Surrendering to the Reality of God

[The following is the essence of the sermon I shared with Dayspring Youth Ministry on March 18, 2009.  I think it gives us all some food for thought.]

On January 19, 2003, the Springfield News-Leader printed an article titled, "Fighting a proliferation of porn" by Eric Eckert.  This article opens with the startling statement, "Louie Keen says it's possible to be a good Christian and operate a porn store and strip club."  Keen goes on to explain that his relationship with Christ has nothing to do with his business.

Obviously.

As Christians, we might find it hard to believe that someone could create such a disconnect between one part of his life and another.  But aren't we guilty of the same things, to a lesser degree, sometimes?

How often do we not allow Christ access into certain areas of our lives?  "God," we say, "I want to follow you.  But don't tell me who to date."  Or where to work.  Or what kinds of friends to hang out with.  Or how to dress.  Or what music or television shows or video games or movies are appropriate.  We give God every part of our lives...except the parts that we don't want Him to mess up.

It's time for us to grasp the reality of God.  It's time that God's reality permanently messes up our lives.  We need to live out the reality of God on a daily basis.  When we're hanging out with our friends, we need to experience God's reality.  When we're at the movies, or on a date, or at work, we ought to be living out the truth that God is real.

After 400 years in slavery in Egypt, the Hebrews were starting to doubt God's reality.  They'd been surrounded by the false gods of the Egyptians for a long time.  Not only that, but the God of Abraham had allowed them to be enslaved and it seemed that He would never hear the people's cries for help.

So when God took action, Moses was concerned that the Israelites wouldn't even know which of the many gods had sent him.  God responded by giving Moses His personal name:

[Exodus 3:13 (NIV)] Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" [14] God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

I AM.

God's message to the Hebrews was simple: I AM.  I AM real.  I AM concerned about your circumstances.  I AM aware of your suffering, and I AM going to do something about it.  What distinguished God from the Egyptian gods?  I AM - the Hebrew God is real, the others are not.

God's very name stresses His reality.  Do our lives represent that reality to the world?  Or is our faith in God all talk?  Have we truly surrendered every part of our lives to the reality of God?

Let's make a decision to give God 100% of our lives this week...let's hold nothing back from Him.

Getting Fired for the Glory of God - book review

I just read a book in one night.  Okay, I read a lot.  But this one is a special book.  This one is a book that I'll read over and over in the years to come.  I'm giving it a permanent place on my bookshelf.  If you're in youth ministry, read this book.  If you're in ministry at all - or one day want to be - then read this book.  Contemplate it.  Let it get inside of you and transform you, challenge you, shape you.

Mike Yaconelli's new book, Getting Fired for the Glory of God, is a treasure.  Mike passed away in 2003, and his wife and children have put together some of his articles from the years before his passing.  Mike's other books are great, too, and he's one of my favorite writers (as is his son, Mark).  But this book is by far his best.

Some of the articles I remember reading when they first appeared, as I was a regular reader of Youthworker Journal for many years.  (The fact that I remembered them more than 5 years after reading them ought to say something.)  Mike has a way of writing what I'm thinking.  He speaks to my struggles, my issues, my thoughts on the church and ministry.  When I think, "Why doesn't someone say this?" I usually discover Mike already has.

Some of my favorite quotes (though I highlighted about half the book):

"The last time I checked, it took Jesus three years of concentrated effort to make 12 disciples - and it took them the rest of their lives to understand what discipleship means."  (p. 38-39)

"If your church doesn't have a rule that exists just because of your ministry...then you aren't letting Jesus have first place in your ministry....  Remember, all they can do is fire you." (p.57)

"Youth group should be an adventure, a cauldron of fire and passion, an uncontainable and terrifying present of the Holy Spirit overflowing into the souls of students and resulting in a volatile desire for Jesus, regardless of the chaos caused by following him." (p. 67)

The Cost of Discipleship

I've spent the last few days working feverishly to finish the rough draft of the youth leader training notes.  It's going along well, but I thought I'd pause to blog about a stray thought I had while writing about youth discipleship.

I've grown up in church and heard countless sermons on "the free gift of salvation."  Many of them use the classic verse from Paul in Ephesians:

[Ephesians 2:8 (NLT)] God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. [9] Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

The good news in this verse is that God accepts us as we are, where we are.  We don't have to get cleaned up to approach God.  We don't have to try to make ourselves acceptable to Christ.  He loves us as we are, and accepts us - flaws and all.  He loves us.  He wants to have a relationship with us.  Not because we deserve it (none of us do), but because He chooses to lavish His love on us.

BUT THAT ISN'T THE END!

It's just the beginning.  God accepts us as we are, but as we build a relationship with Him, He begins to change our hearts gradually and we become more and more like Him.  Salvation really is a free gift, but discipleship - becoming like Christ - costs us everything.  Mind you, God replaces it with something much better and longer lasting, but it will cost us. 

It's like offering a homeless man with a shopping cart full of junk the keys to a mansion.  But to get the mansion, he has to give up his shopping cart full of junk.  And a lot of us homeless people are really attached to the trinkets we're holding on to in that shopping cart.  We try to find ways to smuggle the garbage into the mansion with us.  But God won't stand for it.

That's why Jesus warned His disciples about the high cost of being a disciple.

[Luke 14:28 (NLT)] “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?

Jesus Himself claims that discipleship will cost us everything we have.  We have to get rid of our old ways - the garbage in our carts - and follow Christ, even to the point of death.

[Matthew 16:24 (NLT)] Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

Which is why Jesus tells us that only a few people will find the road that leads to life.  Not because it's not there for them to find, but because when they find the road, they aren't willing to take it.  They're too attached to the old life to be willing to accept the great exchange Christ is offering.

[Matthew 7:13 (NLT)] “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. [14] But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

None of this fits into the materials I'm writing.  But the true essence of the gospel isn't just that Jesus Christ accepts us in our sins as we are - the true good news is that Jesus does not leave us there!  He calls us forward, to leave our failings and our sins and to move into the glorious new life that He is offering to us.

My encouragement: let Christ change you.  Put everything in your life on the table and offer it to God - let Him take away all the stuff that isn't like Him, and allow Him to replace it with His treasures.  That's the good news of the gospel for our lives.