Fighting "Rock Middle"

          I heard a missionary speak at the MovementConference this weekend. A great guy who I’ve seen before and is doing great work for the Kingdom of God in India and Laos. His testimony is great too. Not only did he get lost in a world of drugs, sex, and the party lifestyle, he literally brought an entire youth group (leader and all) into his world. God saved him in a mighty way, called him into ministry, and he’s changing the world.

          Those prodigal son, hog pen deliverance stories are inspiring aren't they? It’s amazing to see God do things in someone’s life to grab hold of them when they are at the brink. As I was listening to him I looked around the room and thought about the hundreds of the students in the room who just thought it was a cool story. Those who had a life that was pretty good, and because of that they are content with their station in Christ. They might have “Survival Jesus”, meaning just enough of a relationship to squeak into heaven, but not nearly enough of a relationship to have any joy, peace, or impact when life gets real for them (and it eventually does).  What is the message for these students? How do you save yourself from hitting “Rock Middle” and more importantly how do you move from happily stuck in the middle to getting back in the mix? This issue is pretty large so rather than tackle it in one mammoth post I’m going to break it into three parts. Check back tomorrow for the second installment:

            “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 21:34-36

           

Step 1: Avoid Dissipation

Dissipation in this sense means, “an act of self-indulgence, especially one that is not-harmful: amusement.” This is huge for American Christians. We are fueled by what moves us and what makes up happy. It’s a cultural movement that is staggering in its ramifications. It creates a relativism that makes all things acceptable to those with “itching ears” (2Tim. 2:3). The CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network, forebodingly abbreviated OWN, states the OWN mission statement as, “How do I get the most fulfillment, what makes me happy, how do I leave a mark on the world?” God called us to more than a life that makes us happy, but many of us, often myself included, are more concerned with whether or not our DVR recorded the new Walking Dead, than moving forward in our walk with Christ. We’re content, happy, and stagnant. We’re happy with the middle. We don’t have that rock bottom experience because we’re stuck in the place we are.

I’ll leave you with this. I had an opportunity through Mercer University to do some mission work in Liberia in Western Africa. I watched a church service one day in the capital of Monrovia. The people worshiped God with a reckless desperation that I was envious of. I asked my teacher, Rev. Olu Menjay,

“How can I get this desperation to live in the American church, we need this.”

He responded,

“You can’t. It’s too easy there. These people know how desperate their situation is and they see that God is the only way that they will live day to day. He’s the only way they will eat, drink, and survive.”

I think maybe he’s right. We’re happy, safe, and content. We don’t always need God to miraculously provide us a meal or clean water. Don’t take me wrong, I praise God for my successes and my wins and my apartment that does not have ten foot poisonous snakes in it (my apartment in Africa did), but I hope I won’t grow satisfied. I hope I will continue to push and fight the middle! I don’t want to be stuck in the middle.

If this particular issue resonates with you please leave comments below so that we can all continue discussion.

Click here for Part Two of Fighting "Rock Middle"!

On Genuine Worship-Guest Post

     My first guest post today from my friend, keyboard player, and token Jesus Hippie MacKenzie McKay. He's a huge part of my worship team and he's got a real heart to grow as a musician and closer to the Lord. When you're a member of the worship team week in and week out like he is you can get jaded and comfortable in your worship and your leading. He wrote this about staying genuinely connected with the Father and the effect it has on your worship leading.

     "So the other day someone made the comment to me that my piano playing has really improved in the last couple of weeks. My immediate response is that I had finally become a little more comfortable and relaxed while playing. I was sitting there thinking and that really wasn't the answer. I have been playing piano for years in front of large groups of people. My anxieties and worries about messing up died a long time ago, hundreds if not thousand of mistakes before. So I looked a little at myself in that moment. Why had my playing become noticably better within the last couple of weeks?

     I began thinking, and after I had put aside the idea that I had significantly grown as a piano player, I made a realization. I remember during times of worship that I wasn't playing the music or "for the set" anymore. I remember thinking during those times that I hoped God liked my playing. I wanted to make my playing an offering to Him. I still care about how it sounds and whether it fits, but I care about that less in the forefront and more in the background. My goal while playing is that, while worshiping, is that I might be able to get a smile from God, an eyes closed moment. Where maybe, just maybe, I can come up with something new and creative as a gift back to Him who has given me so much.

     I got this picture in my mind last year at camp that worship to God is like when a little girl goes up to her Dad and starts singing the "I Love You Song." The amelodious, out of key song, that to any other person for any other reason would seem mildly screeching and cacophonic, but to that Dad at that moment in time it becomes one of the sweetest sounds he has ever heard in his life and it draws him to pick up his child and wrap her in his arms just to show how much that moment meant and will mean to him. That's genuine worship. A sound that to any other may mean nothing, but to our Father it is the sweetest sound because he knows that we mean it from the bottom of our heart."

The Great Comission Lifestyle

     At my church, Evangel Community Church in Snellville, GA, one of our values is to live what we any many other churches call a "Great Commission Lifestyle." We believe that "Reaching Lost People Here and Around the World" is our job. When Jesus ascended into heaven (Matthew 28) He commissioned believers to go into all the word and make disciples in His name and to spread the Good News to the four corners of the earth. He did not call us to do this once. He called us to do this with our lives. In a sense, everything in our lives should exist just to support our evangelism efforts.

    If humans are good at one thing it's complicating a simple task. It's rather easy for us to make reasoned efforts to talk ourselves out of sharing our faith with those who desperately need it.

    We make excuses like: "I'm really busy today." or "I'm not in a good place right now." or "Who am I to tell them how they should live?" or "I've got my own problems..."

    Let's take a look at a biblical example on that last one:

Acts 16:22-36 
     The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 

     About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 

     The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 

     They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

    If anyone had a good reason to excuse themselves from the Great Commission for a moment it was Paul and Silas. If you read the beginning of chapter 16 you will see that they were beaten and jailed for casting out an evil spirit that was tormenting a young slave girl. It's not until later that we find out that her owners were making money off of her torment. They had lost all of their income. So Paul and Silas were brutally beaten and tossed in jail.

     There are so many parts to this story that just baffle me.

    First, they were singing praises to the Lord.  Am I the only one who will bare their poor miserable soul and admit that I might not be inclined to sing three verses of Just As I Am right after being publicly beaten and tossed in the slammer?

    Second, they didn't run for the hills as soon as the doors clanked. I would've been out like the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs. But they stayed. My first thought is, "Why?" We get our answer in the next verse.

    Third, they led a man and his entire household to the Lord! In their condition, after the day they'd had they held an altar call! These guys are awesome!

    I know my excuses like "I'm tired today" or "I've been through a lot recently" don't hold much water in the light of Paul and Silas.

    What about yours? Which of your excuses does this story shatter? How can you live out your Great Commission Lifestyle today?

Word to Your Drummer...

     I've been leading worship since I was 14. I started with just me and my acoustic guitar. I knew three songs: Light the Fire, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, Take My Life. (I might have known, Every Move I Make too...remember "waves of mercy, waves of grace" and you had to do the motions!) By the time I learned some new songs the entire youth group never wanted to hear those three again. Eventually we were able to step up to guitar and bass and then drums. The drums were an amazing blessing and a tremendous burden on me as a worship leader. They added so much to the sound. It really felt like live music. But, the drummers who volunteer to play drums at the local student ministry aren't always the greatest. Long story short: We sang fast songs too slow and slow songs too fast...it was rough.

     If you're a worship drummer or a worship leader for your youth ministry you need to understand that you are both vital parts of the worship team. Drummers could stand to learn that dynamics are important and that you shouldn't use the double-bass pedal on How Great Thou Art. Worship leaders need to learn that (I can say this as a worship leader) you are just not as great as you think you are and making pops and clicks with your mouth might not suffice to explain the beat to your drummer.

     SO, in love. I hope both worship leaders and worship band drummers will watch this video. It's a great resource that our National Fine Arts director Rod Whitlock and an awesome drummer named Josh Little put out to help drummers understand some of the skills it takes to play and flow in a worship service. If you're a drummer check it out so you can get better. If you're a worship leader check it out so that you will better understand how to form beats yourself and so that you can help your drummer not just stare at them or tell them to play quieter.

Check out the video here: http://finearts.ag.org/resources.cfm


Remember these Classics?:

     -Note the period correct powerpoint slides including Magical Flying Letters, Purple Gradient, and (my personal favorite) Random Nature Scene

Potty-Training Christians?

    Do you remember when you were little and you were being potty trained? Do you remember how everyone would celebrate every time you went, “Poo-Poo in the Potty?” Actually, now that I think about it, you were three years old. You probably don’t remember. I only remember because I have a younger sibling. And let me tell you, that’s a weird time in the life of the older sibling:

            “Mom and Dad! I got a 94 on my spelling test!”

            “Who cares? Your sister made a two-sie!”

            And then you think to yourself, “Man…the folks used to be harder to impress.”

            It’s good to celebrate that with small children who are potty training. Positive reinforcement helps them learn the behavior and that’s good, but we don’t do that when we’re older right? Did you jump out of the bathroom at age 17 going, “Mommy I did it!” They would have gotten you an appointment with a psychologist right away.

            WHAT’S THE POINT: You are supposed to get credit and praise for these things when you’re learning them, but now that we’re older it’s considered the bare minimum that you can use the bathroom without any assistance. You don’t get credit for that right? Check out this parable from Jesus:

Luke 17:7-10 “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

            Sometimes our first impulse with this kind of story is to read it and think, “What a jerk! He won’t even cut that guy a little slack!” What you need to understand is that the master had paid for this man to do some work and the worker should not expect a shower of gifts for completing the job. Our Master, Jesus, paid for us. He died on a cross for my sins and your sins. When he left this world he commissioned us to do a job. He asked us to go forward and make disciples (Matt. 28:16-20).

            With God though, we still want credit for the bare minimum. We say, “God I prayed today and it didn’t start with “God is great…God is good…Let us thank Him for our food…!” or “Jesus if you will please let this cop not give me a ticket, but a warning I will commit to ten years of missions work in Bangladesh!”

We want applause, but God is saying, “That’s good, really. I’m glad you did that today, but your friends are destined for the wrong side of eternity…is there anything you want to ask me about them?”

I want to have the heart that craves more than the bare minimum. I want a heart that desires to live a Great Commission Lifestyle. I think Paul describes this lifestyle well:

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

Colossians 1:28-29

Victory is in Fact an Option

         After years of being an Apple hater I have an iPhone…and I love it. I use it all the time. It is all at once an extraordinary tool for getting my work done and the largest agent of distraction that exists. You have to take the good with the bad. I have several apps that I use to kill time in the doctor’s office waiting room, while I’m getting my car washed, or sitting in deadlock traffic. It’s great for that.

I was using an app the other day and, like so many of them do, it popped up an advertisement for another app offered by the same company. This is not unusual. I make a game out of it: “How Fast Can I Close this Ad?” Only this one was different. It had two options “Try It Free!” and “Dismiss.” The problem was “Dismiss” was grayed out as in you couldn’t select it. It was disabled and I was doomed to stare at this app and not get back to my “Temple Run” marathon. (Try it out, awesome game). I honestly stared at it for a minute…”What do I do? I guess I’m just stuck with this ad…no more app for me.” In frustration I tapped the “Dismiss” button any way…and the app went away.

THOSE DIRTY (brilliant) LIARS! I could dismiss the app all along, but because I knew that grayed out buttons in the computer world are just a giant tease to taunt you and tell you that the computer COULD do what you want it to, but it WON’T just to stick it to the man…I just stared at the screen. I thought I was stuck with it. This was brilliant by the developers of this advertisement. They preyed on my perception that there are just certain things that aren’t an option. In this case grayed out buttons.

            Sometimes, as we walk out our faith in Christ we sin. It happens. We are sinners saved by grace. We will slip up. I don’t want to talk about slip ups today. I want to talk about things that are habitual. What I really want to talk about is iniquity, but that’s another blog. To boil this down to its most concentrated we need to talk about the sins that you just can’t seem to get away from. For some of us this means something we struggled with when we became new believers. Something from our old life followed us into our new one and it took hours of praying, repenting, and seeking God’s face to turn a corner on it. For some of us it’s something that we slipped into after we met Jesus because we have an affinity for worldly things. This familiarity led to comfort which led to us being slaves to something of our earthly nature.

            In both of these cases we have addressed this sin, either on our own between us and God or we’ve sought outside help from a stronger believer. Yet, we find this thing creeping up on us again. We feel like we just can’t slip it. It’s like a bad scene from a horror movie, every corner we turn, “Its right behind you! Understand that the Enemy wants you to feel this way. Check out what Paul writes about sin and its control on us:

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:14-18

Feel Like Victory's Not an Option?

            You see, we are free from sin. God has delivered us and his matchless grace covers everything we repent of and seek forgiveness for, but the Enemy has us convinced that victory is just not an option. He wants us to be a pessimistic University of Georgia fan watching the Georgia/Florida game. He wants us to believe that even if we aren’t losing right now that we will find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He wants you to feel like you’re stuck with that sin in your life just like I felt like I was stuck with that advertisement. Satan is a DIRTY (brilliant) LIAR. Jesus said in John chapter 8 that when Satan lies he, “Speaks his native language.” From the very beginning he has been a liar. Check him out in the garden. His first recorded words are lies! It’s what he does best.

            If you’re in a place where you feel like your only choices are “Defeat” or “Eventual Defeat” I hope you will remember that the Devil is a liar. That you have another option: Victory.

“…we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37b-39