Posted: August 24th, 2011 |
Filed under:book, life | Tags:grace, love wins |
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“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” -Jesus; Luke 12:1 ESV
The ‘leaven’ referred to here is the Old Testament way to salvation. It is corrupt doctrine. It becomes corrupt when it is mixed with the message of the Gospel in a way that perpetuates the list of rules as a requirement to receive the grace of the Gospel.
Jesus calls it ‘hypocrisy’ because it is a man-made mixture of how to live a godly life. It is a citizenship to two different kingdoms. It’s serving two different masters. It’s hypocrisy because it’s already clear that no one can follow the rules. The rules remove the heart of the purpose for them. Jesus and His grace changes the heart and the rules become peripheral.
People want to hear ways that they can make themselves more holy. They want a definitive list of things they can do so that they can say they are set apart by appearance and practice. It’s a way for them to be like God, choosing good because they know the difference.
“You will be like God, knowing good and evil.”-the serpent in Genesis 3:4 ESV
“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.”-God in Genesis 3:22 ESV
People can launder their appearance with a list of perfectly good attributes and unarguably valid points. But, the heart is missing. They can be like God, choosing good to be more God-like, but there is no beat in their chest or life in their blood. Have you ever known someone to call him or herself a Christian and completely tear another apart or leave someone behind? They even give credit to their Christianity for their lack of compassion and empathy. Haven’t you wondered, “Have you no heart?”
It’s a mutilated Gospel for the one who thinks that denying the overwhelming urge to love a ‘sinner’ is the part of ‘self’ that must be denied. They actually believe they are honoring God by sacrificing their heart. Don’t you remember? The sacrifice has been made! You can love freely now!
“…use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.”-Galatians 5:13 MSG
“For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?” -Galatians 5:15 MSG
The outside world, the ones to whom you have been commissioned to prove God’s love, wants no part of a religion that has no heart.
Rules, sacrifices, and rituals cannot get to the heart, not the heart of man or the heart of God.
Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can’t really get to the heart of the matter, can’t assuage the conscience of the people, but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It’s essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made. -Hebrews 9:9-10 MSG
The same passage in a different translation says this:
According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offeredthat cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.-Hebrews 9:9-10 ESV
“…until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:10 is the only one mention I could find of “reformation” in scripture. There is only one scripture, that I could find, that tells you what it means and the intended purpose, which is the heart, of the Law. It is here:
“Andif by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.”Leviticus 26:23-24 ESV (emphasis mine)
Young’s Literal Translation words my emphasized portion as “instructed by me”. If, by following the law, you are not instructed by God, then you have missed the mark. The meaning of sin is “missing the mark.” (Vines Concise Dictionary).
Jesus is the mark. The Holy Spirit instructs you, personally. Throw the laundry list out. If people want to use grace as an excuse to sin, then the Holy Spirit will twist them apart on the inside. That is what this scripture means:
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”-1 John 3:9 ESV
The ‘seed’ is the Holy Spirit. Making “a practice of sin” is not the same thing as “committing a sin”. Those who are Christians will sin and the Holy Spirit will crush them until they cannot continue. The will of man is crushed, to breaking, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If you see a man who has sinned and is being crushed, it is not because the Holy Spirit has left him, it will not, it is because He overwhelmingly evident in him. You don’t have to point out the obvious. The Holy Spirit is a better lover than you are, which makes Him a better corrector than you could ever be.
You will be harassed for preaching and believing in the sovereignty of God, grace, and the authority of Love. Not by the outsiders, but by the insiders.
Be cautious with those who preach a watered down Gospel. Be on the lookout for those take up issue with “too much love” or “too heavy on grace.” Ignore their tirades and consider yourselves in good company. You can see which kingdom they’re under by which flag they choose to raise.
If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn’t matter one way or the other.-Paul; Galatians 5:11 MSG
Posted: May 23rd, 2011 |
Filed under:book, life | Tags:personal |
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I was invited to speak at a ‘Building a Community of Hope’ conference in Canada this month. Part of their mission is to identify with the need for the church to be a place for the broken to come and find the hope of Jesus. People tend to bury their past and their failures before they enter the Christian community. The ugliness of pain and failure are not a good fit among those who are perceived to have the answers to a morally fit life. Like a member of a kingdom where the king dons invisible clothes and everybody is too afraid to say they can’t see what they are told only the best members of the kingdom can see. I was one of those people until my buried damage caught up to me. This is me sharing my story:
(About a minute of footage in the beginning was lost due to technical difficulty, but the message is still there.)
When I wrote my first book, I was consumed with all the things I was learning. I went to scripture, initially, to hear the final word from the final Voice because I knew, and everyone else who knew me knew, that I was done for. I couldn’t shake whatever it was inside me that wouldn’t let me give up and I needed something to make me let go. I was not looking for something to make me okay, I was looking for the death blow of judgment.
“Tell me you don’t love me so I can be free from this pain.”
But He didn’t. Instead, He showed me something. This panoramic view that doesn’t stop when I turn right or turn left to reach its end. It has no end.
…and I’ve been writing about it ever since.
I am still completely entrenched in scripture because it’s alive to me. I can see it clearly. I write constantly. I am consumed with thinking about all these things, …the depths of Truth, …and I can’t get enough. He, like wild, silent wind, is speaking to me…showing me things…and the only way to relieve the pressure is to open myself up and pour it out.
When I wrote ‘Grace Is For Sinners’ I literally shook at the keyboard. I could not get my fingers to type fast enough. A violent picture of eternity being poured into the fragility of flesh and blood until that flesh and blood was ready to burst at the seams. What spills out is my worship. It creates the feeling that if I held it in, I would die. It’s almost too much.
Another tsunami of information and clarity is pouring into me and I am back to that place of being so consumed, I’m squirming in my skin. It’s too much for isolated blog posts. I have to write until it stops and then I’ll have to give it a name and put it in another cover-bound piece of worship.
When I tried to get my first book published, I was told that the work I had written was too big for me. I already knew that. I published it myself and, though I don’t know how, it has made it’s way across the world. It has found a home in the hands of strangers. It is fulfilling its purpose with no help from me or a money-backed entity.
I don’t know what path this next book will take. Whether it is published by me or a bigger corporation is not my concern. I have to write, regardless. It’s screaming inside me and writing alleviates the a bit of the pressure, though it doesn’t lift the burden. It’s a weird kind of painful. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but I can identify with this…
“…necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”-Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:16 ESV
I will be blogging less frequently while I write this other book. If you want to keep up on little tidbits, I share them on my facebook page.
I’m answering the summons. I’m telling you this so that you know what’s going on and you can keep me in your prayers.
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.-1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV
Even though they are not supposed to, people have a scale for sins. Anyone can look at that list and categorize them from least to greatest. People who cheat on their spouses and people involved in homosexual relationships seem worse than people who vilify (revile, condemn) them. The girl who got drunk would not be kicked out of her church like the boy who had sex with another boy. The materialistic (greed, idolatry) woman would not be shunned like the woman who cheated on her husband. The man who lied about (swindled) another man in order to take his possessions would not be questioned if he were convincing enough. The girl who had an abortion to hide her pregnancy gets to stay in the youth group while the other girl who kept her baby is called “a bad influence.”
“Don’t be deceived…”
They all have the same weight. Everyone is guilty. Everyone is equal.
“And such were some of you.”
You may not have done all of these things, but you are guilty of some of them. Depending on where your journey has taken you, you may feel relief or your skin may be crawling. Is your pride welling up or do you feel hope? Do you feel cornered or do you feel free?
“There comes a point in the game of tit-for-tat where you are just comparing stench of excrement.”– Grace Is For Sinners, Chapter Four: Lamb Lost
The only way out of the ping-pong hell is to drop the paddle and run to Jesus. After the list of sins, there is a ‘but’. But grace.
Scripture is used way too often to condemn the failure. However, if you actually read it, scripture holds the key to setting the condemned free.
Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is.–Romans 14:13
It is easy to get caught up in your idea of what it is to be a good Christian and completely miss the opportunities to learn from someone who is not like you. What can the man, who is attracted to men, teach the one who condemn people like him? What can the greedy woman learn from the pregnant teenager? …more than you can imagine.
Communities need to rise up and create a place for the girl who had an abortion to escape the hell of guilt she is trapped in. They need to learn how to nurture the faith of the failure, not for the outcome they want, but for the sake of that person’s faith. People may never do what you want them to do. You have to find a way to go beyond the sin and focus on the message of salvation. Salvation changes the person, not the other way around. The things you would say to an unbeliever you are trying to convert are still true for the believer who messed up. Christianity is not a bait-and-switch operation.
“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
I wanted to ask you a few things. I dove into my Bible and realized that before, I only knew ABOUT Jesus, rather than KNOWING him. His grace is there, unquestionably, but I’m having a hard time getting the knowledge to my heart. Was it a process for you? And how long did it take you before you were able to shake the feelings of complete and total worthlessness? (Because that’s a struggle for me every.single.day.)
I was like you, too, only knowing about Jesus. I wanted to devote my life to Him. I believed in Him, but I didn’t know Him. Not as my only ransom or Savior. I knew it in my mind, but not in my heart, not in my spirit. In my own mind, He gave me a fresh start and it was up to me to maintain it. When I fell, I was devastated.
I was devastated because I thought it was my responsibility to keep myself from sinning. What I didn’t understand is that we ARE supposed to try, knowing full well that our efforts will always fail us and we’ll always stumble along. We will sin, not matter how close we are to Jesus, …no matter how long we have been a Christian.
The process, for me, was fueled by the unbearable attacks from within myself and from my old Christian friends. The attacks were so final and so condemning. But I had something inside me that knew something was amiss. The problem with the condemnation was that I was still alive. If what I thought about myself and what my friends thought about me was true, then why was I still here?
I was ready to face my judgment, it was not like I was innocent, but before resigning to being kicked out of the church and facing my life without Jesus, I needed to hear it from God. I needed Him to tell me that I was finished and there was no hope for me. I felt no hope, my friends offered no hope, but God had the final say. It took me a while before I was ready to hear it from Him. My affair started in May, I asked Him to help me end my deceit in June, He brought it out in the open the next day. But I didn’t talk to Him again until August. The pain and fear were overwhelming. Dealing with the disappointment and anger of His people and dealing with my own were too much, I couldn’t bear dealing with His.
I’m an “all or nothing” kind of person. When I got tired of being in limbo, I went to God so that I could hear my fate from His mouth. If He said it, I would believe it. This was too big, too final, for me to listen to people who claim to be His mouthpiece and I no longer trusted myself.
Chapter 5 in Grace Is For Sinners, “Hell ’05,” reveals what that moment was like and what I heard from God. He told me that he was not angry, He had compassion on me, and that He would not dress me in shame. He also said that any attack that came was not from Him. That was the key that held me together when the attacks (from within and without) continued to come.
When people talk about being ‘set apart’, this is what I think of. This love that God revealed to me set me apart, protected me from being destroyed, held me together while I healed, and continues to hold me together while I go out and bear myself for the sake of others. I feel a firm grip of nothing but Love.
My feelings of worthlessness subsided by studying the scripture. I know that sounds churchy, but I mean it. In my studying, I learned that God allows circumstances to break you. It’s an act of mercy, but you can only understand that if you trust that He knows what He’s doing and He has a purpose for it. We make the mistake of seeing our failures and struggles as evidence that God is not in on the plot. This has us rejecting the very things that He is using to mold us.
God’s people are destined in Him to fulfill their purpose. We were made for a reason and He will see to it that we are equipped to fulfill that purpose. The problem is that none of us are born into perfection. Being a Christian doesn’t suddenly sanctify you. Sanctification is an ongoing process. A process that you will not see fulfilled until the end.
Like in the story of Jonah, he was called to share the truth of God’s grace to a city drowning in evil. Jonah couldn’t do it until he knew what grace was. He had to experience his own need before he could offer it to another. I was called to share the story of God’s grace, too. I had no idea what my purpose was or what grace was until my life depended on it. Because of my failure, I know what my purpose is and what God’s message through me is. I am not finished because I’m not dead. I’ll still mess up, I still have a lot of learning to do, but my perspective is completely different and it’s only because of my failure. That’s grace. That’s God turning sin on it’s head and sucking the spiritual death out of it. It’s awesome, to me, because I can’t take a bit of credit for anything that God does through me.
It was easy to “die to myself” because I hated what I did and wanted no part of that selfish existence. The process was not without pain. I mourned the loss of me. It was devastating. I liked me, but I had to let “her” go. My sin emptied me and grace replaced my sense of self.
Worthlessness is a lie. Hell is trying to isolate you so that you can be tormented easier. Call out the lie and reject it. Your failure gives Satan words to use against you, but he’s a liar. He’s a liar because Jesus took all of the accusations upon Himself and paid the penalty for them. Satan will do everything he can to get you to forget that. But, God has no recollection of your sin, so don’t live according to something that God doesn’t even consider. The Truth sets you free.
When the accusations come, know that they are against Jesus, not you. That’s why the accusations become a lie. When you are tucked away in Christ, the accusations are about Him and they hold no water. You are hidden away in Him. He took your sin (past, present, future) and nailed it all to the cross so that you could be free. It’s not a freedom so that you can live selfishly. It’s a freedom to grow and become so that you can be used to pour out His Love.
My heart is breaking. I have nightmares that wake me up with a memory of the terror I felt when I fell. The thoughtless words of fellow Christians were being used by the shrieking demonic attackers who don’t seem to need rest. People spouting off condemning scriptures with the hope of the Gospel buried in the mud. The very mud that Blood made.
I had a horrible dream that left me wide awake and in tears. The terror has stayed with me all day. I just got an email. It was from someone in a very real hell because of their own sin. I believe God gave me the dream to remind me of what His grace has taken away. The night tremors. This person doesn’t need to be told that they were wrong. They know they were wrong and it’s tearing them apart. Stealing their sleep and their health. They’re emotionally shredded and they need hope and someone to guide them to the feet of the forgiving Savior. Not because what they did was okay, but because what He did was big enough.
People. Stop standing between the sinner and the cross. What are you doing?
I can’t stand the hypocrisy of claiming to be saved by the very thing they’re withholding from the one they watched fall.
I’ll try to use an analogy to show you what is happening to them. It’s from my dream:
Imagine finding out that your child has died. That moment of denial and shock and then the overwhelming onslaught of fear and hopelessness. Pain is not a strong enough word. Terrifying shrieks. Scratching at the walls. No one can reach you. No one can make it okay. No one can turn back the clock and make it go away. Your screams can’t go deep enough. Crawling on your hands and knees because you cannot stand. Screaming for help knowing that no one can help you. There is no one to blame because blame won’t take it back. The sky, once blue, has gone black. Life is a mockery to the death. You can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you can’t crawl out of your skin to find solace. You vomit. You lie lifeless. You curl up inside yourself and shut down.
No one should have to go through that. The unrelenting cruelty of simply being alive.
I am not writing about the death of a child. Please don’t let my analogy get you off track. I’m writing about a feeling that maybe you could let yourself imagine. I’m in tears allowing myself to go there, but I have to try to get you to understand. In order to make this analogy work, imagine that it was your fault. You could have done something different, but you were being selfish and careless and you didn’t.
Now, the others come in. They’re blaming you, and rightfully so. They’re telling you all the things you did wrong and asking you why you didn’t do what you should have done. They’re talking about the empty bedroom in your house. They’re shunning you at the funeral. They’re not comforting you because it was your fault. When you cry, they tell you that you’re just feeling sorry for yourself. They’re reminding you that you can’t undo what you did and your pain is your own fault.
The worst part: The one thing that can save you from yourself, that can carry you through your hell, is the one thing, Person, they tell you that you can no longer reach.
Jesus is real. God is real. And satan is real. It’s all real and if you don’t get that, if you don’t get that satan is doing absolutely everything he can do to destroy them and their faith, then you will be used by him to do his work.
The damage of sin is something that no human can fix. But God can and has. Jesus and His overwhelming grace, love, and mercy are not exclusive rights to people who avoid pitfalls. Jesus’ work on the cross is for the pitfalls. The unrelenting cruelty of simply being alive. Sin is inevitable, even sin hidden behind the twisted mask of religion. It’s as much a part of being alive as being born.
Reminding the person of their sin won’t take it back. The focus is: ‘what now?’ What in the heck are they supposed to do now? If they can’t go to the Savior, then where are you sending them?
We all sin and that’s why Jesus came. Grace is for sinners.
Jesus says: “Come to me.” (mat 11:28)
You want to be like Jesus?
Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.- Jesus, Matthew 11:29
I have two signed copies of ‘Grace Is For Sinners’ that I want to give away. All you have to do to enter is post a comment below. Let your friends know about the giveaway. You can enter more than once by posting a link to this video blog on your facebook, twitter (hashtag #gifs), myspace or on your blog. Each separate ‘share’ is considered an entry. Let me know about it by posting a separate comment here for each separate ‘share’. At 12:00 am on Wednesday, March 10, I will use random.org to choose the two winners. Good luck and thanks for spreading ‘Grace.’
In the religious world you will find an abundant amount of strategies and formulas that address the day to day practices of a church attendee. Some of the most popular books out there right now put Christian living into a tangible multi-step program. This sort of teaching gets away from the infinite that is so hard to grasp and introduces a more finite theology that is easier to cling to. It helps them manage and control themselves. They are so popular because they produce an attainable and applicable structure.
Strategies, formulas, don’ts and to-do lists are all focused on behavior modification. What is so dangerous about that is a person doesn’t have to have a relationship with God to apply these practices. If a person gets the steps down then, by all appearances, they are living a successful life built on Christian standards. If they are practicing the Christian moral code and have no spiritual wisdom, then what keeps them from overstepping their boundaries as brother in Christ into the more often seen self-righteous god complex? If you are maintaining your appearance by pure sweat and self-control, then no wonder you are abusive to others who aren’t as disciplined as you.
We like to have all the answers and there are too many questions that go unanswered when you start talking in plain language instead of watered down clichés from the church.
There are too many things that can’t be explained.
It’s hard to imagine a God that isn’t always joy, laughter, sunshine and full bellies. It’s hard to imagine a God within the dark so we only focus on God in the light. We only give credit to God when it’s peace and joy that we see.
Some of the reasons that we don’t have a right view of God or His activity are because our main focus is to convert as many people as possible to Christianity. If we were to tell a person who recently went through a tragedy that God allowed it in their lives, how would it make that person feel toward God? It’s too big of a risk. You don’t want people to be angry with God.
When you don’t acknowledge the fullness of whom God is then you leave huge holes in the faith system. It’s as though you need to protect Him from the opinions of others if they were to know how far He would go to show that He is God. You have this need to protect His unconventional ways from a people that think He should be more docile. You only talk about His blessings and His rewards to righteous living and personal sacrifice. If something goes wrong in another person’s life you either don’t have an answer or you blame them. Saying it’s because they are out of the ‘river’, out of His light, off His path, out of His will or diverted from His plan.
Why don’t you believe the Bible when it says that your will is secondary to His or when it says that He is in complete control over everything? Why do you give Satan or other human beings so much credit for the things as though God’s hands were tied? My answer is simple.
It requires too much faith.
It requires too much faith to believe that God is in control when your life feels so out of control. It requires too much faith to think that the calamity you find your self in could possibly be part of God’s plan for your life. It requires too much faith in the God, whom you know is good, to have any part of what doesn’t feel good. You have preconceived ideas that, if it were God’s way, then there would be no pain and no failure. It requires too much faith to believe that God would use both pain and failure to bring you to discover Him. That is, unless He already has. Accepting or rejecting doesn’t change the Truth. It changes you.
-quoted from chapter eleven of ‘Grace Is For Sinners’ If you would like to purchase your own copy of ‘Grace Is For Sinners’ you can do so here.
There is so much freedom in perspective. It changes everything. I believe in a very simple Gospel. I believe that what Jesus did on the cross took care of everything. It does not become validated when we believe, it’s valid whether we believe or not. It’s yours for the taking whether you take it or not. You can’t cancel it out with your misdeeds and you can’t earn it with your good deeds. You just have to believe.
The following is an excerpt from my book, ‘Grace Is For Sinners.’
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We are all in different places at different times. Sometimes we can say that we are innocent and other times we can see where we’re the ones who do wrong. The danger with seeing yourself as the victim is becoming self righteous and vengeful when trying to preserve your life as you know it. When someone sins against you, it’s better for you to keep yourself open for more abuse.
I know that doesn’t make sense but, the power to do that comes from knowing that God can take care of you better than you can you can take care of yourself. You have to trust Him to do that. It’s a way to submit yourself to Him exactly like He asks. One common misconception that believers have is that God wouldn’t allow one of His beloved children to be beat up by some sinner, or wouldn’t let any evil motives near you. So, when you do fall prey to another’s sin you fail to see God’s hand molding you, therefore rejecting every aspect of the hardship that was dished out to you.
Your response to another’s sin against you has the potential to prolong the effects of the sin.
Go ahead and hate the sin but, do not equate the sin with the sinner. The sinner needs you to do the impossible and display the mercy, grace and love of God in order to conquer the evil. If you do not take every inhuman action to diminish the effects of the sin, then you carry out the evil that was intended by the Evil One. When God comes in to right the wrongs, He’ll have to ‘right’ you, too. When God sets you straight it hurts far worse than the pain from the sin against you. Reach out and love the unlovable, it’s the only way you can stay blameless.
This is your opportunity to ‘rejoice’ when others sin against you. You can identify with Jesus who went through unbelievable suffering. Jesus is no stranger to being the recipient of the deadly blow that sin delivers.
This is your opportunity to play Jesus and choke out a prayer that says, ‘Forgive them, Father.’ Welcome the sinner back and use the opportunity to show them how Jesus would treat them. The Bible says that good conquers evil. Put it to the test and worship while you watch divine love erase sin.
There is another misconception that, if you truly are a purely devoted follower of Christ, you will not be overcome by evil and carry out sin.
So, when you find yourself in that situation there is a tendency to feel so much shame that you want to give up. There are so many questions that arise and you ultimately question where God was and what your sin says about you.
My message to the sinner is simply this: You can believe Jesus when He says that He will forgive you over and over and over and over. There is nothing you can do that would make Him walk away from you. Others will and they’ll tell you that you couldn’t possibly be sorry enough. That is a direct contradiction to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and no matter who claims to be speaking for Him it is absolutely false and he is a fraud.
Don’t let your faith fail and, when you come back, use the lessons you have learned to strengthen others. Whether your life is being shifted by another’s sin or your own sin has brought you to a place of discovering God, there is hope because you are becoming someone that you could have never become otherwise.
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taken from chapter fifteen of ‘Grace Is For Sinners’ If you would like to purchase your own copy of ‘Grace Is For Sinners’ you can do so here.
