Greetings,
Why in the universe would anyone in their right mind go into a town like McMinnville and proclaim the gospel to a bunch of people at a UFO festival? Good question. I have often asked myself questions like that. And the other questions that follow — like does anyone really make a life change when encountering a believer at an event like this? Or, how does anyone do real follow up with someone that they share the gospel with in a place that is far from home? This culture doesn’t seem to value, believe in or care to even talk about the gospel, so why try? My answers to these questions reveal my beliefs.
Do I believe that Jesus is who He claims to be? If He is God in the flesh and He really did rise from the dead, then I must believe that what He tells me about my life and the mission of the church must be true. God would not raise a liar from the grave, so if I believe the evidence —and there is much — then I must obey the call of the risen Jesus to His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded us.
But, that doesn’t say go to UFO festivals. It doesn’t say be awkward and alienate people by doing strange things. You are right. It says to make disciples… which is not a normal practice in this culture of non-conformity. It also says to dunk them in water… what does that even mean to this culture? Not only that, but ceremonially dunk them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit — the trinity — one God in three unique persons… because that’s not a strange concept. Then teach them all to obey everything that He has commanded — like saying that looking lustfully is adultery, calling someone a fool is like murder, sin is sin is sin and the consequence of your independence from God is death… Do you get what I’m saying? All of this life of following Jesus looks odd to this world. If you are fearing man more than fearing God, there is where your problem lies.
We don’t do odd things to be a spectacle. We do odd things because we obey the one we put our faith in. If we believe Jesus rose from the dead, we are, as Peter declares in 1 Peter 2:10, the people of God. He goes on to say: "You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:10-12)
So, why go to alien days in McMinnville? Because we desire to be a peculiar people, a people devoted to Christ and His call to proclaim the good news to all creation (Matthew 16:15).
I should not be afraid to be persecuted or ridiculed for my foolishness for Christ. We will all be doing it together, which makes it fun, but the most important reason is that Jesus tells me, "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He is our strength.
Will anyone receive Christ? Only God knows. Will it make any difference? It will in me. Because the more often I am obedient, the easier it becomes to recognize His faithfulness to be with me always.
I’m looking forward to the stories that we will share together!
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
I try my best to read a proverb and a psalm a day. So once per month, on the last day of the month, I read Proverbs 31. I am sure that you have probably heard about the Proverbs 31 woman, how she is the epitome of what all godly women should strive after. This woman is virtuous, strong, loving and sincere, she gets up early and goes to bed late; her children call her blessed.
I imagine the Proverbs 31 woman makes women everywhere feel like they must rise to her level of womanhood. I imagine some women may look at her and be motivated to rise up to the challenge of being like her. I have heard a rumor that most women end up feeling like a failure next to her, and I can imagine there are some feelings of animosity and frustration toward this superhuman woman.
At the end of April, I was reading it again when it struck me that Proverbs 31 is not written to a woman, but a man. It is not the Lord declaring that women should all be plowing fields and cooking dinners from foreign lands. Proverbs 31 is motherly advice to her son, the king Lemuel. Lemuel’s mother wanted him to be careful to pick a virtuous woman because the wrong choice could ruin his kingdom. She wanted her son to be mindful of what a king's wife should be able to do. Also, the king's wife is a position of leadership. She would be the CEO of the king's home. She would have servants and workers at her disposal to get the many things in this mother’s ideal list done.
This aspiration is good to look at and examine, but remember that this is a mother’s desire for her son. And we all know how realistic a mother-in-law’s expectations of her soon to be daughter-in-law can be. To measure yourself up to this as a mother and wife is to measure yourself next to a king’s mother’s expectations of a queen of a kingdom.
It should be every mother and father’s desire that their children marry a person that is strong, dependable, faithful and wise. We should help our kids to know what they should be looking for in a mate. We should also be praying for our children’s spouse before they are ever ready to think about this commitment.
As parents we should be raising our boys to not expect their wives to live to the standard of Proverbs 31 unless they are going to live up to the expectations of a king. We men shouldn’t expect our wives to be virtuous women all on their own. We should be striving to lead in virtuous character as godly men.
I love what Boaz says when talking to Ruth, in Ruth 3:11. "And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character." He is saying that he will bring her security and will do all that she asks of him and that all the people know that she is a virtuous woman. How will they know? Because he will make it known.
Whether you are a wife, husband, mother, father, daughter, or son, I hope that you desire to be a person of virtuous character and lead others to do the same.
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
This past Sunday my dad and brother and soon to be sister-in-law joined me on the worship team. It is always enjoyable to play together with them. People often tell me that they recognize that I inherited my music style and my voice from my father. I am highly honored by that because I think that he is a great musician and a far better vocalist than me. We all inherited attributes from our parents. When was the last time you thought to yourself that you sounded like your mom or dad when you spoke about something?
My kids inherited many things from me. Some of them are positive. When I hear myself in their sarcasm, I initially chuckle, then I am a little grieved that they inherited that from me. When I hear them get angry in a sinful way that I recognize in me, I am saddened. When I hear them repeat some word of wisdom that I have taught them, I am proud. When I hear them love in the way of the Lord, I know that the credit should go directly to the Lord. 1 John 4:19 says that we love because He first loved us. I couldn’t love in a way that is concerned for a person’s soul, especially if that person has hurt me, without first experiencing that unconditional love from God. The ability to unconditionally forgive a person who doesn’t deserve it is not something that is inherited from our flesh.
The love of God is a gift for His children. 1 John 4:20 gives us the picture of what we should inherit as a child of God. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? When we love people we are demonstrating the character that we inherited from our heavenly Father through the spirit.
John 13:35 tells us how the world will know we are children of God, that we are His disciples, that we truly inherited the Holy Spirit in us--by our love for one another. Notice it is not by our love for the lost, love for the community, love for the down and outers; it is by our love for one another. If we are loving each other, then people won’t be able to question where that love came from. Those other people need our love as well just as Jesus loved them and sacrificed for them. But our good deeds won’t differentiate us from the world, it is our love for each other.
May we be a people that act like, sound like, and love like our heavenly Father.
Love ya,
Chris