Christian Boredom

We are approaching graduation time and as a student pastor it always makes me ask the question, what are these students going to be like in college next year?  Are they going to walk away from the church or are they going to grow and flourish as a disciple of Christ?  Another important question that we have to ask as student pastors, and ultimately as parents, is are we preparing students to be able to stand strong in their faith as they open this new chapter in their lives?  As I have thought about this I am becoming more convinced that this preparation isn’t all about deeper Bible study, more apologetics, and definitely not more big events.

Having said that, I would like to make the clarification that I believe in taking students deep into the Word of God.  I believe in educating our students in theology and doctrine.  I also believe that these alone will not cure the boredom that students experience with Christianity.  It is this boredom that I believe is a major factor in students leaving the church as they leave student ministry.  It is not because they don’t know enough and a college professor tricks them into believing something else.  It is not because they get mixed up with the wrong group as a freshman and that group takes them down a destructive path.  It is not because they haven’t been taught “how to stay Christian in college.”  It is because they enter college in a state of Christian boredom.  They have been in Sunday school classes, home groups, camps, and Wednesday nights for much of their lives and they are just bored with it all.  It is that foundation of boredom that I believe leads them to walk away.

This leaves us with the question, how do we fix this problem of boredom?  The answer is found in scripture.  In John 15:16 and Ephesians 2:10 we see that our purpose in God saving us is to go and bear fruit, to go out and do the good works that God has prepared for us to do.  I believe that these verses point us to a significant purpose in our salvation: to go out and serve delivering the Gospel as we go.  I believe that fulfilling that purpose is the key to overcoming Christian boredom, after all, it is our God-given purpose.  It is by serving and delivering the Gospel as we go that our theology, doctrine, and deeper Bible study finds application.

What we miss many times is that this theological education, this deeper Bible study must be partnered with action.  I believe that because I believe that discovering theology and diving deep into God’s word will bring life change and that life change will result in the fulfillment of our purpose to go serve and deliver the Gospel as we go.  To me, the two are linked.  Having just one will lead to Christian boredom.  Having both will lead to life change and purposeful living.  Philemon 6 says the following: “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ” (ESV).  Here it is, right in Scripture: as we fulfill our God-given purpose to serve and deliver the Gospel as we go we will grow into the full knowledge of every good thing we have in Christ.  It is discovering how Christ is working, moving, and leading as we live life in Him.  It is a constant discovery of the “bigness” of God.  It is an ever-present cure for Christian boredom.

This Is Who We Are

I have been preaching this week at spiritual emphasis week for one of our local Christian schools.  I have been doing a series about our identity and discovering exactly who we are in Christ.  It is truly amazing to study the steps that God has taken to bring us to Himself and I pray that these students are seeing the greatness of God each and every morning that we open His word together.  I know that each morning as I have shared God’s word with them my own heart has exploded with an admiration for the greatness of God and the lengths that He has gone to bring good to us and to reveal His glory.

God has taken a group of people who were in absolute rebellion and hatred towards Him and has reached out in love to them through Jesus.  Romans 3 and Ephesians 2:1-3 are clear descriptions of our depravity upon entering this world.  God reached through those bleak images and through our sin and offered His Son to bring us to Himself.  That one work of God is amazing but God didn’t stop there.  He also made it so that we are no longer foreigners and aliens, but citizens of heaven.  We are actually given a place in His presence (Eph. 2:16), but God didn’t stop there either.  God also has adopted us into His own family and has made us an heir (Eph 1:5, Gal. 4:7).  God took us, a group of people who hated and rebelled against Him at every turn, forgave us, gave us a place in His presence for eternity, adopted us into His family, and made us an heir.  Paul explains in Romans 8:17 that we are even fellow heirs with Jesus. That is the identity that we have in Christ, that is who we are! It is at this very point that I am blown away by the greatness of God.  He could have simply forgiven us and it would have been far more than we deserved, yet He desired to bring us closer to Him with each amazing step.

If we as Christians could only keep those things in the forefront of our minds, our lives would be lived quite differently.  To make decisions based on being a citizen of heaven and not of this world, to see people through the filter of being an adopted son of God, and to have an attitude based upon the foundation of being a fellow heir with Jesus would not only bring change to our own lives, but also to the lives of those we come into contact with.  I pray that we will be a people who display the greatness of God through the way we live and through our words as we share the amazing steps He has taken to make us who we are.

Grace Rebellion

Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? – Galatians 3:3

“Saved by grace” is a common phrase within Christian circles. Not only is the phrase common, it is fundamental to our salvation theology. It is clear in Ephesians as Paul writes, “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” It is this gift of God, grace, that is so astounding. Foundational to God’s saving grace in our lives is that we have done nothing to attain it. Not only have we done nothing, but we could never do enough in a million lifetimes to merit the grace of God. This gift comes to us freely from any action on our part and sadly that is where the journey of grace ends for many of today’s believers.

Foundational to our salvation is God’s free gift of grace, but I submit that God’s grace toward us is also foundational to living the Christian life. Many people may agree with that statement right away, but few of us agree with it in lifestyle. Let me explain. The Bible teaches that we are saved by the grace of God, not of ourselves lest anyone should boast. That is the way that we enter a relationship with God and it is the way that we should continue in that same relationship. It is that last part that so many of us have a problem with. We have the same problem today that the Galatians had when Paul wrote this passage. We are saved by grace, which we don’t have a problem with, then we begin to throw our lives into a works based Christian life. It is as though after being saved by grace we choose to rebel against that once amazing gift.

It is to that thinking evidenced by lifestyle that Paul wrote the words of this verse. Paul is wondering why anyone who has been saved by the grace of God would be so foolish as to live the changed life based on works. Sadly, many of us have made this same decision. Are we so arrogant to think that we can improve on the saving grace of God by adding in our works? Are we so foolish to think that we need to work to pay off the free gift of God’s grace? Are we unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, rebelling against the grace of God through a live devoted to action instead of a life devoted to dependence?

In no way am I advocating a life characterized by merely sitting back and doing nothing all in the name of grace. A life that has truly come into contact with the powerful flood of God’s grace would never sit back and do nothing. No, a life that has been affected by grace according to the unending riches of Almighty God will be a life motivated to action. Not action that develops out of a sense of duty; a desire to make payments; or a need to gain a holiness that we have already been given in Christ. Instead, this life of action will be one that leans on and is supported by the grace of God at every turn.

“We are brought into God’s Kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace, we persevere through trials by grace; and we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace.” – Jerry Bridges

The Hope of a Captive

I just left the hospital after visiting a senior adult couple from our church.  The wife was in the hospital bed, alive, oxygen mask on, and remained motionless throughout the visit.  I talked with her husband, who was physically tired and mentally wondering what the doctors would say about the condition of his spouse.  I have made many hospital visits throughout my young life in ministry and every time I walk into the room it is literally walking into an unknown atmosphere.  Some visits are filled with hope, some are not, and others are dominated with uncertainty.  This visit had a little bit of everything, but one thing stood out to me above everything else.  As I knelt to pray with the husband and a family friend the husband looked at me and through his tired eyes and exhausted posture and said, “hope springs eternal.”  Even now those words echo in my mind as I match up the way his wife lay in the hospital bed and the way he looked sitting by her side with the words that he said.  On the surface his words definitely did not match the situation.  Below the surface his words reflect the heart of a captive of Jesus Christ.

The chains of Christ that hold us captive can bring hope to our lives at times when we least expect it like the sun bursting through the dark clouds of a storm.  This is not a false hope or a statement of hope that we make just to make ourselves feel better.  Instead, it is a real hope.  It is a hope that rests in the sovereign hand of God and His plan.  It is a hope that moves us to rely on His word as it proclaims, “all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).”  It is a hope that springs eternal regardless of life’s current situation.

Some may ask, how can hope spring eternal at the doorstep of death?  It is because as a captive of Jesus Christ we know that even in death Christ’s victory is displayed.  In 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 Paul writes “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  As a captive of Jesus Christ death has no sting for you and it cannot hold you because it could not hold Him.  The victory that He obtained is your victory as well.  For all those whose faith is in Christ, death is not something that should be feared.  Yes, it does bring sadness and mourning but it also gives way to experiencing the victory of Jesus as He brings us home to experience His glory for eternity.

While we live let us live with every ounce of energy that we have to the glory of God and when the time comes for us to face death let us face death welling up with pride for the One who brings us victory.  I pray that when the storm clouds roll into your life that you will see the sunlight of hope bursting forth.  May your hope spring eternal today.

The Fight

For the past several weeks I have been preaching through a series on spiritual warfare.  It is my belief that the majority of people who call themselves Christ-followers do not take seriously the fight that exists for each one of us.  This is a fight for us to live a holy life, a Christ-like life.  Each day we are tempted and each day we war against our old flesh as it tries to pull us away from holiness and into sin.  The problem is not that we think sin is ok.  The problem is that we don’t see the magnitude of our sin.  We like to excuse away sin with the statement, “no one is perfect” instead of seeing the reality of our sin as something that is a slap in the face to God.  The question then becomes, why don’t we see the reality of our sin?  I have come to the conclusion that we don’t see the reality of our sin because we don’t know the One whom our sin offends.  When I say “know” I’m not referring to knowing the Lord in a salvation sense.  I am referring to knowing the Lord in the sense of developing the relationship that we have with Him.  It seems that many Christians are satisfied with meeting the Lord without ever pouring their lives into getting to know Him.

The breakdown I think is that getting to know the Lord takes work and discipline, both of which are things that we tend to shy away from.  In the age of devotional books it seems that fewer Christians are eager to dive into God’s word for in-depth study in order to know God and how he works in the world.  Few Christians are willing to put in the work and discipline that it takes to learn the doctrines of the faith.  Unfortunately, it is through those things that we are able to fight for holiness in this life.  We must know what we believe and why.  We must discipline ourselves to study God’s word.  We can no longer afford to keep our brains in the classroom or office and out of our faith.  C.S. Lewis said, “God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than any other slackers.  If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all.”

The call that is on my life and yours if you are a Christ-follower is a holy calling.  It is a calling to be holy as He is holy.  It is a calling to pursue Christ-likeness in lifestyle.  This is the calling that we are fighting for each day.  Are you ready to fight for holiness in your life?  The only way that we have a chance in this fight is to fervently study God’s word to know Him and to apply our brains to actually learn what it is that we believe.  Yes, it will take discipline and it will take work but in the end as you immerse yourself in the Bible and get to know God you will begin to understand that it is through knowing Him that we will experience joy to the full in this life.  I hope that you make the choice to fight for holiness and by doing so experience the joy of the Lord.

Spoon Feeding

Since becoming a father there have been many things that have taken on a deeper meaning to me personally.  One of those is the relationship between captivity and reliance.  A captive is completely reliant upon the captor for everything.  In some ways our children are captives to our homes and relationships with us, especially at younger ages.  They are in complete reliance upon us as parents for their every need.  This lesson struck home once again a few nights ago at dinner.  My wife was feeding our youngest and like a hungry bird she stretched her neck to receive whatever was on the spoon that was clearly in view.  In that moment she was a picture of complete reliance and trust.  She was willing to put into her mouth whatever was in the spoon, yet she trusted us as her parents that it would be what she needed.  This image played out over and over until the watery carrots were gone, but the image has stayed with me for much longer.

As a captive of Jesus Christ does my life show that I am totally reliant and totally trusting in what He has for me?  Sure, when things are going well it becomes easier to rely and trust.  But what about when disaster strikes?  What about when a teenager experiences a divorce or when a family loses a loved one?  In those times of disaster are we still stretching out our necks with mouths open like hungry birds seeking what our Heavenly Father has for us?  There are things that happen in life that may not “taste” good to us but coming from the sovereign hand of God it is what we need at that time.

There are times when we are feeding our youngest that she will attempt to grab the spoon from our hand as it approaches her mouth.  The only thing that can come from this spoon stealing is mess and frustration.  In that action, at the young age of 8 months, she is expressing a desire that exists within each one of us: the desire to control.  How many times do we attempt to “steal the spoon” away from our Heavenly Father?  There can only be one result of this attempt to throw off our captivity and it is the same result of “spoon stealing” at dinner: mess and frustration.  Oh, how I have turned many things into mess and frustration in my own life as I have tried to take control.  As captives of our sovereign Heavenly Father may we live in absolute reliance and trust knowing that what He has for us is meant for our good and for HIS glory.

Sweet Captivity

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the word “captive?”  Many images may be associated with the word “captive,” the majority of which are not pleasant.  Slavery, a prisoner, being shackled, handcuffs, and dark dungeons are all things that are associated with being a captive.  The top definition at dictionary.com and in Merriam-Webster is what you probably expected: “a prisoner, one taken or held as a prisoner of war.”  As with any dictionary there are several more definitions increasing in detail as they go, none of which you would want to use to describe yourself.  Yet, when I have been thinking about my own life in recent days the word “captive” has come into my mind with great frequency.  These thoughts are not morbid thoughts or thoughts that reveal a feeling of being trapped.  Instead they are thoughts that exalt captivity.  They are thoughts that bring thankfulness and joy.

We came into this world engaged in a great war against God.  The reality of our situation at birth is revealed in Romans 5:10 as Paul explains that we were “enemies of God.”  The sin that we inherited so controls us and holds us captive that we can do no other thing than obey it.  We are helpless captives of sin without the ability or desire to seek God according to Romans 3:10-18.  It is at this point that Paul finishes his statement in Romans 5:10 explaining that when we were waging war against God with our sin, God worked to bring reconciliation through the death of His Son.  Because of Jesus’ sacrifice Paul explains in Romans 6 that humanity now exists in one of two categories: slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.  It is with this second category that we begin to see the joyous side of captivity.

I was waging a war against God with my sin, but He sent His Son to die for me.  I was waging a war against God with my sin and He pulled me to Himself taking me as His prisoner of war.  Not a prisoner of war that gets abused, starved, locked away, or used as a political bargaining chip.  Instead I am a captive of God that has been freed from the bondage of sin and given freedom in grace.  The sweet captivity that I experience now is grounded in the gracious offering of Jesus, and it is a captivity of freedom to live in righteousness for His glory.  No one would ever choose to be taken captive, yet I find myself rejoicing that God has placed on me the chains of righteousness.  May my life give evidence of His sweet captivity.