-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

We are all somewhere on the spectrum of loving ourselves or hating ourselves. Perhaps we swing back and forth from day to day.

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village, makes the case that both of these things take value away from the cross.

If I’m always thinking about how great I am, I’m not going to have any need for God’s grace and mercy.

On the other end, if I’m always hating myself and feeling guilty for the sins I’ve committed, then what I’m really saying is that my wrongs are too big for even God to make right. I’m minimizing the cross and have a low view of God’s ability to forgive.

Whether I’m self-boasting or self-loathing, the problem is that I’m thinking of myself and not God.

Are we proud of our accomplishments? Have we forgotten that all of our successes are like filthy rags next to God’s accomplishments? In making ourselves high, are we making God low?

Are we sick and tired of dwelling on our failures? Have we forgotten that God’s grace (extended to us through Jesus’ death on the cross) is much bigger than we could ever imagine? In doubting God’s ability and desire to forgive us, have we ignored the punishment that Jesus endured on our behalf and are now trying to punish ourselves through guilt and condemnation?

May we stop our boasting and our loathing and realize that we have been fixing our eyes on ourselves, not God.

Everyone Has a God

2008-08-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

*this musing was adapted from The Last Addiction by Sharon Hersh

“Whatever we are ultimately concerned with is a god for us.” – Paul Tillich

Whether we claim to believe in a god or not, we all have a god (or idol) that we worship and are addicted to – namely, a person, place, substance, activity, or ideology that becomes central to our mind, body, soul, and spirit.

Addiction is from the Latin word addictus, which means “to surrender to the gods”.

We all have a person, place, substance, activity, or ideology that we surrender ourselves to for the sake of finding peace and satisfaction.

It could be baseball. It could be shopping. It could be a parent. It could be a son or daughter. It could be work. It could be school. It could be a fraternity or sorority. It could be Allah. It could be a guy or a girl. It could be alcohol. It could be going green. It could be anything that we think about, talk about, and give praise to the most.

“Addiction is… worship. It is giving my heart and soul over to something that I believe will ease my pain…” – Sharon Hersh

As Christians, we might be tempted to worship something more than God Himself, which is idolatry. And even though an atheist might claim not to be religious (see last blog post), he does in fact have a religion because everyone worships something.

Here is the big truth about being addicted to anything other than God: “Addiction makes everything better until it makes everything worse.”

A man who is addicted to his work and makes it his god may be a good thing at first (i.e. job will bring in good money, favor from co-workers, recognition, etc.). But, when his family starts falling apart, everything gets worse.

We can apply this scenario to any of our idols. And the result is always the same: everything gets better until everything gets worse.

The only addiction that will not lead to emptiness, loneliness, and despair is the God of the bible.

“In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” – Psalm 16:11

Once we are addicted to the God of the bible, we can go on enjoying everything that He’s given us. We can worship Him who has given us all things instead of worshiping the things themselves.

Everyone Has a Religion

2008-07-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the universe has a religion – whether they are a Christian, Muslim, or Atheist.

Religion is simply defined as “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe.”

Even people who don’t call themselves religious have an opinion on why we are here and how we should live our lives. What is the key implication here? Exclusivity.

Non-religious people usually attack religious people because religious people claim to know why we are here and how we should live our lives. Religion appears to be arrogant and therefore the non-religious preach tolerance of all views.

They rebel against the religious for “evangelizing” the world with their exclusive views on the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe.

However, as you look at the life of a non-religious person, you’ll see that they are religious by the way they live their lives.

Every time someone says, “You should do this…” or “You can’t do that…” to anyone (child, neighbor, family member, etc.) - they are evangelizing their beliefs about the how the universe is wired. They are trying to impose a belief system on someone else. Therefore, every action that anyone takes is a religious one.

So the ultimate question is not “Should I be religious?” BUT “Which religion (belief system) should I put my trust in?”

If there really is an ultimate reality, a universal truth by which we should live – then it REALLY will be the best way to live – compared to all the other imitations out there.

All of us have a religion – full of beliefs that we think are superior to others. Therefore, pastor Tim Keller asks in his book The Reason for God, “Which [religion in the world today] will lead their believers to be the most loving and receptive to those with whom they differ?”

The answer is [authentic] Christianity. Jesus ushered in a movement that was defined by love – a love without conditions. Jesus loved his enemies and even died for them. Can you think of a better belief system than that?

Christianity is EXCLUSIVE (there is only one truth, one belief system by which we must live) but is also INCLUSIVE (Jesus will accept anyone at any time regardless of what they have done – if they put their trust in Him and His work on the cross for them).

Once again, can you think of any other belief system better than that?

A Restful Kind of Work

2008-07-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

*cliff notes and musings on Tim Keller’s sermon on work

Rocky Balboa couldn’t sleep the night before the big fight. He told his wife that he didn’t even need to win, but that he just wanted to go the distance. He simply said that he didn’t want to be a bum.

Madonna, in Vogue magazine said, “Every time I accomplish something I feel like a special human being, but after a little while I feel mediocre and uninteresting again. I find that I have to get past this again and again. My drive in life is from the horrible fear of being mediocre. I have to prove that I’m somebody.”

Harold Abram in the movie Chariots of Fire said, “I got ten seconds to justify my existence.”

What do these people have in common? They are all proving that there is something behind the work. They aren’t just working for money. They are working to find meaning and approval.

Steven Jay Gould, an atheist says, “We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a 'higher' answer - but none exists…this explanation, though superficially troubling, if not terrifying, is ultimately liberating. We, therefore, have to construct any meaning ourselves.”

The big question is: How are we going to find meaning in this life without a God in our worldview? Answer: through our work.

The problem with this answer is that if anything goes wrong with our career, then we don’t have meaning anymore.

You see, there is work, and then there is a work behind the work.

The “work behind the work” is the grueling pursuit to find approval and significance from others in this world. And since others’ approval is not sustaining, we are on this tiring pursuit our whole lives.

But a restful kind of work is being offered to us.

The reason why God’s work is so different is because it is a work that flows out of rest - a rest that is freely given and is the result of His approval and acceptance and love for us.

When we have value and purpose and acceptance before we go to work, we can work restfully. We can go about our work with joy, using the gifts God’s given us, truly desiring to help other people, because we are not thinking about having to make a name for ourselves.

May you fall into God’s rest by trusting in the fact that Jesus died on the cross, wiping away your sins, so that you can have acceptance and approval and meaning and value – even before you wake up in the morning and start working.

Confessions of a Campus Minister

2008-06-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

I desire others’ approval more than God’s approval most of the time.

I want people to think that I am more insightful than the majority.

I want people to think that I have it all together when I don’t.

I want people to think that I’m a few feet higher on the leadership totem pole than they are.

When I lose, I feel ashamed because the game is really all about me and not about enjoying time with my friends.

When people are talking to me, it’s hard to listen well because I’m thinking about the important thing that I’m going to say next.

When listening to sermons, I think about how I’m going to influence others with the content more than letting the content influence me.

With each community that I enter into, I look for the things that people clap for, and then I go and do those things.

No means a Yes

2008-06-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

I Just talked with a student on the campus of University of California-San Diego who asked me a good question.

“If I keep doing good without becoming a Christian, will I be all right?”

He explained to me that he didn’t want to get into any sort of organized religion – into a system where he would have to be hyper-committed and enter into a life of begrudged submission.

I don’t blame him for keeping God at a distance since his view of Christianity is one that would require him to leave his life of joy and freedom and enter into a no-fun monastic life.

Tonight, here at the coffee shop, I’m trying to get my head around the truth that when we say NO to something, we also say YES to something. The spiritual life, which looks like a life of many no's, is also a life of many yes’s.

When we say no to buying a bigger house than we need, we are saying yes to the opportunity of alleviating poverty in our city. When we say no to pornography, we are saying yes to a more fulfilling marriage with out spouse. When we say no to an hour of TV we can say yes to an hour of communing with the God of the Universe.

We give our no's to the lesser things and at the same time give our yes's to the greater things.

I suspect that if I were to share this with my friend at UCSD that he would roll his eyes at the offer. I mean, spending time with God, alleviating poverty, or stopping an addiction to pornography might sound like a no-fun deal.

That is because God's path is like vegetables. When you are a kid, eating vegetables sounds like a bitter deal. But, by the time that kid is 70 years old, he will will realize that the health-driven path that seemed bitter in the beginning turned out to be the better option.

God is calling you and me from a junk food life (devouring the things that give us temporary pleasure) and into a life of unmatchable joy in Him.

The Christian Bubble

2008-05-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

Listen up protective parents and pastors! There is something tragic going on at our public Universities.

Christian students seem to be getting spiritually slaughtered in their classrooms and dorms.

About 2/3 of Christian teenagers will quit attending a church once they leave home and go to the big city for college (barna.org).

Why are so many Christians leaving the faith after high school?

Bayard Taylor, in his book “Blah Blah Blah”, would suggest that it is because a lot of Christian students are coming out of a bubble that we’ve put them in. We have kept our students in “safe” environments – away from culture and all other worldviews. But eventually, the high school students have to step out onto the college battlefield, and when they do, it’s not pretty.

Imagine what would happen to us physically if we walked around with a plastic bubble around us so that we would never be in danger of getting sick. What would happen if someone came up to one of us and popped our bubble? Our immune system would be exposed to multiple diseases and we could possible die!

The flue shot is another good example. When you get a flu shot, you actually are injected with something harmful so that your body can learn how to better protect itself when a bigger dose comes along in the future. By “being exposed” our defenses grow stronger.

Applying this analogy, it would make a lot of sense to let our students out of “the bubble” to be injected with a dose of culture so that they can better learn to love it and critique it. Perhaps then their spiritual immune systems would grow stronger with each “exposure” and become more ready for the spiritual battles that lay ahead.

Some practical ideas:

Pray about sending your kid to a public high school
Allow your kid to have non-Christian friends
Watch popular movies and have a good discussion afterwards about the biblical themes and non-biblical themes
Allow your kid to listen to a variety of music that isn’t produced by a Christian label
Allow them to question the Christian faith without getting angry at them (these questions will sharpen them and you)

Such Thing As a Selfless Good Deed?

2008-05-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

I just watched the Friends TV episode where Joey insists that there's no such thing as a selfless good deed and Phoebe sets out to prove him wrong.

She calls him from a pay phone and tells him that she let a bee sting her in the park so that the bee could show off how tough he was to his friends. But then Joey lets her know that the bee probably died after stinging her. Therefore, the good deed caused death.

Later on, Joey is taking calls for a charity on PBS, and Phoebe calls in making a donation, even though she hates PBS (because she sent Sesame Street a letter when she was a kid and they never wrote back). So, Joey praises her for the donation and says that it's a selfless good deed.

But, both he and Phoebe are wrong. The only reason Phoebe made that donation was to prove Joey wrong; it had nothing to do with being good-hearted.

This Friends episode really exposes the fact that many good people do good things out of selfish ambition. I admit that I do this all the time without knowing it. It is our “fallen” human nature to do good things only if we will get something in return.

I’ve heard the argument that all good people go to heaven. But this simply can’t be true because we are all guilty of doing good things for the wrong reasons. We love so that we can be loved in return. We serve so that we can be served in return.

But the God we worship and the God who conforms us to His image is always selfless.

Being selfless in His nature, “he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt 5:45). God, out of his infinite love, blesses both those who worship Him and those who don’t.

The ultimate sign of God’s selflessness is displayed brilliantly through Jesus. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

While we live in a world full of mixed motives, we can fix our eyes on the most selfless act ever performed – a perfect God dying for an imperfect people.

How Should Christians Approach Culture?

2008-05-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

House-flippers are kind of like gospel-centered Christians.

A normal citizen may pass by a banged-up house on the street or tour the home from the inside, reject it, and then move on.

But the house-flippers take a more gospel-centered approach. With every house that catches their eye, they view it as redeemable.

They search for the good in a house and then identify its areas of brokenness. They affirm that the house was once a brand new house designed by a good creator. But over time, as we know, every house begins to decay. Decay is the default. So then, the house-flipper goes about the process of redeeming the house (purchasing it for themselves) and then restoring it (reversing its decaying condition).

Paul, in Acts, walks up to a spiritually decaying people, affirms their God-given desire by saying, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious”, but then goes on to tell them about the Person (Jesus) who can redeem and restore them from their broken condition.

I think most fundamentalists would order that each banged-up house be torn down immediately and I think the liberals would chain themselves to the yard trees to promote tolerance (of the house in its current condition). One group tears down the house and the other group leaves the house the way it is. Neither of these approaches is love.

Which way do you usually approach culture?

Redeeming Souls vs. Redeeming Culture

2008-04-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a dichotomy in the church between proclamation and mercy ministries.

Some churches train their people to share the gospel and hold many evangelistic events and outreaches. Other churches or ministries follow Saint Francis’s advice, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” Redeeming souls vs. Redeeming culture. That seems to be the split.

The Christian communities I’m involved in seem to drift more toward redeeming souls than redeeming culture. We talk a lot about internal redemption (of the soul) but not so much about external redemption (of the culture). So, I think we should ask ourselves why this is and make some necessary changes.

Are we teaching out students how to redeem culture once they have come to Christ?

If they step out into one of these cultural institutions (Business, Government, Media, Church, Arts & Entertainment, Education, Social Sector) after graduation, will they know what to do?

How do we go about equipping our students to do the works God has prepared for them in advance... in their area of influence?

Bored People Are Not In Tune With Reality

2008-04-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on my computer last night trying to entertain myself. In short, I was bored, looking for something to do.

Then, I came across an article that put my life on pause for a brief second. To be honest, I can’t remember what I read exactly – but I think it had something to do with the conflict in Africa. I prayed for the situation, but not before a realization came upon me.

Bored people are not in tune with Reality.

We are distracted. Our vision of how things really are... is dimmed.

When I was in San Diego five years ago on a summer project with Campus Crusade, we did this thing called an International Dinner. Each of us were placed in a different “country” atmosphere – although all of us were in the same room next to each other. I was, thank goodness, placed in “China” where I was given a small cup of rice for dinner.

The "American" group, in the middle of the large room, was given a feast. During the evening, the Americans had the freedom to walk around and share their food with the other surrounding “countries”. But they didn’t. Why?

They were distracted!

The staff team gave them video games to play, free back rubs, and an unending amount of food. The entire night, not one student in the American location stepped out to view the needs of those around them. While in their bubble, they lost their sense of Reality.

I think all of us were designed to be heroes. But because of our ability to distance ourselves from the sin of the world, our vision is dimmed and we default to do doing nothing.

It’s troubling to me that I find myself bored way too often. I choose comfort rather than mission, and it only decreases my view of God and leaves me spiritually lethargic.

What if we were given better alternatives to the things we do when we are bored?

Play video games all summer VS. Go to Africa and wire a town for internet

Read books every Friday night VS. Tutor a few kids so they can learn how to read

Go to the movies every Saturday VS. Make a documentary about an injustice in the city

Sneak around town and graffiti VS. Design pieces for an art show and give proceeds to the poor

Shop at the mall VS. Find a local refugee family in the city to give away clothes to

Evangelicalism: The “How” But Not The “Why”

2008-04-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Parents who tell their children what to do but don’t explain why - are parents who breed rebellious children. A lot of evangelical churches have done the same.

Matt Chandler explained in a recent talk at the Resurgence conference that evangelicals decades ago, in response to the liberalism that was growing, started to retreat from culture and vigorously study systematic theology. Thus, truth began to outweigh grace by a hefty margin.

Now days, churches will preach exegetically through big books of the bible, drawing out hundreds of applications (the “how” of the Christian life) without ever unpacking the person and work of Jesus Christ (the “why” of the Christian life).

When parents give commands to their kids, the kids usually respond, “Why?” And then the parents usually respond back saying, “Because I said so.” This command and control method, which a lot of evangelical churches have adopted, breeds big heads and shriveled hearts. And as we have tried to re-engage the culture the past few decades, we have found ourselves in the midst of a very rebellious people, still angry at the church.

Only by unpacking the person and work of Jesus will we be able to regain the trust of those people who have been burned by the church. Focusing in on who Jesus was and what he did will inspire us to live for God’s glory and align us to his Kingdom purposes.

I am very convicted by Matt’s talk and am re-thinking how and what I’m teaching the students I work with. Am I preaching moralism? Or am I preaching Christ?

Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"

2008-03-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

Ben Stein taking on the world's smartest scientists? This caught me by surprise. Ben Stein was a speech writer for Nixon and Ford and had his own TV game show on Comedy Central.

Ben traveled the world to surface the persecution of scientists who take on an "intelligent design" view. I wonder how this film will affect our nation in regards to what kind of science should be taught in the class room. I'm excited to see the film.

WATCH THE SUPER TRAILER

Sex, Sushi, and Salvation

2008-03-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

I just got done reading the book "Sex, Sushi, and Salvation". It is an easy, entertaining, yet deep read on faith and the God who authored it. I highly recommend this book! This is bound to soar to the heights that "Blue Like Jazz" did.

Here is a quote from the book:

“You don’t have to be a writer to tell the story of Jesus. If you’re an artist, paint it. If you’re a singer, sing it. It doesn’t matter what you do or where you are, every one of us can point beyond ourselves. If you are in retail, tell us about the transaction of salvation. If you are a gardener, describe His crown of thorns. If you are a mathematician, describe the length of the nails. Doctors can best portray His pain, and lawyers can best understand our pardon.”

– Christian George, author of Sex, Sushi, and Salvation

A Freedom That Leads To Slavery

2008-03-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Is it possible for a free person to be a slave?

Is it a paradox that a person growing in earthly freedom can actually become less free?

Rob Bell, in his newest book, Sex God, says something quite interesting:

“Often freedom is seen as the ability to do whatever you want. But freedom isn’t being able to have whatever we crave. Freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it.”

Let’s look at a drinking scenario since it is a rather common occurrence in fraternities and sororities.

Many Greeks have the potential to become pendulum swingers when it comes to personality and attitude. During the big parties, these students are energized, happy, humorous, and seem to enjoy life to the fullest. But during the school week comes complaining, bitterness, and depression. Thus, the weekly Wasted Wednesday becomes an oasis opportunity for these guys and girls to drink and be satisfied with life again.

As these students choose the freedom to drink in increasing measure and start to rely on these “party nights”, they slip more and more out of freedom.

We often become dependent on what we are free to do. Therefore we become un-free.

Guys who choose to look at pornography because they are free to do so, become addicted and then become slaves to pornography. Girls who choose to date one guy after another because they are free to do so, become addicted to dating and then become slaves to dating.

So, how can we be really free?

The bible makes it clear that we are born as broken people. We are slaves to doing the things that bring chaos instead of order. We’d rather be addicted to things that benefit ourselves rather than benefit others. We are slaves of wrongdoing.

Jesus, however, offers us an alternative – being slaves or right doing. Can you imagine being the type of person who can’t help but do the right thing in every situation?

This is true freedom: Not being addicted to any wrongdoing.

However, simply abstaining from wrong things will not lead to satisfaction. A lot of Christians are really good at following the rules and abstaining from the wrong things. But there is no joy and not satisfaction in their life. That is why they secretly envy their fraternity brothers or sorority sisters who are living it up, partying, and enjoying life to the fullest. This type of envy makes it easy for them to condemn the wrong doers because they wish they could be having “fun” too!

No, true freedom means replacing the addiction of wrong things with the addiction of right things. True freedom means leaving behind the story of your life for a better story.

By receiving Jesus into your life and submitting to his way of life, you will eventually become more and more addicted to him and a life of right doing. You will find yourself desiring to go down and serve Hurricane Katrina victims rather than going on a party trip to Mexico. You will find yourself serving your housemates by doing extra chores rather than locking yourself in your room to look at pornography. You will find yourself hanging out with and mentoring younger brothers and sisters in the House instead of spending an hour on the phone each night with your boyfriend or girlfriend – who you will eventually break up with.

Being a slave to right doing is the only kind of addiction you want to have in your life. And this change of desire can only come through Jesus.

He died and was resurrected so that we could die to a life of wrongdoing and be resurrected into a life of right doing.

Jay Leno: Why Are Americans Unhappy?

2008-03-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Jay Leno offers some interesting thoughts on unhappy Americans....

"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true, given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?

Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.

Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all, and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames th us saving you, your family and your belongings.

Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes , an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have , and what we hate about the country instead of tha nking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled un grateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The Commander-In Chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it...are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful be hind every day.

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go.

They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds, it leads; and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Si mpson to write a book about "how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way"...Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Jay Leno
2007

God’s Not On Their Team

2008-03-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Whose team is God on? I bet that most people will get this question wrong.

I believe that there has been a huge misconception about God and who he is for and who he is against.

Most tend to categorize the world into two groups: religious and irreligious, good people and bad people, the righteous and the sinners. They think the protagonists are the priests, pastors, and church members who go to church three times a week. The antagonists are the people at the bars, the strip clubs, the cheating bosses, the gossiping co-workers, and so on.

So, the desire of most non-Christians is to become more religious throughout their life to try to work their way closer to the religious people (you know, the people on God’s team).

But most people see the priests in the news who molest boys, the televangelists who hoard money, the judgmental aunt who makes them feel guilty about everything, the condemners who show up downtown yelling about how “God hates fags” as the ultra-religious people who are on God’s team. They look at this team, shudder, and tell themselves that if God is their God, then they want no part it!

Most people forget that the religious people are the ones who killed Jesus.

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18 that describes the story of a religious man and a sinner. The religious man prays and boasts about how good he is. The sinner beats his chest and asks God to have mercy on him. Jesus then concludes by saying, “This man [the sinner], rather than the other, went home justified before God.”

There are not two teams – the religious and the irreligious. There are bad people and bad people as Mark Driscoll claims. There are bad people who think highly of themselves and there are bad people who think lowly of themselves - and cry out to God.

Which team is God on?

Jesus showed us which team he was on by who he hung out with while he was on earth. He visited the sinners most often. He loved to hang out with the social outcasts, the prostitutes, the people who knew they were spiritually sick. And when he ran into the religious people, it usually ended in a fight.

So, when you run into your neighbor, co-worker, or friend – share with them the good news that Jesus is not on the side of the legalists, the fundamentalists, the judgmental church-goers, or the proud and arrogant.

He’s on the side of the broken, the needy, the humble. That is God’s team.

THAT is good news.

Spiritual Movements for Dummies: How Did Jesus Do It?

2008-02-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

A “come to us” approach has been used by Christians for hundreds of years. But did Jesus use that approach?

Most churches and campus movements have struggled with becoming less attractional (come to us) and more missional (go to them).

It is kind of ironic that Jesus was a skilled carpenter, yet he never used his skills to build a temple and invite the masses to him. It is true that people were attracted to him and followed him around, but he was always on the go.

So, what principles can we learn from Jesus’ movement launching strategy?

1) Leave “Home”

Jesus left home his home in heaven to enter our territory.

Have our churches or students left home? Do they have a dwelling beyond their Christian community? If multiple movements are going to happen, people must first be told to “Go”. I’m not talking outreach events and one-time conversations. I’m talking about doing life with other people in other communities.

2) Embrace Middle Spaces

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch would say that these middle spaces are “places or events where Christians and not-yet-Christians can interact meaningfully with each other.” Some of Jesus’ middle spaces would include the synagogue, peoples’ homes, the beach, boats, etc. Middle spaces on campus might include intramural sports teams, the dorms, Greek Houses, clubs or organizations, etc. Jesus didn’t pass around sign-up sheets for bible studies, but he did enter into middle spaces and began teaching there.

So perhaps we should not ask “What people can we get to join our community?” but rather, “What community can I join and participate in?” to incarnate the gospel.

Middle spaces for adults might include a Parent/Teacher Association, sowing club, book club, town hall meetings, neighborhood association, the workplace, hunting trips, political campaigns, etc. You have the opportunity to bring Jesus to where people do life (missional) before you try bringing people to your church or bible study (attractional).

3) Identify With Others

As Jesus left home and began dwelling in these middle spaces here on earth, he began to identify with the people he hung out with. He chose to live like them, with all the struggles and problems that they faced.

As we dwell among the artists, the Greeks on campus, the fellow dorm students, the minority students, we begin to take on their pains, their struggles, their joys. We enter into their lives to identify with them. It is in this identification process that we find the redemptive window through which the gospel can most effectively come into this community.

The Huckabee Momentum

2008-01-25T22:52:00.000-08:00

Mike Huckabee, running for the GOP nomination, has been running a strong grassroots campaign. It was said that the Evangelicals in Iowa helped him to earn a come-from-behind win in the Iowa caucus. Here are some videos to catch you up to speed on Mike Huckabee...

HUCK / CHUCK NORRIS FACTS

EVOLUTION DEBATE

DEATH PENALTY, ABORTION, AND JESUS

VALUES

PUTTING IRS OUT OF BUSINESS

JAY LENO APPEARANCE

Nudity Is The Point: Part 3 of 3

2008-01-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

Spiritual nudity reflects a healthy relationship with God.

Spiritual nudity causes us to run towards God with all our junk.

Spiritual nudity causes us to run towards a Christ-following community so that we can verbally experience grace and truth through other people. This type of experience causes change and healing. Community is the pipeline of living water coming straight from God Himself. Exposing yourself and your junk in community is the physical manifestation of one’s inward relationship with God. Just as one person eats bread when they are hungry, so a person enters into community when they are hungry for God.

Sadly, most people never experience this type of healing and empowering community.

A teenage girl whose father left her when she was little will listen to the enemy’s lie that says if she would just date a punk who will give her acceptance through sex, then her void would be filled.

A successful businessman who feels like the next step up the corporate ladder will add value and respect to his life, listens to the enemy’s lie that says if he gets another promotion, then he will be valued more in society.

A Christian missionary who feels like his identity can be measured in how successful he is at ministry can buy into the lie that God will accept him more if he just works harder.

A college girl who spends all her time gossiping about celebrities or her friends buys into the lie that if she talks about the negatives, then it will make her feel better about herself or make her look better to others.

A fraternity guy who doesn’t want to show up to the spiritual group on campus for fear that his friends will make fun of him buys into the lie that his brothers’ acceptance of him will be more valuable and satisfying than God’s acceptance of him.

If I were to include you in the next example, what would I write?

What are you going after in the world today because you aren’t receiving it in community right now?

Out of pride are you pursuing success so that you can manipulate the system and make people say that they are proud of you? Or are you showing up in a community of people that say that they are proud of you simply because God is proud of you? Are you in a sexual relationship because it is easier to manipulate the system by making someone say they love you rather than showing up to a group of people who will tell you that you are loved because God is love? Are you giving into peer pressure, manipulating the system to make people accept you rather than entering into a community of people that will tell you that you are fully accepted even before you do anything good or bad?

When Adam and Eve ran from God and communion with Him, He pursued them… and he is pursuing you.

May you turn around and walk towards love and acceptance and value through the community of God's people close by. Are you ready to walk into the light? Are you ready for spiritual nudity?

Nudity Is The Point: Part 2 of 3

2008-01-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

All Christians have the potential to be great counselors if we can master one great truth: A broken relationship with God is the diagnosis for every problem.

An healthy relationship with God leads us to:

1) Find satisfaction in God alone
2) Become secure with how we were uniquely designed
3) Feel fully accepted in every situation and season of life
4) Not feel ashamed when we mess up because God has credited Jesus Christ’s righteousness to those of us who have accepted it
5) Run toward God
6) Become naked spiritually – not covering up our attitudes or actions

A broken relationship with God leads us to:

1) Find satisfaction in people and things rather than God Himself
2) Become insecure with our physical and spiritual make up
3) Feel that we aren’t fully accepted exactly the way we are
4) Feel ashamed when we mess up because of our world’s judgmental attitude
5) Run from God
6) Cover up our attitudes and actions

This type of broken relationship with God will also isolate people from engaging in a healthy Christian community. Fears of judgment and rejection will keep us away from the bright light of an authentic, transparent, family-like community.

From my vantage point, looking at how one person interacts in a Christian community can tell me a lot about their relationship with God.

If a person is in a healthy unbroken relationship with God, spiritual nudity is something to be desired and embraced. If I see a student coming to a small group meeting, confessing their brokenness, taking off their mask, and exposing their true attitudes, I can tell that they have a lot of confidence in God’s character (that God will forgive them, accept them, and heal them through Jesus).

Recently, I did an online survey of the students I work with. I asked them why they weren’t currently coming to our fraternity and sorority community groups. A few students told me anonymously that they felt like they were insecure about their knowledge of the bible or that they were ashamed of their past and felt like they would be exposed and not accepted.

These answers confirmed my suspicion that these students were giving in to the same lie that Adam and Eve believed in the beginning – that running from God and covering themselves up would lead to safety. The truth, on the other hand, is that God wants all of us to run to him naked, knowing that He is waiting to aggressively forgive, love, and accept us. .

Nudity therefore is the point that God wants us to embrace.

In Part 3, we’ll look at some concrete examples in our society of how people reject spiritual nudity and why they do so.

Nudity Is The Point: Part 1 of 3

2008-01-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

For years people have been wearing clothes.

Our attire has evolved from leaves to leather since our first parents, Adam and Eve, entered the scene.

When Adam and Eve sinned for the first time, they felt ashamed, not only emotionally but physically – spurring them to grab a few leaves and run for cover. I would argue that this physical act of “covering up” is a demonstration of what is going on inside the heart.

For some reason, for the however many years that Adam and Eve lived in the garden before they sinned, they felt no need to wear any clothes. We have to ask ourselves, “Why?”

Donald Miller, in his book Searching For God Knows What, says that he thinks Scripture teaches us that “Man is wired so he gets his glory (his security, his understanding of value, his feeling of purpose, his feeling or rightness with his Maker, his security for eternity) from God, and this relationship is so strong, and God’s love is so pure, that Adam and Eve felt no insecurity at all, so much so that they walked around naked and didn’t even realize they were naked. But when this relationship was broken, they knew it instantly.”

Once the relationship between Adam and Eve and God was broken, they continued to drift into insecurity more and more. They began to believe that what they did was so terrible that God could not possibly forgive them. So they ran and hid.

Perhaps counseling people in our world should be simpler that most people think. What if the majority of all our problems can be traced back to the idea that we have a broken relationship with our Maker and therefore are trying to find security and value in other things besides Him? What if the reason for the lusting of business success, popularity, or money can be traced back to the fact that we are cut off from the Source of Life and therefore are desperately trying to fill these huge voids in our lives.

What if a college student went on a drinking binge not because he or she was trying to take their satisfaction to the next level, but because they didn’t have any satisfaction in God and His way of doing things in the first place? What if a college girl had sex with a random fraternity guy not because she was intentionally trying to do evil, but because she didn’t feel like she was accepted and loved enough by God?

Maybe every act of sin or evil can be traced back to the fact that a broken relationship with God propels us into a life of filling the holes in our heart with things or people other than God - a life that causes us to put on our clothes and enter unsafe territory.

In part 2, we’ll contrast the characteristics of a “relationship with God” and a “broken relationship with God.” We’ll also connect these characteristics to spiritual nudity – the wonderful thing that Adam and Eve had going before the Fall, the kind of thing that God desires for us right here, right now.

Finding the Narrow Path: Part 2

2007-12-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

NARROW IS RISKY

Venturing onto the narrow path is risky business. Since most people will continue to walk in the other direction, leaving this big path means that you will be leaving a lot behind. In some cases, you’ll be leaving your entire family behind. In other cases, it is leaving your material possessions, your friends, your false beliefs, your comfort, your ability to be cool. This is all done with the kind of faith that says that the narrow path will eventually lead to bigger and better things.

Here are some ways to help you measure whether or not you’ve actually left the wide road and entered onto the narrow risky road of faith:

1) What comes out your mouth? Is it the same type of things that come out of everybody else’s mouth? Slander, gossip, complaining, etc.?

2) Do you know God? Not, do you know about God. But do you know who he is, what he wants, what he likes/dislikes? Are you merely hearing God through other people, or are you hearing from him yourself?

3) What do you give your money to? Jesus says that where your money is, that is where your heart is also. I’m not talking about just giving money to your pastor. What about the injustices in your city or in the world? Paying a pastor or missionary is great, but is that all God cares about?

If you are a little nervous after reading this short list, then you might be tempted to go out and do these things. But, I have bad news. The list is much longer than this. Trying to complete the checklist is a futile pursuit.

The goal isn’t to go out and do more things for God, it is to become the type of person who desires to do these things.

And that desire can only come from God.

People on the narrow path aren’t the ones with the biggest resumes, but they are the ones who know God intimately, not intellectually - and their lives bear much fruit because of it.

They fully realize what God has done for them in Christ and therefore have unlimited access to resurrection power - the only power that will bear spiritual fruit.

Finding the Narrow Path: Part 1

2007-12-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been hiking on a trail or road and then noticed a side trail shooting off of the main one? Doesn’t that peak your curiosity? I mean, who doesn’t want to abandon the big dirt road that everyone else is on to venture out onto the mysterious side trail adventure? You already know where the big path leads, but where does the small one go?

Jesus says something mysterious using this type of analogy in the Scriptures. He tells those that want to enter into his Kingdom community that they have to go through the “narrow gate.” He then goes on to say that those who head toward the “wide gate” are walking right into disaster.

One big question that pops into my mind after reading a passage like this is:

Who is heading toward the “narrow gate” and who is heading toward the “wide gate?”

IMPARTING INFORMATION

Most of us like categories and labels and checklists. What will it take to get onto the narrow path? What do I have to do? What do I have to know or accept?

Dallas Willard says, “The narrow gate is not, as so often assumed, doctrinal correctness.” Note: Doctrinal correctness is just a fancy way of saying that you know all the right stuff.

Willard goes on to say, “… The aim of the popular teacher in Jesus’ time was not to impart information, but to make a significant change in the lives of the hearers. Of course that may require an information transfer, but it is a particularly modern notion that the aim of teaching is to bring people to know things that may have no effect at all on their lives. The teacher must get the information into them. We then ‘test’ the patients to see if they ‘got it’ by checking whether they can reproduce it in language rather than watching how they live.”

So, do not be surprised when you see a lot of “Christians” who scored high on their theology test walking with everybody else toward the wide gate.

Attacking or Withdrawing

2007-11-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

I have been happily married now for over a year and I am proud to say that me and Lindsey have never had a fight yet. Things have just been so perfect. And if you keep reading, you’ll know that I am a big liar!

Conflict is all around us, at work, at school, at home, and everywhere else in the cosmos. We all handle conflict differently. Most of us either attack the conflict or withdraw from conflict. I tend to be an attacker. I hate not having peace between Lindsey and me. Instead of thinking through the situation patiently, I try to solve the problem as fast as possible. I try to control the situation, which just brings more conflict. Lindsey, on the other hand, likes to withdraw from conflict. Instead of fighting for peace, she withdraws and isolates herself, giving her a temporary kind of peace. Both methods don’t work.

I was thinking the other day: Does the way we handle conflict in our everyday normal life play into the way we handle the cosmic conflict (the conflict that exists between God and the world)?

Since we have drifted and separated ourselves from God, there is this tension now that exists throughout the whole universe. That is why we as Christians share our faith. We want there to be peace between God and the world again.

The Scripture says, “God… reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” One of the ways the original Greek word for reconciliation (Katallage) is described is “the restoration to favor with God”. We have been called to be peacemakers, to create peace between God and others so that he will have favor on them.

This comes through the person and work of Jesus. But, I think in the telling of the good news about Jesus, a lot of Christians have failed miserably, myself included.

We can’t ignore the fact that our sinful tendencies (in resolving conflict) bleed into our methods of evangelism or sharing the gospel or sharing our faith – or better, bringing peace.

If you are an ATTACKER when conflict arises, then you might struggle with the following when trying to share your faith:

Self Righteousness: I picked the right team and so everyone else should do the same. They are wrong and I am right.

Pride: Since I know the truth, I can persuade others to follow God without God’s help.

Arguing or Subduing: If I put fear into people, I will be able to control them to do what I want. If I can’t inspire them to change, I will manipulate them.

The final result: At best, people will avoid you. At worst, they will not want to follow Jesus if it means going to church with people just like you.

If you are a WITHDRAWER when conflict arises, then you might struggle with the following when trying to share your faith:

Insecurity: I don’t know how to share my faith very well so I better stay away. I don’t want them to think less of me.

Fear: Better to be safe than to take a risk and lose the argument. Plus, I wouldn’t want to put the relationship/friendship in danger.

Denial: I’d like to think that there really isn’t conflict between them and God. And if there was, that’s between them and God.

The final result: At best, people will like you but you’ll experience a lot of bitterness because the people around you will not be experiencing the peace of God. At worst, the people in your life will not get the opportunity to be reconciled to God and spend eternity with him.

So, what does it look like to be a great peacemaker? Sorry, there is no formula. But I do know one thing. A lack of godliness will not contribute to good conflict resolution.

Giving Blood: The Story Behind The Story

2007-10-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

I sat in the big blue reclining chair today waiting to be pierced. Every eight weeks I get a polite call from an American Red Cross saying that they are in great need of my blood. As I sit back, I think about why I am waiting to be poked with a needle in the first place. What is the reason for all of this?

It’s true that if there were no accidents, there would be no American Red Cross. Without sick or dying people, giving blood would not be necessary. Accidents cause problems. Problems require solutions – giving blood. Without the problem, no solution is needed.

Jesus, at one time, was not very necessary for me. People told me that he was the solution to my problems but I didn’t see a problem in the first place. I thought of Jesus as a really nice guy who came to teach us how to live good moral lives. That’s the extent of why I thought Jesus came down to earth. So, when I heard about Jesus dying on the cross and spilling his blood for me, it didn’t make sense. I didn’t see a problem in my life for such a solution to exist.

In order for Jesus to become relevant to us, we have to realize that we are sick and dying right here right now. Though we like to think that we aren’t sick and dying, we talk about our brokenness everyday. However, we usually like to talk about others’ problems – conveniently looking beyond our own.

Hospitals contain many unique and wonderful people, who were going about their lives as usual until they got hit by a car, struck with cancer, or some other tragedy. However, in the case of our spirituality, our sick and dying state in not an accident. Though we were created uniquely and significantly in the eyes of God, by our own free will we stepped out of the yard and wandered into the street. We caused our own accident.

Now we sit in pain as the doctors desperately try to put us back together again. The only hope that we have of surviving is someone else’s blood. Without the blood, our efforts as well as the doctors don’t matter.

In a physical accident, the blood that I’m giving today may save someone’s physical life. But in the spiritual context, only the blood shed by Jesus will save someone’s spiritual life. What you or I could not do, he’s done.

“He lived the life we should have lived and he died the death we should have died,” pastor Mark Driscoll explains.

That’s the story behind my story today.

Every time I sit in that big blue chair, I think not of the blood I’m giving, but the blood I’ve been given by him.

“But [Jesus] was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5

Program My Happiness

2007-10-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Are you a happy person? What makes you happy?

Happiness is not as simple as we’d like to think. Take for example a dog. Why do some families buy a dog to increase their happiness while other families detest getting a dog? Why might one student jump for joy when getting a “B” on their math test and another student cry?

Anthony DeMello says, “What makes you happy or unhappy is not the world and the people around you, but the thinking in your head… Do you realize that you could have the finest looks and the most charming personality and the most pleasant of surroundings, and still be unhappy?”

What he’s getting at is that your happiness is directly related to the programming inside your head.

A student’s parents might program their son to think that getting an “A” on his math test is the only acceptable option. IF he gets an “A”, THEN his parents will accept him and he’ll be happy. A girl who grew up with a dog her whole life might think that IF she gets a dog when she leaves home, THEN she’ll be happy. You see, the fulfillment of these programmatic requirements inside the head determines the happiness, not the “A” or the “dog” itself.

It is true that being accepted by your parents or getting a dog after high school will bring flashes of excitement and pleasure, but we can’t mistake that for happiness.

DeMello continues, “If people want happiness so badly, why don’t they attempt to understand their false beliefs [due to the programming]? First, because it never occurs to them to see them as false or even as beliefs. They see them as facts and reality… Second, because they are scared to lose the only world they know: the world of desires, attachments, fears, social pressures, tensions, ambitions, worries, guilt, with flashes of the pleasure and relief and excitement which these things bring.”

We are being programmed daily by our family, friends, and culture. Adam and Eve, the first to be programmed, did not take the time to reflect on how the Deceiver was programming them with The Lie. So they ate. They thought it would make them happy, but it did not. This deception and programming has gone on even up till today.

So how do we un-program ourselves and then know how to live in God’s Reality? How do we get out of the Matrix and live in God’s Real world?

As you begin to read the bible and interact with others who are following Jesus, the light of Truth and the weight of Reality will begin to press into your darkness and start to expose your false beliefs and deconstruct the programming inside your head. Your thoughts and actions will be reconciled by the Spirit of God. You won’t fall prey to quick bursts of pleasure, but you’ll attach yourself to the rich roots of satisfaction in Him.

A Heaven With No Clouds

2007-09-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some commonly held assumptions about heaven among Christ followers:

*content is from the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn which is outlined bellow by Rick McKinley in This Beautiful Mess

We assume that heaven is a completely nonphysical experience. We'll float around and morph from place to place. We assume that heaven will feel unfamiliar and other-wordly.

Truth: The bible shows that heaven will be a restored physical world. Heaven will be a flourishing realm of city and nature, of people and conversations, of streets to walk down and good food to be enjoyed.

We assume that in heaven people will be spirits (nice ghosts, though, like Casper).

Truth: The bible tells us that we will exist in eternity in a body that has been "raised in glory" - a physical body similar to the resurrected Jesus - that will never again wrestle with sickness, want, pain, or aging.

We think of heaven as static. Harps and clouds and very loud sing-alongs. We tend to imagine a heaven where we will have no desire because everything will be perfect and we will have nothing to do.

Truth: You will have things to do, people to visit, meaningful relationships, fulfilling responsibilities. The bible shows us that we have been created in the image of God to be passionate about many things, to pursue, to enjoy, and to achieve. In heaven, there is a good chance that you'll be doing many of the same things you are doing now that you enjoy!

As we let the truth about heaven push aside our wrong assumptions, we'll find ourselves wanting heaven more and being defeated by earth less.

My note: This makes me excited to be a part of heaven even more. But it doesn't make me want to sit around and wait. It makes me want to pray even more that the Kingdom would come right here, right now, as Jesus prayed. We don't have to wait. We have the opportunity to see heaven crash into earth everyday. Let's get to it.

Cheese and Religion

2007-08-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Imagine going to the grocery store and seeing two nicely dressed women standing in the dairy aisle. One of them is pointing and talking about the brand of cheese she represents. The other is silent and has a tray of little cheese samples in front of her.

You stop, in an awkward fashion, and briefly glance at both of them. First, you direct your attention to the talking lady who is young with nice hand gestures. She is eloquently talking about the value, freshness, brand name, and delightful taste of her product. Second, you glance over at the second lady - who is a little shorter, looks more like grandma, and picks up a sample piece of cheese for you to eat.

You take the piece of cheese and chew it very slowly as both women stop to watch your reaction. The cheese is absolutely saturated with flavor and goodness. You take and pack of the second lady’s cheese and continue shopping.

Sometimes, it feels like the church (and our spiritual movements on the college campus) can feel like the first lady. We are attracted to her because of her stellar gestures, her solid persuasion, and her ability to make you feel like you are doing the right thing by buying her cheese. But we don’t know for sure for sure because we haven’t tasted the cheese.

Paul, in the Scriptures, said, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”

In Luke, we read the passage about Jesus telling them to ask God to raise up laborers for the harvest. We usually think of laborers as people who go out and get people on the right team. But a few verses later Jesus tells these first laborers, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'”

So the order is to demonstrate the Kingdom and then announce the Kingdom.

Earlier on in Luke, Jesus was healing people when a person came up and asked whether or not he was The One. Jesus told him to go back to John the Baptist and say, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard.”

So the order again is seen (the Kingdom demonstrated) and heard (the Kingdom being announced).

What are our students “seeing” and “hearing” in the church or in a Campus Crusade movement? Do they simply hear persuasive words or have they seen a demonstration of the Spirit? Do they see students leaving behind addictions such as alcohol or sexual immorality? Do they see students serving the campus or eating and hanging out with non-Christians? Does the campus or city look different? As the amount of bible studies increase, does injustice decrease?

I hope that we as Christians will not become Pharisees, who study the Scriptures so much that we became confident and persuasive, at the expense of missing the point of the Scriptures completely. Love God. Love others. Demonstrate. Announce.

I’d like to be like the second lady in the analogy above. My desire is to help others to experience the Kingdom of God and then delightfully announce its source.

But, I think I'm more like the first lady.

Atheist Reflections on Christianity

2007-08-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting thoughts and reflections from an atheist, Hemant Mehta, exploring Christianity. After visiting multiple churches across the US, he wrote a book called I Sold My Soul on eBay.

I think that we can learn a lot from this "outsider" perspective.

“Earlier I mentioned that Pastor James at Harvest Bible Chapel did something similar, zipping through large number of Bible verses. However, Rob’s [Rob Bell] 'look at how interesting this is' tone resonated with me much more than Pastor James’s 'it’s in the bible; trust me' tone. At Mars Hill we took the time to read these verses together and understand how the theme applied.”

“To convince me I am mistaken in not believing in God, a church would need to appeal to my sense of reason and my insistence on empirical evidence. Every church I went to took so much for granted – without offering reasons for their assertions. It was as if the speakers assumed everyone in the audience was already on board with their line of thinking, so they didn’t bother to back up their statements.”

“Do Christians feel that since belief in God requires faith, they don’t need to try to make Christianity more welcoming for everyone, especially atheists and agnostics? Does the faith requirement somehow give Christians a free pass to be intolerant, or arrogant, or disinterested in the nonreligious people around them?”

“If you want to get through to nonreligious people, you need to first understand where they are coming from.”

“If any church were to convert me, I felt it would be a place such as Willow Creek. It wasn’t a fire-and-brimstone service. It wasn’t a worship-God-out-of-fear-of-hell service. It was a place where I could think about the message after I left.”

“I know that many religious rituals are highly meaningful. But I personally have a problem with rituals for one simple reason: I don’t believe everyone present knows why they are performing a certain action… Without knowing why certain actions are performed, the actions are meaningless."

“The church should be more than a religious club that meets for a couple of hours once a week. I suggested already that there should be more volunteering during the course of the week, but there should also be postsermon programming. It would help alleviate two problems: lack of intimacy and a lack of opportunity to ask questions about the points that are raised in the sermon. At so many of the churches I visited, as soon as the final amen was heard, the majority of people were out the door… I picture a gathering where people can stay around for food and conversation and where they could ask the pastors questions about the sermon.”

“When we atheists see how a church is making a positive difference locally and globally by meeting crucial physical needs of people, it’s hard to argue that churches are not a valuable part of society...”

“When churches launch charitable and humanitarian efforts, I have noticed one problem. Many of the efforts seem to be focused on helping those who are Christians or those who seem likely to convert.”

“I enjoyed the service at Willow Creek Community Church, and they have beautiful buildings and a scenic lake on their campus… But at the same time, I felt the same thrill at Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, whose space is essentially a giant, empty box. A church’s high energy level is not produced by meeting in a beautiful building. The positive feeling I picked up came from other churchgoers. It stands out when you are around people who look forward to coming to church, people who are glad to see one another. That vitality brushed off on me.”

“I’m disappointed that the [experts and pastors] represent only the Christian viewpoint. So here’s a suggestion for something churches should start doing – which I observed at only one of the churches I visited: why not sponsor a debate, or at least a discussion, with opposing viewpoints equally represented? Why is such a dialogue important? Because it shows outsiders that Christians are confident in their beliefs…”

“Generally I enjoy the music I hear at churches. However, I’m convinced that a lot of Christians don’t care about it. How did I reach that conclusion? Because I saw plenty of people walking in late to the service. I have the impression that churches begin their church services with music to serve as a sort of buffer so that even if churchgoers arrive late, they won’t miss the “important” part (that is, the sermon)."

“One would think that the adults would be role models, listening to the pastor, maybe even taking notes. Instead, what I saw especially in the smaller churches were adults who were obviously bored. They were looking through the program, looking around the room, even looking at their watches. Part of the blame rests on the pastors of these churches (they were among the less-interesting speakers). Why am I calling attention to this? For one reason: if you don’t like church, then don’t go to church. It will just make your kids resent getting out of bed on Sunday.”

“There is religious elitism at work when Christians prefer to do business with other Christians. Some of the churches I visited make Christian business directories available to their members. The implication to me is that non-Christians are not good enough to do business with… The existence of Christian business directories tells me that Christians prefer to associate with other Christians.”

“Many churches boasted about their rate of planting new churches. However, starting a new church is nothing to be proud of – not unless that church is working to improve and serve its community, including all the people that live there.”

Is God an Environmentalist?

2007-07-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Is there such thing as a Christian environmentalist? Or should they be one in the same? Does loving the earth mean that you are a liberal hippie? Or does it mean that you are a true Christian?

Did you know that we are losing/destroying an acre and a half of rain forest every second?

Check out some other shocking statistics:

70% of the rivers in China are polluted (meaning unfit for human contact)
World Health organization estimates that 4.6 million people died from air pollution diseases last year
In any given year, we lose 50,000 different distinct species (plant, insect, and animal)
In any given day, we produce enough trash to fill 63,000 dump trucks
During the holiday season, we produce an extra 5 million tons of trash (4 million of that is shopping bags and wrapping paper)
Last year, we dumped 14 billion pounds of waste into the ocean
We produce 80% more trash than we did 15 years ago and we have 80% less landfills

One of the most fascinating statistics is about a product that we are all too familiar with. Diapers. We use 570/second. We use 49 million/day. We use 18 billion/year. To produce this product it takes 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of tree pulp. We spent 350 million dollars last year just to dispose of this product. The problem - scientists say that it doesn’t decompose. That means that 300 years from now it will still be there in our landfills. Civilizations will come and go, but diapers will remain forever more!

Is this a problem? Should we care? Is there a good reason for taking care of the earth?

Many environmentalists have good reasons for taking care of the earth, but few of them start with God. We tend to view the earth as ours, not God’s.

God says to his people, “… the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” - Leviticus: 25:23

The earth is his land and we are to steward it well. Part of the stewardship process means to beautify, cultivate, and take care of. The word that Genesis 1:28 uses is subdue. We are to subdue the earth and all that is in it. The Hebrew word for subdue is Kabash which means to bring into bondage.

Our role here on earth is to bring order to chaos, to bring everything in the earth under the rule and reign of God.

One simple example of this is home gardening. In a weed saturated lawn, we go out to bring into bondage every area of grass that is in chaos. We tend to it, mow it, cultivate it, beautify it, etc. This is a visible sign of what we are to do with the whole earth.

Can we go beyond being environmentalists in our own yard to being global environmentalists? If we realize that our city, our neighborhoods, our lakes, our oceans, and our countries are God’s gift to us to steward well, then perhaps we will start to see some progress.

Let’s ask ourselves - Are Christians known for recycling more? (actually, Christians only recycle 10% of what is recycled). Are Christians known for using less gas? Are Christians known for living simply? Are Christians known for using less wrapping paper?

God is restoring lives and restoring the creation in which those lives live. Both are spiritual and both are on God’s heart.

*The statistics and questions (at the end of the blog) have been taken from Rob Bell’s talk from a Mars Hill Church series on God is Green

Freedom Isn’t Really Freedom

2007-07-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Is it possible for a free person to be a slave?

Is it a paradox that a person growing in freedom can actually become less free?

Rob Bell, in his newest book, Sex God, says something quite interesting:

“Often freedom is seen as the ability to do whatever you want. But freedom isn’t being able to have whatever we crave. Freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it.”

Let’s look at a drinking scenario since it is a rather common occurrence in fraternities and sororities.

Many Greeks have the potential to become pendulum swingers when it comes to personality and attitude. During the big parties, these students are energized, happy, humorous, and seem to enjoy life to the fullest. But during the school week comes complaining, bitterness, and depression. Thus, the weekly Wasted Wednesday becomes an oasis opportunity for these guys and girls to drink and be satisfied with life again.

In choosing the freedom to drink, these students slip more and more out of freedom.

We often become dependent on what are free to do. Therefore we become un-free.

Guys who choose to look at pornography because they are free to do so, become addicted and then become slaves to pornography. Girls who choose to date one guy after another because they are free to do so, become addicted to dating and then become slaves to dating.

Whatever you are choosing to do that you have become a slave to, as trivial as it may seem, still affects your daily attitude. A guy who doesn’t get his daily or weekly dose of pornography will simply act different than a guy who isn’t dependent on pornography. A girl who can’t go without having a boyfriend will act different than a girl who can be without a boyfriend for a period of time.

So, how can we be really free?

The bible makes it clear that we are born as broken people. We are slaves to doing the things that bring chaos instead of order. We’d rather be addicted to things that benefit ourselves rather than benefit others. We are slaves of wrongdoing.

Jesus, however, offers us an alternative – being slaves or right doing. Can you imagine being the type of person who can’t help but do the right thing in every situation?

This is true freedom: Not being addicted to any wrongdoing.

However, simply abstaining from wrong things will not lead to satisfaction. A lot of Christians are really good at following the rules and abstaining from the wrong things. But there is no joy and not satisfaction in their life. That is why they secretly envy their fraternity brothers or sorority sisters who are living it up, partying, and enjoying life to the fullest. This type of envy makes it easy for them to condemn the wrong doers because they wish they could be having fun too!

No, true freedom means replacing the addiction of wrong things with the addiction of right things. True freedom means leaving behind the story of your life for a better story.

By receiving Jesus into your life and submitting to his way of life, you will eventually become more and more addicted to him and a life of right doing. You will find yourself desiring to go down and serve Hurricane Katrina victims rather than going on a party trip to Mexico. You will find yourself serving your housemates by doing extra chores rather than locking yourself in your room to look at pornography. You will find yourself hanging out with and mentoring younger brothers and sisters in the House instead of spending an hour on the phone each night with your boyfriend or girlfriend – who you will eventually break up with.

Being a slave to right doing is the only kind of addiction you want to have in your life. And this change of life can only come through Jesus. He died and was resurrected so that we could die to a life of wrongdoing and resurrected into a life of right doing.

Self-help books won’t do the trick.

Away With Praise And Worship

2007-07-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

God sometimes gets tired of praise and worship. It’s true.

Check out these words (from God to His people) in the book of Amos:

“Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

The original Greek word for “justice” is “Mishpat” which translates into: justice, right, rectitude. Rectitude means “the quality or state of being straight”.

In a sense, God isn’t saying that He is against praise and worship sessions at church or on campus. He is, however, saying that praise and worship doesn’t mean much if we aren’t about what He’s about.

He’s about justice. He’s about straightening things out. Making things as they ought to be.

There are major injustices going on in the fraternity and sorority world. In other words, things are out of order and in chaos. Fraternity men are raping sorority girls. Drunkenness is abundant. Girls are gossiping about each other. Hazing is still very common. Leaders are criticized and mocked. There is disunity among different chapters.

Things need to be made straight.

So, let’s continue to praise and worship. But, let’s do so while upholding the justice and righteousness of God in our fraternities and sororities. Let’s bring the Kingdom into our Houses, so that peace and order will be displayed “as it is in heaven”.

Justice is just as spiritual as singing.

Perhaps if justice comes in greater measure, we will sing more. Perhaps we will sing louder.

Woops… Forgot My Wedding Clothes

2007-07-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Ever show up to a meeting, a wedding, a class, or some other event in which you were severely underdressed? What, business casual? What, a tie?

Well, one man found himself severely under-dressed and paid dearly for it. Matthew 22 tells the parable. This dude was invited to come to the wedding ceremony, but got the boot really quick.

We read: “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."

I’m sure the dude wasn’t naked. Couldn’t he have received a little grace? You know, since God is so loving and graceful? If we can forgive someone for not wearing a tie to a wedding, couldn’t have God, the King, forgiven this man for not wearing the “right” wedding clothes?

In this case, the answer is no, because this idea of “wedding clothes” has significant meaning within the Kingdom.

The clothes we wear have to do with the issues of the heart. Whichever set of clothes you have on represents a deep conviction about yourself and God.

The religious leaders of the day were pretty boys. Not in the sense that they were good looking, but that they tried really hard to look good. They would spend hours in front of a mirror trying on different robes and fixing their hair with expensive Hebrew gel.

They thought that their robes and other outward appearances would impress people… and ultimately impress God.

In Luke 20 we get a glimpse of this when Jesus says, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets… These will receive greater condemnation."

These types of people will be thrown out of the Kingdom some day just like the dude in the parable. So, what do we do? Where do we get the “right”eous wedding robes? Hint: Not at your local mall.

The only robe worth wearing to the wedding ceremony of all ceremonies someday will be the robe that Jesus gives us.
“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…” - Isaiah 61:10

It’s pretty simple.

1) Repent of your own self-righteousness – this is taking off your robe.

2) Accept Jesus’ robe of righteousness – this is putting your trust in Him and in what He has done for you – namely - saving, redeeming, and restoring you from the time of the cross up until the present time.

Then and only then you will get on the guest list and stay on it. Some people might use the term “book of life” :)

Kingdom Ain’t Cookie-Cutter

2007-06-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Have we fallen into a monkey-see monkey-do kind of church?

In other words, have we become cookie-cutter Christians?

When we become Christians, servants of the King, I think is easy to underestimate our roles and responsibilities here on earth. In my last article, Risky Business, I describe that one of our primary roles is to be peace ambassadors. This, in a sense, is to further the Kingdom of God by making an appeal for others to join in and participate in the Kingdom above all other kingdoms.

But, our work isn’t limited to this and only this. This work is what I would call our direct ministry. This is easy to see and doesn’t take long to imitate.

But, I believe that we are also called to have an in-direct ministry. This is harder to comprehend at first and is often a confusing part of the Christian life.

If we limit God’s Kingdom to recruiting people to the right team, then God’s glory will not be revealed to the fullest. This is where we come in. Since we were made “in the image of God” we all have the potential to display a degree of God’s glory to the world… in a way that no one could ever copy since the beginning of time!

We are highly valuable to God because we are the carriers of His image here. And He won’t allow a “cookie-cutter” Kingdom to reign here. He won't allow us to pump out coverts who fit nicely into a one-size-fits-all kind of mold.

Michelangelo in-directly affected millions of people by his artwork, which displayed a beautiful artistic side of the glory of God. Teachers in-directly affect parents by bringing order and stability and character to kids in chaos. Lawyers in-directly affect many lives by having the ability to bring justice to the places of in-justice. Blue-collar workers are to be highly honored for in-directly affecting millions by their service – building roads for us to drive on, building skyscrapers for us to marvel at, bringing order to our homes when walls need beautifying or our plumbing goes out.

All of these things are examples of the Kingdom coming to earth. When the Kingdom comes, things get straightened out. Things are as they are supposed to be. The glory of God rushes in as the Kingdom spreads throughout the earth.

We are all called to have a direct and in-direct ministry here on earth. If we don’t, God's image will be hollowed or tarnished. Our attempt at making disciples will be in-effective because people won't want to follow the God that we reflect - because we will make Him out to be something less than He is.

This messes with our head. No longer is spirituality black and white. This means church and quiet times and bible studies are no longer the only spiritual things in our lives – but our jobs, our hobbies, our free time, and everything else is spiritual. We have the ability to glorify God during every minute of our life.

If we limit ourselves to doing only what we see our mentors or role models doing, then we will not be working within the realms of our gifts and passions – given to us to radiate the beauty of God in a way that no one has been able to do since the beginning of time.

Everyone is in full-time ministry. Everyone has a unique job to do. What is yours? Ask for it. Go after it. Let the Kingdom come… through you.

Risky Business

2007-06-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Being a peace ambassador was risky business. There was always a good chance of dying.

This was clearly seen in the recent movie 300. An ambassador from the Persian kingdom showed up to offer peace to the Spartans. The terms: surrender and submit to the Persian kingdom or be killed.

The Spartans weren’t too thrilled about this idea. Thus, comes one of the most exciting clips of the movie. Instead of giving a polite “no” to the peace ambassador, a Spartan solider kicks the peace ambassador over the edge – falling to his death.

This peace ambassador job was risky business. And this peace ambassador job is our business.

Paul calls us to become this type of ambassador. He says, “therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

We have been given authority from the King to go forth into all the earth offering terms of peace to every kingdom that is not under the authority of the true King. God Himself is making His appeal through us. Submit or die. Surrender and live. But it doesn’t stop there. We have been given the opportunity to share the good news. That Christ the King has given them the chance to live! Grace is available!

Take it freely.

Take it quickly. Because…

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war… And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations…”

Jesus is coming back. He is just over the hill behind us. We have the terms of peace to offer. But…

That is a risky business. Most people don’t think of this particular peace term as good news. Therefore, some people get hurt. That’s why most of the disciples of Jesus were murdered. That’s why there are martyrs throughout church history. They died trying to bring peace.

A few questions for us:

Are we doing our job? How often are we going forth with the gospel of peace? Do we hear the trumpets behind us? Do we realize the significance of our job? Are we being persecuted in some measure like the faithful ambassadors of the past? Do we remember that it was said, “everyone who is in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”?

“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it…shall serve you.” – Deuteronomy 20:10-11

That’s what happens when the Kingdom spreads. People submit to the King and become “slaves of righteousness”. And its only a matter before we realize that being a servant of the King is better than being a free on our own.

And this will continue until the whole earth is under the rule and authority of the one true King.

Note: This blog series is a collection of musings from my Old Testament seminary class with Dr. Richard Pratt, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary

The Big Misconception: Personal Salvation First

2007-06-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

The unifying centerpiece of our faith in recent years has been: Personal Salvation first, Kingdom of God second.

Much of our evangelical learning, training, and equipping has revolved around winning people to Christ, building them up in their faith, and sending them out to win others to Christ.

It was impossible for me to not wrestle with this mission statement after hearing Richard Pratt’s view of the proper biblical conception: Our unifying centerpiece should be: Kingdom of God first, Personal Salvation second.

It makes a lot of sense to me. Here’s why.

The Israelites in the Old Testament put their trust in God’s promise to usher in a new Kingdom with a new King leading the way. Jesus came and fulfilled that. Then, Jesus, more than any other subject, talked about the Kingdom to others.

He talked about every area of brokenness and countered it with the way of the Kingdom. He wanted to see every wrong made right. In the Lord’s Prayer, He prayed first that God’s name would be hallowed and then that God’s Kingdom would come to earth as it is in heaven.

If Jesus was so concerned about the Kingdom immersing itself into every person and thing on the planet, how should that affect our lives as Christians?

Richard Pratt thinks that most Christians view heaven and earth like a present. The “package” being heaven and the “wrapping” being our earth. Most Christians, like kids on a Christmas morning, don’t care about the wrapping, they just want what’s inside. In this case, heaven.

If God’s Kingdom and His rule is over all of heaven and earth, then that should lead us to the conclusion that the coming of His Kingdom entails the redemption and restoration of all things – not just individuals.

This gets me excited.

What if we were to emphasize the Kingdom first, and personal salvation second?

One quick example. Hurricane Katrina. When we looked at the brokenness and desperation in New Orleans, both Christians and non-Christian said: “This is not right. This is not how things should be.” We in a sense knew that God’s restoration, His Kingdom, needed to come.

That was the big picture.

As a result, 312 students from Nebraska went down to serve. Some weren’t even Christian. Soon after their return home, some of the students trusted in Jesus and became Christians. This example showed that personal salvation flowed out of a deep concern for the Kingdom of God to come.

Since America is a very individualistic culture, it is easy to see how me might swing too far towards “personal” salvation rather than a "global" salvation.

Maybe the world wants to see the Kingdom of God in action more so than merely being asked to join the right team.

CNN just showed up at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan because they are organizing a project called X, Y, Z. You can go to their site for details, but here is the gist. The are making plans for the Kingdom of God to come in big ways – to restore the broken parts of their city and their world. The project director of CNN said, “If you can really do this, we’ll run this story and tell the whole world.”

Non-Christians seem to want to be a part of a better story. What better story could we possibly give them than to make all things right? Make all things new? To have the Kingdom of God come?

Let’s ponder.

How can we as ambassadors spread the Kingdom to the broken areas of culture that we are in? Then, how can we call others to “follow” the King in the midst of that?

“But seek first his kingdom...” – Matthew 6:33

Note: This blog series is a collection of musings from my Old Testament seminary class with Dr. Richard Pratt, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary

Christianity: An Anti-American Faith?

2007-06-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Today in class I was reminded that the American dream is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", as described in Wikipedia, is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three aspects are listed among the "unalienable rights" of man.

Let’s look a little closer. What are unalienable rights?

The term unalienable rights refers to a set of human rights that are in some sense fundamental, are not awarded by human power, and cannot be surrendered. They are by definition, rights retained by the people.

Perhaps if we gave God the chance to rearrange this popular phrase it would read “Death, slavery, and the pursuit of satisfaction in God”.

Each contrasting word creates a paradigm shift that we as Americans should meditate on.

Instead of desiring a good [temporal] life, we should desire death – a daily dying to ourselves, a full surrender of our will and hearts. Only then do we have the opportunity to be given [eternal] life through Christ.

Slavery seems like a bad word. But, Paul exhorts us to become slaves to Christ, to righteousness. This goes against our idea of freedom. We want to be free in every decision from picking out wedding colors, to buying a house, to picking out our dream job, etc. To live in such a way that we submit ourselves fully to one person is very counter-cultural.

Lastly, the pursuit of happiness is not such a bad thing – except that happiness can’t be found outside of God. Some things may be good, some things excellent, but nothing compares to the surpassing greatness of God. Satisfaction in Him above all things should be our pursuit. Pursing anything else other than God will lead to a life of vanity.

Could the very idea of this popular phrase as an unalienable right serve as rebellion towards God? It was mentioned that an unalienable right is retained by the people and cannot be surrendered. The very thought of desiring life outside of God, being free from all control, and for pursing happiness apart from God is really at the root... rebellion.

Does this kind of sounds familiar?

If you are thinking Adam and Eve, you are correct! The first sinful act of eating the forbidden fruit involved all of the above.

I guess my realization today is that our "Christian" nation has some repenting to do.

Note: This blog series is a collection of musings from my Old Testament seminary class with Dr. Richard Pratt, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary

My Mentors

2007-06-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

In addition to the godly men in my family, here are the men who are currently mentoring me in my life right now, whether they know it or not! I am extremely appreciative of them. Without their teaching and modeling I would be light years behind where I'm at at now.

Blog Series Recap: Movement Marketing

2007-05-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

In review, this is the full series of articles that I wrote on spiritual Movement Marketing - specifically looking through the lens of connecting with the lost.

The content in these articles was gleaned and contextualized from the book "Movement Marketing" by Richard Reising.

1) Movement Marketing: Is your campus movement connecting with the lost?

2) Perceiving Their Perception: How do the lost really view our movements on campus?

3) Levels of Commitment: Are our movements relevant to each level of commitment within our community?

4) Lostobstacles: What are some obstacles that keep the lost away from our movement?

5) Does Your Movement Slap People? How can our movements be more relevant to people at all spiritual levels?

6) Nailing the Perceived Need: Learning from Nike

7) Creating An Experience: Learning from Starbucks

8) Multiple Movements: Learning from the Gap

9) Before A Sweet Logo: Branding Your Movement

Before A Sweet Logo: Branding Your Movement

2007-05-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Branding Tips To Help Your Movement Connect With The Lost

“Branding is a dynamic weapon used to affect perception. If you can grasp that marketing is the management of perception, then it should be easy to understand that branding is, in simple terms, the use of defined consistency to affect perception over time. Branding is not just a design. It is not a logo. It is not a letterhead. It is the sum perception you create in the mind of those with whom you are trying to connect.” (Church Marketing 101 pg 160)

If your movement can be pictured like a ship, then your brand is what others think about your ship when it passes by or when they come on board. Branding then, is creating a defined sense of self in the ship’s appearance and communication. In regards to your movement, branding comes from having a cohesive sense of who you are as an organization and effectively communicating THAT in all that you do.

Here are some essentials to help you become a well-branded movement (pg 201):

Know who you are and who you are not as a movement.
Have a set of core pillars, tenants, or values that you are committed to be passionate about as a movement – and communicate them weekly. Often the leadership says something once or twice and assumes it has been communicated to everyone. It is just not so. As with the radio, people tune in at different times. By the time you have said something several times some people are just hearing it for the first time.
By creating a set of core values that you communicate regularly, you can undo the perceptions that people have of Jesus and your movement.
Have a vision piece (brochure) and supporting media to illustrate the vision and the brand.
Make decisions that shape public perception with your brand as a filter.
Have a welcome kit that provides visitors with a sense of the size and offerings of the ship and gives them a “map” of how to get connected and grow.
Use your design style consistently.
Have a brand management meeting every six months or less, to discuss how you are communicating as a movement and how well your members and the college community are catching on to 1) who you are, 2) where you are going, and 3) their steps for growth with you.
Keep statistics on who is volunteering and who is participating in each level of your movement.
Create a sense of continual challenge for each level mixed with patience.

For those of you wondering about graphic design, know this: brand and branding are not graphic design terms. Design plays a part, but it fits into the brand, it does not drive the brand.

Branding is primarily verbal communication. This has caused me to think about how much time I spend with student leaders – coaching them on how to effectively communicate our vision and purpose. I have not done a very good job at this.

Whether you are communicating verbally or non-verbally through graphic design remember that you will always need to:

Captivate them and draw them in
Connect with their sense of self, need, or style (meet them where they are at)
Communicate clearly, providing more answers than raising questions

This ends my blog series on Movement Marketing. A big thank you to Richard Reising for pioneering these concepts for churches (as well as us in the campus ministry) around the world. Go buy the book, Church Marketing 101, today!

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Multiple Movements: Learning from the Gap

2007-05-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

How can the Gap mentor our movements in the area of reaching the lost?

Campus Crusade for Christ a few years ago launched a new campaign called Multiple Movements Everywhere. The idea was to create multiple contextualized groups on campus whereby every student would have an opportunity to become a disciple of Jesus. Some of these groups include: Impact -> African-American students; Destino -> Latino students; Bridges -> International students; Epic -> Asian-American students, etc.

This was brilliant! However, this really wasn’t our idea. The Gap, as well as many other secular companies, have been doing this strategy for quite a while.

“Have you ever been in a mall and noticed that when you see an Old Navy, you usually also see a Banana Republic and a Gap? Do you think this is a coincidence? It isn’t. The Gap owns all three companies, and each has a different target audience. In general, Old Navy is the low-cost store that carries clothing ‘staples’ for young people. The Gap carries more “fashion-forward” casual attire at a premium price. Banana Republic is an upper-scale line that caters to the modern urban professional. Although they cater to younger people, they all cater to very different younger people.” (Church Marketing 101 pg. 149)

These Gap companies learned that that could be way more effective by creating three stores rather than just having one. Could your spiritual movement be more effective by creating multiple movements rather than just having one?

Here are some challenging questions for us to think about:

1) Is having a good movement keeping us from having great movements?

2) Even though our movement may be large, what percentage of the campus are we really reaching?

3) What type of students are involved in our movement? Are they radically diverse like our campus?

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Creating An Experience: Learning from Starbucks

2007-05-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

How can Starbucks mentor our movements in the area of making much of Jesus?

In The Experience Economy, the authors paint a brilliant picture of what makes us so addicted to Starbucks. At a fundamental level, coffee is a commodity, tradable by the ton in a commodities market. But, Starbucks, in all its innovation, has wrapped an experience around a cup of coffee. The authors go on to say that in the modern economy, companies like Starbucks have created “experiences” to set themselves apart from “services.” In other words, you do not simply buy the coffee. You buy the Starbucks experience.

What would it look like for us to wrap an experience around Jesus the way Starbucks has wrapped an experience around coffee?

Richard Reising says, “Some people might be offended by the [question] above, but I think the greater crime is turning [our movements] into a commodity. A relationship with Christ can’t be canned. It cannot be mass-produced. It is an intimate and powerful thing and we should be very serious about enhancing the experience in order to prepare the heart of the visitor.”

If companies like Starbucks work so hard at creating an experience for something as simple as coffee, shouldn’t we as Christians work even harder to create an experience for the student’s spiritual journey? Starbucks has taken the microscope approach: taking something small and simple and magnifying it for us. We, however, as Christians, get the advantage of using the telescope approach: taking something infinitely great and bringing it into our world. Theoretically, it should be easier for us to create an experience for students than it is for Starbucks to create an experience for coffee-lovers. We are dealing with something infinitely valuable. The only obstacle is ourselves.

There are many churches out there that provide a service. We literally call it a “service.” But few churches and movements can provide a transformational experience.

Think about what makes your favorite restaurant your favorite: Hospitality, romantic lighting, comfortable seating, quality food, nicely dressed workers, music, etc. What if the owners of the restaurant said, “It’s not about the building. It’s all about the food.” Now think of your restaurant in terms of stiff chairs, bright lighting, t-shirt dressed unhappy servers, bad music, BUT the food is still top-notch. Even though the food may be good, the restaurant now ceases to be your favorite.

I’ve heard some church and campus movement people say that it’s not about the externals because it’s supposed to be about Jesus. But let’s ask ourselves, “Why do we spend so much time decorating our homes?” I think it is because we love beautiful environments that will leave us with lasting memories. It’s silly to think of all the time we spend on our homes - only to step into a church where there are white walls and stiff pews.

If we are going to pray with Jesus that His whole Kingdom would come, then we need to be about His whole Kingdom. The Kingdom is more than just spoken word. It encompasses physical beauty as well. The New Jerusalem will be more beautiful than we can imagine. The description in the book of Revelation is breathtaking. It will be an experience beyond all comprehension.

So, how can we give our students a glimpse of that… now? What will it take to make the Christian life an experiential journey rather than a purchase of a commodity?

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Nailing the Perceived Need: Learning from Nike

2007-05-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

How can we meet the needs of lost students before we tell them about their greatest need?

We know that lost students need Jesus, but they don’t know that… yet. Nike knew our greatest need, but didn’t advertise it because we didn’t even know it… yet. Instead, they went after our perceived need first. So how can Nike’s success shed some light on movements?

Richard Reising says, “To buy Nike shoes was to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Nike was about belonging. We needed to belong; they sold it to us wrapped up in faith and achievement. Why do I think it was about belonging more than a true aspiration toward being better at a sport? Because 90% of us never used Nikes for anything more athletic than going to the mall on Saturday. We did not want to run; we just wanted to belong to the winning team.” (Church Marketing 101 pg. 143)

Reising goes on to contextualize this story for the church: “We know the real, bottom-line need is belonging to Christ, but their perceived need is always something less spiritual. Unless we connect with people on the level they feel they need, we cannot introduce them to their real need. Nike sold us belonging packaged in inspiration. Is there any other way to sell belonging? Do you think Nike would have been successful if they’d done a commercial without Jordan and instead used a slogan like “We make you feel like you belong”? … Like Nike, Starbucks is fulfilling more than a need for coffee. They are filling our cups with caffeine, belonging, comfort, and community all at the same time.”

From these great lines of insight, I wonder what it would look like for our movements to advertise to people’s perceived needs rather than then real need.

One practical way that Demarick Patton and I tried to do this with fraternity and sorority students was changing the organizational name. When we started a Greek movement, we decided against Campus Crusade for Christ for Greeks. We thought that most of the spiritually curious would not yet be convinced that they had a need for Christ or want to be part of a religious Crusade for that matter.

So, we decided to go with Greek Endeavor. For starters, Greek was in the name - giving them a sense of connection (or bond) to the organization without even coming. The second part, Endeavor, sounds like the students can be on a journey, and be on a journey with other Greeks at the same time. This fulfills a variety of perceived needs. This is just one small example from the movement-planting phase that we discussed even before talking about content, structure, etc. I’d love to hear some of the ways you are carrying out this principle as well.

Long before Jesus was known as the Savior, He was known as the Healer. He met their level one needs first. Let’s walk in His beautiful example.

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Does Your Movement Slap People?

2007-05-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

How can our movements be more relevant to people at all spiritual levels?

Richard Reising says in his book Church Marketing 101, “…oftentimes we do something to a client that is the equivalent to a slap in the face and that when it happens, the client forgets everything else – even the good that happened before the slap.”

We have to realize that we slap people without even knowing it. After taking some Catholic students to a Christmas conference, they felt slapped after experiencing some amazing (from my perspective) worship with drums, electric guitars, and the whole works. Why? Because it was foreign to them. Whether or not worshiping with rock instruments is OK with God is not the point. The point is that they got slapped and everything they had experienced up until then was forgotten.

A few days ago I got the chance to speak to a campus Greek adviser. She had just graduated from another campus that I’m working on. I asked her what her perception was of the main Christian organization there. She told me that if a student wasn’t willing to shout about their faith from a mountaintop, then they wouldn’t feel comfortable there. I know the leader of this organization personally and I know that what she said is distorted. But, the fact remains that many students on that campus feel slapped because of that perception.

Things might look good when you are standing at the door – looking in at all the Christians who are attending your meetings and going to small groups. But the bottom line at the end of the day is how we come across to the person in the seat or the person outside of the room. What does the campus think of us? In my mind, it does matter - since we are Christians who carry the name of Jesus.

Does the perception of your movement hallow Jesus' name? Or does it hollow His name because you've become irrelevant to the campus?

“Paul encourages the Corinthians to pursue certain spiritual gifts over others as it was important that if ‘there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?’ (1 Cor. 14:23). Paul was once again concerned about what the visitor will think. …’Let all things be done decently and in order’ (1 Cor. 14:40), was an attempt to keep visitors from getting emotionally slapped in the face with something that made no sense to them.” – Church Marketing 101 (pg 117)

The temptation is to gear our meetings towards the mature Christians and not the lost. Why? Because the mature Christians are paying more for their seats. For most movements, they make up the majority of the seats as well as run the show. The mature Christians desire spiritual meat, not milk. So the temptation is to plan a meeting that meets their needs the best. But, this goes against our mission of reaching the lost.

One of the most common concerns, according to the book, is that most Christians think that making our movements lost-centered will require watering down the message. But, a strong movement or church must have a ministry that is focused on both the lost and the mature. You just have to remember to pass out milk and meat in the same meeting. And the most important thing you can do is hand out the milk first!

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Lostobstacles

2007-04-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

What are some obstacles that keep the lost away from our movement?

Having visitors raise their hands or asking them to speak could embarrass them.

No explanation/introduction of the movement leaves students in the dark.

Inside jokes: Hearing these just reminds visitors that they are outsiders.

Challenging members on issues that visitors should not hear, such as not inviting enough visitors or not volunteering enough, isolates visitors.

Unpredictability: If members are not completely secure as to what the ministry topics are or who the speaker will be, they cannot invite accordingly.

Variance in length of the meeting or gathering can pose obstacles to visitors’ schedules or expectations.

Visitors may be unable to find nuggets of value for their life. Even though truth may be taught, it may be too heavy for some students – making the meeting irrelevant to them.

Boring delivery: If visitors are not captivated, they probably won’t return.

Nothing life-changing: If there is no call to growth towards a new level, why go?

Speaking in “Christianese,” or words that have no meaning or different meaning outside of church, leaves visitors thoroughly confused (Eucharist, atonement, sacrificial covenant, anointing, grace, blood of Jesus, etc.).

Too much too fast: Demanding seasoned-believer performance for everyone.

If things uncommon to a visitor (raising hands, tongues, communion, singing with instruments, etc.) take place without proper explanation, you run the risk of alienating.

If a student can answer these six questions positively, then you can be sure that they will want to invite their friends to your gathering:

1) Will my friend feel welcomed?
2) Will my friend fit in?
3) Can I feel confident that I know how the meeting will turn out?
4) Will my friend get something out of it?
5) Will my friend understand it?
6) Will anything that could seem strange to the lost be explained through Scripture?

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Levels of Commitment

2007-04-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Are our movements relevant to each level of commitment within our community?

Continuing on the baseball story analogy from the previous article, there are four levels of commitment: Outsiders, Upper-Deckers, Lower-Deckers, and Players on the Field.

OUTSIDERS
These are students on campus who are not involved in our movement. Our goal should be to connect with them and give them a glimpse of what they might value in our movement.

UPPER-DECKERS
These are first-time visitors who may be seekers, spiritually curious, etc. Our goal should be to make them feel comfortable with the people and the atmosphere. Relating to them where they are at is the key.

LOWER-DECKERS
These are the students who have made a decision for Christ and are committed to being a part of our movement. Our goal should be to provide them with spiritual training and authentic relationships.

PLAYERS ON THE FIELD
These are the students who have accepted the challenge to serve and invest in the lives of other students. Our goal should be to provide them with various levels of volunteer opportunities and to help them to recognize their strengths.

Do our movements effectively speak to all of these audiences?

For most of us, we probably tailor our communication to reach the lower-deckers and the players on the field. We use “Christianese” language and do church things that make no sense to a first-time visitor. We just cross our fingers and hope that they will get used to it. If they don’t come back, then we may pass it off as just another student who isn’t ready to follow Christ yet.

Do I dare ask, “Could our movements be serving as stumbling blocks for the lost?”

Richard Reising says that we should communicate using an outside-in approach. Make sure we are speaking to the outsiders first. Then we can start working our way in. This may mean that your campus will either have to create multiple gatherings for your students or do a complete re-engineering of your current gathering. Whatever you do, think of the lost first.

In the next article, I’ll cover some of the obstacles that may be hindering lost students from staying around.

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Virginia Tech Shooting: LIVE Interview with student

2007-04-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last night, at our Greek Endeavor meeting, we got the chance to do a live phone interview with Steve Biederman. Steve is a sophomore at Virginia Tech in the College of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Mathematics.

Note: because we had him on a loud speaker, hearing him may be a little difficult

LISTEN TO INTERVIEW (Mp3)

Perceiving Their Perception

2007-04-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

How do the lost really view our movements on campus?

Chances are, the lost students on our campuses do not view our movements the way we view our movements. Richard Reising says, “They do not know our hearts; even worse, they often distrust us and are skeptical of us from the beginning. A million personal experiences have shaped their perception of us as Christians... We will have to work hard to change those perceptions.”

FCA. Navigators. Campus Crusade. Christian Student Fellowship. Intervarsity. It may all look the same to a lost student on campus. If they’ve been to one meeting, it is probably easy to judge them all. That is why it is going to take a lot of work for us to undo the misconceptions that they have about us – that is, if their misconceptions are false! If you are not a lost-centered community, then you’ll never be able to promote your movement to students who are at different places on the spiritual journey.

Here is a fantastic story (that I shortened a little) from Church Marketing 101 that puts all of this in perspective. Trust me, reading it is worth your time.

“Let’s suppose you and I are good buddies, and you are the world’s biggest baseball fan. I, on the other hand, find baseball to be mind-numbingly boring. After all, how much fun can you have watching a sport that has only three variables: the batter misses it, kind of hits it, or hits it right? Not enough options for me. I’ve never been to a game before, but I am sure that I will not like it. You beg me all the time to come with you. I really wish you would stop asking, but one day, I am weak and decide to give in to your request. If I am going to this game with you, you had better be sure that you’re buying my $2 nosebleed tickets and my hot dog. Together we sit in the upper deck on a hot afternoon – you in bliss and me in a sort of bewildered agony. I’m eating a hot dog and slurping a soft drink when all of a sudden the home team hits a home run. We jump to our feet together and high-five each other. I’m caught off guard. The hit inspired me. Maybe I like baseball after all. Am I actually enjoying a baseball game? This is not what I expected. You ask me to go again and I commit. This time, I am buying my own cheap upper deck tickets and my own hot dog. I am willing to spend a little bit, but not enough to sit down in the lower deck with those $80/seat baseball freaks. They are a little too committed for me at this point. I think I like baseball, but my commitment level is low… [but] each step along the way I commit more. I was skeptical at first, but now I am committed to give all. I did not get here overnight. I got here in baby steps.”

This is a great story, which parallels our spiritual journey. During the course of our life, we might have seen a few small impressive plays and then eventually a home run or even a grad slam. We became sold-out for Christ and his mission. For some students, it might be hearing a simple presentation of the gospel and saying, “Yes. That’s it. I believe.” But in my experience, it is usually not that easy. Students today are more skeptical than ever before. Their perception of who we actually are has been fogged up. So what do we do?

In the next article, I’ll talk about how students have different levels of commitment within our movements and what we need to do to communicate to each level.

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Movement Marketing

2007-04-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Is your campus movement connecting with the lost? After all, “turning lost students into Christ-centered laborers” is at the very core of our mission.

Big Idea: We are teaching our students to connect with lost on an individual basis (in different pockets of the campus), but what would it look like for our movement as a whole to do the same?

I’ve been reading the book Church Marketing 101 and to my surprise it is not what I expected. The author states, “Most churches fail at marketing because they do not grasp that it encompasses every aspect of church life. They assume it is about things like passing out flyers, but it is much greater than that… Some assume marketing is sending out direct mail pieces or placing door hangers throughout the neighborhood… In reality, marketing deals on less superficial levels than we think.” He goes on to give his simple definition of marketing: the management of perception.

At the very core of movement marketing is (1) the ability to understand how the lost perceive you today; (2) to have a vision for how you would like them to perceive you (within their own frame of reference); and (3) to make decisive strides and adjustments in your way of doing and communicating things to ensure that the lost ultimately learn to perceive you as you desire.

How does your campus “perceive” your movement? Do the students and administration respect you? Do they care about your survival or growth? Do they talk to you? Do they give you money? If they visit, would they want to come back? These are all great questions to help you evaluate how well your movement as a whole is connecting with the lost.

Sometimes, I think that our movements are trying to get the lost to be relevant to us rather than us trying to be relevant to them. Richard Reising says, “There are over thirty references to Jesus perceiving people’s perception and changing His ministry direction, re-communicating, or deciding to halt communications altogether.” He was relevant to everyone because He saw what they saw and adjusted everything He did to meet them where they were at.

I think that our mindset has unintentionally been to invite the lost into our movement - hoping that they will get used to the way we do things. What if it is more complicated than that? What if there are more steps to the process? What if we haven’t been thinking very deeply about how we come across to the lost?

What would it look like to take a step back for a minute, look through the lens of the lost on campus, see what they see, and take the necessary steps to meet them in the middle?

In the next article, I’ll discuss how we as movement leaders can start to understand others’ perception of us.

*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101

Sharing Our Headphones

2007-03-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Zach

Do you ever stop to think about how powerful music is?

Well, I don’t that often. I’ve been going for a few months now not having purchased any new music to listen to while I’m meditating on the Word, praying, thinking, etc. I can think back to when I bought my first CD that really moved my soul in a spiritual way. I bought a new CD player/alarm clock just so I could wake up to it every morning. I felt awakened by the Spirit in a deep, rich way every morning during that fall semester in the fraternity house.

Then I fast-forward and think about the CD I bought when I first joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. During a challenging eight-month period of raising support, each morning I was awe-filled with wonder after putting my headphones on and reading God’s inspired Word.

About two weeks ago, I purchased another CD that has a way of clinging to my soul and not letting go. It has brought much thanksgiving out of my heart and praise off of my tongue.

Tonight I walked through the Hy-Vee grocery store and did something weird. I kept my iPod in my ears and listened to my new CD. It was a very unique experience. As I walked through the isles my heart was glad in God, but as I looked at the all the people passing me - I saw stress, busyness, blank stares, and in most cases, normalness. Just normal people doing their normal routine.

A few things happened. At first, I was shocked at the sense of perspective I had on life listening to praise music right there in the middle of the grocery store. It was like the heavens opened up and I was the only one who could hear what was going on. Then, there was a longing that crept up inside of me that made me want to tell the others what I was hearing.

Here’s the problem. Have you ever tried to explain your favorite song to someone? It’s just impossible. The only thing that comes out of our mouth usually is “It’s so awesome.” That’s it. That’s our best attempt at explaining something unexplainable.

I realized later that this is often how the spiritual life goes. We try to tell people about the greatness of God but it never comes out right. We either a) haven’t tuned our ears to the sweet enduring Kingdom music or b) we simply tell others that He’s “awesome” and then watch them nod politely and walk away.

So what can we do to explain God in a greater way? How can we make others more satisfied in Him? What can we say to draw others to the living God?

Well, I think we can start by sharing our headphones.

TRANSCENDANCE ($5 Prom Remixed) Denver Christmas Conference 2007

2007-01-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a highlight video of the Transcendance event ($5 Prom Remixed) I DJed at the Denver Christmas Conference 2007 on the last night. I played the usual dance hits with a few worship remixes and some sermon talks mixed in. You can watch it if you have a fast Internet connection. If not, I'm sorry!

DJ-To-Be

2007-01-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

One of my passions is to mix music. Not just any music, but music that points our hearts toward God.

A dance floor is not commonly known as a place or worship for most people. I would guess that 90% of students have not intentionally worshiped God via dancing. But, this was modeled to us by David in the Old Testament.

I enjoy how much music moves my soul and I want to take this passion that God has instilled in my heart to make students more satisfied in God.

Last night, I got the wonderful opportunity to DJ for a 400-student crowd at our annual Denver Christmas Conference. It was a blast I must say. However, it is very hard trying to please 400 students with diverse musical tastes. It is even harder to get them to dance to music they aren't used to hearing.

I played some worship remixes and some techno songs that I mixed sermon talks with... and the crowd was a little weirded out. This kind of thing is pretty abnormal. However, after a little while people started to jump up and down and get into it a little bit. Hopefully, after much prayer and experimentation, a worship-minded dancing population will arise from this fresh Spirit-filled generation of students. Club Worship in West Reading, PA is one of the leaders in experimenting with dancing and worship. I've enjoyed listening to their podcasts and learning from their experiences.

Denver Christmas Conference Update

2007-01-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the midst of 1,500 students and staff here at the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Denver. The atmosphere is awesome as thousands of students are worshiping God and allowing him to rearrange their lives.

Many students have made a decision to follow Christ. More on that in my next update.

Today, the great herd of college students are spreading out and going to 200-300 locations around Denver to serve the city and share their faith. Many of the students have never shared their faith before and will be taking a huge step of faith in the process!

Camus Crusade has partnered with 17 churches and ministries across the city to find out where the greatest needs are. Right now, students are serving widows, the poor, and a variety of other people with needs.

Please pray for the students as they physically serve with their hands and share the gospel with their mouths.

YOU are making it possible for these students to do this! Thank you!

High School Students Get Off The Throne

2006-12-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

by Tyler Zach

High school students make a way for Jesus to get back on the throne of their life!

I had the exciting privilege of speaking again at Student Venture's annual lock-in at the YMCA in Fremont, NE. Student Venture is the high school movement of Campus Crusade for Christ. The SV staff are great and have been praying and working hard all year to make an impact in these student's lives.

Here are some of the great comments that the students wrote down after the talk:

Arlington students:

“I didn’t know that I am elevating something over God.”

“Please pray for me to not let selfishness rule me.”

“I really feel that I idol guys & internet too much. I need to get rid of obsessing over that.”

“I need to let God always be on the throne of my life.”

“I learned that it is important to leave a (spiritual) legacy.”

“I learned that idols don’t have to be other gods.”

“I realized I spend a lot of time on my computer and PS 2 and should give that time up to God.”

“I know God better.”

Logan View students:

“Even if you go to church… just doing that alone doesn’t make you a true believer.”

“He showed me that my life I’ve just been worrying about how people think of me.”

Blair students:

“I just want to be diligent in getting to know God more personally, or spending more time alone with Him.”

“I thought Christ was #1 in my life, but he really wasn’t.”

“I became almost disturbingly aware of the fact I spend an extreme amount of time on the internet compared to God time. Pray for me.”

Fort Calhoun students:

“I thought the speech was moving. I want to be sure to put Jesus on my throne and leave Him there..."

“I’ve tried to dress, act, and talk the way I believe Jesus would want me to, but I never considered that my dreams and my worries could keep me from Him.”

9 of 77 students in the audience indicated that they received Jesus into their lives after the talk. We can never be sure if all of them made an authentic, competent decision. But, this is a good sign that God is moving in their hearts. Please pray that God would reveal Himself further to them and that they would experience transformational spiritual growth in their lives.

Thank you for your support to make events like these possible!

Making Good Relationship Decisions

2006-11-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

by Tyler Zach

I was standing in a room full of 30 girls feeling a little awkward. Unlike last year however, I had my beautiful wife Lindsey standing next to me. Having her present with me made this talk a lot easier.

My sister’s sorority, Chi-Omega, asked me to come into their chapter meeting again and talk about relationships. Dating and marriage is always on the minds of college students, especially girls.

Lindsey and I spoke of our past failures in relationships – hoping that these girls won’t do the same. The talk was less about how to find the perfect mate – and more about how THEY could become the perfect mate for someone else.

We shared that relationships are three-fold: physical, spiritual, and emotional. The relationship lie that most of them have bought into is this: If you have physical relations with a boyfriend, girlfriend, or with a random person on a random night – then it won’t affect you emotionally or spiritually.

We proceeded to give examples of how such a lie is not true. We wanted them to see that the physical effects the emotional, which in return effects the spiritual. This is a hard to take in for a girl who has led a promiscuous life with a sexual history. But, we offered a message of grace in that Jesus can heal us of all our sin at any time and renew our hearts, minds, and bodies.

Lindsey and I also shared that the spiritual side of our relationship was the thing that bonded us the most and that it was necessary in order to have a relationship that will last (on unconditional love).

Please pray that these girls would make good decisions in dating and see that “the one” must be a man who loves God with all of his heart. Pray that they have patience in dating and not give into the temptations of being promiscuous to get attention from the wrong men at college.