4.18.2011
New site: jeffskeens.com
Hey guys there will be no more posts on this site. Everything is being run through wordpress now. Go check it out at jeffskeens.com.
4.14.2011
Switching over to wordpress
Ok, so after having our new Kineo site being built from wordpress templates, I've learned how to navigate a little bit better on the back end of wordpress and I love it. It does a whole lot more and than blogger (shhh....don't tell them that). Any ways, I would love it if you guys would go and check it out and subscribe by email to the new site. I pray that it blesses you and that many would be able to hear the Good News of the gospel because of it.
Here is the new site: http://pastorjeffskeens.wordpress.com/
Here is the new site: http://pastorjeffskeens.wordpress.com/
4.12.2011
Kineod by God (sermon notes on 4/10/11)
Acts 17:28: “In Him we live and move and have our being.”
What does Kineo mean?
kinéō (ki-ne-oh): to be moved or set in motion; speaking of that motion which is evident to others in life.
Strong’s # 2795. kinéō; to go; to move, put in motion…. be moved…. to move, agitate. Metaphorically meaning to move, excite to sedition. In the aorist pass. (past tense verb) ekinḗthē, to be moved, put into commotion or an uproar. Synonyms: to shake, to stir up. Metaphorically meaning to disturb.
A great picture of a man being moved by God is Gideon Judges 6. Here’s what’s going on in this passage:
- Israel is doing what’s evil in the sight of the Lord.
- So God gave them into the hands of Midian for 7 years.
- Midian oppressed Israel so severely, that Israel made for themselves dens that
are in the mountains and caves and strongholds.
- Whenever Israel planted crops, the Midianites and Amalekites and the people from the East would come against them.
- They devoured all they could with a vast multitude of livestock and camels (beyond counting) and lay waste the land and brought Israel very low.
- So here is Gideon beating out wheat in the winepress (down low at the bottom
of a hill where grape juice would flow down to gather to make wine…he’s
hiding out to survive).
Now let’s look at the process of how God moved Gideon:
1) God reveals Himself: Judges 6:10-16
2) God calls Gideon to destroy idols: Judges 6:25
3) God calls Gideon to sacrifice to and worship Him: Judges 6:26
4) Gideon obeys: 6:27
5) God destroys Gideon’s plan: Judges 7:1-8
6) God sends him into battle with His resources: Judges 7:9
If you want to know the outcome, look at v. 20: When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Then the vast army became confused an dGod had them all pull swords on each other and they hunted down the leaders of Midian and cut their heads off. I’m smelling a good movie here?
This is our lot as believers: God has revealed Himself to us. He has empowered us and called us to destroy our idols. He calls us to sacrifice to and worship Him alone. He wrecks our plans and then sends us out to do His will. He confuses the enemy when we’re attacked. He is our God and we are His people. Whom shall we fear!! We also have the promise of Scripture that God will make His name great among His people so we should go forth with boldness whether we shut the mouths of lions or get eaten by them. God will win. Look at this passage is Malachi:
Malachi 1:11: For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
So, I say all this to get to my MAIN FOCUS:
That at the end of this night, we care more deeply for lost people than we did when we came. That our hearts would break for the sheep without a shepherd and that God would move us to accomplish His will…Make His name great.
Now, even with these promises from God, we still don’t testify to the Gospel of the grace of God nearly like we should. Here’s some stats from a couple years ago:
20 years ago 20% of believers were said to have had the gift of evangelism, 5 years ago, there were only 4%. Today, only 1%. (Barna 2009)
We are talking ourselves out of sharing the Gospel. It’s not a gift, it’s a call. It’s an ambition (Rom. 15) Nobody wants the gift of evangelism, but God has called us all to the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5).
Some would say: “Well…evangelism has a bad reputation!” “ Guess what? Jesus had a bad reputation!” “The cross has a bad reputation.”C.H. Spurgeon says this about the Christians duty: Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. Our churches and society have produced more imposters than missionaries.
Look at how Jesus ties the proclamation of the Gospel to the nature of the Gospel:
Luke 24:45-48: 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
If you love the Gospel, you have to love evangelism. We want to be known as a church where people meet Jesus, because they meet people who know and obey Jesus. When you lead with Jesus, and you plant the Gospel in word and deed, it shapes a Gospel-centered, cross-focused, spirit-empowered community, that leads a whole body of people on mission for Jesus! We want people to die for Jesus, not our agenda.
Application: Okay, so how does this apply to us today? How do we get moving? What if I’m terrible at the whole sharing the Gospel thing? What if I’m too scared to share my faith? Ok, maybe that’s true. So let’s walk through what it looks like at the most basic level to live a life that proclaim’s the Gospel.
First, we need to understand the essence of God’s movement is sacrificial. Serve and be sacrificial in your service. If it doesn’t hurt or cost something, it’s not called service.
Second, here’s a model that Kineo has adopted from Darrin Patrick (The Journey Church) to teach people what it looks like to be moved by God:
1) Live Gospel-centered lives: People who really get their sin (actions, beliefs, motives, etc…) Repentance of our sin is real and often. We get that God looks at Jesus to see us and our identify is firmly rooted in Jesus’ work and Jesus’ reputation, not ours. Thus, we are sinners, but accepted. Completely a mess, but extravagantly loved (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 3:21-26; Eph. 2:1-10).
2) Live sacrificially with sinners in community: People who go out into the world without a shred of self-righteousness. We have no superiority complex. We are gentle, humble and loving. We are willing to wait for people to get it and hang with them without condemning them, shaming them or watering down the Gospel. We make sacrifices for people and build into our lives, room or margin, to be with unbelievers as we seek to pay their relational rent. Jesus paid the ultimate “relational rent” in that while we were still sinners, enemies of Him, He died for us! This is the mantra of Gospel-centered living.
When the church comes together and lives on mission with passion, there will be rich community that points to the Gospel. Just look at Acts 2! A Christian who says they don’t need church or community is a Christian who doesn’t get God’s mission or they’re a pretender.
In Acts, people saw for themselves what was causing all the movement. Why were they all loving so well? Why are there no needs among them? Why do you have joy and happiness in the midst of this sick world? Look at the way you do life together. Is your life or community exemplary? Are people looking in and seeing something that’s attractive? Are they seeing the cross of Jesus? Or are they seeing an impersonation of what salvation looks life? Are they repulsed and turned off by the way your life or your community looks (or lack of community)?
3) Clearly communicate the Gospel: Because of what Jesus has done, we must speak:
- The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin – Conviction
- Man responds to God’s grace – Confession
- Then they turn from their sin and run towards Jesus – Repentance
- Then God makes us right through the finished work of Jesus – Redemption
- And when the end of days come, we, with the creation of our Lord, will be reconciled perfectly to God once and for all – Reconciliation
Our desire at Kineo is to raise up people who can not only live out the Gospel, but who can clearly communicate the Gospel in 60 seconds, 60 minutes or 60 days. People who are loving and Spirit-led in this communication. We want the Gospel to come out naturally, not forced. We desire to raise up people who’s lives don’t contradict the message they share. Don’t sit back and miss what God is doing. We are living on the brink of eternity and this life matters. Your life matters. Your decisions matter. They effect you, your friends, your family and others who need the gospel of Jesus to free them from their bondage. Be kineod by God!
What does Kineo mean?
kinéō (ki-ne-oh): to be moved or set in motion; speaking of that motion which is evident to others in life.
Strong’s # 2795. kinéō; to go; to move, put in motion…. be moved…. to move, agitate. Metaphorically meaning to move, excite to sedition. In the aorist pass. (past tense verb) ekinḗthē, to be moved, put into commotion or an uproar. Synonyms: to shake, to stir up. Metaphorically meaning to disturb.
A great picture of a man being moved by God is Gideon Judges 6. Here’s what’s going on in this passage:
- Israel is doing what’s evil in the sight of the Lord.
- So God gave them into the hands of Midian for 7 years.
- Midian oppressed Israel so severely, that Israel made for themselves dens that
are in the mountains and caves and strongholds.
- Whenever Israel planted crops, the Midianites and Amalekites and the people from the East would come against them.
- They devoured all they could with a vast multitude of livestock and camels (beyond counting) and lay waste the land and brought Israel very low.
- So here is Gideon beating out wheat in the winepress (down low at the bottom
of a hill where grape juice would flow down to gather to make wine…he’s
hiding out to survive).
Now let’s look at the process of how God moved Gideon:
1) God reveals Himself: Judges 6:10-16
2) God calls Gideon to destroy idols: Judges 6:25
3) God calls Gideon to sacrifice to and worship Him: Judges 6:26
4) Gideon obeys: 6:27
5) God destroys Gideon’s plan: Judges 7:1-8
6) God sends him into battle with His resources: Judges 7:9
If you want to know the outcome, look at v. 20: When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Then the vast army became confused an dGod had them all pull swords on each other and they hunted down the leaders of Midian and cut their heads off. I’m smelling a good movie here?
This is our lot as believers: God has revealed Himself to us. He has empowered us and called us to destroy our idols. He calls us to sacrifice to and worship Him alone. He wrecks our plans and then sends us out to do His will. He confuses the enemy when we’re attacked. He is our God and we are His people. Whom shall we fear!! We also have the promise of Scripture that God will make His name great among His people so we should go forth with boldness whether we shut the mouths of lions or get eaten by them. God will win. Look at this passage is Malachi:
Malachi 1:11: For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
So, I say all this to get to my MAIN FOCUS:
That at the end of this night, we care more deeply for lost people than we did when we came. That our hearts would break for the sheep without a shepherd and that God would move us to accomplish His will…Make His name great.
Now, even with these promises from God, we still don’t testify to the Gospel of the grace of God nearly like we should. Here’s some stats from a couple years ago:
20 years ago 20% of believers were said to have had the gift of evangelism, 5 years ago, there were only 4%. Today, only 1%. (Barna 2009)
We are talking ourselves out of sharing the Gospel. It’s not a gift, it’s a call. It’s an ambition (Rom. 15) Nobody wants the gift of evangelism, but God has called us all to the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5).
Some would say: “Well…evangelism has a bad reputation!” “ Guess what? Jesus had a bad reputation!” “The cross has a bad reputation.”C.H. Spurgeon says this about the Christians duty: Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. Our churches and society have produced more imposters than missionaries.
Look at how Jesus ties the proclamation of the Gospel to the nature of the Gospel:
Luke 24:45-48: 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
If you love the Gospel, you have to love evangelism. We want to be known as a church where people meet Jesus, because they meet people who know and obey Jesus. When you lead with Jesus, and you plant the Gospel in word and deed, it shapes a Gospel-centered, cross-focused, spirit-empowered community, that leads a whole body of people on mission for Jesus! We want people to die for Jesus, not our agenda.
Application: Okay, so how does this apply to us today? How do we get moving? What if I’m terrible at the whole sharing the Gospel thing? What if I’m too scared to share my faith? Ok, maybe that’s true. So let’s walk through what it looks like at the most basic level to live a life that proclaim’s the Gospel.
First, we need to understand the essence of God’s movement is sacrificial. Serve and be sacrificial in your service. If it doesn’t hurt or cost something, it’s not called service.
Second, here’s a model that Kineo has adopted from Darrin Patrick (The Journey Church) to teach people what it looks like to be moved by God:
1) Live Gospel-centered lives: People who really get their sin (actions, beliefs, motives, etc…) Repentance of our sin is real and often. We get that God looks at Jesus to see us and our identify is firmly rooted in Jesus’ work and Jesus’ reputation, not ours. Thus, we are sinners, but accepted. Completely a mess, but extravagantly loved (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 3:21-26; Eph. 2:1-10).
2) Live sacrificially with sinners in community: People who go out into the world without a shred of self-righteousness. We have no superiority complex. We are gentle, humble and loving. We are willing to wait for people to get it and hang with them without condemning them, shaming them or watering down the Gospel. We make sacrifices for people and build into our lives, room or margin, to be with unbelievers as we seek to pay their relational rent. Jesus paid the ultimate “relational rent” in that while we were still sinners, enemies of Him, He died for us! This is the mantra of Gospel-centered living.
When the church comes together and lives on mission with passion, there will be rich community that points to the Gospel. Just look at Acts 2! A Christian who says they don’t need church or community is a Christian who doesn’t get God’s mission or they’re a pretender.
In Acts, people saw for themselves what was causing all the movement. Why were they all loving so well? Why are there no needs among them? Why do you have joy and happiness in the midst of this sick world? Look at the way you do life together. Is your life or community exemplary? Are people looking in and seeing something that’s attractive? Are they seeing the cross of Jesus? Or are they seeing an impersonation of what salvation looks life? Are they repulsed and turned off by the way your life or your community looks (or lack of community)?
3) Clearly communicate the Gospel: Because of what Jesus has done, we must speak:
- The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin – Conviction
- Man responds to God’s grace – Confession
- Then they turn from their sin and run towards Jesus – Repentance
- Then God makes us right through the finished work of Jesus – Redemption
- And when the end of days come, we, with the creation of our Lord, will be reconciled perfectly to God once and for all – Reconciliation
Our desire at Kineo is to raise up people who can not only live out the Gospel, but who can clearly communicate the Gospel in 60 seconds, 60 minutes or 60 days. People who are loving and Spirit-led in this communication. We want the Gospel to come out naturally, not forced. We desire to raise up people who’s lives don’t contradict the message they share. Don’t sit back and miss what God is doing. We are living on the brink of eternity and this life matters. Your life matters. Your decisions matter. They effect you, your friends, your family and others who need the gospel of Jesus to free them from their bondage. Be kineod by God!
4.06.2011
The Move
This past Sunday was the big move for us at Kineo. We have been praying about where the Lord wanted us to be as we grow. The former building we met at has been a blessing to us as it was paid off and owned by our sending church. The problem is, it only help around 100 people and was limited in the area of children's rooms. So we have been planning on expanding onto that building, but realized the amount of money it would cost to build it out was more than we could raise in the calendar year. That being said, we knew God wanted to make room for us to grow in this season and we kept praying for an opening at another building or church.
Over a month ago, I met with the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church (now former pastor) on the corner of Grand Canyon University's campus to inquire about the option of renting from them on a Sunday evening. To my surprise, First Southern quickly welcomed us in and was glad to let us rent from them on Sunday evening's. Since that day, we have been planning to move on April 3rd and prepare our hearts for this season of growth.
During our first service, we had over 120 adults in the service and 46 kids in Sunday school. We are grateful to all who came and to all who have joined us at Kineo in advancing God's kingdom and being apart of transforming lives by the power of the Gospel. We took an offering at this service and 100% of what was given is being sent to Japan for relief to ministries there that are laboring to love and care for the afflicted. Our church gathered together to give over $3000! Praise God for the gifts of God's people. We pray that the Lord will multiply that dollar amount as it travels over seas and that many men and women will come to know Jesus by fruit of this gift.
My prayer is that many will come and join us at Kineo as we desire to grow God's church not with transfer growth from other churches, but with new growth from new believers in our Lord Jesus. Please pray for myself and our leadership team as we continue to faithfully preach and live out the beautiful Gospel of Jesus so that lives are redeemed.
Soli deo gloria.
Over a month ago, I met with the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church (now former pastor) on the corner of Grand Canyon University's campus to inquire about the option of renting from them on a Sunday evening. To my surprise, First Southern quickly welcomed us in and was glad to let us rent from them on Sunday evening's. Since that day, we have been planning to move on April 3rd and prepare our hearts for this season of growth.
During our first service, we had over 120 adults in the service and 46 kids in Sunday school. We are grateful to all who came and to all who have joined us at Kineo in advancing God's kingdom and being apart of transforming lives by the power of the Gospel. We took an offering at this service and 100% of what was given is being sent to Japan for relief to ministries there that are laboring to love and care for the afflicted. Our church gathered together to give over $3000! Praise God for the gifts of God's people. We pray that the Lord will multiply that dollar amount as it travels over seas and that many men and women will come to know Jesus by fruit of this gift.
My prayer is that many will come and join us at Kineo as we desire to grow God's church not with transfer growth from other churches, but with new growth from new believers in our Lord Jesus. Please pray for myself and our leadership team as we continue to faithfully preach and live out the beautiful Gospel of Jesus so that lives are redeemed.
Soli deo gloria.
3.30.2011
We Are Worshipers
We are born worshipers. It is not a question of whether or not we will worship, but who or what will we worship? And what we worship is the very thing that controls us. We are never completely free in the freest sense. We are all slaves. Now we need to ask ourselves, since this is true, do we want to be slaves to fallen corrupt creatures or inanimate objects, or do we want to be slaves to an infinitely good and gracious God who created the universe and made you and I in His image and gave us this beautiful world to cultivate and use for His glory and our good? Do we want to be salves to this God who sacrificed His precious and perfect Son so that you and I could be free to be slaves to Him; a Master who calls us sons and daughters of Himself, God Most High?
So, if you're in on this, let's do a little exercise to help us identify what or who you worship other than God. Ask yourself, "What would I lie about?" I know none of us are "liars", but "if you were to lie"(pretend with me for moment), would it most likely be:
1) to avoid conflict;
2) to avoid being wrong;
3) to advance your career;
1) to avoid conflict;
2) to avoid being wrong;
3) to advance your career;
4) to gain acceptance among a certain crowd;
5) to cut someone down to promote your own image;
6) to get a better grade;
7) to get a cuter girlfriend (or any girl for that matter for some of you dudes);
8) to avoid humiliation;
9) to make an extra buck; etc....
Now what or who is the object of what you lied about to protect? The reason this is a big deal is because we become like the things we worship, and the things we worship we make sacrifices to them and for them. When this happens, these things or people we worship become the ones who get glory; or the ones in whom we glorify. If we know our Bibles, we know it is never good when man or inanimate objects are glorified over God (Rom. 1:21-23; Acts 12:20-23 just to give a couple examples). So if we have identified our idols, what next?
Col. 2:15 tells us that Jesus "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." We get rid of idols by worshiping Jesus and desire Him because of the particular thing that He did for you. In Old Testament law, idolatry deserves death, therefore Jesus took the death for our idolatry and we can be freed from it if He becomes the person that we just can’t live without. He is the just and justifier for those who believe (Rom. 3:26). Greater affections have an expulsive power over lesser affections. Is Jesus your greater affection?
If not, we simply repent. Instead of turning your back on God and worshiping your idols, turn your back on your idols and worship God. God has fixed a day that He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, Jesus. And our assurance of life in Christ, through faith, is because of the resurrection of Jesus. His fate will be your fate. To the degree that your heart is broken because of what Jesus has done for you, will be the degree by which you have victory over your idols and imprisonment. To God be the glory!
3.02.2011
My thoughts on all the Middle East unrest
In the last year, there has been quite a bit of Muslim movement and influence in the Middle East, which has resulted in a lot of unrest for Israel. Last year, Turkey (a close ally to Israel) removed their ambassador to Israel and then aligned “supposedly” themselves behind Iran. Over a month ago, street demonstrations in Tunisia ousted the president through a military coup. He was the first Arab ruler to loose power through a public uprising, and this has sent chock waves through the Arab world.
About a week later, Lebanon’s government collapsed and the rumor is that it will be replaced by a government that is led by Hezbollah and controlled by Iran. Then came the biggest shock of all....Egypt. The largest of all Arab nations is doing what Tunisia did. Now we all wait in anticipation to see if the Muslim Brotherhood (a radical Islamic group) will cease power. The Muslim Brotherhood has promised that if they cease control of Egypt, their first action will be to break the peace agreement they have made with Israel. Jordan and Lybia are now being shaken by street demonstrations. Every government in the Middle East with a peaceful or somewhat peaceful relationship with Israel and the West has in recent weeks either fallen or is about to fall into the hands of radical Islamist groups who support Iran. In the midst of all the madness, Iran has announced that it is going to send war ships into the Mediterranean Sea.
So what should be our response as bible-believing, God-fearing, gospel-loving Christians? “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). In Isaiah 6, the chapter begins like this: “In the year that King Uzziah died (a powerful, mighty and righteous king by the way), I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” That’s our God, and He is still there today, high and lifted up over the nations. Jesus is at His right hand interceding for us. We are His sons and daughters. Sons and daughters of Almighty God should have confidence in their future and in their Sovereign Father’s good plans. This confidence should allow us to stand for the truth of the Gospel and to love our enemies and pray for those who curse us.
There seems to be a really big temptation for Christians to say about Muslims, “They are our enemies and they want nothing good to come of us Christians.” While that may be true, this knowledge should never stop believers from displaying the beauty of the cross of Jesus to all people, at any cost. If the gospel is our past, present and future salvation, shouldn’t it be what motivates and dictates how we live? One only needs to read Acts 4 to get a biblical glimpse of what our proper response should be to those who want nothing good for us. After Peter and John got released from being wrongfully imprisoned and threatened, they went back to “church” and reported all that had happened and then prayed. I think their prayer in verses 24-30 is worth quoting and ending this post with as I pray that this will be the American church’s response if indeed we experience similar treatment for the sake of Jesus.
“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Amen.
About a week later, Lebanon’s government collapsed and the rumor is that it will be replaced by a government that is led by Hezbollah and controlled by Iran. Then came the biggest shock of all....Egypt. The largest of all Arab nations is doing what Tunisia did. Now we all wait in anticipation to see if the Muslim Brotherhood (a radical Islamic group) will cease power. The Muslim Brotherhood has promised that if they cease control of Egypt, their first action will be to break the peace agreement they have made with Israel. Jordan and Lybia are now being shaken by street demonstrations. Every government in the Middle East with a peaceful or somewhat peaceful relationship with Israel and the West has in recent weeks either fallen or is about to fall into the hands of radical Islamist groups who support Iran. In the midst of all the madness, Iran has announced that it is going to send war ships into the Mediterranean Sea.
So what should be our response as bible-believing, God-fearing, gospel-loving Christians? “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). In Isaiah 6, the chapter begins like this: “In the year that King Uzziah died (a powerful, mighty and righteous king by the way), I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” That’s our God, and He is still there today, high and lifted up over the nations. Jesus is at His right hand interceding for us. We are His sons and daughters. Sons and daughters of Almighty God should have confidence in their future and in their Sovereign Father’s good plans. This confidence should allow us to stand for the truth of the Gospel and to love our enemies and pray for those who curse us.
There seems to be a really big temptation for Christians to say about Muslims, “They are our enemies and they want nothing good to come of us Christians.” While that may be true, this knowledge should never stop believers from displaying the beauty of the cross of Jesus to all people, at any cost. If the gospel is our past, present and future salvation, shouldn’t it be what motivates and dictates how we live? One only needs to read Acts 4 to get a biblical glimpse of what our proper response should be to those who want nothing good for us. After Peter and John got released from being wrongfully imprisoned and threatened, they went back to “church” and reported all that had happened and then prayed. I think their prayer in verses 24-30 is worth quoting and ending this post with as I pray that this will be the American church’s response if indeed we experience similar treatment for the sake of Jesus.
“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Amen.
1.10.2011
My Geranium’s by Amy Skeens
Don’t you love it when the Lord comes for an unexpected visit and uses His creation to open your eyes and heart to a revelation. It is such an act of grace when He so easily, in all His wisdom and creativity, decides to show us personally how much He knows us and loves us. I find myself at my kitchen sink rhythmically washing all my little ones plastic dishes and cups from the past day. What a “normal” and common time for a mother. This specific day I enjoy being able to look out my front kitchen window and just open my heart to a deep dialogue with Him...really, just a prompting from Him for me to recognize His Greatness and Goodness. Thank you Lord for putting in me an understanding of You...a presence much bigger and much more exciting than what my dishwashing life has to offer.
I look out and scan the street of homes, trees, yards and my mind hungers for some bigger story, a romance that beats this, at times, monotonous job as a mommy. My eyes find their way to my geraniums in my front flower bed, right outside, under my nose. I see how cold they have been by there droopy stems and the shriveled once brightly colored blossoms. I almost gasp in pain--only a gardener understands this :). My poor geraniums. You see, It’s uncommon in Phoenix for it to freeze for more than a night or two in a row, but we had just had quite a few nights in a row which has caused damage to my usually hearty breed of flowers.
Oops, I haven’t covered them...I have lost sight of them in the busyness of life. Hmmmm....what am I going to do to get them healthy again?
I began brainstorming of all the different ways I was going to pour some energy and time into restoring these flowers that I had planted and been tending for months. For sure, some miracle grow...pruning off the dead parts...pray for warmer days...cover them if it freezes again. I get excited about taking part in and watching dead things come back to health and beauty.
It was right then, as if the Lord was right beside me, wanting to give me a revelation--to open my eyes. Not a big religious revelation or a grandiose religious experience, but as an everyday mentor, a teacher...teaching His disciple, His apprentice, His child, me.
There are people in your life, yourself included that have experienced quite a winter, just like those flowers. You know who I am referring to. How are you going to intentionally restore them? I want you to put intentional effort into restoring life, warm life and love into their being just as you would these flowers.
I immediately loved what I heard, but it only took a few seconds for me to start worrying about whether I could get it right. How would I know what to do exactly and how much?
I WILL show you how to restore life. You will listen and I will show you.
Oh I felt so relieved and excited...first because I love hearing from my God, but also because my boring little morning became a bit more of an exciting romance. He loves me and wants to lead me. He is a good Shepherd and I am never alone. He is with me and wants to speak to me beautiful parallels of His creation. Those geraniums are a picture of my disciples...of whom I am responsible to pump His love and life into in the coming months.
Do you know anyone around you that you love dearly that you have seen or are in the midst of a cold winter season? Hard hearts, frozen? Shriveled up and not wanting to be open or vulnerable, self protective? Deadness, hard time breathing in and enjoying the warmth of the new life He gives us? Who are your geraniums?
I look out and scan the street of homes, trees, yards and my mind hungers for some bigger story, a romance that beats this, at times, monotonous job as a mommy. My eyes find their way to my geraniums in my front flower bed, right outside, under my nose. I see how cold they have been by there droopy stems and the shriveled once brightly colored blossoms. I almost gasp in pain--only a gardener understands this :). My poor geraniums. You see, It’s uncommon in Phoenix for it to freeze for more than a night or two in a row, but we had just had quite a few nights in a row which has caused damage to my usually hearty breed of flowers.
Oops, I haven’t covered them...I have lost sight of them in the busyness of life. Hmmmm....what am I going to do to get them healthy again?
I began brainstorming of all the different ways I was going to pour some energy and time into restoring these flowers that I had planted and been tending for months. For sure, some miracle grow...pruning off the dead parts...pray for warmer days...cover them if it freezes again. I get excited about taking part in and watching dead things come back to health and beauty.
It was right then, as if the Lord was right beside me, wanting to give me a revelation--to open my eyes. Not a big religious revelation or a grandiose religious experience, but as an everyday mentor, a teacher...teaching His disciple, His apprentice, His child, me.
There are people in your life, yourself included that have experienced quite a winter, just like those flowers. You know who I am referring to. How are you going to intentionally restore them? I want you to put intentional effort into restoring life, warm life and love into their being just as you would these flowers.
I immediately loved what I heard, but it only took a few seconds for me to start worrying about whether I could get it right. How would I know what to do exactly and how much?
I WILL show you how to restore life. You will listen and I will show you.
Oh I felt so relieved and excited...first because I love hearing from my God, but also because my boring little morning became a bit more of an exciting romance. He loves me and wants to lead me. He is a good Shepherd and I am never alone. He is with me and wants to speak to me beautiful parallels of His creation. Those geraniums are a picture of my disciples...of whom I am responsible to pump His love and life into in the coming months.
Do you know anyone around you that you love dearly that you have seen or are in the midst of a cold winter season? Hard hearts, frozen? Shriveled up and not wanting to be open or vulnerable, self protective? Deadness, hard time breathing in and enjoying the warmth of the new life He gives us? Who are your geraniums?
1.03.2011
Leftovers or First Fruits
We just got done with a 5 week membership series at Kineo, in which we spent 3 of those weeks unpacking the Gospel and the last week on how to live in light of the Gospel. Now before I write any further, I need to tell you that this journey of diving in to the fullness of the Gospel is relatively new to me. About a year ago I was challenged by some pastor friends as to what the Gospel is and what are implications of me believing the Gospel to be true in my life.
Whoa! I was stumped when they asked me those questions. I mean, I knew the Gospel and I knew the verses to back up my response, but I quickly learned that I had only looked to the Gospel as a means of my salvation and then understood the rest of Scriptures as the supplemental reading after my salvation. How could I have been so far off? Are you kidding me? The Gospel of Jesus as only the entry unto salvation and not the means of my maturity and the assurance of my future hope? How shallow of an understanding did I have? I am so thankful for men who are willing to challenge me and desire to move me from milk to steak and potatoes!
That’s right. The simple Gospel is the meat and potatoes of the Christian life. The milk is the surface understanding of the Gospel, then the deeper you dive into the Gospel the more premium the meat becomes. In fact, all the choice meat you can find in the Scriptures all speaks of the Gospel and the implications of it in our lives. You will never go deeper than the Gospel. There isn’t anything meatier in Scripture that the Gospel. Peter clarifies for us that the Gospel (God’s great mercy) “has caused us to be born again” (already happened for those who are saved), then we are born again “to a living hope” (currently happening for those who are saved), “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (going to happen for all the elect) and God is the One who is holding this promise so that me in my foolishness will never squander it (1 Peter 1:3-5).
This Gospel that I chalked up as something that I thought I had down was much deeper and much wider and much greater than I can imagine. What I had done without even knowing it, was that I was (in my own understanding) minimizing the cross of Jesus. Now I can never truly minimize what Jesus did, but in my mind, it was not that big of a deal for me to take the time and sit and reflect hour after hour, day after day, month after month of what Christ has done for me! A sinner! A fake! A fearful coward! Jeff, the guy who can’t consistently read his Bible!
This is ludicrous! Did Jesus know how much of a risk it was to die for me? Yes He did! And in fact, within this Gospel, He chose me when I was dead and hopeless to be in Him so that I could live; and not just live in our small view, but live in fullness of life and one day to reign with Him forever to be in His presence! Wow!! I mean come on....is this the kind of good news that sounds like we should just look to it for salvation and then move on to deeper things? The answer is an emphatic, NO! So with the understanding of the Gospel being everything I need (past/salvation, present/maturity and future/hope of glory), I resolved to never move past this good news.
Now that I have let you in on my little secret as to this Gospel journey being new to me, I want to move on to write about how I think the Gospel changes us in light of the reality of the world we live in. This short year that God has wrecked me with His Gospel, He has continued to remove blind spots in my life and has brought deep conviction as to how I live my life and the things that I have always so easily overlooked. I don’t have time to unpack all the blind spots that have been lifted (and there are so many more to be removed still), so I want to just share with you one that has been recently lifted and one that is going to implemented as a corporate pursuit here at Kineo. So that proper credit can be taken, I want to share with you the 3 books that I read this Christmas break that God has used to remove these blind spots: Radical by David Platt; Radical Disciple by John Stott and Generous Justice by Tim Keller (what Keller book doesn’t wreck you).
Let me share with you some statistics that I have come across on this the World Food Programme website (http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats):
*925 million people do not have enough to eat - that’s more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union; (Source: FAO news release, 14 September 2010)
*Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people; (Source: FAO news release, 2010)
*Women make up a little over half of the world's population, but they account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry; (Source: Strengthening efforts to eradicate hunger..., ECOSOC, 2007)
*26,000 children per day (this stat was added from the book Radical by Platt) & 10.9 million children per year (under five) die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths; (Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007)
*One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight; (Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007)
*It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc; (Source: WFP Annual Report 2007)
*Undernutrition contributes to 53 percent of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries; (Source: Under five deaths by cause, UNICEF, 2006)
*In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has orphaned nearly 12 million children aged under 18 years; (Source: 2008 UNAIDS Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic).
*Assistance for orphans and vulnerable children is estimated at US$0.31 per day; (Source: Cost of Nutritional Support for HIV/AIDS Projects, WFP, July 2008)
These stats tell a story of brothers and sisters in the world that we share who are dying and suffering and I live day after day turning a blind eye to it because I feel that there is not much I can do to help them. I have forsaken the gospel by turning aside and living my life as if this isn’t really happening in the same world I am living in. This deeply troubles me that I have neglected such a huge problem in our world. Millions are dying in poverty and I am sitting here enjoying my affluence (even though my wife and 1 and 4 kids are living off of very little money compared to American standards) with little to no worries about these souls who God created.
Just .31 cents a day could provide care for orphans and other vulnerable children. That’s under $10 a month. That’s almost 1 coffee drink at Sbux. Are you kidding me? How could the Gospel not have compelled me in the past to do something about this. Why did it take a book and these grave statistics to open my eyes? The answer to that I am not sure of, but what I do know is that I can no longer be the same as I was before this Christmas break.
All that new info left me with a huge pit in my stomach, tears filled eyes and I fell on the ground and repented for turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to my brothers and sisters all over the world who are created in God’s image. We are the same people. They are no less than I . I am no more than they. My wealth and affluence is due largely in part because of where I was born and the time in history that I now live in. Had I been born in another time in history in a different part of the world, there is a good chance that I would be among the number who is hungry and dying from preventable diseases. All the skill and will power that I think I possess would do nothing for me had I been born in a lower Indian caste system 500 years ago. The Gospel has just revealed to me that all of the affluence and wealth that I have been given was given to me so that I can help those who are in need (the orphan, widow, foreigner and homeless person).
The money I have been given by God was given to me so that I would be the hands and feet of Christ by giving it up for the redemption of the orphan, widow, foreigner and homeless person. Is this not what Jesus did? Did He not give up all that He had (and He had infinitely more than I can ever imagine)? Was there anything that I had to offer Jesus for my salvation? Nothing! I had nothing and still have nothing to offer Him and yet He has set His face towards me for the redemption and my body and soul. Jesus modeled to us what it looks like to live in light of the Gospel.
Don’t miss this. I think I know where your mind is headed. Mine went to the same place. “Okay, I need this much for rent, this much food, entertainment, dry cleaners, doctors visits, cable tv, internet, you know all the essentials.” Then I look at what I have leftover and say, “Okay Lord, how much do you want me to give of this?” before I go buy a new couch that I have been saving up for or the new Playstation 3 that makes the Wii look like child’s play! Then I give of the money that I feel God has asked of me (most of the time it’s the legalistic 10%) and I walk away feeling really good about what I had just done and feel justified until I come across more overwhelming problems in our world, then I remind myself that I am a generous person and God is pleased with me. That conversation I just had is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it bad to give 10%. I think giving 10% is a good place to start, but that is Old Testament standards (not mention OT Hebrews gave 10% of many different things and they gave well over 30% if you added up all that they were asked to give from God).
Jesus says in Mark 8:34 that if you want to follow Him, you must deny yourself, pick up the item that is going to daily kill you and then start walking after Him. This is a radical statement that Jesus says and I believe it has everything to do with how we spend our time and money. The second problem is that everything is God’s anyways and I have no right to claim what is His as mine to do whatever I wish.
The blind spot that is removed in my life is that I realized that I have always covered my bills and living costs first, then I offer God what’s leftover. Well who decided the standard of living that I feel that I have to live by? Did God give me all this money so I could increase my lifestyle according to the raises that I got? After all, He wouldn’t have given me that raise had He not wanted me to upgrade the standard of living for my family. And that vacation that my family needs was provided by God because He cares for me, right? Right and wrong. God does care for you and He does find joy in us being able to have our needs met and our families being able to go on fun vacations. Those are not bad, unless God brings conviction upon you personally.
What is bad is if I continue to raise my standard of living and always give leftovers instead of the first fruits of what He has given me. That would mean I must ask the Lord to set my standard of living. Whoa! Now that is dangerous talk. What if Jesus tells me the same thing He told the rich young ruler, “Sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor then come follow me.” Jesus wouldn’t say that to me, would He? I mean come on man, it’s not my fault that I was born in America and I am so used to the comfort that has been provided for me all my life. I couldn’t do what Jesus would possibly ask of me if He indeed set my standard of living! That’s asking too much of me. This isn’t possibly what Jesus would want for me.
This kind of talking ourselves out of what God truly wants from us as we follow Jesus is us not fully believing the Gospel in it’s present and future hope. Everything that God has, He has given to us in Jesus. When we die on this earth, we will inherit all that the Father has and we will reign with Him for eternity. Jesus says in Luke 18:29-30: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life." (see also Matt. 19:28-29) Knowing this and believing what Jesus says, there should be no limit to our giving, especially to help relieve the devastating effects of poverty for God’s people and for His glory.
Please notice what I am not saying. I am not saying that God is calling us all to stop making money or that money is evil. In fact, I pray that more and more Christians who get the Gospel become wealthy. What I am saying is that when the increase comes, don;t think that the increase is for you to become more comfortable. A raise or a big break isn’t given to you so you can buy more of a house, more of a car, a better vacation, nicer clothes or the like. The increase comes so you can be a greater blessing to others before the increase came. Everything you truly need will be given to you in the age to come. Don’t think so small as to believe that the you can actually attain the best life you ever imagined here on earth. Our best life is going to be when Jesus returns and we receive our new glorified bodies. Until then, the increase is the Lord.
The disparity that we see in affluent nations all over the world was the very thing that the OT prophets were speaking against and calling out the rich and screaming, be just! American wealth was never intended to build for selfish gain (extravagant houses, cars, etc...) even if one has the money for it and it is seems prudent. God tells Abraham in Genesis 12 that He is going to make him great and bless him “so that” he will be blessing to the nations. The increase and the blessing was meant for Abraham (or Israel) to horde. The increase was for the blessing and provision of the orphan, widow, foreigner and homeless person. Also consider the gleaning law in Leviticus19:9-10; 23:22, the law of release in Deuteronomy 15:1-4, the purpose of the public storehouse in Deuteronomy 14:29, and the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-55. God is a just God and His ways would never fit into capitalism, socialism or feudalism.
There must be a change in modern day Christianity in the way we view what we have been blessed with. There must be an extreme change. If not, we would be in rebellion of the Gospel. The call to follow Jesus comes with the call to feed the poor, provide for the orphans and widows, sacrifice for those who are in want, and clothe the naked. We can never meet these needs with leftovers and scraps. We must learn how to give the first fruits of what’s been given to us and trust God that He will take care of us if heaven forbid, we give above and beyond 10%. To whom much has been given, much is expected. All over scripture it is a clear call to us that this is God’s agenda. And if it’s God’s agenda, then it’s His kids’ agenda too! Take some time to read through these passages that are only a few out of hundreds that can be found in Scripture: Micah 6:8; Zech. 7:10-11; Psalm 146:7-9; Deut. 10:17-18; Proverbs 31:8; Isaiah 58:6-7; Deut. 15:1-10; Luke 14:12-13; Matt. 11:4-5; Matt. 6:1-4; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 20:35; Acts 4:34-35; Ja 2:15-17.
Romans 12:1 says that we should offer ourselves as the living sacrifice. God wants us to give ourselves for His sake and others’ good. This means all of who we are and all of what we have. We are to live as we really are. Citizens of heaven. We are called to live in such a way that it is evident to all on this earth that we have a heavenly inheritance that we are living for and we are about offering redemption by all means because of the offer our King has commanded us to offer all people. We are to live as if you are royalty here on earth. Hold lightly to the things you attain while you are traveling, for you are headed home to the Kingdom, the Castle, where all that the King has is yours and nothing you accumulate on your journey is allowed through the new city’s gates.
Oh my, what might it look like if we believers truly lived in light of the Gospel and we were able to give up great comforts here for the glory of God and the salvation and redemption of many. Much of Christianity today revolves around your joy being rooted in someone and something other than the mirroring of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t exist to give you success and glory and fame and power. No, you exist to give God glory at all times and places. And the reason people are miserable in life is because they think their joy is so deeply rooted in their level of comfort and success. Our joy comes out of our lives mirroring Jesus, period! That’s the source of happiness. Everything else is vanity. It’s a chasing after the wind. It’s trying to find the needle in the hay stack and then find out there was no needle in the first place. You’re looking for something that cannot be found, and that is joy, meaning, purpose, value, dignity, significance apart from God. May the God of all comfort work in our lives so that we who bare the name of Jesus can life true Gospel-centered lives. May we be a people who offer the first fruits of what we've been given, then we can live off of the leftovers.
Whoa! I was stumped when they asked me those questions. I mean, I knew the Gospel and I knew the verses to back up my response, but I quickly learned that I had only looked to the Gospel as a means of my salvation and then understood the rest of Scriptures as the supplemental reading after my salvation. How could I have been so far off? Are you kidding me? The Gospel of Jesus as only the entry unto salvation and not the means of my maturity and the assurance of my future hope? How shallow of an understanding did I have? I am so thankful for men who are willing to challenge me and desire to move me from milk to steak and potatoes!
That’s right. The simple Gospel is the meat and potatoes of the Christian life. The milk is the surface understanding of the Gospel, then the deeper you dive into the Gospel the more premium the meat becomes. In fact, all the choice meat you can find in the Scriptures all speaks of the Gospel and the implications of it in our lives. You will never go deeper than the Gospel. There isn’t anything meatier in Scripture that the Gospel. Peter clarifies for us that the Gospel (God’s great mercy) “has caused us to be born again” (already happened for those who are saved), then we are born again “to a living hope” (currently happening for those who are saved), “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (going to happen for all the elect) and God is the One who is holding this promise so that me in my foolishness will never squander it (1 Peter 1:3-5).
This Gospel that I chalked up as something that I thought I had down was much deeper and much wider and much greater than I can imagine. What I had done without even knowing it, was that I was (in my own understanding) minimizing the cross of Jesus. Now I can never truly minimize what Jesus did, but in my mind, it was not that big of a deal for me to take the time and sit and reflect hour after hour, day after day, month after month of what Christ has done for me! A sinner! A fake! A fearful coward! Jeff, the guy who can’t consistently read his Bible!
This is ludicrous! Did Jesus know how much of a risk it was to die for me? Yes He did! And in fact, within this Gospel, He chose me when I was dead and hopeless to be in Him so that I could live; and not just live in our small view, but live in fullness of life and one day to reign with Him forever to be in His presence! Wow!! I mean come on....is this the kind of good news that sounds like we should just look to it for salvation and then move on to deeper things? The answer is an emphatic, NO! So with the understanding of the Gospel being everything I need (past/salvation, present/maturity and future/hope of glory), I resolved to never move past this good news.
Now that I have let you in on my little secret as to this Gospel journey being new to me, I want to move on to write about how I think the Gospel changes us in light of the reality of the world we live in. This short year that God has wrecked me with His Gospel, He has continued to remove blind spots in my life and has brought deep conviction as to how I live my life and the things that I have always so easily overlooked. I don’t have time to unpack all the blind spots that have been lifted (and there are so many more to be removed still), so I want to just share with you one that has been recently lifted and one that is going to implemented as a corporate pursuit here at Kineo. So that proper credit can be taken, I want to share with you the 3 books that I read this Christmas break that God has used to remove these blind spots: Radical by David Platt; Radical Disciple by John Stott and Generous Justice by Tim Keller (what Keller book doesn’t wreck you).
Let me share with you some statistics that I have come across on this the World Food Programme website (http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats):
*925 million people do not have enough to eat - that’s more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union; (Source: FAO news release, 14 September 2010)
*Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people; (Source: FAO news release, 2010)
*Women make up a little over half of the world's population, but they account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry; (Source: Strengthening efforts to eradicate hunger..., ECOSOC, 2007)
*26,000 children per day (this stat was added from the book Radical by Platt) & 10.9 million children per year (under five) die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths; (Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007)
*One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight; (Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007)
*It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc; (Source: WFP Annual Report 2007)
*Undernutrition contributes to 53 percent of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries; (Source: Under five deaths by cause, UNICEF, 2006)
*In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has orphaned nearly 12 million children aged under 18 years; (Source: 2008 UNAIDS Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic).
*Assistance for orphans and vulnerable children is estimated at US$0.31 per day; (Source: Cost of Nutritional Support for HIV/AIDS Projects, WFP, July 2008)
These stats tell a story of brothers and sisters in the world that we share who are dying and suffering and I live day after day turning a blind eye to it because I feel that there is not much I can do to help them. I have forsaken the gospel by turning aside and living my life as if this isn’t really happening in the same world I am living in. This deeply troubles me that I have neglected such a huge problem in our world. Millions are dying in poverty and I am sitting here enjoying my affluence (even though my wife and 1 and 4 kids are living off of very little money compared to American standards) with little to no worries about these souls who God created.
Just .31 cents a day could provide care for orphans and other vulnerable children. That’s under $10 a month. That’s almost 1 coffee drink at Sbux. Are you kidding me? How could the Gospel not have compelled me in the past to do something about this. Why did it take a book and these grave statistics to open my eyes? The answer to that I am not sure of, but what I do know is that I can no longer be the same as I was before this Christmas break.
All that new info left me with a huge pit in my stomach, tears filled eyes and I fell on the ground and repented for turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to my brothers and sisters all over the world who are created in God’s image. We are the same people. They are no less than I . I am no more than they. My wealth and affluence is due largely in part because of where I was born and the time in history that I now live in. Had I been born in another time in history in a different part of the world, there is a good chance that I would be among the number who is hungry and dying from preventable diseases. All the skill and will power that I think I possess would do nothing for me had I been born in a lower Indian caste system 500 years ago. The Gospel has just revealed to me that all of the affluence and wealth that I have been given was given to me so that I can help those who are in need (the orphan, widow, foreigner and homeless person).
The money I have been given by God was given to me so that I would be the hands and feet of Christ by giving it up for the redemption of the orphan, widow, foreigner and homeless person. Is this not what Jesus did? Did He not give up all that He had (and He had infinitely more than I can ever imagine)? Was there anything that I had to offer Jesus for my salvation? Nothing! I had nothing and still have nothing to offer Him and yet He has set His face towards me for the redemption and my body and soul. Jesus modeled to us what it looks like to live in light of the Gospel.
Don’t miss this. I think I know where your mind is headed. Mine went to the same place. “Okay, I need this much for rent, this much food, entertainment, dry cleaners, doctors visits, cable tv, internet, you know all the essentials.” Then I look at what I have leftover and say, “Okay Lord, how much do you want me to give of this?” before I go buy a new couch that I have been saving up for or the new Playstation 3 that makes the Wii look like child’s play! Then I give of the money that I feel God has asked of me (most of the time it’s the legalistic 10%) and I walk away feeling really good about what I had just done and feel justified until I come across more overwhelming problems in our world, then I remind myself that I am a generous person and God is pleased with me. That conversation I just had is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it bad to give 10%. I think giving 10% is a good place to start, but that is Old Testament standards (not mention OT Hebrews gave 10% of many different things and they gave well over 30% if you added up all that they were asked to give from God).
Jesus says in Mark 8:34 that if you want to follow Him, you must deny yourself, pick up the item that is going to daily kill you and then start walking after Him. This is a radical statement that Jesus says and I believe it has everything to do with how we spend our time and money. The second problem is that everything is God’s anyways and I have no right to claim what is His as mine to do whatever I wish.
The blind spot that is removed in my life is that I realized that I have always covered my bills and living costs first, then I offer God what’s leftover. Well who decided the standard of living that I feel that I have to live by? Did God give me all this money so I could increase my lifestyle according to the raises that I got? After all, He wouldn’t have given me that raise had He not wanted me to upgrade the standard of living for my family. And that vacation that my family needs was provided by God because He cares for me, right? Right and wrong. God does care for you and He does find joy in us being able to have our needs met and our families being able to go on fun vacations. Those are not bad, unless God brings conviction upon you personally.
What is bad is if I continue to raise my standard of living and always give leftovers instead of the first fruits of what He has given me. That would mean I must ask the Lord to set my standard of living. Whoa! Now that is dangerous talk. What if Jesus tells me the same thing He told the rich young ruler, “Sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor then come follow me.” Jesus wouldn’t say that to me, would He? I mean come on man, it’s not my fault that I was born in America and I am so used to the comfort that has been provided for me all my life. I couldn’t do what Jesus would possibly ask of me if He indeed set my standard of living! That’s asking too much of me. This isn’t possibly what Jesus would want for me.
This kind of talking ourselves out of what God truly wants from us as we follow Jesus is us not fully believing the Gospel in it’s present and future hope. Everything that God has, He has given to us in Jesus. When we die on this earth, we will inherit all that the Father has and we will reign with Him for eternity. Jesus says in Luke 18:29-30: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life." (see also Matt. 19:28-29) Knowing this and believing what Jesus says, there should be no limit to our giving, especially to help relieve the devastating effects of poverty for God’s people and for His glory.
Please notice what I am not saying. I am not saying that God is calling us all to stop making money or that money is evil. In fact, I pray that more and more Christians who get the Gospel become wealthy. What I am saying is that when the increase comes, don;t think that the increase is for you to become more comfortable. A raise or a big break isn’t given to you so you can buy more of a house, more of a car, a better vacation, nicer clothes or the like. The increase comes so you can be a greater blessing to others before the increase came. Everything you truly need will be given to you in the age to come. Don’t think so small as to believe that the you can actually attain the best life you ever imagined here on earth. Our best life is going to be when Jesus returns and we receive our new glorified bodies. Until then, the increase is the Lord.
The disparity that we see in affluent nations all over the world was the very thing that the OT prophets were speaking against and calling out the rich and screaming, be just! American wealth was never intended to build for selfish gain (extravagant houses, cars, etc...) even if one has the money for it and it is seems prudent. God tells Abraham in Genesis 12 that He is going to make him great and bless him “so that” he will be blessing to the nations. The increase and the blessing was meant for Abraham (or Israel) to horde. The increase was for the blessing and provision of the orphan, widow, foreigner and homeless person. Also consider the gleaning law in Leviticus19:9-10; 23:22, the law of release in Deuteronomy 15:1-4, the purpose of the public storehouse in Deuteronomy 14:29, and the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-55. God is a just God and His ways would never fit into capitalism, socialism or feudalism.
There must be a change in modern day Christianity in the way we view what we have been blessed with. There must be an extreme change. If not, we would be in rebellion of the Gospel. The call to follow Jesus comes with the call to feed the poor, provide for the orphans and widows, sacrifice for those who are in want, and clothe the naked. We can never meet these needs with leftovers and scraps. We must learn how to give the first fruits of what’s been given to us and trust God that He will take care of us if heaven forbid, we give above and beyond 10%. To whom much has been given, much is expected. All over scripture it is a clear call to us that this is God’s agenda. And if it’s God’s agenda, then it’s His kids’ agenda too! Take some time to read through these passages that are only a few out of hundreds that can be found in Scripture: Micah 6:8; Zech. 7:10-11; Psalm 146:7-9; Deut. 10:17-18; Proverbs 31:8; Isaiah 58:6-7; Deut. 15:1-10; Luke 14:12-13; Matt. 11:4-5; Matt. 6:1-4; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 20:35; Acts 4:34-35; Ja 2:15-17.
Romans 12:1 says that we should offer ourselves as the living sacrifice. God wants us to give ourselves for His sake and others’ good. This means all of who we are and all of what we have. We are to live as we really are. Citizens of heaven. We are called to live in such a way that it is evident to all on this earth that we have a heavenly inheritance that we are living for and we are about offering redemption by all means because of the offer our King has commanded us to offer all people. We are to live as if you are royalty here on earth. Hold lightly to the things you attain while you are traveling, for you are headed home to the Kingdom, the Castle, where all that the King has is yours and nothing you accumulate on your journey is allowed through the new city’s gates.
Oh my, what might it look like if we believers truly lived in light of the Gospel and we were able to give up great comforts here for the glory of God and the salvation and redemption of many. Much of Christianity today revolves around your joy being rooted in someone and something other than the mirroring of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t exist to give you success and glory and fame and power. No, you exist to give God glory at all times and places. And the reason people are miserable in life is because they think their joy is so deeply rooted in their level of comfort and success. Our joy comes out of our lives mirroring Jesus, period! That’s the source of happiness. Everything else is vanity. It’s a chasing after the wind. It’s trying to find the needle in the hay stack and then find out there was no needle in the first place. You’re looking for something that cannot be found, and that is joy, meaning, purpose, value, dignity, significance apart from God. May the God of all comfort work in our lives so that we who bare the name of Jesus can life true Gospel-centered lives. May we be a people who offer the first fruits of what we've been given, then we can live off of the leftovers.
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