Things I've Been Told..

I don't write this to disparage anyone. After all, it wasn't long ago that I believed many of things I am about to share. I certainly don't write this to,"run down", any members of the Church. I mean, this is the,"bride of Christ", and fellow brothers and sisters in the body. I may disagree with them, and them me, but they are part of the body and I do love them...I do..really! My purpose in writing this is to share some of the inaccurate and frankly, dangerous sayings, teachings, and theology that prevents Christians from accepting the love of Jesus for them in their life, and keeps them in bondage to their fears and insecurities,which prevents them from experiencing a deep relationship with their King. So..with that..here are a few of the top phrases that kept me in despair for over 20 years..

1. "Your are the only Bible, that some people will ever read.."
This is an oldie, but a consistent one. This implies that your witness, your life, will make or break someone's status into sainthood. The idea that someone looks at me or anyone else and says," You know, that guy has it all together. I think he said he is a Christian. Yeah, I want to be like that." is absolutely wrong on so many levels. First of all, nobody has it all together. Secondly,before I was a  Christian,I was attracted to a person's confession-not their competency.(No Strings attached-Pastor Tullian).Let's face it, no one is so competent that I would ask why. Lastly, my lifestyle and attitude doesn't save anyone.
 The Problem: If you imply to a new Christian that this is what Christianity is all about-your competency-this is a recipe for disaster. Why? Because it's not true. Christianity is not about the betterment of the redeemed, but the perfection of the Redeemer. BIG DIFFERENCE. You want to put a burden on someone? Imply this statement..over and over again. In my experience, this creates self-righteousness in leadership and despair in the flock. I wish I could remember who posted this, so I could give them credit- I believe it was Dan Price of "Christ Hold Fast"who said, " You are the only Bible, that some people will ever read..Good, because I'm as screwed up as most of the people in the Bible." That's the point. Am I implying that obedience is not important?, No. As one of my Gospel friends,(who I can't remember again-sorry), pointed out: "My obedience is worth talking about. When it exceeds my Savior's obedience-it's no longer a Christian conversation". Enough said.

2. "Direction, not Perfection.."
This is a close sister to the one above. But in many ways, this is more dangerous. You can explain the first one away by thinking,"Nobody is perfect." THIS one tells you you're right, just try harder. This doesn't imply anything other that what it says..try harder-Do more..that is the goal of the Christian life.Perfection isn't. Moralists love this one. The Problem: The Sermon on the Mount...Jesus actually said the opposite. Read Matthew 5.  Verse 48, states,"Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." If this is the standard to please God-perfection-then "close enough"isn't cutting it. Verse 20, talks about being exceedingly more than the Pharisees. Throughout the Sermon Jesus is pointing out not just the external conformity..but internal as well. Jesus is saying to be perfect inside and out..all the time. Keep the Law perfectly in thought, motive, and action and you will please God. Anything less-Death. Be Perfect. I Can't. And this is why Jesus died for us. He was and is..and gives it to us.Do you see how ridiculous it is to say that the Christian life is about us and our performance or lack thereof? The ONLY performance that matters is Jesus' performance. So, when this is told to the flock, time and time again, it implies that our effort, and the fact that we are better or more moral than we were yesterday, is how we measure success or failure as a Christian. More importantly,this is how GOD measures success and failure for you. Naturally, we as Christians, turn "inward" with this focus..and ironically..we get worse. We take our eye off the Author and Perfecter of our Faith..and try..TRY..to perfect it ourselves. When this fails-as it always does-crash and burn happens. Unfortunately, this is where many Christians leave the church..

3. "You have to strive to excel in your walk, this is how we measure growth.."
4. "It's important that you speak from a position of strength in your walk.."

You get the point. Christianity is about the Christian. It is about the performance of the Christian. I find it interesting, that what we are told to improve, build up, and work on, is the very thing that distances us from God. Kathleen Miles puts it this way: "When transformation is viewed as proof of our faith, we can't help but to become fakes, phonies, and liars."Why? Because we are sinners. Natural lovers of self. When we focus on our performance, it leads to comparison between sinners. When comparison is present, transparency evaporates. It becomes about OUR strength..and we boast in it..or we shame others for their lack of it.Quite the opposite of 2 Cor. 12:9, which says can boast in our weakness, because of His strength. We forget it's not Our righteousness we possess..it's His.

Here's the thing Christian. We all want to grow, mature, and be Christ-like. I get it. I do too. The question is HOW do we do this..by focusing on the sinner and asking for power? Or by, focusing on the Savior and reveling in His Grace? I submit that the Power that we beg God for, we already have..walk in it..You want to Grow? Die to self. Want to be mature? Love your neighbor.Jesus said "His burden is light.." in Matthew 11:30. If the Christian life is burdensome, heavy. It's not from Him. Maybe it's from trying to please a  God that is already pleased with His Son for you. Maybe it's trying to measure up and be accepted by a God who said, "It is Finished." If you are in Christ. If you are a believer in Christ. You are free. Free from trying to get, take, achieve, and overcome. Your King did what you could never do FOR you 2,000 years ago..He loves you that much. Now you are free. Free to love, and give grace to those who don't want or deserve it..like God does for you everyday. Contrary to popular belief, because Jesus has done EVERYTHING for me..does not promote apathy, or laziness in me. Quite the opposite happens..I focus on HIS goodness, not my feeble attempts to overcome. I focus on loving my neighbor, not whether my neighbor is measuring up. You want to be Christ-like? " Love one another as I have loved you." John 13:34.  You want to be obedient? "Love One Another, and everyone will know you are mine." John 13:35. Compare this with the above phrases..it's hard to love your neighbor, when you are focusing on why you aren't good enough to tell them the good news..or why they aren't good enough to share it with..

Obedience is important. It's an act of worship. I obey because I'm forgiven. Accepted. New. I obey out of Love for my King, not fear of my King. I obey, not out of obligation, but because He loves me enough to die for me..What a King..I'm free not to sin..I'm free to love others and forgive..not because of my effort to do these things..but because of His effort that Accomplished these things..

The Audacity of...Me..

Luke 23:39-43: "one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" But the other answered, and rebuking him said,"Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?" And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he was saying," Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" And He said to him,"Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."


The above passage has been the subject of many commentaries, and theological discussions, concerning baptism, whether the thief immediately went to heaven or not, and even where "you put the comma."I will leave these discussions to the ordained clergy and theologically superior. For argument sake, let us just agree that if Jesus said he was to be in Paradise with Him-He was and is. After all, I'm just a guy from Montana who has been leveled by God's grace and this passage is soaked in it. So, I will speak of that..

As my understanding of the redeeming work of Christ on my behalf deepens, a couple of points jump out at me as I look at this passage.

 Here's the first: The "good"thief, the "repentant"thief, the one who asked Jesus "to remember me?"...The Gospel of Matthew's account is that of him hurling insults along with the pharisees, soldiers, and the other thief. Yet, moments later, he is admitting his guilt, and crying out to Jesus for mercy. Only moments later..moments..


Does this bother you? It bothered me. I mean, come on, a few minutes ago you were mocking the King, and now you want to hang with Him for eternity? Based on what?As far as we know, this man had done nothing redeeming in his life to deserve or merit any mercy whatsoever. The very fact of him being crucified as a thief and sinner was evidence that he did what he wanted, and in no way seemed to give God a second thought. The audacity of this guy..of..of..me?..yeah..the audacity of me.

As God has opened my eyes to His amazing one way love and grace pouring out on me-that has nothing to do with me-I realized..that's the point. I'm the thief. The thiefs' problem is mine..The audacity of me.. Romans 3:23 says,"There is  
none righteous, not even one." Not even..me. I have done nothing to merit his mercy. Like the thief, my life had been lived for me, not God. Even after He saved me, I have mocked Him with my rebellion of trying to justify myself. Romans 5:8 states, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It just so happened that this was literally happening just a few feet from the thief. So, no..I'm not bothered by it anymore. In fact, I cling to it.

But here's what grabs my heart. My senses. It's Jesus response. A response from a God who is as close to you and me as that thief a few feet away "..I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." What? That's it? No,"if you..", No-"and then you", No-,"if only." It's just"..you will be with Me.."My mind races to the verse found in Luke 18:13. It states,"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God have mercy on me, a sinner." And he went away justified.  And yet again to John 6:28-29 which states,"Then they asked Him, What must we do to do the works of God?"..Verse 29-"This is the work of God, that you believe in the One He has sent."..Period. And this is what the tax collector did. It's what the thief did. It's what Daniel Price says of the thief and his request, " Now, that's faith-cranked to eleven!"

Like the thief, we bring nothing to the table of Jesus. We are naked before Him. Our lives exposed, our helplessness before the King..the King we have mocked and scorned, jeered and cursed..and finally cry out to in belief for utter mercy... And even that- our ability to believe- is not our own. He gives it to us as well as His mercy.. Grace..It's all Grace. I'm reminded of a quote by the late Michael Yaconelli, which states: " The Grace of God is dangerous. It's lavish, excessive, outrageous, and scandalous. God's grace is ridiculously inclusive. Apparently, God doesn't care who He loves.."And that's good news for the thief on the cross...and this thief in Montana.

Still, I wonder, what God used to convict this man to repentance and faith, who just a few minutes earlier was as unrepentant as those on the ground and his partner in crime on the other side of the King. Did the impending doom of God's wrath finally bring him to his senses? Or was it something else?

I don't think it's a coincidence that shortly after Jesus asked the Father to forgive them, the thief made his confession of guilt and request for mercy. In the face of the insults and jeering..Jesus was praying for them, as He does for me and you everyday. Romans 2:4, says that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. Could it be that the thief saw Jesus unwavering  love for those who rejected Him? That the realization of God's ruthless grace on a people who desired to see Him gone forever, was in fact, a statement by God,(as Brennan Manning puts it), that,"I would rather die than be without you?" I cannot help but think of the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Jesus announces that He is going to stay at Zacchaeus house that night. Jesus did not say." Zacchaeus! Pay back everyone you stole from and give to the poor, and then I will stay at your house tonight." No, He just told Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and that He was going to stay at his home that night. As the party was in full force, Jesus never stopped the music and asked for everyone's attention and say, "Okay, Now..Zacchaeus..you have something you want to say to everyone?" Or, "Now Zacchaeus, I have come to your house, so..now what are you going to do for God?"Nothing of the sort. Scripture does not record Jesus saying anything at all. But it does record Zacchaeus making an announcement. An announcement of a changed life. A changed life not because of any warning, or threat from Jesus. A changed life because of the LOVE and GRACE of Jesus.

I believe this same love and grace shown to Zacchaeus, that led him to repentance, is the same love and grace, that led the thief to his that day on the cross..and it's the same for you and me too. It's Grace. All Grace. We can't earn it, we don't want it, and we fight against it. But funny thing about this God..He loves us..and brings it anyway. And that's good news for the thief on the cross..and this thief in Montana.

Ferris Or Cameron?

I like movies. Especially movies of my youth. Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire, and oh yeah, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I mean, who doesn't love  the cool Matthew Broderick character Ferris Bueller?

Ferris had it all-the wits, charm, looks, the girl..and an attitude that depicted confidence, love of life, and a general disregard of having to please or be accepted by anyone. For the most part, people loved him for it. They loved his freedom. His love of life and his lack of need to measure up to anything or anybody. Free.

So, that got me thinking about our spiritual life and how Ferris' freedom was  perhaps synonymous with our freedom in the gospel. Stay with me here, not literally..it's a movie about a high school kid. But there are some similarities with Ferris and the attitude we should have as Christians and the Good News of the Gospel.

Unfortunately, although many Christians love Ferris, most of us identify with his sad-sack side kick-Cameron. You remember Cameron? The chronically depressed, scared, craving for acceptance, unsure, insecure friend in the Detroit Redwings Hockey jersey?(Which I always thought was a little weird, since the movie took place in Chicago).

Funny thing about Cameron. Although we shake our head at him, we all too much identify with him spiritually. We don't feel like we measure up or are accepted by those we feel are more important than ourselves. I mean, we know and feel we aren't as cool as the "shiny-happy people." We are often scared of what people might think of us. Scared to the point that we make ourselves "sick" with worry and depressed over our lack of real or perceived acceptance. We are trapped in our own psychosis of insecurities-and it cripples us spiritually. It can prevent us from taking risks, having fun, and praising God. So..we wear our over-sized hockey jerseys and stay at home and hope people don't see the real me and you. Which is? That I'm scared. Scared of you..of me..of what Ferris might think..of life. So..we never really live it. 

And here's the kicker..we are pissed at Ferris, because he's NOT scared of me or you..of life. In fact, he devours it. In a way, we despise Ferris, because..he's free..FREE! We secretly rail at Ferris because we don't think he cares about "crossing all his T's and dotting all his I's". Somebody with this much joy can't be taking his responsibility seriously to" be all he can be".Dancing? Singing?..In front of people??

Here's the thing Christian..I'm tired. Tired of staying home and watching cable, instead of going to the Cubs game. It's not that we weren't invited., Ferris(Grace filled Christians), always invite, beg us to go to the game, and then the parade. But, we all too often stay home. Scared of what people might think of our performance. So, we stay at home with our nasal spray and worry,frown and hate ourselves for not getting better.

Christian..I'm done with being a Christian Cameron. We've been invited to a dance-by the King and He dares us to be like Ferris. "Ive come to set the captives free" Luke 4:18. "Come to Me ,all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Math 11:28. Dance like King David did in 2Samuel 6, and watch  Jesus laugh and clap His hands as we "shake it up baby". Christian, you are free to be Ferris in this movie of life. Because the acceptance we, as Cameron, are so desperately seeking we already have  in Christ, we can climb up on the float in the parade. Because we already have all the love Cameron wants so desperately from his earthly father, we already possess, with Abba Father because of what His Son has done for us-we can take the car,(so to speak), and not worry about the mileage.

I get it though. It's not like we WANT to stay home. Many of us are "Cameron", for a number of reasons, not the least being-life. We've got baggage-the way we were raised, lack of acceptance, trust issues, and never receiving the unconditional love we have always longed for and desired. The truly sad thing is another main reason many of us are "Cameron"is a place. That place being the Church.The very place all of us, "Camerons", should be able to go to blossom into spiritual Ferris'is the very place that emboldens our fears and insecurities. I've seen this damage up close and personal, and frankly, it makes me angry and breaks my heart. It seems whenever the gospel works in our hearts and we start feeling like the Christian Ferris, we are guilted and shamed into putting our hockey jerseys back on and to start snorting nasal spray again.It is either directly or indirectly implied that being a "Ferris" is reckless and not acceptable. So, we go back to being "Cameron", miserable, depressed and longing for the total acceptance we will never find from a father who cannot love us based on our effort to follow the rules.

But I Have Good News! Camerons of the Christian world unite! Jesus came to free us of the bondage of our hockey jerseys and nasal spray and set you free to sing "Danke Schein" on a float in front of hundreds of people with confidence..Not in ourselves,(we're Camerons for crying out loud), but in Him and what He has done. John 10:10 says" I have come to give life , and it more abundantly." Like Ferris who reminds Cameron that he accepts him for him..we need to remind each other of our acceptance of a Holy God, based on the performance of another 2,000 years ago.

I like to think a Christian Ferris would say something like this," The Christian life moves pretty fast. If we don't slow down and accept God's promises once in awhile, we might just miss the Gospel". Christian- God "thinks you're a righteous dude!" Not because of any sweater vest or hockey jersey-but because you are clothed in His Son's Righteousness..and it's so choice!

It is my hope, that we as Christians can put the hockey jersey and nasal spray away and quit listening to the haters..It is finished..you are free to love, care, and give grace to others,because we have unconditionally received the same from Abba. To forgive freely..even our Cameron selves. We are free..to live the abundant life in Jesus Christ that allows us to dance and sing like Ferris..ok?..Bueller? ..Bueller?..Anyone?