Church

D. Martin Lloyd Jones (the man with many names), when describing the gospel, differentiated between news and advice.  The gospel is good news; it is not good advice.  Advice is when you receive suggestions about something that may or may not happen in the future.   News, on the other hand, is a report about something that has happened and about which you can do nothing to change the outcome.  The only thing you can do with is news is respond to it. When we proclaim the gospel as good news, we are not offering suggestions or advise about what to do; we are declaring what God has done -- and how people ought to respond to it.  The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus cannot be changed.  There is nothing we can do to alter what happened 2,000 years ago. All we can do is respond to it. Perhaps…

In broad strokes, we can approach life with a generous spirit or choose to be stingy.  This is about much more than just money, though it certainly includes how we budget and spend our money. A person with a generous spirit looks for ways to add value to people and situations.  Generosity might mean allowing the mom with three kids to get in line in front of you.  It may take the form of closing the laptop when a co-worker comes in the office, obviously in need of someone to talk to.  A generous person sees a minor inconvenience as just that -- minor. People who approach life with a generous spirit are a joy to be around. People who choose to be stingy, well, they are not so fun to be around.  Stingy people cling to more than just their money.  A stingy spirit forgets to hold the door…

I have a friend who works at a local defense contractor.  Theoretically, all the employees have every other Friday off.  Theoretically.  In reality, many of them find themselves working on their "off" Fridays. He calls this "chasing the unicorn."  Unicorns, you might remember, are legendary animals -- resembling a horse with a horn on its head.  Everyone has heard about them but no one has ever seen one. What unicorns are you chasing? Are you chasing a life that is one hundred percent trouble free? Are you chasing a career that is all about upward mobility? Are you chasing a husband that will be "Mr. Right"? Are you chasing the perfect child? Are you chasing a life like one in the movies? Are you chasing a God who responds to every prayer request like a cosmic ATM? The idea of a unicorn is cute and compelling.  It's also not true.…

Let's be honest, there are many misconceptions and misunderstandings about what "church" means. For those of us who are employed by a church, who spend six or seven days a week working on details, programming, and events, it's easy to begin to think of "church" as the collection of details.  Or, to use a phrase that has become a favorite of mine lately, we get caught up in the weeds. Perhaps the most common misconception has to do with bricks and mortar.  Our language betrays us ... "I'm stopping by the church on the way to dinner."  "We're meeting at church to car pool to the game."  What we are referring to is a physical building.  I'm just as guilty as the next person on this one, though I've tried to make a conscious effort to say "church building" instead of just church. The true nature of the church is much more…

We also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. -- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 When the Thessalonian church heard the apostle Paul preach, they had a choice: do we dismiss his message as simply a human message or do we receive it as the word of God?  To dismiss it as merely human might have been the easiest route.  Take the pieces you like and throw away the rest -- or, at least, dispose of the more uncomfortable parts. Instead, Paul commends them for receiving his message as the word of God. We would do well to explore the implications.  If the message of the Bible is simply a matter of one human writing to another…