Always With You?

When you start talking about poverty, a lot of Christians immediately think of the words of Jesus (from Matthew 26), "You will always have the poor among you..." There seems to be a sense of hopelessness to be able to do much about it. Kind of like we're all just thinking, "Some people have a lot, some people don't have much at all... that's just the way it goes." But is that the way it should go? Is that His "will on earth as it is in heaven?" Was Jesus telling His disciples to waste their resources on extravagant gifts for him (like the alabaster jar of expensive perfume that "could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.") and not worry about the poor, because, "Hey, they're still going to be there tomorrow, right..."?

Who are we to argue with the very words of Jesus? But was He really saying what we seem to think He was saying? Have we maybe misunderstood because we don't hear those words in their context? Or, even worse, are we guilty of twisting Jesus' words to justify the pleasures to which we think we are entitled? Is there some latent greed within us driving us to hoard all we can get a hold of and let everyone else fend for themselves?

"You will always have the poor among you..." Jesus was scolding His indignant disciples who were mad about a woman's "waste" and seeming lack of concern for the poor. But Jesus next words may surprise you: "but you will not always have me." Jesus saw her act as an anointing in preparation for His burial. So, even though any money gained from the sale of the perfume could have gone to the poor, this woman had chosen something more important. What are we doing with our resources that is more important than ending extreme poverty?

Right now, I can't help but think of the upcoming Christmas season. I remember coming across a statement at Advent Conspiracy's site a couple years ago about how Americans spend about $450 Billion each year at Christmas to "celebrate the birth of Jesus". Holy holly, that's a lot of tinsel and presents... but at least some of it could have been a lot of food for the hungry or clean water for the thirsty. One of those two possibilities is pretty important to the man whose birth we celebrate, but if you want to see some "indignant disciples" today, just suggest to your church friends and family that you want them to donate whatever they would have spent on a gift for you instead of buying you that gift.

I don't think it has to be one or the other (live comfortably or help those in need), but I can no longer pretend these are Jesus' only words about how I should think of the poor. What about what He had to say about how those gathered in Matthew 25 had treated "the least of these"? What about all the talk of the minor prophets about justice and mercy for the widow and the orphan? The way we think and what we do about extreme poverty does matter to God. He loves those people, just as He loves us.

"But wait, Mike... what they really need is Jesus. We need to tell them about Jesus." While I agree wholeheartedly with that statement, they also need food and shelter and water. Both needs are significant, and the church is equipped to address both sides of this issue. Watch this video and let me know what you think.

10ST - Discipline over Reconciliation

10ST is an ongoing series digging into Geoff Surratt's Ten Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing and how those stupid things keep youth ministries from growing as well.

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This chapter may have been one of the most obviously relevant chapters to youth ministry. How do we respond when discipline is necessary in our ministries? It's often tempting to give in to the knee jerk & tell them they can't come anymore. It would often make our lives easier to do exactly that.

I once had a couple guys start coming to youth group who had a reputation for being in trouble a lot. I thought it was awesome that these guys wanted to be there at all, and prayed they'd quickly find a deeper connection with God. But, the parents of some of the other kids in the group didn't want them around. Actually, they threatened to stop bringing their kids if I allowed these two guys to keep coming. There was a real fear that I was allowing the bad influences into our group.

Resources from Catalyst West

For the last several weeks, my desk has been piled with stuff I brought back from Catalyst West. Some of the stuff was purchased, some were free books that I seem to never be able to pass up (why would anyone want to?!), and some other promo materials from vendors that were set up at the conference. Just thought I'd pass on some links to some of the resources, connections, causes, and ministries I brought back:

Clover - Fashioners of great websites for growing ministries.
TOMS Shoes - A shoe company that gives a pair of shoes away to someone in need for every pair they sell!
Invisible Children - A movement working in northern Uganda to rebuild life for child soldiers, who've been abducted and forced into the longest running military conflict in Africa.
Orange - Proponents of a strategy that fuses children's and youth ministry with the rest of the Body - ministry to families starts at home.
Orphan Sunday - Nov. 7, 2010 Echoing God's heart for the fatherless.
One Day's Wages - A giving movement intent on alleviating extreme poverty by donating a day's wage. These guys have done a great job leveraging social media to work on their mission.
Gift Card Giver - Distributing unused and leftover gift cards to people in need.
ISS - Stewardship solutions to resource God's vision for the local church.
The Last Letter - Committed to taking up the cross among the poor and lost - a passionate call to action for all of us.
Bethany Christian Services - Orphan care, adoption, and counseling through unplanned pregnancies.
X3Watch - Accountability Software/Tools for fighting internet porn.

Many of these deserve a lot more attention than one post could give all of them, so check the links and see what you find. Then come back and comment and let me know which ones are most exciting for you.

"I want you to know God"

I've heard it said that you can cover up a lot of problems with a little success. A growing ministry can easily assume everything is okay and ignore issues that will become big problems in the future. But what happens when the proverbial wheels fall off? At some point, the cracks WILL show themselves... what then? I had a great reminder this morning to make sure I'm not focused on the less important at the expense of the MOST important. If my ministry to students ever becomes about anything other than knowing God, I've missed the point of His calling me to lead it - even if it looks successful. If our churches are more interested in people showing up than in people knowing God, then we're failing at a critical level - even if lots of people are showing up. Like the priests in ancient Israel, if we're in love with our procedures more than with the Person, we're leading in the wrong direction.

"You refuse to know me... You will be destroyed, for you refuse to understand." Hosea's warnings to the people of Israel, and specifically the religious leaders of Israel, are still good for us to hear today. How often do we put ourselves in peril because we ignore what God is trying to bring to mind? How often do we "refuse to understand" what He is doing? One of the ways we do this looks a lot like the idolatry of the Israelites. We may not make little statues of gold and silver and wood - but I wonder how often our religious duty takes the place of God as the object of our worship. How often do we "go to church" out of a sense of obligation? How often do we "leave church" on Sunday disappointed at the sub-par entertainment value of the morning? Are we so enamored with the stand-up, sit-down routine that we miss the point: knowing God?

"I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings." Much of what was happening in Israel's worship was simply "following the rules" - offer the appropriate sacrifice at the appropriate time. But that's not what God wanted. He wanted a people who would know Him and be identified with Him and extend to others the kind of mercy He'd shown them.. That's still what He wants today. He's not concerned with perfect attendance records at all major church functions. He'll be ok if you don't make it to the annual Horseshoe Tournament/Quilting Bee/Pie Bazaar (or whatever other event you're feeling guilted into attending)... He wants you to know Him.

The destruction that Hosea warned Israel about wasn't coming because they didn't follow the right rituals, it was coming because they'd fallen in love with their rituals at the expense of the God who'd rescued and loved them. "They have forgotten their Maker." I pray that will not be true of the church today.

Comparing Israel to a wife who'd left her husband to be a whore, God looked forward to the day when once again "the people will follow the Lord" and when He would call to His people and "bring them home again." Even when we are faithless, He looks forward to bringing us home; to bringing us into His presence where we can know Him most fully. Maybe it's time to follow His instructions from Psalm 46 - "Be still and know that I am God."

+ 1 for the vegetarians

You can call me a pansy if you want to, but the whole blood and guts thing has never been my favorite part of guy-hood. Don't get me wrong, I love a good action movie with a lot of explosions, etc. But it's the real life, 3-dimensional, all 5 senses gore that I'm not fond of! It's one thing to see it on a screen, but quite another to touch and hear its squishiness and smell the rancid rot.

I have tons of hunting and fishing relatives and the part of those sports that I never liked was the 'cleaning'/'field dressing' (or 'gutting' as we more often called it). While I was in college I went deer hunting - this was actually the only time I've been deer hunting as a hunter instead of the tag-a-long kid that can't keep quiet (I was good at that role!). I gutted my own deer, but I didn't like it. Actually, my shot was "less than immediately lethal" so I even had to cut Bambi's throat before slicing her open and 'cleaning' her out. I did it - but I didn't like it.

All that pales in comparison to the putrid pile of flesh I had to deal with today. It may have been just a temporary failure (I hope) but this morning we discovered that our large freezer was no longer freezing its contents. (What am I supposed to call a freezer that doesn't freeze things?!) We're not sure how long the thaw had been happening, but there was a 2 inch pool of blood underneath about 90 pounds of rotting bovine. Having cleaned out the meat, I have never been closer to becoming a vegetarian than I am right now. (I am seriously thanking God and the city of Scottsbluff-Gering that tomorrow is trash day!) I can't even describe how disgusting this was for me at every level of my being - tactile, visual, financial, olfactorial (just made up that word I think, but I like it), aural - everything in me wanted to do whatever it could that is closest to vomiting.

As I was scooping up rotting meat and being as totally grossed out as I have ever been, God reminded me of Isaiah, where it's written that "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;" Now, I have some shop rags in my garage that are covered with oil and dirt and auto-grime. That's not the kind of filth He's talking about. A less G-rated rendering of this phrase could be 'bloody tampon'. Gross. (God is graphic!) I've always understood the way our sin sickens our Holy God - but this wasn't the sin of His people, it was the 'righteous acts' they did alongside their sin, thinking they could cover it up or outweigh their guilt with their good. It makes God want to wretch.

I'm strongly reminded today that nothing I can do on my own can clean out the rot that I've allowed in my life. Nothing that I can do to make you or anybody else admire/approve/respect me will allow God to ignore the rancid stench of sin in my life. It is only by His mercy that I can present myself to Him as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him - only by His grace that I can enter into His presence - and only by the blood (ironically) of Jesus that I can be freed from continually having to breathe the smell of death.

It's easy to deal with rotting meat - you throw it out! Maybe there's something rotting in our lives that we need to throw out, too - ask God to take you deep into your heart and show you what needs taken to the curb. It's trash day - take it out.

No Excuses

"'Not called!' did you say?

'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.

Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there.

Then look Christ in the face - whose mercy you have professed to obey - and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.'"

Just came across that quote from William Booth (who founded the Salvation Army) in Dino Rizzo's book Servolution. It's easy to say that we're not gifted in outreach, or we're just not called to evangelism like that, or that's just not my personality type... But the truth is that we are each responsible for sharing with others the mercy and grace that Jesus has shared with us. No excuses. You and I ARE CALLED to reveal God to people who haven't seen Him - in the way we live, in the way we serve, in the way we love.

What are you doing to "publish His mercy" to the people around you?

Find Some Suffering

We typically want to avoid suffering don't we? I mean, on a personal level, most of us don't want to suffer. We often even take that another step and avoid others who are suffering. Jesus was definitely counter to this part of our culture.

He expected to suffer. He even promised his disciples that they would suffer. (Which begs the question: If disciples suffer, and we avoid suffering at all costs - are we really disciples?) But not only that, Jesus sought out those who were suffering. He left his Father's side (where He was not suffering) to enter a world full of suffering. He noticed the suffering in the crowds that gathered around him.

In our nation, today, do we seek out the suffering? Or do we avoid those parts of town? Do we drive around the "bad neighborhoods" where we know we'll see someone "less fortunate" than ourselves? Compassion recently partnered with Nooma to make a short film called Corner that hits on this issue. In the video, there is a line that suggests that we "find some suffering and do something about it."

I want to suggest the same. I need to give up my American dreams of comfort and ease and "seek first the kingdom of God". Maybe you do to. Maybe we need to recognize that as some of the most wealthy people in the world (yes, even in this economy that is supposedly in the tank, the lower middle class of America is more wealthy than about 95% of the rest of the world), we can do something about much of the suffering we see (if we will indeed see it).

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Like many people I can tend to point out problems much more quickly than offer solutions. But here are a few links and ideas to help us "find some suffering and do something about it":

The coldwater mission later this summer is all about revealing the Kingdom by serving people that have needs our group can meet. Join us...

Compassion - sponsor a child

Kiva - micro loans you give to help someone escape poverty

Help with a soup kitchen

Donate some clothes

TOMS shoes - for every pair of shoes bought, a pair are given free to someone who needs them

Get a couple friends and clean up someone else's yard

Visit people in the hospital and nursing homes - give them the gift of being there

Use your imagination - share some more ideas in the comments section - how could you find some suffering and do something about it?

Gravity of Familiarity

What is familiar often goes unnoticed.  We can tend to take for granted those things that are most commonly present to us.  Blemishes and annoyances that may be very irritating at first can even fade into oblivion with time.  And sometimes, the same can happen with certain passages of the Bible.  Even the words of Jesus can become so familiar that we stop noticing what He really said.

Matthew 5 begins a section of Scripture that is, and should be, very familiar to most in the church - and even many outside it.  But as I was reading this morning, it struck me that these words were so familiar that I was reading without even thinking about what I was reading.  I wanted to do something to slow myself down and really notice what Jesus was saying, so I inverted the sentence structure within the passage - escaping the traditional cadence of "Blessed are those who... for they shall...".

When I was able to shed the weight caused by the gravity of familiarity, I noticed again how revolutionary Jesus' words really are.  Everything he said in this passage we religiously refer to as "The Beatitudes" (whatever that means), shakes the very foundation of worldviews throughout time and place.  He turned value systems upside down.  If you'll allow me a little license, here is a look at the passage from a less familiar angle:

The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in Spirit.

Comfort will be given to those who mourn.

The earth will be inherited by the meek.

Fulfillment will be given to those who insatiably seek righteousness.

Mercy will be shown to the merciful.

God will be seen by the pure in heart.

Children of God is the name given to the peacemakers.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to the persecuted righteous.

Pain inflicted on us because we align our lives with Jesus will result in great reward in heaven.

The reward really is great to those who live according to the worldview that Jesus offers in this passage.  Let's slow down and notice how these values can be fleshed out in our lives...