Bring Me to Life

So, what is your view of the condition of the person who has not yet turned to the Lord for salvation? If you're like most, you focus on the sin in their life, their rebellion against God. But, every once in a while, someone captures an amazing picture of theology. And recently I came across a song that does just that. The song is Bring Me to Life by Evanescence. They are a Goth Rock band led by an amazing singer/songwriter/pianist (and yes, Christian) gal. And while the group would not be considered a Christian band, her beliefs come boiling to the surface in her songwriting. So, I've embedded a video of them performing the song live in Vegas. Also, I have included the lyrics below.

Watch, listen, and read. Then, tell me if this was anything like your pre-conversion experience. I wonder if you have ever even thought of your salvation in these terms. And I hope that the Spirit will use it to quicken your heart and motivate you to mission...



"Bring Me To Life"

How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core where I’ve become so numb.
Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold
until you find it there and lead it back home.

Chorus:
(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside.
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run,
(I can’t wake up)
before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I’ve become.

Now that I know what I’m without,
you can't just leave me.
Breathe into me and make me real.
Bring me to life.

(Chorus)

Bring me to life
(I've been living a lie; there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life

Frozen inside without your touch
without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.

All this time I can't believe I couldn't see;
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me.
I’ve been sleeping a thousand years it seems.
Got to open my eyes to everything.
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul
Don't let me die here!
There must be something more!
Bring me to life!

(Chorus)

(Bring me to life)
I’ve been living a lie, there’s nothing inside.
(Bring me to life)

Who would Jesus condemn?

What if Jesus came to “visit” today? I’m not talking about His awaited coming, the time when He will come in as a conquering king and deal once and for all with evil. I’m talking about a little “check-in visit” just to provide a little divine input. Who would Jesus have the harshest words for?

Well, you might think, since the church is the body of Christ and His presence in the world today, that He would condemn those whom the church condemns. This week, I was small-talking with a fellow who is in leadership in a local church. I guess he assumed that he knew how I felt about Christian issues because he rather boldly told me that he was offended and outraged that he heard a radio commercial for a church that accepted “anyone, regardless of your past.” He went on to say that such a church doesn’t believe in anything. Then he elaborated, saying that his church throws people out who cannot lead pure lives.

OK, let’s not get into my thoughts on this matter, not at first anyway. Let’s look at the first time Jesus dropped in for a little visit. His ministry lasted about three years and He encountered a vast variety of folks during that time. There were traitors, invaders, the ritually unclean, the socially outcast, the ethnically unclean, thieves, and whores. But all these He did not condemn.

So, are the “lovey dovey Jesus” people right? Was Jesus’ ministry syrupy sweet to everyone? Hardly! Have you read the gospels? Let me give you one little example:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-- mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” Matthew 23:13-33

Woe! This isn’t lovey dovey talk. And who is it directed at? Not the “sinners” but the religious leaders. And why? Well, it should be clear from reading through this passage. He repeatedly calls them hypocrites, but look at their hypocrisy. They claimed to understand the fine details of the Law, but were actually misleading the people. They were building a religious system rather than calling people to faith in God. In fact, they set up barriers to faith before people, all in order to establish their power and authority in Israel. These are the people who suffered the condemnation of Christ 2000 years ago.

So, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Jesus, if He came for a little visit today, wouldn’t condemn those who are trapped in their sins. He would spend time with them and call them into a relationship based on trust in Him. But to the religious people, especially the leaders, who are more interested in building their own kingdoms of power and position while using His name (in vain), to those people He would say, “Woe to you, hypocrites. How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

Get me outa this cave!

Christmas is right around the corner. Churchy, religious people call it Advent so that non-Christians won’t know what we’re talking about. After all, if they understood the true meaning of Christmas, they might turn to the Lord and be saved and then we’d have fewer people to feel superior to. (Yep, that’s another blog post – I’ll save it for another day….)

So, if non-Christians know anything about the biblical reasons for Christmas, they have learned that from “Christmas stories” whether on TV or in our churches. Maybe they even have come to a Christmas service just because it seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe they even heard the Nativity story there in church. But, did they hear it correctly? Or, did we take advantage of the opportunity to communicate God’s story by telling it wrongly? Maybe we have one part so messed up that it creates more confusion for Guests to the church and unfaithfulness in those in the family of faith.

One thing that’s generally jacked up in our Nativity story is the place where Jesus was born. Some have Him in a stable – the story says He was laid in a manger. Others have Him in a cave – that’s where you’re told He was if you tour Israel. And the villain of the story is the evil innkeeper who threw a pregnant mother out into the cold December night, leaving her to bed with animals. And maybe that’s where the error creeps into the story, with a terrible translation of a single word and a Western interpretation filled in around that poorly-translated word.

The word in Greek is kataluma. In nearly all of our English translations, kataluma in Luke 2:7 is translated “inn.” And Westerners, especially Americans think “motel.” So we are left with a young couple in desperate need of a place to sleep and an evil, money-grubbing innkeeper who took the last of their money and made them sleep with the animals. Isn’t that the story pretty much as we tell it?

But kataluma is used in another place in Luke. Sound biblical interpretation says that you should look for other occurrences of difficult words, especially if the same author uses that word in another place. And where is kataluma used again by Luke? Well, if “inn” is the right understanding, then you might think that it’s in the story of the Good Samaritan who took the injured man to an inn for his recovery. But the word Luke uses in 10:34 is pandoxion, not kataluma. So, where is the other usage of kataluma? It’s in 22:11:

“and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’”

In fact, Mark also uses kataluma in his account of the upper room where the Lord and His disciples shared in the Passover meal.

And this may seem like an insignificant point, but I’m going to try to convince you otherwise. You see, Joseph was going to his city of origin, Bethlehem. It’s the place that his family called home. He would have been going to stay with family, not at some motel. There probably would have been no inns in Bethlehem; it was too small and insignificant. But there would have been kin. And Joseph would have gone to the patriarch of the family trusting that hospitality would assure him of lodging in the upper room, the guest room. And the story tells us that the guest room was occupied, probably by other family who had come “home” to be counted in the census. And so they were lodged in the main level, with the family. And the reference to a manger? Well, that would have been at the rear of the main level because livestock were brought into the rear of the home to keep them warm in cold weather and also to provide heat for the house. We know this from archeological evidence.

So what? Well, the Middle Eastern concept of hospitality is huge. And while misunderstanding this part of the Nativity story doesn’t impact Christology (theology pertaining to Jesus), it greatly affects an understanding of our obligation to community. In truth, if we were to be honest about our gospel, there is a huge communal component that we, as Americans, have really missed. And what about that person who knows nothing of the gospel, that Christmas Guest in our church? Well, there’s a good chance that the story sounds like a fairy tale. And if they do happen to hear about God Incarnate, they will probably miss altogether the responsibility we have toward one another. We have…

No Ordinary People - No Ordinary Work

OK, so I'll admit that it has been very difficult being out of an official ministry position for the last 7+ months. But, honesty compels me to also confess that ministry continues, despite the illegitimacy of it.

I have returned to Acts 5 on several occasions during this "season" of life. No, not the story of Ananias and his wife, but the latter part of the chapter:

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life." At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin-- the full assembly of the elders of Israel-- and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this. Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them. Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!" Acts 5:17-29

You see, your calling cannot be restrained any more than the gospel itself can be. For those who have truly committed to serve the Lord and His Kingdom, He is the absolute ruler of their life. And He commands each of His children to be His witnesses. He doesn't say that you have to be a pastor first. Only some are called to be pastors and tend God's flock. But all are called to be witnesses.

Here's a story of a faithful witness and the impact that she had because she understood her high calling. Watch the video. Be encouraged. Then, go and do likewise, even if you "just" clean houses. ;-)

Saving Faith

So, what do you make of the following verse:

"But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." Hebrews 10:38

Is this just about "living" eternally with God? I have heard it preached that way. Maybe, just maybe it means something more. Maybe it has more to do with living out your faith once you have made a profession. What if this verse is less like Romans 10:9 ("If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.") and more like Philippians 2:12 ("Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling")?

Within the context of Hebrews 10, it seems pretty clear that 10:38 is about living out your faith. Please don't go too far with this and say that we earn our salvation by what we do to serve God and His Kingdom. There is way too much Scripture to indicate that is not the case, especially Ephesians 2:8-9 ("For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.") But, like James indicates in Chapter 2 of his letter, our true faith, what we truly believe about the Lord, is demonstrated in our actions.

So, how are you doing? Is your life bearing fruit of repentance? Are you living out the gospel? What do your relationships look like? Are they demonstrations of divine reconciliation? What are you living for? Have you offered yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God? Is your life characterized by love for God and people? Are you living out your calling to be an ambassador of Christ?

Look at how one family is living by faith. No, it doesn't mean that everyone has to follow their example. The principles apply, not their specific application. But, they are part of the "cloud of witnesses" and they should be an encouragement to each of us to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1). So, watch this video and let's talk...

Rio Portrait - SBC 2011 from imb connecting on Vimeo.

Theology of Thanksgiving

OK, I know that title is probably not the most exciting, but today I am feeling like I need to just deliver sound Theology straight up. Will you allow me that?

Let’s start with a brief discussion of something all of us know, Geometry. I can almost hear some of you screaming right now, but hang with me. I’ll admit that Geometry was one of my favorite classes in high school. Why? Because it was a puzzle to be unraveled, and it was done so analytically and logically. But I would like to suggest to you that we can learn a lot about giving thanks by drawing on what we remember (hopefully) from Geometry.

In America, giving thanks is treated like a point but we should think of it like a ray. Let me refresh your memories. A point has no width or length. It is different than a line which is a series of points strung together in an infinite string. See, most of us think that giving thanks is something that we do at a point in time. While time may be a line to us, thanksgiving is a point on that line, the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving Day. It’s a point where we stop doing what we normally do, gather with family or close friends, watch football, eat too much, and say that we are thankful. And then, before the day is over, a multitude of us are out glutting ourselves at vendors who gorge themselves on our consumption, but that’s another blog post…

But the Christian life is not revealed as one with occasional or even periodic thankfulness. In fact, most of our English translations do a wonderful job of expressing the continual act of giving thanks reflected in the Greek grammar of Paul’s letters. It’s almost wrong to call it a “continual act” since it’s more of a lifestyle or mode. And some people get this, but for them thankfulness is a line. They understand that we are to be characterized by thankfulness, but that line is defined by a couple of points where they expressed thanks. Remember? That’s the definition of a line. A line is a string of points drawn through two points and extends continuously in both directions. And for a lot of Americans, stringing together several points of thanksgiving is the right way to live a life of gratitude.

But I would liken biblical thanksgiving to a ray. A ray is a portion of a line; it begins with a point on the line and then continues in one direction infinitely. I say Christian thanksgiving is like a ray because it has a starting point and then a direction. If you like Physics, thankfulness is like a vector. A vector has BOTH magnitude and direction. Furthermore, it has a position relative to other points.

OK, too much Math and Science. Let’s bring it back to Theology. Gratitude is demonstrated as a continuous state of motion. Gratitude has direction. It is not something we feel, but how we act. And all of it is in reference to our starting point, that moment that we acknowledged the relevance of the death of Christ to our lives. That was the point that created new life in us. It’s not that what transpired before that point is unimportant. However, it is that point, us before the cross of Christ, and the subsequent direction, living out the Resurrection, that defines our faithfulness. And that ray is characterized by gratitude to God. Thanksgiving is How we do all that to which we are called.

So, by all means, gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving Day. If you’re so inclined, go ahead and watch the Packers beat the Lions, the Cowboys beat the Dolphins, and the Niners beat the Crows. And gather around a bountiful table, but don’t overindulge since gluttony is the antithesis of gratitude. But reflect deeply on the blessings that the Lord has given to you. Do you know that every instance I found of Paul giving thanks was in reference to the people whom God had brought into his life, and that his admonitions to live thankful lives are buried in the midst of instructions concerning living in Christian community?

My pastor taught me that we are blessed to be a blessing. I like that perspective. It helps me keep my faith about more than me. So look for opportunities to train yourself to be other-focused. Look for places where you can apply the blessings that the Lord has given to you. And apply blessings in relational ways, inviting others to participate with you.

If you find that you just can’t come up with a tangible way to express Christian gratitude this season, consider joining a growing movement to bless the homeless in our area. Go to www.simplysocks.info for more information.

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right. Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise. Psalm 106:1-5

Building Religion

Evangelicals are very fond of talking about the difference between “religion” and “faith.” Of course, they are quick to point out that we have a faith, and not religion. Religion is something that man creates while faith is something that God creates in you. Religion is generally a bunch of rules, while faith is about entering into a relationship with the Living God. Yada, yada, yada…

But how is it that we, as Christians, create religion? Sure, you want to point to people who think that, if there really is a God, He grades on a curve, looking at how the population in general is behaving toward one another and then giving the A of salvation to the highest achievers. But how about people who understand that salvation is an undeserved gift, a grace from God? How do people who start out right end up in dead religion?

My reflections this week have been on “form” and “substance.” You see, Christians are very good at getting the two confused. They fall into the enemy’s trap of believing that following the forms of the faith is the same as participation in the life of faith. What does it look like? “Do you attend church regularly?” “Do you give 10% to the church?” “Do you serve in a ministry?” “Do you attend a small group or Sunday School class?” “If you answer ‘Yes’ to all of these, then you’re living the life of faith!”

And there’s also a list of things you shouldn’t do. “Don’t drink, smoke, have sex, use profanities, cheat, steal, lie (wow, we could talk about this one!), and don’t ever associate with someone who does these things. If you don’t do these things, and a few others, then you’re surely living the life of faith!”

All (actually, most) of this is the “form” of Christian faith. But faith is a relationship with God! The form is intended to make time and place for the relationship to be nurtured by and thru the Holy Spirit. Apart from His activity in all of this, you have dead religion. And falling back on the safety net of professing that you are saved by grace alone through faith alone is trap of your enemy. He’s a liar!

Now, before you get all self-righteous because you attend a “Spirit-filled” congregation, know that the Spirit of God tends to be the shy, anonymous person of the Trinity, not the flamboyant, ostentatious “power-on-display” of some congregations. Yes, He is our source of all things needed for our growing up into the full stature of Christ, including spiritual power. However, when we dictate that a certain demonstration of supernatural power must be on display in order for His presence to be known, we are stepping way beyond the Spirit as He is described in Scripture. And, again, we are looking at dead, though maybe very active, religion.

The reason I have been dwelling on this subject is because the small group that I participate in is planning an amazing outreach to the homeless in our vicinity. That’s a good form! And we are inviting others to participate with us. That is closer to substance, but still just useful form. My fear is that we would not slow down and create the space and time for the Spirit to participate with us. I believe wholeheartedly that the Spirit led our group to this outreach opportunity. And it is certainly well within the will of God that His people would reach out in this manner. But I also know that He is not a reluctant, but a meek God. He wants to be invited to participate. And He wants to be trusted to provide all that is needed to reach whatever goals He has determined would be achieved thru this form.

Because I am convinced that the purpose of this outreach (and church attendance, service, tithing, study, fellowship, holiness, etc.) is to bring glory to Him by participating in being His church. And in that form, filled with the substance of a right relationship with Him, we are being fitted together to rise up to be a holy temple as we are being brought to maturity, attaining to the full measure of Christ.