"Mountainview exists to Glorify God, Grow in Jesus, and Go into the World." This is the third installment of how our Mountainview mission breaks down. It's about the Go. From the very beginning, Jesus expected his followers to be goers. He invited them to "come, follow me" -- an invitation that required action. Once they accepted that invitation, life with Jesus was a never-ending adventure. In his most famous sermon, Jesus describes what he expects from his followers: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and…
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Typically, the only time Facebook makes me cry is when someone posts something so outrageously funny that it brings me to tears. Or, it's so insanely stupid that I cry tears of sorrow ... for myself and whoever should have had more sense than to post that picture or goofy update. Not so yesterday. After a long -- but good -- elders meeting at which we discussed the mission and vision of our church, I slumped on the couch and fired up Facebook. Three or four updates down on the page was one I did not expect. It made me cry. Still does even right now. A good friend of ours from San Diego died of brain cancer. Tonya and I first met Mike and Rita Osbourne when Tonya began teaching at the same school as Rita. Mike was an elder in a sister congregation and we had several opportunities…
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In my sermon this past weekend, I shared several demotivational slogans from Despair.com. They are parodies of the motivational posters you can hang in your office. One of my favorites was this one: "Underachievement: Because soaring with the eagles requires so much more effort." As funny as that it is, it's also true. Because achievement, effectiveness, and success require work, there are some who opt to underachieve. It's easier to be average. Coaches who turnaround losing teams understand that it requires more -- not less -- work. Breakthrough leaders in any field have a low tolerance for quitting. Artists or engineers who pursue excellence do so knowing that it comes with a cost. As hard as it might be, when you reach cruising altitude, the view makes the hard work worth the effort.
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"God must love the common people, he made so many of them." - Abraham LincolnCommon is an interesting word. There are times it is good to have "things in common." A common purpose or goal. Christ-followers share a common bond.Sometimes it's not so good to be common -- especially if being common means settling for ordinary when extraordinary is possible.In many respects, it's not a far slide from being common to feeling average to becoming apathetic.Jonathan Rauch, in an article for the Atlantic Monthly, coined a term to describe his own spiritual condition: apatheist. It wasn't that he did or didn't believe in God; he just didn't care.We may have a growing number of apatheists in our culture. But a genuine reading of the gospel will not allow for indifference.
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The person who invented the first photocopy machine must have been a creative person. It is quite a thing to visualize and conceptualize and bring to life a machine that would impact literally millions of lives. Ironically, the invention of the photocopier has made it easier to duplicate than to innovate. You simply place your paper on the machine and it produces something that looks like the original. With newer technology, it might even look as good as the original -- but it is still just a copy. Photocopiers are not evil (except when they constantly jam and chew up paper). In fact, there are innumerable times when duplication is necessary, even beneficial. However, I’m thankful that when God responded to our sinful condition, he chose to incarnate rather than duplicate. God could have duplicated the systems that were already in place, the hundreds of laws passed down throughout Hebrew…
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