Sinful Lifestyles.

I admit the fact that I don't shy away from controversy. There is just something in me that thrives on speaking on those topics which normally make people cringe or even get put on fire. I am forewarning that this is one of those topics. In this topic I am going to call out a lot of people. Now, this is not for the sake of calling people out. You see, I have noticed this lack of consistency among evangelical Americans. I always hear about how terrible it is that so many people live a homosexual lifestyle. This has come back into the vocabulary with last week's decision to allow same-sex marriages in New York. I've heard all about how so and so pastor is declaring that God will destroy America for allowing the homosexual lifestyle to go on.

BUT, I have also began to notice something; a lot of these people who are out there yelling about gays being evil living a sinful lifestyle, are themselves living sinful lifestyles. How many times have you seen one of these people yelling about this and that, and you look and realize they are way overweight? Now, I am not poking fun at anyone! God forbid me to do that, when I have a few pounds to lose myself. However, I am all for consistency. Scripture says that we should avoid gluttony. Proverbs 23:20 and 21 says this:

Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags

Just a few verses before that:

Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

Now, we know that people become overweight for a few reasons. One of them is a poor diet, such as overeating(gluttony). Of course, there is also the lack of exercise(sloth), that also plays part in this. It really is a lifestyle choice, being overweight. I mean, you can say no to that extra helping right? You can get up early and go to the gym? You can change yourself, right?

It is quite upsetting to me to see so many brothers and sisters hollering about sinful lives, yet the church has made a sinful lifestyle a staple of church services! How many times have you been to a "fellowship dinner" and seen people just eat and eat and eat. All the men have big bellies, and just go to make them bigger. And these men are leaders in the churches. How can they lead a church, if they cannot control their tummies? ( I am sure that is scripture! I just can't find it, at the moment). If they cannot remove their own plank, how are they supposed to ask a gay man or lesbian woman to remove the speck from his or her eye?

But this isn't just about overweight people(I'm serious, I am not against them!). Let's look at other sinful lifestyle that are common in the church:

*Gossip. This one is outright forbidden, especially for the wife of a leader (1 Timothy 3:11). Yet gossip is one of the top things I hear among Christian circles. The other night I had to leave a conversation on Skype because some of my Christian friends began to talk about another Christian on a forum. This is common. This is not acceptable. This is a sinful lifestyle.

*Failure to Pray and read the Word. Scripture says we are to always pray(now, that's not meaning like every second of the day, but to do it as often as possible). Most Christians do good to spend two minutes in prayer a day. I am confident that this is a sin because it is a failure to do what God tells us to do (pray), and it shows our true devotion to Him. If a person can spend 5 hours on the internet, playing a game, going out to see a 2 hour movie, going out to spend hours dancing in a club/bar, etc, then can't that same person spend a few moments in honest, humbled, devoted prayer to God? I would imagine that should be the case. The same can be said of reading scripture. We manage to make excuses about why we can't read the Word(I'm too busy, except when I am on Xbox Live, or texting my friends all night long), but yet we have ample time to do anything else out heart desires. I say with certainty that failing to come in contact with God on a regular basis is indeed a sinful lifestyle.

Now, I can go on and on with other examples, such as pride, being too lavish(which can fit in with pride), not attending a church, etc. However, I think with just the few examples I gave, I hit most American Christians. The point, again, is not to call people out for the sake of being a jerk. Instead, it is a call to get serious.

I am not saying we cannot call sin out. However, I believe firmly Jesus gave the teaching about the plank in one's eye for a reason. How can we, who claim to be redeemed and different from the world, show the change that Christ brings, if we live exactly like the world. If a Christian truly believes a person is sinning, he or she should obviously try to correct them. But how can you correct a person if you live in the wrong? If I cannot properly do mathematics, can I be a teacher of mathematics, correcting students when they are wrong? Surely not!

I think it is time we pull a Nehemiah. There is a lot of junk in our churches. And by junk, I mean sin. And I don't mean "those" churches down the road. I mean the church you and I sit in every Sunday (or SHOULD be sitting in). Nehemiah, when he came from captivity to rebuild the wall, also went into the Temple to clean out the idols in there. Idolatry was the sin that caused God to pour His wrath on the Jews in the form of captivity. We are being held captive in our own Church, by the sin we continue to let go on. Once more I ask: How can we tell the world to repent and leave their sins behind, when we have all these idols stored up in the temple, living JUST LIKE THE WORLD?

This is a call, not to be silent, allowing the world to slip by. RATHER, this is a call for the body to purify itself, that it may go into the world with boldness, authority, and the Grace of God. As it is now, we are laughed at, mocked, and ignored, not for the sake of the Gospel, but because we, ourselves, are failing to understand what the Gospel truly means for US. Is it not a lifestyle changing power? Then let our planks removed.

God I pray you will remove the planks from my eyes, that I may see your truth and show that truth to a world that is dying. Amen

Christian Community.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

What is the image you conjure up when you think about the body of Christ? What do you picture when you hear the word "fellowship"? I was reading an article today which said this:

Today, churches have fellowship halls, fellowship dinners, and fellowship retreats, but very few have real fellowship.

This quote really caught me off guard. I, like many, have taken up the idea of fellowship as meeting once in awhile to have a lunch, movie night, game time, etc. Those are all nice, and can be part of the fellowship experience. However, if our community is limited to a game night once every few months, or a dinner every few weeks, doesn't it seem as if we are missing out on something?

I've seen both sides of the coin, regarding this issue. I have been in churches where there was no community. I look at those churches today, and I see them struggling to hold on as members pass away, or other move on to other churches. At the same time, I have been blessed to have been involved in ministries where my brothers and sisters in Christ are as close as my biological brothers and sisters. I was very blessed to have become a follower of Christ and accepted into a body of believers who I lived with, worked with, played with, ate with, lived with, shared my entire life with. Even now, a few years after leaving them, I am still touched by their willingness to love me and accept me. I love them more than any of them will ever know.

Yet, I realize I cannot live in that past, as nice as it was. Since then, I have both struggled and flourished. There were months of darkness, when I gave up on going to church and being with believers. Sin crept back in. It destroyed me. It destroyed my hope. It destroyed my relationships. I changed from one who know their purpose in Christ, to one who barely knew how to move on. Yet, in that darkness, I was able to find light. I re-established old friendships, and even met new people. Three dears brothers helped pick me up out of the dirt and showed me what it means to be a body of believers. I am forever indebted to Eric, Billy, and Blake. They helped me see the love that Jesus told us to have for one another. That love rekindled the fire in my heart, and soon after I was in full fellowship once more.

And here I am now. I thought I would move out to DC and have a hard time finding a place to connect. Yet, I have found a church that I adore. I have been connected to a group of teens that I think I would honestly die for, to protect. I have people who I barely even know, who are bringing me into their home. I have others who will invite me to breakfast, to pray with me, to mentor me, to help me find my place in the world....only after two talks! I am so blown away by the generosity, the love, the support, the willingness to help and mold. They are simply living out Christ's command to us all; love another, as He has loved us. This love will show the ENTIRE world that we are different from any other group. We are the elect in Christ. Nothing can break the bond that we have. Our bond is Christ, who reigns forever. Death could not stop Him. Hell could not overcome Him. If we are bound in him, together as one, then who can stand against us and prevail? Jesus himself said that the gates of Hell could not prevail against His Church!!!

If you are like I was, and are avoiding connecting with your brothers and sisters, then I HIGHLY suggest you get out and mingle with them! Hebrews 10:25 says;

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

I know that some churches are totally lame. I know there are places where they judge you, or where cliques are formed. I FULLY understand those places. I have been to plenty. Don't let that stop you from meeting regularly with a group of Christians though! Make those relationships, water them, and watch them blossom. I promise that the effort is worth it in the end.

I will leave you with part of the prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden, according to John's Gospel:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Something New.

I think I have too grand of plans at times. When I started this blog I wanted to get into the pressing issues of Christian faith. I wanted to explore the complexities of theology, and fashion myself after the great thinkers. However, I get burnt out on the heavy thinking, to be quite honest. I think most people do. I am not saying it is bad, that I will stop, or anything of this sort. I am simply saying I am going to switch things up a bit, every now and then, and return to more simple posts. I think this will help keep me writing on a more consistent basis. I know that there were several weeks in between me saying "I will do blog posts on Heaven and Hell" and actually doing the one blog post on Hell. I am not sure Heaven is going to follow anytime soon. It isn't because I don't dislike Heaven, or think it is an important issue to discuss; I do. However, I believe there are other issues which people deal with on a daily basis, and they need to be addressed. For example, I have been thinking about how to address the typical Evangelical church is very inconsistent in thought about sin. Or how do Christians handle politics and government? What about the Spiritual disciplines? These are all things which shape our world view, and need to be addressed.

SO, I will still have theological discussions (things like hermeneutics, soteriology, eschatology, etc). However, I will add in simply devotionals and talks about everyday topics.

I will start with this, a mini devotional.

Grace and Mercy

I admit it. I struggle with the two most basic concepts of Christ and Christianity: Grace and mercy. It isn't that I doubt God is gracious and merciful. Nor is it that I wrestle with the idea that God is Good and loves man and desire to see man be redeemed, through His grace and mercy. The reason I struggle with these concepts is because I know how unworthy I am. I feel like part of me is Jonah, and the other part is Nineveh. Jonah saw the sins of Nineveh and saw they were evil. God desired for the city to be redeemed, but Jonah couldn't see past the sin. He limited God to just a god who brings destruction and justice to evil. God indeed does this, yet it is only part of who He is. Jonah, and this part of me inside, both fail to see God in the full picture. Not only is He the judge who brings justice, but he is the redeemer who cancels the punishment for those who repent.

Imagine it like this: A man is driving well over the speed limit and is caught by the cops. He is put before the judge, who has the power to get him real bad for his transgression. The man, sorrowful for his crimes, reveals how sorry he is for the crime. The judge, instead of punishing, acknowledges the man is guilty of the crime but says his crimes are forgiven. Not only are they forgiven, but the judge will take the man out for dinner! The crime is completely forgiven, and the judge gives something wonderful to the criminal!

This is what Christ has done for us. He didn't just say "Thomas, you crimes against me are forgiven", but rather, said "Thomas, your crimes against me are forgiven, and here are all the riches of Heaven that I alone have the authority to give away".

Apostle Peter said this:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Think about what this means. We are not simply 'saved' from a bad thing, but are given good- no, the BEST- things from God above. Who can say they deserve it? Can the liar, whose lies have distorted reality and hurt people? Can the thief, whose envy has lead him to take from others? Can the adulterer, whose lust and sexual depravity has divorced them from their God-give spouse? No, NONE, for "none are righteous, no not one".

This is why I struggle! I know the depths of my heart, and the darkness that has filled it! I know the sin I commit, even if it remains hidden. I know that sin has separated from God in the beginning. That should have been the end. BUT, (and a MAJOR but it is), God took my punishment...OUR PUNISHMENT... and when He rose from suffering our punishment, He rose to Heaven and now blesses us with all the treasures of above, not only to know now, but to know forever! These are not simply treasures like gold or silver, women or men, or whatever. But the greatest treasure is the full communion and fellowship with God. How can any gift be greater? Even more, how can I say that I deserve that gift?! How can I say I deserve the gift of God himself?!? And this is why I, a fallen man who has sinned and deserves death, struggle. I know I am not worthy. I know I deserve only my punishment. Yet, God is so good, and has given hope.

This is my challenge for my friends. Since you know the gift you have is a gift, something you can NEVER earn, but is given by God's grace and mercy, I want YOU to show this same thing to someone else. Take something which you find precious and give it to someone who doesn't deserve it. Go to a person who has hurt you and hug them in love. Go to a homeless man and give him money/food/time/etc. Go to a prisoner and give them time and forgiveness that they don't deserve. Go to anyone, anywhere, anytime and impart some gift to them. Let them know you are simply doing what God has done for you. Share the love. Share the hope!!!