On the Mark

Like many of you, my yard was cooked last summer.  The combo of scalding hot temperatures and a lack of rain led to my grass transitioning from green and full to brown and wispy.  Like a balding man clinging to his combover, my yard was greatly in need of some Rogaine.  Therefore, this spring, I purchased some grass seed and attempted to bring my yard back to life.  I spread grass seed all over the yard with the hope that spring rains, and soft grounds would lead to soft turf once again.  I did not plant the seed to feed the birds, I planted it to grow grass.  Anything short of a restored lawn would be a failure of my lawn care project.

I was thinking about this recent set of events this week as I studied Hebrews 5:11-6:10 in preparation for my sermon this Sunday at Wildwood.  In between all the big theological questions that this section raises (and believe me there are a few doozies!), I see a passage of Scripture that lets believers know that Jesus has cast His seed in our hearts with the intentions of it maturing, growing, and producing fruit.  The idea that my salvation was intended for my stagnation (failure to grow) is thrown to the birds with this passage.  Whether you are a new believer, or have trusted Christ years ago, His desire for you is that you continue to grow and mature in Him.  Join us this week in either the 9:30 or 10:50 worship services as we see how this plays out on the pages of Hebrews 5-6.  Hope to see you there!

** In prep for this Sunday morning, read Hebrews 5:11-6:10.  As a preview of some of the big issues in this passage, look at Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt.”  What does this passage mean?  We’ll look at it (and more) this Sunday.

Tate and I at the Grand Canyon, 1994

The Grand Canyon is one big, beautiful hole in the ground.  I know.  I have stood on its banks and soaked in its beauty.  In the summer of 1994, my college roommate and I embarked on the road trip to end all road trips, driving 3,000 miles roundtrip to Northern California and back seeing all the beautiful National Parks and tourist traps along the way.  One of our stops was the Grand Canyon.  When we first arrived and looked out across the canyon’s south rim, we thought we could sit there forever and just admire its beauty.  However, we were 21 year old college guys . . . so naturally, FOREVER was only about an hour and a half before we started looking for something more adventurous to do.

That adventure took the form of climbing some of the buttes and bluffs that make up the outer rim of the canyon.  It was not enough for us to simply see the canyon, we had to climb it.  Fine idea, were it not for my selective amnesia.  In my hasty pursuit of adventure, I had conveniently forgotten that I am terrified of heights.  I was 10 feet off the ground climbing a 20 foot high bluff before my amnesia cleared and it hit me . . . “I am 10 feet off the ground hanging to a wall of the Grand Canyon.”  Now, my friend (who is part mountain goat) climbed that face like it was a ladder.  I, however, had a different experience.  Knuckles whitening, heart pounding, muscles tense, I labored my way the last few feet up the bluff and tried my best to look in control as I rolled onto the top of the peak, doing my best to wipe both the terror and the sweat off of my face.

After a good bit of chest pounding and male bravado at our successful climb, the second part of my amnesia checked in.  I had forgotten an important fact of physics – what goes up must come down.  My mountain goat friend hopped down the face as fast as he went up.  I, on the other hand, sat on the edge of the bluff paralyzed with fear.  Lucky for me, I was not alone.  My friend had successfully navigated going down the bluff before me, and he told me where to step and where to hold to make it down successfully.  If I just followed in his path, surely I would be all right.  The only problem was, even knowing the way he had shown me, I was still stricken with fear, and could not make myself move an inch downward.  So, my friend reached up and grabbed my right foot, lifted it off the rock and placed it in the correct foothold.  Then he did the same thing with my left foot, then my right again, and so on and so on.  Eventually, with his strength and direction, I made it down safely.  I am convinced that if my friend Tate had not been there with me, I would either still be sitting on that butte asking passing hikers to throw me up a canteen and a Power Bar, or I would have fallen to the ground and really gotten hurt.  The fear was just that great.

I was thinking about this experience this week as I was reading Luke 4:1-13 and the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan in the wilderness.  Three times, Satan tempted Christ with many of the same basic temptations we all struggle with.  Satan tempted Jesus with physical desires, offers of power, and doubting God, yet Christ stood strong and did not give in to sin after any of these temptations.  That is why the writer of Hebrews says of Jesus, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with all our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).”  Jesus was tempted as we are, yet He never sinned.  Because of this, the writer of Hebrews says in 2:18, “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

Let me phrase all of that truth in light of my experience at the Grand Canyon.  Jesus has scaled the mountain of temptation successfully, so He can show us the way down to the bottom.  Many of us feel as though temptation is so strong in certain areas that we have no hope of ever walking with God successfully through it.  We feel like the pull towards internet pornography or alcohol or gossiping or certain types of speech are so strong that we are destined to fall in those areas resulting in serious injury to us or to others.  This fear of temptation is so strong, it can be paralyzing in our walks with God.  If we have been beaten about by a temptation and failure in a particular area for too long, we feel like our only hope in the Christian life is for someone else to walk by and “throw us up a word of encouragement” as we feel destined to sit on the rocky edges of the Christian life while others navigate successfully by.

However, in Christ, all of us who have struggled with temptation have a great hope!  First of all, Jesus has shown us the way to navigate through temptation in a God honoring way, without sin.  Like Tate telling me where to go, Jesus modeled for us the way down in Luke 4:1-13.  He was dependent on the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1) and stood on the promises of God’s Word, not on Satan’s deception (Luke 4:4, 8, 10).  However beautiful this example is, though, it still is not enough to totally help us as we are struggling through temptation in our lives.  He has not only shown us the way, but He also offers us the power to navigate temptation, if we will let Him.  Tate grabbed my feet and moved them down the mountain.  It was his strength, not mine that led me to safety.  The same is true in our spiritual lives.  Christ offers us the strength to lead us down the mountain of temptation if we will just trust Him.  He will carry us through.  Galatians 2:20 tells us that “it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.”  In a real sense, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have the living Son of God who has stared temptation down and HAS NOT SINNED, offering to live His life through us if we will just let Him.  By placing our faith in Him moment by moment, He can lead us down the bluff of temptation one step at a time.

[I wrote this piece a few years ago, but thought of it today as I was preparing for our study of Hebrews 4:12-16 on Sunday at Wildwood.  I hope this devotional "primes the pump" and helps prepare your heart for our study together on Sunday.  Join us in either the 9:30 or 10:50 services this week!]

“Visit a church on Sunday morning – almost any will do – and you will likely find a congregation comfortably relating to a deity who fits nicely within precise doctrinal positions, or who lends almighty support to social crusades, or who conforms to individual spiritual experiences.  But you will not likely find much awe or sense of mystery.  The only sweaty palms will be those of the preacher unsure whether the sermon will go over; the only shaking knees will be those of the soloist about to sing the offertory. . . reverence and awe have often been replaced by a yawn of familiarity.  The consuming fire has been domesticated into a candle flame adding a bit of religious atmosphere, perhaps, but no heat, no blinding light, no power for purification.  When the true story gets told, whether in the partial light of historical perspective or in the perfect light of eternity, it may well be revealed that the worst sin of the church at the end of the twentieth century has been the trivialization of God.” – Donald W. McCullough

I read the above quote this week as I was preparing for this Sunday’s message.  The quote stuck in my spirit and I have been thinking about it ever since.  At what level does this quote ring true for you?  At what level does it bother you?  How does it challenge you?  Seriously, I want to know . . .

This idea is important to our study of the book of Hebrews for at least two reasons:

1. The entire book of Hebrews is written to people who have been Christians for some time, but who have begun to drift away from the Rock of their Salvation.  Could it be that part of the reason for their drift was a loss of a sense of holy reverence or fear of God?  Could it be that the reason why we drift away from our Savior today is because of our lack of holy reverence?
2. The passage we are looking at Sunday morning begins with the command to “Fear” (Hebrews 4:1).  What role does fear play in our relationship with God and the living out of our Christian life?

How do we avoid trivializing God and what are the consequences when we do?  These will be the topics we will dive into Sunday morning as we look at Hebrews 4:1-11 together as part 3 of our Anchored series.  Join us in either the 9:30 or 10:50 service and post to this blog post your thoughts related to the quote and the topic.  This is a difficult passage of Scripture and I would love to dialogue with you all on it both now and after the message on Sunday in this virtual space.

Tuesday night I saw the movie “The Avengers.”  I mention this to you all because many of you probably heard me reference this movie in last Sunday’s message.  Marvel Studios has been priming the pump and preparing our hearts and minds for this band of supermen and women for a long time.  From the release of the original “Iron Man” movie four years ago, Marvel has been teasing us with “The Avengers” through clips, trailers, Hollywood buzz, hidden scenes, etc.

For many years now and in various ways, Marvel has been communicating to us about their movie.  From this communication, we can understand many things about “The Avengers.”  From the prequels, clips, etc. we know who many of the central characters are, what the general plot line is, etc.   However, in order to fully understand the film, we need to actually see the movie.  In the movie, in one 150 minute block, we will get a final revelation of “The Avengers.”

If you were with us last week, you know that I see echoes of this pattern in Hebrews 1:1-4.  In these verses, we see God tell us that over many years and in various ways, through the Old Testament era, God was communicating to us about Himself.  This communication was somewhat fragmented (as it came to people over 1,000 years) and incomplete (by New Testament admission, there were parts of God’s truth that were mysteries in the Old Testament time).  In Hebrews 1:1-4, it is as if God was saying, I gave you the trailers for my revelation in the Old Testament, but if you want to really know me, you need to see the “feature film” of Jesus’ life.  In those first four verses of Hebrews 1, the author is arguing for the superiority of the revelation of God found in Christ by pointing out the fact that Jesus Himself is the “exact representation of God” and the “radiance of His glory.”  These verses highlight His deity, and demand a proper response (2:1-4).  If you have not heard the full message, I would invite you to download it from the iTunes music store in Wildwood Community Church’s podcast, or found on wildwoodchurch.org.

This week, we will be continuing our sermon series on the book of Hebrews (entitled “Anchored”) by looking at Hebrews 2:5-18.  If Hebrews 1:1-2:4 argued for the deity of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 2:5-18 argues for the necessity of the humanity of Jesus.  Come this week as we explore that concept more in our 9:30 and 10:50 worship services.

We all have our dreams – the things we hope to accomplish before we die.  All of us have them, even my five year old son.  Recently, our family went to Disney World for a week.  As a part of our vacation, we watched a show where Mickey Mouse called out to everyone to shout out their dreams on the count of three.  While Micky counted, I wondered what my son would say.  Maybe he would want to be a Supreme Court Justice, an NBA all star, or a missionary taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  Maybe he would say that he wanted to be just like dad, go to Disney World (check), or win the Nobel Prize.  When Mickey hit three, the suspense was over.  Josh looked up and blurted out, “I want to grow up to be a McDonald’s worker!”  Mickey then encouraged us all by saying that dreams really do come true.  Hearing my son’s lofty ambitions, I could not help but think that the giant mouse was right.

(I want to add an important disclaimer here.  I am not mocking McDonalds.  I am a valued customer and former employee to this American icon.  However, with the sheer volume of McD’s around the globe and the accessibility most have to this opportunity in our country, it simply was a dream that maybe set its sights a bit too low.  Before you think I am going Earl Woods on my son, don’t worry  . . . I thought it was cute too.)

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a professional athlete.  I had rotating hopes of being the quarterback for the Packers, the Point Guard for the Bulls, or the Second Baseman for the Cardinals.  Looking back over that list, I can see that Mickey Mouse is a rat faced liar.

Somewhere between being a McDonald’s worker and being a professional athlete lie all our dreams.  This is true in our family life, vocational life, and spiritual life.  I want to reflect a bit on our spiritual dreams today.

I think at some level, most of us have spiritual hopes and dreams.  We dream of being a spiritual leader.  We dream of overcoming a struggle with sin.  We dream of having joy in the midst of struggle.  We dream of leading a friend to Christ.  We dream of having deep spiritual intimacy with God.  We have spiritual dreams.  I have them, what are yours?

An interesting thing happens, however, as people like you and me have been Christians for a while . . . we can begin to drift from our dreams.  The harsh reality of living in a fallen world, the sting of persecution, or the busyness of our days causes us to begin to give up our dreams like a high school me realized I would never bat lead off at Busch.  As time dulls our spiritual ambition, Christians who have known Jesus for a number of years can begin to slide away from home.  Can any of you relate to this? I bet so.

I know of many people who once had a spiritual fervor, but now have had their passion numbed by the drift of everyday life.  To people who are struggling with this, God gives a particularly challenging letter in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews.  This anonymously penned first century letter to believers in Rome is a call to re-awaken our spiritual dreams and anchor us to the rock of our salvation.  To a group of Christians, some of whom had probably first trusted Christ some 30 years before, the author of Hebrews calls them to continued fidelity to the truth.

Over the next several weeks at Wildwood, I will be preaching through a sermon series entitled “Anchored” that will walk us through the 13 chapters of the book of Hebrews as we see biblical encouragement and exhortation for running the race of the Christian life attached to the stability that only Christ can bring.  In a sense, the author of Hebrews is saying to us that our spiritual dreams really do come true, if we remain anchored to our Savior.  Join us this Sunday at 9:30 or 10:50 at Wildwood as we look at part one of the series focusing on Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:1-4.

This past Sunday at Wildwood, I preached on John 4 – the woman at the well.  I have posted the sermon audio here for those interested.  Also, posted below is a video we showed before the start of the message.  The message deals with the opportunity all of us have to introduce our friends to Jesus Christ.  Hope you enjoy the message!

Download “Filled” Sermon audio

or, you can listen to “Filled” sermon audio online via the imbedded player below:

In today’s age, it is fascinating how fast information travels.  I just downloaded an IOS app this week called “Flipboard.”  This amazing little app organizes all the articles and pictures my friends share on Twitter and Facebook into one magazine like interface.  I can literally pick up my phone and see what information is interesting to my friends 24 hours a day.  In our socially networked world, news moves fast, and you can share what moves you with others with the click of a button.

Sharing information that moves us over the internet is a new phenomena, but the notion that we talk about what matters to us is as old as the Garden of Eden.  When we eat at a restaurant we like, we tell others about it.  When we watch a movie that makes us laugh or cry or stand up and cheer, we pass along our review.  When we meet someone who has a positive impact on our lives, we have a tendency to want to introduce that person to others.

Given this reality, why is it that we sometimes feel awkward about introducing others to Jesus Christ?  After all, for Christians, Jesus is who DEFINES us.  He is who we live for.  We understand that no one loves us like He does.  Given that, why do we hesitate to “share” Christ with others?

I think it is largely NOT because we devalue our role in evangelism, it is because we overvalue it.  We assume that it is our role to answer every question, change every mind, and present everything flawlessly.  When we think of sharing Christ in this way, we never do it because we assume there is someone more qualified.  The reality is, however, that our role is not to convince, change, or coerce.  Our job is to introduce Jesus to others.  It is an introduction, not an indoctrination that we are a part of in the evangelism process.  Ultimately, the job of saving, changing, and convincing is God’s work . . . and He is infinitely qualified!

This Sunday morning at Wildwood, I will be preaching from John 4.  in this message we will look at how we can be involved in introducing others to Christ.  This message will be both personal (I’ll share some of how God has worked in my own life) and challenging (sharing opportunities for all of us to “share” Christ this Easter season.)  Hope you can join us in either the 9:30 or 10:50 service this Sunday, March 25.

Have you seen those Visa Gift Cards you can buy in the check out lines at Wal Mart?  They are cards on which you can place any amount of money, and then use like cash to make purchases anywhere Visa is accepted.  Now, imagine that the next time you go to Wal Mart you purchase one of those cards and place on it ALL of your net worth.  That’s right.  Imagine that you were to go to the bank and empty your checking and savings accounts.  Then imagine you were to sell every asset you own (property, cars, clothes, technology, etc.) on Craig’s List and eBay.  Imagine you were to cash out your entire IRA and college savings plans.  Imagine you were to liquidate all of your net worth into cash, then imagine you were to place all that cash into a shopping cart at Wal Mart and push it into the store, walk through the check out line, and hand ALL of that cash to the check out clerk, instructing them to place ALL of it on a single Visa Gift Card.  Can you imagine that?  I want you to visualize walking out of Wal Mart with a single credit card in your wallet on which your entire net worth rests.

Now, I want to ask you a question:

Who would you trust enough to give that card to?

Your spouse?  Your kids?  Parents?  Friends?  Anyone?  No one?  What would influence your decision?  Who would you trust or not trust and why?  Seriously . . . I want you to think long and hard about that.

This Sunday at Wildwood, we are going to be concluding our short 2 part series “Pay it Forward.”  In this week’s message, I will be sharing some perspective on the role of finances in the life of the Christian, including looking at Jesus interaction with the Rich Young Ruler.  After years of reading this passage and rationalizing it away on different levels, I have been challenged by it anew this week.  If Jesus asked for “it all” why would I be hesitant to give it to Him?  As I wrestled with that notion this week, I felt as though God encouraged me through the analogy I gave above.  My thoughts on this may surprise you.  My hope, though, is that by looking at God’s Word together, we will all be encouraged to trust Jesus more in our lives, remembering who He is and the way He cares for us.  Join us as I share some of what God has been teaching me on this topic this Sunday at Wildwood in either our 9:30 or 10:50 service.  Hope to see you there!

On October 15, 2011 I did possibly the manliest thing I have done in a very long time. Together with 7 other dads, and 14 total sons, I ascended Mount Scott inside the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge near Lawton. Mount Scott is an interesting “hike.” Apart from the paved road that serpentines the park’s tallest peak, there is no set path up the mountain. Getting from the parking lot to the summit required our group to work together and plan well in order to make it to the top without serious injury.

To say that this hike was one of the manliest things I have done in a while is not an exaggeration. The hike was full of elements of pure manhood. If we had only killed our own lunch and cooked it over an open flame, the hike would have had everything. Even still, the hike had:

1. Danger. Though we were not taking our life into our own hands, we all were taking our emergency room co-pays into consideration as we hiked the mountain. Hopping from boulder to boulder was fun, with an element of risk. We loved it.
2. Someone who needed us. Nothing gets guys moving more than realizing that someone is depending on us. The 14 sets of little eyes (all under the age of 10) followed our direction and example as we pointed the way and pulled the little ones up the mountain side. It was awesome.
3. Teamwork. I would have matched our 8 dad sherpa crew against the “We are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates of the 1970’s as a picture of partnership. No one on that mountain had one son . . . we all had 14.
4. Fun. We laughed a lot, cheered alot, and cracked on each other all the way up the mountain. It was perfect.

In the end, we all made it up the mountain together. When we got back in the car and drove back to Norman, Josh actually cried for about 15 miles of turnpike time . . . he simply did not want the trip to be over. To be honest, I didn’t want it to be over either. The rush of climbing that mountain has not soon left me.

So, all of this has got me thinking about life and fatherhood. I want to issue a challenge to dads of sons everywhere. Dads, we should not simply wait for Mount Scott moments to join together. We need to be a band of brothers. We have way more important hills to climb than a pile of rocks in southwest Oklahoma. We need each other to help each other guide our sons to the top of the mountain of manhood. We need to have a year round adventure for our kids where we guide them through:

1. Danger. The world today is a scary place. Satan is very creative in the way he attacks us . . . like a lion going after his prey. The risks for our lives and our boys lives are real: pornography, laziness, disrespect, materialism, lack of a fervency in following God. The danger is real . . . the spiritual lives of our sons are at stake. Instead of turtling up over this, let’s join together in facing this challenge with the enthusiasm we had on Mount Scott. Confronting this danger and surviving helps give us adventure every day with our sons!
2. People who need us. Our sons need us. They need our guidance to navigate the ascension from boyhood to manhood. Their 14 sets of eyes are looking to us for an example of how to live and instruction on how to respond in a difficult world.
3. Teamwork. We need each other. Being a dad is a difficult and important task, and effectively climbing this mountain with our sons is way easier with 8 of us than with one. Helping our sons get from here to there demands that we not have only our own children, we have “14.”
4. Fun. We need to celebrate the victories, laugh at the mistakes, and enjoy the ride together.

I am writing this note as an open call to Dads everywhere to challenge us to step up our game in 2012. Let’s link arms and raise a generation of world changers for Jesus Christ. It is my hope that this post prompts groups of men to have a conversation over the next month where they talk about how to be more intentional in raising their sons to manhood. We need to do this, and we need each other to do this. There are no solo hikes up mount manhood.

The more I live, the more I am convinced that the world has far too many boys who shave (as Mark Driscoll calls them) and far too few real men. Dads, God can use us to change that reality. Let’s lean in together and see a new generation of men emerge. Discipleship starts in the home, and God wants to use us to make a difference in the lives who sleep under our roof. Let’s do that together. OK?