Raised to Life

Raised to Life Read Post

Raised to Life

Raised to Life

Easter carries alot more meaning for me and my family this year with the passing of my dad a little over a week ago. I had the great honor of sharing his eulogy at his funeral. In life, death and new life, dad was always a reminder of hope and new life in Jesus. I thought I would share his eulogy today as a testimony of hope found in the resurrection of Jesus.

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When I was ten years old, Dad took me on a trip, just the two of us. Apart from my honeymoon, I’ve probably never been so excited to go on a trip in my life. We planned and packed for a couple of weeks, loaded things up in the minivan with the Southern Miss sticker on the back, and pulled our little pop up camper out of Pearl, MS headed for the Smokey mountains. That trip exemplified so much of who my dad was as we spent time singing Elvis together in the van, reading books in the hammock, playing games, and talking about Jesus as we enjoyed His creation.

That was my dad. If you knew him, then I don’t have to tell you that he was the kindest man in the world. His heart overflowed with kindness. He never met a stranger. As soon as you met him, you were instantly friends. He was so genuine. Every word that came from his mouth was sincere and honest, and always grounded in love. The sheer volume of his friendships is evidence to the quality of His character. Writing this eulogy was one of the hardest things I’ve ever written, but also one of the easiest, because there is so much good to say about dad.

His smile warmed every room that he walked in. Even in his sickness, I can’t really remember a time where the joy of Jesus didn’t pour out of him. My dad constantly modeled Jesus and set a standard that I desire to be more like. Like Paul, his life said Imitate me as Imitate Christ.

It surprises you the older you grow that you take on characteristics of your parents. I’ve been blessed to inherit my dad’s smile, his love for reading Tolkein, and listening to Elvis and Johnny Cash. I also have had the joy of inheriting my dad’s hairline. But it’s his kindness that I want to have more of. I want to be more genuine and sincere. I hope and pray that one day I’m blessed to be surrounded by as many close friends as my father and mother.

Most of all, I want to love Jesus how my dad loved Jesus. So real, so genuine, so sincere. I loved having conversations with my dad about his hope in Christ and seeing tears in the corner of his eyes. Every year as we sat down to enjoy Christmas together, my dad was intent on not just reading the Christmas story, about the birth of the Son of God who changed the world forever, but to clearly explain to us that the birth of Christ took place for the death and resurrection of Christ, which gives us new hope. He loved to share and teach the gospel of Jesus to his family. I think that’s the thing I’ll remember most about him.

Not only did he speak it, but he lived it. Dad modeled the servant leadership of Jesus in his marriage to my beautiful mom, to our family as my sisters and I struggled through adolescence and coming to faith in Christ, and in all of his relationships. There was never a question that dad was the leader in our family, but he led with so much grace, consistency, and love that he was never hard to follow. We wanted to follow dad and please and honor dad, as he taught us what it meant to follow Christ, to please and honor Him.

Dad loved mom. You heard it in his words, but you could mostly see it in how he trusted her. She worked so diligently to care for him over these past few years, but that was a reflection of the care that dad showed for her as she struggled through her own cancer. I’ve never seen such a consistent example of real, sacrificial love as what I was able to see in the relationship of my parents.

Dad was a fighter. About two and a half years ago when he was diagnosed with his aggressive cancer, he made a commitment to fight it. You could see it in his eyes and hear it in his words. He wanted to experience more of the life that God had given him. I truly believe that dad did that for us. He knew the joy he would have with his savior, but he wanted more time to express Jesus to us. We were able to spend 3 more Christmases with our dad, hearing him lovingly tell us of the Father’s love for us in Christ. We got to celebrate our parents 50th Wedding Anniversary this past December, hearing stories of God’s faithfulness from the friends that God blessed our parents with. That was such a gift from God to my mom and our family.

It’s fitting that dad passed just a little over a week before Easter, because his life, and death, and new life, are a testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. This time of year is a great reminder to us that death is not the end. New life, real life is to come. Jesus in John 11 says “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Because of the love and sacrifice of his savior, dad is alive in Christ Jesus.

Just this past Monday, as dad made the decision to attempt a surgery that could have helped him get stronger, he walked in with confidence in His savior. As he said to mom, “If I don’t make it, I’ll be in a better place.”

Martin Luther, the great reformer, once said “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” Yesterday I stood looking out the back window of my parent’s house to the redbud tree that my dad loved to watch. With spring coming, it’s just started to bloom. But that bloom is such a clear picture of the hope and new life in Christ that dad is experiencing now. Death may try to win, but creation proves to us each year that life is made new. And Thursday morning, dad was proof that death has no victory for those who are in Christ Jesus. He has been made new.

Isaiah 40:31 -
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

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Why Mission is so Hard - #2 We Don't Contextualize

Why Mission is so Hard - #2 We Don't Contextualize Read Post

Mission, Theology

Why Mission is so Hard - #2 We Don't Contextualize

WHY MISSION IS SO HARD - #2 We Don't Contextualize

Several years ago as I was working in my front yard, I looked across my neighborhood with a broken heart. It wasn’t because I knew the struggles that my neighbors were working through. It was because I didn’t know my neighbors at all. I was living in a Christian bubble. I was working a ministry job that took up large amounts of time, and I spent all of my remaining time with my family. Those were both important things, but there was no place in my life where I was building relationships with people outside of that bubble. This wasn’t the first time that this happened to me in my life. Periodically, I look down only to discover that I have no contact with the outside world.

I don’t do this intentionally, but simply because it’s the easiest and most comfortable route. It’s the direction that our lives tend to take naturally. Anyone who has grown up inside the church is going to struggle with this to some degree. Those who come to faith in Christ later in life seem to find a more natural progression in just bringing the gospel of Jesus into the context of their lives. Most are already living life out in the harvest, so this work seems more natural. For those growing up in the church, there is an additional step of creating relationships and life out in the secular world which can be fearful to many.

So, how do we as God’s people begin to not avoid, but interact with secular culture in an effort to see the gospel of Jesus penetrate darkness? Even more important, how do we speak the gospel into culture in a way that makes it understood by the culture we live in? This is called contextualization, which for our context basically means making the gospel and the church as culturally accessible as possible without compromising on matters of belief and truth. This is one of the hardest things to do well as a believer.

On a simple level, I think there are two steps to the work of contextualization that will at least help us get started on the path of living out the gospel in the context of a lost world.

1. A FOLLOWER OF JESUS MUST STUDY

Studying the Bible - To be growing and doing anything correctly, believers must always be studying Scripture to provide the proper context in which to live their lives.

Studying the Culture - Knowing the culture of an area will help determine which areas need to be addressed and which errors need to be dealt with in order for the gospel to speak into the hearts of people. It can also help influence methods in which the gospel will be shared. The believer must become a missiologist, who studies their own culture in an attempt to reach it. This is not for entertainment primarily, but for missional observation. Here are some ideas:

WATCH TV

TV gives you the best smattering of culture that you can find anywhere. Although you must be careful, it is a clear indicator of which direction culture is heading.

GO TO STARBUCKS

Go sit in Starbucks for a few hours and you will overhear some of the most interesting discussions on culture, politics, religion, and whatnot. This can help in gaining an understanding of a more local region. 

CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE RACK

Magazine covers are basically pictures of the idols that exist in culture. It is very easy to see what is being idolized in a culture, whether you are looking at Cosmo, People, or Popular Mechanics.

LISTEN TO YOUR NEIGHBORS

Do you want to know what people are really like? Take some time and just hangout with your neighbors, hearing their struggles and joys. 

READ CITY PAPER

 I can’t imagine a better place to read and understand the culture of a place and age group than to read the local Arts paper for a downtown area.

2. A FOLLOWER OF JESUS MUST CONTEXTUALIZE

1 Corinthians 9: 19 - 23 - For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Jesus is of course the best model of this. Paul models it here in his letter to the church in Corinth, but we are to model it as well. The work of contextualization isn’t about making the gospel relevant (because it always is), but it is about showing the relevance of the gospel to a specific culture. We must do this in our speech and in our methods. This does not mean that we water down truth, the gospel, or doctrine. It must remain a part of everything that we do, but it must be communicated in a way that is understandable and applicable. Missionaries do this overseas all the time, but it must be done in our culture as well as well if we want people to understand how the gospel of Jesus is good news to their lives.

Typically, we struggle with one of these over another. As a whole, we tend to extremes in one direction or another, often failing to understand that speaking the good news of Jesus into our culture is a both/and.

Problems to watch for -

STUDYING, BUT NOT CONTEXTUALIZING

It does the Kingdom little good if we entangle ourselves well with culture, but make no effort to use that culture to speak the gospel. You can know every hit album, every sports statistic, and hangout with lost people all the time. If you aren’t using those things to express the gospel of Jesus, then you are no different from a firefighter who goes into a burning building with people inside and chooses to just stay there. You are sent to rescue with the hope of the gospel, not to be culturally relevant.

TRYING TO CONTEXTUALIZE WITHOUT STUDYING

If we try to speak the gospel into culture, but we don’t know anything about culture, it always comes off bad. We’ve been guilty of this numerous times, using bad art, music, or movies to proclaim the gospel message. In this scenario, we can often make the gospel seem un-relevant, which can do more damage than good. The gospel is always relevant, we just have to show people that truth.

Mission is hard for us because we struggle to contextualize. We struggle to show people that the gospel of Jesus is good news for their lives, their struggles, and their families. Jesus is our hope, and the hope of all who are in darkness. Let’s believe that, live that, and speak it into the lives of our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers.

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Why Mission is So Hard - #1 We See Christianity as Internal

Why Mission is So Hard - #1 We See Christianity as Internal Read Post

Mission, Theology

Why Mission is So Hard - #1 We See Christianity as Internal

Occasionally, my facebook feed gets taken over by discussion of nature vs. nurture, and how they influence life and society in mostly political ways. If we are honest with ourselves, we are impacted by both our genes and the influences around us in many ways: personality, our looks, bits of who we will become, our sinful nature, the love of good music and candy (at least for me), and our desire for comfort that compels many of us to live a life that is safe.

Despite the fact that we dedicate our energy and paycheck to building up that safe life for ourselves and our families, God has not called us to live a safe life. We aren’t called to be SAFE, but rather, to be SENT.

John 20:21 - Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."

Jesus’ words for His disciples are clear, but we’ve made them complicated. Christ’s life of being sent was far from safe, and it stands to reason that if we are following Him, our lives might not be safe either. We have, however, dedicated our lives to being safe over being sent. This series of blog posts will look at the idea of Why Mission is Hard for us as followers of Jesus, and examine some practical steps we can take to move our lives away from the focus on ourselves and more onto the mission of God.

WHY MISSION IS SO HARD - #1 We See Christianity as Internal

In the last year, I’ve started wood-working as a new hobby to help clear my mind, provide time with the Lord, and bring some joy and satisfaction to my life. In particular, I’ve started the process of building furniture for my family and others. Before I started actually building things, I spent a lot of time working through plans and processes for building. I wanted to find out exactly what I needed to do the work, and how I should go about doing the work.

When I started my first project, I was pretty sure I had everything figured out. In fact, I was beyond confident. All of that confidence went out the window the first time I split a piece of wood and ended up with a large crack in the top of a table I was building. But it was the experience of doing the work that helped me avoid that happening again. If I never took the initiative to get the process out of my head and actually start working, I would have never made real progress. Building up knowledge in my head was helpful, but real learning didn’t happen until I put it into practice.

I think the idea of our faith as believers is very similar. Many of us have years of information in our heads from church, conferences, small groups, and blog posts, but when it comes down to it, we haven’t ever put it into practice. Because of that, we are missing out on some of the greatest blessings that God can give us in joining Him in the harvest fields of our faith. Even from a young age, we internalize the gospel to our children by encouraging them to ask Jesus into their heart, rather than speaking of belief, repentance, and a life of obedience. We spend so much time believing the Kingdom of God is happening in us (and it is!), but missing out on the fact that God’s Kingdom is happening all around us.

For the past few decades of the church, we’ve focused on the internal aspect of the Christian experience. Hear me when I say that’s not a bad thing, but it becomes problematic if it’s divorced from the fact that there is a large external and relational component to Christianity. This is evident in our relationships with other believers, as we see in the desired qualities of the church in Ephesians 4: 1 - 3 (humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and maintaining unity). We also see it clearly in the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19 - 20 as it pertains to our relationship with nonbelievers as we make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching.

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin reminds us that “Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life.”

It’s a vital reminder that learning the character of God should lead us to worship and making disciples, not hoarding. Because of our nature, however, we find it much easier to focus on ourselves than others. I believe it’s very telling that most of the sin in our life is also focused on ourselves. The more we focus on us, the easier it is to fall into temptation because it’s always geared towards our pleasure and not the Lord’s. On the flip side, most of the attributes we see of a follower of Jesus in the New Testament are focused on others and a life that more easily displays the gospel to them.

So how do we begin to take what God has changed on the inside and use it on the outside for His glory? Here are a couple of ideas -

1. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself (Matthew 22:39)

This is the 2nd greatest commandment that Jesus gives us, and He even likens it to the first (loving God). It’s hard for us to love our neighbor as ourself because we honestly REALLY love ourself. We may act like that’s not the case by saying we hate our life or falling into depression, but often in those situations, we prove our love for ourselves by thinking that life isn’t giving US what WE deserve out of life. We consistently put ourselves on a high pedestal. Jesus tells us to bring our neighbor (not necessarily just the person across the street) up to the same position. What are practical ways to do this? Give up your date night by watching your neighbor’s kids and letting them have one. Cut your neighbor’s yard. Give them the gift card to Starbucks you’ve been saving for yourself. It’s good practice to move away from focusing on us, to start living a life of mission.

2. Be a Doer of the Word, Not Just a Hearer (James 1:22) 

Start taking the opportunity as you study God’s word to put it into practice. As you work through a passage of Scripture, don’t just ask what is being said, but ask how you can apply that to your life. Our church uses the SOAP model of journaling through Scripture, and it’s a really simple way to learn how to put the word of God into practice in your life. What is God asking you to do based upon what He’s saying in His word?

Growing closer to the Lord through studying His word, spending time in prayer, and experiencing His Spirit in worship with other believers is necessary because it energizes and strengthens the believer. We just have to remember what we are being strengthened for - the glory of God and the mission of His gospel. The Christian life isn’t just internal, and it’s not only external. It’s BOTH. God’s Kingdom is alive and working in our hearts, but if we want to know it fully then we have to join it in the streets. That is where God is using His people to accomplish His saving purposes.

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What is a Missional Community?

What is a Missional Community? Read Post

Mission, The Church at Cane Bay

What is a Missional Community?

Since I talk about Missional Communities often on social media, one of the questions that I get is 'What is a Missional Community?' It's a great question, because many people don't have a context to see MCs in action, and they often wonder exactly what it looks like. Before The Church at Cane Bay, I really had no idea myself. Honestly, even when we started our groups, we had never seen one in action. It was all theory then, but it's a theory that's turned into something quite beautiful that the Lord has used to engage thousands of people in our community with the hope of the gospel of Jesus.

So, what is a Missional Community? Simply defined, it's a group focused on mission and community. We stick with this terminology because it's actually pretty self-explanatory. 

If you want to get a little more in-depth, here is what a Missional Community is for us  - 

A community of people organized to give every man, woman, and child within its circle of influence multiple opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the gospel of Jesus.

This idea of circle of influence is probably the biggest part of each group, because it's the thing that drives the mission of the community. Each group has a defined circle of influence that they have either formulated together, or signed onto because they have a shared passion for that. It is made up of the people that they serve, pray for, and work to share Jesus with on a weekly basis. We have groups that serve each school in our community, a foster boy's ranch, military/first responder families, and DSS/foster families in our county.

Each Missional Community gathers weekly in homes or in the harvest, praying for and serving the mission decided by the group. They share dinner together to build community, and study scripture to strengthen and embolden the mission.

Each MC meeting lasts 2 hours:
Share Dinner -  1 Hour
Praying for, Planning, and Serving the Mission - 40 Minutes
Study Scripture - 20 Minutes

If you would like more information about Missional Communities, I've put together a more in-depth ebook on how we do Missional Communities. You can check that out HERE. If you would like to sign up to get involved in one of our Missional Communities, please go HERE.

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