To God Be The Glory

To God Be The Glory

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36

America we have a problem.  We keep confusing the cultural ways of our existence with the kingdom of God.  It’s hard to know the difference at times because even from our pulpits, we declare the American way instead of the kingdom of God.  Americans are a consumer culture.  That is a harsh reality.  Our economy is based primarily on our spending habits.  When we spend money and buy things, then the leaders of our country say that we are doing well economically.  We almost went into a huge crisis when people started actually saving money after the 2008 stock market crash.  And the savings rate was only up to 8% then!  Normally it hovers at less than 3% because we spend all we get and then some (hence our debt crisis).  But the reality of our economy is that we are always being conditioned to spend more money.  But not on worthwhile things.  We are conditioned to spend money on things to consume.  Clothes, jewelry, electronics, food, you name it, we are always being shown an advertisement to increase our desire to consume.  Not to invest or save or donate it, but to blow it on stuff.  This presents a problem in our prayer lives if we do not become aware of it up front.  Because we are likely bringing into our prayer lives, our desire to consume things.   

When we pray and ask God for something, we may assume that when he gives it to us, it will be for our consumption.  Maybe we are praying for a new job or for a relationship or a house, or anything.  We petition God to give these things to us.  We are going to the creator of the universe and making our requests known.  But who in Scripture ever got something from God to use exclusively on themselves and God found it pleasing?  Not Abraham, Joseph, David, Hannah, Mary, Jesus, Paul, Peter, or anyone I can think of off hand.  Sometimes, God just gave them “stuff” out of His goodness, but those things that they had a deep desire for and prayed over and over about were not for them, but for God’s glory.  And that means they couldn’t do whatever they wanted with it.  They had to use it for eternal purposes.  God gave them an answer to their prayer for His purpose, not theirs.  But that also means that when we pray for something and do not get it, we trust that even that answer is for God’s glory.  Either way God will glorify himself. 

Now for a human being, we would say that someone who only does things for their own glory is egotistical.  Everything is about them and how great they are.  And that would be true of God if God wasn’t the Creator of all things and deserved to be worshipped and adored.  We might accuse God of making everything about Him, but if God created everything, then it really is all about HIm.  There is nothing that cannot glorify God.  No circumstance is without opportunity to glorify Him in some way.  No object on the planet is immune to being used for the glory of God. And nothing you receive from God in prayer is for you alone.  Good, bad or indifferent. Even if you enjoy it, remember that it is for God’s glory and not your consumption.  Don’t confuse the American way with the kingdom of God.  If God affirmatively answers your prayer for something, then be assured that the plan you have for it must be open to being changed. 

If you have been praying for a house, then if God gives it to you, be prepared to listen to God’s plan for it.  Even if that means giving it up.  If you have been praying for a spouse, then be prepared for that relationship to be used for God’s glory.  And that might mean that things get rough before they get better. If you have been praying for a new job, then be prepared to trust that God will bring glory to Himself out of that situation.  This does not always mean that things turn out the way you want them to.  It does mean that God will be glorified.  How much peace you have in the process will depend on how you see the situation.  And it will take work to see and trust that God will bring glory to Himself out of some of these things.  We just have to remember that it is not about us.  It never is.  Don’t take it so personal ( if that’s possible).  God is not punishing you.  God is not mad at you.  God is not just being mean for no reason. God is not feeding your consumption habits.  God is bringing glory to Himself so that people will see Him for who He is in the midst of your situation.  He is worthy.  Abraham had been praying for a son, whom God promised him he wold have by his wife Sarah.  When he finally had the son (at 100 years old) he was then asked to sacrifice him on the altar.  Abraham had to be willing to give up the very thing that he had been praying for and desiring  for so many years in order to accomplish a greater spiritual task.  Centuries later, we are still using this example to demonstrate the type of faith that God is pleased with.  Hannah prayed and prayed for a child and finally she was blessed with Samuel.  But she promised God that she would give him over to God’s service if she was given the child  And she did.  She sent her son away to live with Eli the priest to be used in the temple as a priest of God.  She was willing to give up the very thing that she had been praying for in order to fulfill a higher spiritual purpose.  Can you say the same? Can you give up the thing that you most desire to be used for God’s purposes and not your own?  Whatever plans you have for that job, that money, that man or woman, that child, or that house are subject to change.  Are you open to that? Do you understand the glory of God enough to know that it will happen anyway?  Even if the story does not go according to your plan.  God will get His glory.  And it is not through our consumption of the things we have been praying for.  But their eternal purpose, which we may not always understand or even like.  In the end, the glory belongs to God and God alone.  

A LIfe We Don't Deserve

A Life We Don’t Deserve

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11 NIV

I think Malcolm X said it best. “You’ve been bamboozled! Hoodwinked! Run amuck! We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!”  Except the rock that landed on me was the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ.  We have been sold a bill of goods by the prosperity teaching, “God wants you to be wealthy”, “become a Christian and everything will be great”, kind of preachers.  They must have forgotten about this book in the bible, and a host of other books that speak to the contrary.  The prosperity gospel works great if you are not a true follower of Christ, but maybe just a church goer.  It works fine if you ignore the actual call to participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you can participate in His resurrection power.  It works fine if you want to still be under the law.  Because then you get what you deserve.  You get what you work for.  What you put in is what you get out.  That’s a perfect gospel for American churches.  Land of the free.  Home of the brave.  It makes for a wonderful campaign to tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something of themselves.  But that argument does not hold water in the kingdom of God.  Why?  Because none of that stuff matters.  What you have done is irrelevant if you live a life of grace. 

Now I know that we want things both ways.  We want to be forgiven of our sins, even though we deserved death and when we are forgiven, we want to be able to proceed to only have good things happen in our life because we are “good people” who deserve it.  I get it.  I want that too.  But the problem is, following Christ, that is not what happens.  We can’t always get what we think we “deserve” because what we deserve from God is actually death.  If God flipped that around so that we don’t have to take that eternal punishment, then why do we want things to flip back the other way so that we can always get what we think we deserve when we think it’s good for us.  So to be clear, we don’t want what we deserve when it’s bad, and we do want what we think we deserve when it’s a good thing.  Right. Let me know how that works out for you.

The truth is, when we accept to live our lives under grace instead of the Law, we will always be living a life we don’t deserve. And sometimes that means incredible favor with God and man, while other times it means suffering when we don’t deserve to do so.  And to make it worse, sometimes we have to choose to suffer as an expression of our faith in the God we know.  Just like Jesus.  He didn’t do anything that deserved death, but chose to do it anyway for our sakes.  And if we live a life where we accept this as our salvation, then sometimes we will have to do the same.  God will put us into some “unfair” situations that we don’t deserve to be in but choose to stay in for the sake of God’s glory.  We are partakers of Christ’s suffering, on purpose.  But the promise from God is that if we participate in His suffering, then we will also participate in His resurrection.  That is our hope.  That by choosing to “die” we will live forever.  We will know the power of never being able to be die again.  We will be raised up if we choose to continue to suffer for the sake of the Gospel.  It’s a hard thing.  Don’t be fooled.  It is HARD.  But God gives you what you need to go through it.  You have the grace for it, and to many you will look foolish.  You probably look foolish to yourself.  I look foolish to myself for choosing to suffer for something I didn’t do or don’t deserve to suffer for.  For feeling the pain of someone else’s sin. But love demands that we do this.  It is in seeing the unjust suffering that we get the revelation of God.  Many people followed Jesus when he was doing miracles in the towns and preaching about the kingdom.  But those stories of what he did may have become just stories centuries later of a nice man who had special power.  But the story of a man who suffered while he was innocent in order to ensure that we all would have an opportunity to come to know God intimately has lasted for centuries and the power of it still works today. 

If we are followers of Christ, just know that it won’t always be easy.  The love that you have received from God will have to be given to someone else in order for them to have a chance at also getting into relationship with God, and for you to remain in close relationship. You will always live a life you don’t deserve, good or bad.  But you will also have more power than any human being could ever have.  That is resurrection.  To see life come out of dead situations.  To see life rise again when everyone thought the final nail was driven into the coffin.  When you even thought, that it was all over.  But soon, life will come again.  We have to continue to have faith.  And if we want to be mature Christians, we have to do these things.  We are not children who want what they want, when they want it and throw a tantrum when they don’t get it.  Like Paul said, “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” Philippians 3:15 NIV.    

Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and MIrrors

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”  Matthew 23:23 NIV

          The internet has been a buzz with the whole Chick-Fil-A issue.  Dan Cathy articulated his view on gay marriage and those views cause a protest around the country that sent supporters of his view to his stores and haters of his view to demand that his stores be boycotted.  I don’t particularly care for either side of this argument as I think they are both flawed.  I’m still going to eat Chick-Fil-A, not because I support his view, but because I like their food and their commitment to allow their employees off on Sunday.  I liked them so much I considered franchise ownership. Out of all of the businesses I support with my dollars, I do not know the political viewpoint of the owners.  What I do know is how they treat me when I walk through the door and how their business supports or hurts the community. 

          On their appreciation day last week, Chick-Fil-A posted unprecedented sales nationwide as thousands of supporters stood in long lines and demonstrated their solidarity with the fast food chain.  Good for them.  People ate good chicken and a Christian values based company received valuable financial support for taking a stance on a political issue.  We all know that money talks, so putting your money where your mouth is (pun intended) goes a long way. Which brings me to another issue that this highlights for me.

          There is no question that we have morality issues in this country and in the whole world as a matter of fact.  But let’s start with the immorality of our laws and policies that govern our country purposefully marginalizing other people for the benefit and profit of a few.  Justice, mercy and faithfulness are the more important issues of the law (according to Jesus).  Is it right for a man to be persecuted and threatened with boycott for expressing his political stance on a morality issue? No.  He has the right to express that opinion and people have the right to agree.  And the gay rights activists also have a right to express themselves as well.  That is the beauty of the 1^st amendment.  Both sides can express themselves without fear of government persecution.  Dan Cathy has “Christian Values”.  Well, I would say that he has a certain set of Christian values.  I personally am a follower of Christ with kingdom values. Sets of rules and moral regulations do not take precedent over what I believe to be the weightier matters of the law.  Rules about this and that do not do a whole lot to advance the kingdom agenda, because if you use the kingdom agenda, you will find that the rules also get followed because the more weightier matters were handled. When you lead with rules, you get more condemnation, not more justice. 

           But what about really putting our money where our mouth is.  So if we believe what the bible says, then shouldn’t we be putting more money into those organizations that support issues of justice, mercy and faithfulness?  How about going out to DONATE the cost of a meal at Chick-Fil-A to an organization that fights to bring equality to our educational system and get rid of these laws that put less money into inner city schools and more into suburban schools?  Or how about protesting the payday lenders that are looking to keep people in a debt trap by charging 369% interest rates and are trying to enter into Pennsylvania as we speak? Or what about unequal lending practices that have been going on in minority communities, charging higher interest rates to people of color which several large banks have just been sued over?  Or what about boycotting those companies who have been presented with data that tells them that the work they are doing is directly affecting the health and well being of the communities they are working in, but who continue to work in these areas anyway.  They are blatantly ignoring the warnings that their drilling, construction, etc, is causing cancer and other diseases, but they figure that the money they would pay out in lawsuits is less than the money they make by continuing, so they ignore it? 

          Do we get up in arms about these issues of justice and mercy and faithfulness the way we do about gay marriage?  Here is another question. . .if the issue is truly about gay marriage, would the same people who went out and supported Chick-Fil-A have done the same if the owner was Muslim?  Selah.

I’m not saying Dan Cathy should not be given support for expressing his Christian beliefs.  I think that the appreciation day showed that people do care about the financial health of an organization that has not been silent on their faith. And I will continue to support Chick-Fil-A.  But seriously, Christians, can we start looking at the weightier matters of the law and stop voting on these morality issues for our government?  We are playing right into the hands of those who hold the majority positions.  Distract them with “morality” and they will miss the bigger picture and things can stay exactly as they are.