Category — Practical Christianity

Something wonderful happened to me the day my firstborn child, Aimee, came into the world. For the first time in my life, I had totally selfless thoughts. Suddenly, I was holding in my arms someone who meant more to me than, well … me. At that moment, I knew that no sacrifice would be too great for this little girl I had just met but instantly cherished. Before I could become too proud of how dear she had become to me, I placed her in the arms of her mother. From the moment Judy began to nurse our baby girl, I knew they were experiencing a bond I would never know, could never be a part of.

If you’re thinking of the birth of your child and your love for them or your father and mother and their love for you, then you are picturing the role of an authentic spiritual leader—a parent. Paul reminds his readers of the selfless motives of the team he brought to Thessalonica by describing their role. They were parents to their disciples, as gentle as a nurturing mother and as firmly encouraging as a concerned father.

That’s the measure of authentic New Testament leadership.

So who are the people in your life the Lord Jesus is asking you to lead in His name? Remember, it’s not about them following you; it’s about you selflessly leading them to follow Another. His name is Jesus.

“But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8).

Unauthorized Exorcism!!!

“Hey, you can’t do that! We’re the ones who cast out demons. You’re not one of us, so we forbid you from doing this in the name of Jesus.”

That was what the disciples said to some poor guy just trying to follow Jesus. You can read about it in Mark 9:38-50. John speaks for the group, reporting that they had rebuked this faithful disciple who wasn’t part of their 12-man-insider-group of approved exorcists.

They had a point. Jesus had commissioned them, not him, to do this work (Mark 6:7, 12-13).

They were probably a little testy when they met this man. Nine of them had just failed to cast out a stubborn demon, and now he’s doing what they couldn’t do, even though Jesus had told them to do it.

If you’re expecting the Lord to say, “Good work, John. That’s what I like. You keep those unauthorized workers from doing things in my name,” brace yourself.

Who Made You the Authorizer?

Actually, instead of accolades, Jesus told them how wrong they were to discourage any disciple from following Him, even if they don’t follow in the same way they did. He warns them against dividing His people between “us” and “them” with one of the severest admonitions to Christians in the gospels: Never discourage any Christian from doing works in my name, or I’m going to discipline you with “operation millstone”!

I think the millstone speaks of severe discipline of a believer now and extreme loss of reward in the future kingdom. You may disagree with me on the particulars, but you’d have do admit that whatever it means, you don’t want it!

This may be the most ignored truth of church history. The faith others and we exhibit in following Him is more important than the style of following. Tolerance of differences among faithful followers strengthens their impact on this world and increases their eternal reward. Intolerance of differences among faithful followers dissipates their impact and decreases their eternal reward.

So, the next time you start dividing the Christian community into “camps” or start thinking in terms of “us and them,” think about that millstone…and remember, it’s not about style, it’s about faith!

“For he who is not against us is on our side” (Mark 9:40).

Bad News: 24/7

This is the preoccupying question in America today, “How bad will it get?”

It’s a 24/7 thing now, and it’s game on in the political arena. But while our politicians scramble to prove it’s not their fault, Wall Street executives hunker down, and news cycle experts and talk radio hosts bark their analyses and theories, most of us just want to know, “How bad will it get?”

The only dependable authority for the Christian—the Word of God—is pretty clear in its answer to the question, “How bad will it get?”

Worse.

Even if the markets rebound, credit flows again, someone invents an alternative to fossil fuels, and we all pitch in to save the planet, it’s going to get worse.

Before you think I’m getting all doomsday on you, I also want you to know that there’s a place to go and Someone to talk to about all of this. This is someone smarter than Rush Limbaugh and more powerful than Barack Obama.

Good News

There’s a phrase in the New Testament inviting every Christian to turn to Someone else–Abba Father (Romans 8:15). This is an endearing and intimate title for God the Father that could be translated, “Father, my own dear Father.” It is the title a child uses to relate to a father when the child knows that he or she is dear to Him, the one He delights in.

As the world crumbles around us, you may wonder if this is the time when it all spins out of control and if the worst-case scenario guys are right. That question, “How bad will it get?” may be keeping you up at night. Here’s what I do when my anxious thoughts multiply within me—I crawl up on my Father’s lap and talk to Him about my fears, feelings, and hurts. It is the upside of crises for the child of God–deepening intimacy with Abba Father.

I bet if we spent as much time on His lap as we spend in front of our computers, radios and televisions checking the latest bad news, we’d feel a lot better about the future. We’d probably say, “Well, my Abba always told me it would get worse, but He also promised to take care of me. You see, I’m very special to Him.”

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” –Paul, Romans 8:15

Just a Businessman?

Most people have never heard of him. The son of a simple tanner, who failed miserably in the oil business in Northwest Pennsylvania before enlisting in Lincoln’s northern army during the Civil War. He then moved to California and became the self-made entrepreneur who built Union Oil into a $50 million company by 1908.

But it wasn’t the rich oil fields that preoccupied Lyman Stewart’s heart; it was the fields rich for the harvest of souls. His vision of and passion for a relevant Gospel witness in Los Angeles catalyzed the founding of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in 1913 and Church of the Open Door in 1915. That storied partnership that began almost 100 years ago at 6th and Hope Streets in downtown Los Angeles is the heritage we celebrated yesterday as we dedicated our new worship center on our hillside campus in Glendora.

Eloquent Visionary

As we laid the same cornerstone on our campus plaza that he and R. A. Torrey laid downtown in 1913, I read some of his words to our congregation. Lyman Stewart was so much more than an entrepreneur and a philanthropist; he was a passionate follower of Christ who boldly believed God. And, as we discovered from his original typed pages, he was eloquent in his expressions of that devotion:

Like the great apostle to the Gentiles, the Institute in its propaganda will have but one theme—Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Its teaching, therefore, from the standpoint of this world’s wisdom, will be narrow. The inscription upon this corner-stone, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” will ever tell the casual passer-by the sweet, life-giving message of the blood, and remind every believer in Christ of God’s great salvation which His infinite wisdom and love devised and provided, as set forth in the wonderful doctrine of the blood—that “the life**is in the blood,” and that “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul,” “the precious blood” of our Divinely appointed Substitute, upon Whom the Lord hath laid…the iniquity of us all;” that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” of sins, and that “God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This is the foundation on which we are building for “other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Therefore our watchword is and ever will be, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…to Him be glory and dominion forever.”

Wow!

What would have happened if Lyman Stewart would have decided that he was “just a businessman” who should leave the work of the ministry to the “professionals”?

If you’re a Christian, you have everything you need—new life, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the church—to become your personal version of Lyman Stewart!

Don’t let the so-called professionals tell you that you’re just a businessman or business woman, just a teacher, just a waitress, just a truck driver, just a doctor, just a nurse, just…anything!

The only just before your name should be, just a believer, who received Christ, Who transformed you into a world-changer for Him!

“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

It…

…is Christianity—that wondrous offer of God’s life, eternal life, to every man, woman, boy and girl in the history of humanity.

The Bible clearly teaches that God’s eternal plan to rescue creation from sin centers on the focus of His love and care—humanity. His redemptive touch human life is His only strategy. As redeemed individuals gather into redeemed communities that live out the potential of His healing touch, they will manifest His glory to the universe.

The only touch point between God and humanity is the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection released God’s love, making it available to all who will receive it.

This…

…is grace—that breathtaking decision of God to risk the entire future of creation on humanity’s willingness to trust in Him.

Jesus Christ clearly taught that only those who trust in Him will receive God’s life, eternal life. All who refuse to trust in Him and reject His love by insisting that God count their works as worthy will not receive this love.

The only way to receive eternal life is by grace through faith, and the only way to experience the fullness of eternal life in this world and the next is by grace through faith.

And It Doesn’t Get Any Better…

Incredibly, from the very beginning the church has tried to bully people into believing that there is something better than grace!

Church history clearly teaches us that the primary combat zone for the God’s truth is the battlefield of grace. Religion mistrusts grace; always has, always will. Those who embrace their religious lies are trapped by their performance-based communities and doomed to lives of defeat and despair.

Only those who trust Christ gather in grace-based communities that release them to lives only explained by His power and presence.

If “it” (Christianity) gets better than “this” (grace), then it’s no longer Christianity. It’s religion.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).