The Early Church found itself in a difficult position. As I see it, there were two groups of people you could be associated with: Law-abiding Jews or free-living Pagans/Gentiles. Romans, who were Gentiles, ruled the day. So free-living (sexual promiscuity, etc.) ruled the day as well. They didn’t have much tolerance for Law-abiding Jews who had all these customs and regulations for how one should live your life. In fact, they scoffed the Jewish way of life. The Jews didn’t so much appreciate the Roman Gentiles either . They desired to be free of their control. They disdained the heathen way of living for pleasure. Instead, a Jew lived to follow God’s Law. So neither side had much respect for the other. Yet, they both found a way to live somewhat peacefully with each other. The Romans permitted the Jews to practice their religion, and the Jews did what they could to keep peace with the Romans in order to remain free to fulfill their religious customs and regulations. The Romans understood this–they knew that the Jewish people didn’t really recognize them as a valid government over them–the Jews just tolerated Roman rule. And the Romans just tolerated the Jewish people as well. So it was imperative to find yourself either associated with the Jews, or to associate yourself with Caesar. Any other position, and you were on your own. Everyone wanted to know: where was your allegiance? If you were a Jew, your true allegiance was to their God and their religion, not Caesar. But you still needed to give Caesar enough allegiance as to not be a disruption to him or his government. Everyone else (heathens/pagans/Gentiles) lived a rather free life, with their allegiance to Rome. And then a new movement sprung up–those who followed “The Way.” Although they originally started within the Jewish community, they didn’t have the support of the Jewish community–largely because their leader claimed to be superior to the current-day leaders of the Jewish faith. In addition, their Leader taught his followers to live their lives differently from the Jews. And most importantly, this Leader told his followers that they were supposed to follow Him, not the customs and regulations that the Jewish...

My last post mentioned my frustrations with the way contemporary worship is treated in many churches. In its defense, contemporary worship is no worse than any other style. In fact, contemporary worship is the primary style of worship that has made the biggest impact on my life. It’s how the style is used and what value is placed on it. Why do we place such a high value on style? Personally, I’m cool with contemporary or traditional–as long as it’s not about the style…it’s about God. Unfortunately, in many churches, the leadership makes it all about style and production. Is contemporary worship often produced? Yep, but so is traditional. Both styles fall prey to this. I really wish Sunday mornings were much less of a production and more focused on challenging congregations to worship God more truly, fully, and deeply. It’s hard to script or plan that out. It’s also hard to accomplish this when we jump from one element to the next in rapid succession (this happens in both styles).True worship must come from true relationship. After all, in worship we are supposed to be in collective communion with God. How easily we miss this Sunday after Sunday… Joel, a friend of mine, recently wrote on his blog some great thoughts on true worship. I would recommend everyone to read it. I hope that more and more church leaders become less consumed with the style, format, quality, professionalism, and production of Sunday morning worship. And I’m not necessarily referring to worship leaders (they often just do what they’re told!)–I’m referring to whoever it is that determines the structure of our worship services (worship leaders, worship committees, senior pastors,...

I was reminded yesterday of how rich I am. Not because I live in the wealthiest country in the world, but because what I read in Ephesians. Paul wrote this book while in prison to encourage God’s people of their true state, not whatever struggle they find themselves in (even if in prison). Among other things, Paul reminds us: You were once alienated from God, under His wrath, living in complete darkness. Now you are children of light, adopted into His family. How amazing is this to consider! Do we fully realize that without Christ dying on the cross, there would have been no hope for us (whether you are a Jew or Gentile)? It was through Christ that the door was open for already-screwed Gentiles and faithless Jews to be joined together to one another and to God as His family. If we are now adopted in, not only are we part of God’s family, but we are the very body of Christ, himself being the head. Jesus takes care of his body, just as humans make sure to take care of ours. The riches and fullness of Christ are ours, because we are his body. Everything that is his, we partake of, because He offers it all to us. Incidentally, Paul encourages husbands to love their wives similarly–as their own body. After all, he states, the two become one flesh. Therefore, I am to understand that my wife is my body. We, along with Paul, should be blown away that this same truth applies to Jesus and his Church. We are His body, we are “one flesh” with Him, and He loves us in this manner. If we are indeed becoming “one flesh” with Christ, we must put off anything that is of the old self, because it does not belong in Jesus’ body. We must also realize that Jesus loves His body enough to take care of it and rid himself of anything that is unhealthy or damaging to himself. We would be wise to go ahead and take care of these things now, rather than it festering to the point that Jesus has no other recourse but to cut out the cancer, because it has...

Ok, so I’m not sure these are the most important reasons, but right now to me they are. In no particular order: 1. Where else can one hear the Gospel? You could argue that we should be spreading the Gospel in our work, school, neighborhoods…but reality demonstrates that this happens very infrequently, if at all. I’ve been on staff in a pastoral role–yet how often do I or someone else with my experience do so? In addition, very few people read their Bibles regularly, so they’re not receiving the Gospel from this source either. If we feel preaching the Gospel with distinct clarity doesn’t need to be central in our church, we are living in a dream world, and we will continue to see spiritual illiteracy exploding in our pews. We already know there is biblical illiteracy; I’m afraid it’s worse than that. 2. People tend to stop believing the Gospel. We came into this faith by believing that we had no righteousness to offer, but could only dare to hope in Christ’s. But after a little time in the faith, we start thinking otherwise of ourselves. We start relying on our ability to obey Christ instead of relying on Christ himself. We are constantly moving away from this (Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!). The Gospel isn’t just needed when we first convert–we are needing to be constantly converted from our old way of thinking. 3. We don’t really understand the Gospel that well. No matter how well I think I understand it, every time it is preached I recognize how little I really grasp of it. It needs to be told to me over and over. Not just that Jesus died for my sins–but what are the implications? What does this really mean? Tell me more about such love! Tell me more about how worthless everything else is in comparison! (Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all!) I may think I really understand that…but clearly I don’t. 4. The Gospel is the power of God. So many churches today state in one way or another that they are all about transformation. This word is quickly becoming irritating to me. It’s thrown...

Here are five churches I’ve attended during this time of transition, along with some reflections of each one: Church of the Highlands This church thrives on building excitement among its members for their church and their faith. Out of all the churches I’ve attended, I think this church is the one that I most often hear given a bad rap by other people from other churches. I think this is mostly out of envy for the worldly success this church has experienced. I think people serving in much smaller, struggling churches feel like they can’t compete with a church like CoTH who has so many resources, fame, and momentum. My question is…why are we trying to compete again? A danger I see with CoTH is that it is easy to feel pride at what you’ve accomplished, and pride often comes before a fall. Yet those from smaller, struggling churches who would “Amen” me are full of envy or spite towards CoTH. In other words, they have the same pride issues within themselves. While we often measure churches by numerical standards, this is not necessarily a reflection of true discipleship. As I stated at the beginning, it’s true that this is a “feel good” church. It seems the number one aim is for people to leave CoTH feeling uplifted and excited about faith. This can give a plastic view of faith–when you only see smiling, attractive people on the worship team who always seem happy, or the pastor is perceived as a superstar, etc. Is that true to life? Yet I believe there is more to this church than simply this. It was founded by a group of people who were willing to relocate to a new state and find new jobs in efforts of starting a new church to reach the city. Isn’t there something genuine about that kind of faith? That isn’t plastic Christianity at all. Those who would criticize this church for all of its success…how many disciples of Christ in your church would be willing to embark on such a leap of faith? My experience at CoTH reveals to me that while there are many people attending there who might be considered your typical superficial Christian,...

In the first post on this subject a week or so ago, I made the case that the Gospel doesn’t have any real power unless there is faith. Today, the point I want to make is that the Gospel doesn’t have any real power unless there is weakness. Does this mean that Christianity or the Gospel is a crutch for the weak? In a sense, yes.  I think you could say that. Most people use that phrase as if it is a derogatory statement. They are implying that us weak people need something like the Gospel, but they are not weak like us. To someone who sees themselves strong, or a self-made person, the Gospel is not needed or desired. Is it possible to build a successful life without the Gospel? Is it possible to have meaning and purpose in life without the Gospel? Is it possible to build a successful church without the Gospel? Yes, yes, and yes. Jesus even says that we can build our house on the rock or sand. Both can be built, but which one will last? Both will stand for quite some time. It’s not until the time of testing comes that one will fall. Some people’s house (not built on the sand) will endure their entire life on earth, and will only fall when the test of eternity comes. Jesus says everyone will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49). In that moment, will what you’ve built last in eternity? Many of those who have built on something other than the Gospel feel quite secure with what they have. The Gospel then is a threat to them. It requires tearing everything down and starting all over. Some people are more than willing to do so, because as they build, they recognize that it’s not working. While seen as a frustration, this is actually a blessing. It’s those whose lives are working for them who I worry about. They feel they have no need to tear down and start all over. They do not feel weak at all. But the Gospel does its work in those who recognize their weakness. For these people, there is no greater power than that which is found in...