Breaking The Barrier II

The other evening I had the privilege of playing with my daughter on the floor for a little while. There she was sitting on the floor playing with a few of her toys, staring at a few of them with intrigue wondering what they are supposed to do and what she could possibly do with them. In seven quick months, I have learned about the curiosity of a child; I have seen her spend hours upon hours watching the world around her; studying it and seeing what it is all about. At seven months, Hailee has a lot to learn, some of that she will do by watching those around her, other times she will be shown what to do by someone she knows, and maybe a few times she just figures something out because she has tried some many times she was bound to get it right eventually.

Much is the same with being a disciple of Christ. All of you will learn at different times and in different ways. Most of you will be privileged to know a few people who have walked the path as a disciple before you and you will observe the lives that they live and try to do the same. Other times someone will grab you by the hand and show you how to live a better life as a disciple. And more than a few times, you will stumble around and figure out a little more about life as a disciple because eventually you will get it right. As a disciple of Christ, you are a student, who desires to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Rob Bell in his book, “Velvet Elvis”, writes about what it meant in the days of Jesus to be a disciple of a rabbi (teacher). He says that the goal of a disciple was to not just know what the rabbi knew, but to become like the rabbi. One the other side of the coin, the goal of the rabbi for the disciple was not for the disciple to spit back information, but to understand and live out what the rabbi was teaching. In other words, being a disciple in the time of Jesus was not about passing some test but was about understanding the teaching of a rabbi and committing your life to become like that rabbi.

Jesus says in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” In Jesus’ day, the word translated “know”, would have been understood in its Jewish context to mean “knowledge of the requirements of the Law”. In contrast to that, Jesus is saying that it is not the Law that one needs to know but God and himself (Jesus Christ). And where can a disciple come to “know” God and Jesus Christ?

Disciples of Christ in today’s world are truly blessed to have easy access to the Scriptures. You are blessed because the Scriptures are an open window to who God is. When I look at the Scriptures, I see the story of the people of God, from creation of the world to the birth of the God’s church, with many steps in between. As we study this story, we learn about the nature and character of God and the more we are able to understand his nature and his character, the better we will be able to live this life as his disciple.

So where do you start? (That all depends on where you are.)

New Disciple – Just start reading. Learning to read and understand the Bible takes time. Like learning to read Shakespeare, it has its own style. The more you read the more you will understand. I would recommend starting with the gospels and really getting to know the person of Christ, when you get through the gospels, read through the book of Acts and letters of Paul (Romans through Philemon), then try to read some of the Old Testament. I would recommend Genesis, Exodus, Judges, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel to start.

Wanting a little more – After a while you may hit a spot where you don’t seem to be getting much new out of reading. Don’t worry, this isn’t the end of the world…you are really just getting started. If you need something fresh, I recommend find some good resources to help you get a deeper understanding. With the internet, there are many good commentaries that you can get your hands on. Studylight.com has a few. Using some of these resources can give deeper insights and thoughts that should provoke even more understanding. Learning to understand and apply Scripture to your life is a fascinating journey and you will find that the more you read the more there is to learn.

Find a Friend – This can be something that is easily overlooked, but having someone to share your thoughts and observations with can really enhance what you get our of God’s Word. Ultimately, Scripture cannot be understood, learned or applied in a vacuum. Disciples of Christ are called to work learn and grow as a community.

Becoming a disciple is a journey and Scripture is only a small part of that journey. However, the more you learn and understand Scripture; the more you will be able to live a life that is pleasing to God. So don’t ignore the part Scripture can play in living your life as a disciple of Christ.

Love in Christ.

Mike

Breaking The Barrier

First things first: Thanks, Tim, for that amazing build-up! As Tim has been leading you in drawing closer to Christ, I am excited to share with you some of my journey past "The Barrier" and into communication with God.

I understand the struggle that many of us face: "How can I get 'into' God's Word and actually get something out of it?" For a lot of Christians and seekers, we don't realize that we're not supposed to "get" something from Him; we are to give Him our lives and let Him be glorified through our devotion to Him. But we still need to hear God's voice and understand His Presence. We are hindered by "The Barrier." Now, moving past it isn't difficult (and yes, I invite you to see if that is true!) In fact, it will seem like common sense, really. A few thoughts for you to consider...

Posture is important. No, I'm not an advocate for chiropractic care here; I simply want to draw you toward correct positioning in your attitude before we get wrapped up in the Bible itself.

One of my goals this year has been to begin my daily time with the Lord BEFORE I get to church. So, I asked Him to help me with this by waking me up early in the morning before the kids wake up. (This is where people I know start laughing at me, because mature Christians understand that if you ask, He will deliver!) And, as you can expect, God has been faithful. I wake up around 6AM everyday. Now, quite honestly, there have been times when I haven't wanted to get up - like you, I like my beauty rest, especially when you have kids with colds waking you up at ungodly hours to get a drink or blow their noses! Tuesday this week was like that - I was up with Cayden at 2:45. I was beat. I woke up with a start at precisely 5:21AM to the sound of my cell phone going off - it was an elder, who shall remain nameless - and I could hear him laughing and talking in the background. I'm yelling, "Hello...hello!" He hit redial on his phone by accident, apparently.

OK, Mike, what does this have to do with posturing? So, I sat there, awake. And I simply said, "Lord, today is your day." Immediately, I sensed His call to get up. I went into the kitchen, started the coffee and sat down with God's Word and my notebook. I adopted a posture of connection with Him. I responded to a call I sensed for His direction. And, I only could "hear" what He had to say when I changed my attitude of "have to meet with God" to "desire to meet with Him."

That's what posturing is... longing for what He wants to say to me through His love-letter to the world and being ready to apply His truth to my life. I ask Him first to open my heart, free me from my distractions, and then I am ready to write down my thoughts on what I read in His Word. I want to understand the facts of what He says, gain insights by what He says to me, respond by letting God know what I will do about what He says, and then evaluating if I did it or not (yes, this is the familiar FIRE study outline we've used for years on Sunday mornings.) Posture is important.

Quality vs. quantity. After I have the right attitude and simply desire to learn from Him , how much/little do I read? I am a big fan of quality time with God. My rule of thumb is to read just enough Scripture to gain one simple insight for my life (anywhere from just a few verses like in the rich sections of Paul's letters, or a few chapters like in the historical or narrative passages of the Old Testament). Often, I even understand several insights in a short passage - when God shouts out truths for me that day!

How much or how little isn't the factor. It rests on my desire to honor Him and be still before Him, resting in His love, being content with only Him. This isn't some ascetic practice; it is making Him a priority in my life (even before my wife, my kids, or my job).

Personal transformation. Let me be blunt - I get broadsided a lot in ministry by well-intentioned people who take out their aggression - negatively and with much criticism and complaining. So, even though I try not to take it personally, I still hurt. I feel for them because I love them, in all their humanity! I had been wrestling with a person I needed to confront, and I asked God several days before for an answer. Little did I know that the sum of my time with Him in the Bible would answer that prayer in a big way.

I've been reading through the book of Ezekiel for the past few months, and I learned some life-transforming truths in the past few chapters I read. As I read through chapter 33 early Sunday morning, I noticed (for the first time in a deep way) that God desires even the wicked people of this world to not perish, but live. Yes, I knew that, but the insight came as I read God's own voice say, "I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! ...Why should you die?" (vs. 11 NLT) God takes no pleasure in punishing us when we are wrong - He desires our closeness, our nearness to Him. That was my first lesson I needed to heed before I dealt with this person at church. I must deal with my own sinfulness of wanting to be right and insisting on it - I needed to run to Christ first. Then, I'll understand the value God places on others, and my heart will respond to them with God's perspective of redemption in mind rather than restitution. Oh, how I needed that from Him!

The next day, I continued on in that chapter and received one of the greatest insights I'd ever gotten from Him - an encouragement of monumental proportions for me as a pastor. Verse 30-33: "Son of man, your people are whispering behind your back. They talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors, saying, `Come on, let's have some fun! Let's go hear the prophet tell us what the LORD is saying!' ³¹ So they come pretending to be sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them. They express love with their mouths, but their hearts seek only after money. ³² You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don't do it! ³³ But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they certainly will—then they will know a prophet has been among them."

It was as if Jesus were sitting next to me, consoling my broken heart with His choicest words. I heard Him say, in these words, that there will be those who will be entertained by my words, even convicted by what the Spirit is saying, but they won't obey God. I needed to hear Him say that to me. He designed this passage, at this point in time, to speak volumes of encouragement to me. I know that I simply speak the truth of God, and let Him do the convicting. I need to understand that their response to Him is up to them. Oh, how freeing that was to hear in my soul! The depth of ministry that He did that morning was rapturous, beyond compare. (And, I'm glad you know about His great love for us in this example, too!)

Finally, on Tuesday, I read in chapter 34 about the Good Shepherd (vs. 11-16) - looking for the lost sheep of His scattered flock. I was encouraged to go and gather this lost person and love them, encourage and exhort them to follow Jesus. Again, a confirmation of what I needed to do in my life.

My desire for you is simply this: understand that God has designed His Word to give you life - abundantly - and that "The Barrier" isn't really one at all. Will you meet with Him and "hear" His words to you, rather than try on your own efforts to "get" something from the Bible? Will you adopt a posture of desire for Him? Will you not focus on how much or little, but a depth with God? And finally, are you willing to be personally transformed?

I would love to spend time sharing with you more personally anytime. I pray God will bless your devotion to Him, and that your time in His Presence will be truly transformational!

Compelled by His love,

Mike

We're Open for Business Again!

Well I’m very excited to announced that Pastor Mike Spradlin will be making his first post on this blog sometime tomorrow! So what will He be writing about you ask? Well, last Friday I challenged all of you to dig deeper into the Word of God. And by “dig deeper” I didn’t just mean spending more time reading the Bible (though I know that wouldn’t be a bad idea for me personally). I meant actually reading the Bible with the intent of learning who God is--using it as a tool to know God, and to deepen your relationship with Him. Knowing God is so important because we cannot truly know ourselves and our purpose in life until we truly began to know who God is. True knowledge of ourselves begins with true knowledge of God. If we never seek to know God, we will stumble around lost, confused, and unsatisfied in the life.

Ok, now I realize that oftentimes the Bible just seems like some old dusty book about some really old dead guys, with virtually no relevance to our daily lives. Oftentimes it’s hard to see how talking donkeys, bloody sacrifices, and pillars of salt have any relevance to everyday problems like financial hardships, difficult relationships, and an overload of school work. I realize that finding relevance in the Bible is a HUGE barrier to actually reading the Bible for all its worth. This is a huge problem, and I’m gonna refer to it as “The Barrier.” Our task, guys, is to eliminate this barrier so that we can truly have a deep and meaningful relationship with God. This will not be an easy task, but neither of us will be going through it alone. We’ll have each other, and God to look to.

…So just what is Mike writing about anyway? Well, I’ve asked Pastor Mike Spradlin (and Mike Deter…he just doesn’t know it yet) to share with us some personal insights he’s received from the Word, and how he’s applied these in his everyday life. Ultimately, he writing about how he’s been able to see past The Barrier.

I encourage you all to post any questions or comments on his post. I really want for this blog to be another meeting place for us, especially since there are a quite a few of you who can’t make it to our Friday night studies.

Anyway, I’ll leave you guys with this verse:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Warmly in Christ,

-Tim

Thank you guys!

Thank you for all you participation in the movie event. It went really REALLY well, and people are already talking about the next one!

Speaking of which, our next event will be a neighborhood prayer event. Stay toned for the all the details.

-Tim

For the Curious

Here is a list of books that I am either currently reading, or have just finished:

The Future Present by Reggie McNeal
The Organic Church by Neil Cole
The Impossibe Faith (Great book!) by J.P. Holding
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Warrent the current debate by Alvin Plantinga

Train Rides and Human Nature

So I ride the train and subway to and from work everyday, and it's been an interesting experience for me. You see, the train and subway are like their own little culture, with their own set of common customs and courtesies. When I first started riding, I had to learn that although I was sitting in the midst of a truly diverse and interesting group of people, saying things like "hello," and "good morning," are not common. Communication is all done by action not words. You don't say "excuse me" to someone blocking your way when you need to get up and move to the aisle, instead you begin to move in that direction and the person gets the hint.

There are plenty of other courtesies, of course, but there is one that is particularly interesting to me. I call it the "enter/exit courtesy," and it goes like this: Anyone who is exiting the train has priority over anyone who is entering. Even if there is a large of group people waiting to get on the train, they must wait until all those exiting the train have done so before they enter. Seems simple right? Like common sense even. Now let me complicate things a bit; let me throw in the "human element." The human element takes the form of a thought; something like: "I want a seat on the train so that I don't have to stand" or "I want to sit in the seniors section so that I'm not bothered by others wanting to sit next to me," or "I can't be late for work," or whatever else you can think of. Whatever the motive, once the human element takes hold, you'll begin to see individuals sneak on the train while others are still exiting. And in worst case senerio, this turns into a domino effect as whole groups of people begin flooding through the doors without regard for those who may need to get off. ...After all, if one person is willing to follow his selfish impulse why shouldn't one more be allowed to? ...or so the logic goes.

Well, this exact situation happened earlier this week. I had just gotten off of work, and was on my way to the train station. By the time I arrived, the platform was already full of people who were waiting for the train. The human element must have been in full effect that day, because as soon as the train arrived and the doors opened, a mob of people begin to rush in. At first it was just a few, then a couple more, but soon, the flood gates opened and bodies rushed in from all sides. Naturally, those exiting the train wouldn't stand for this, so they begin forcing their way upstream through the river of entering bodies. It was a sight to behold!

But then I saw something that angered me. There was still quite a few people who needed to get on the train, and it looked as if everyone who needed to get off had gotten off. But, just as I was about to enter, I noticed that there was still a man who needed to get off, and he was obviously crippled because he walked with a limp. He did manage to put up a furious fight though, battling his way to about 6 feet from the exit before the raging river or bodies overpowered him, and he gave up in frustration. There was nothing he could do but stand where he was at. As he stood there stranded, I looked in amazement as people walked anxiously around him in order to secure a seat.

Now, I had decided to hold my ground and wait outside the train until everyone had exited. At this point, I looked the crippled man in the eyes, gave a quick smile, and indicated that I would wait for him to exit. As I did so, something strange happened: Others who could have easily entered and went around the stranded man, instead decided to wait along with me. In fact, there was an anxious women who got caught behind me against her will. She wanted nothing more then to get on the train and to find a seat, but I was blocking her way in. Once she finally got around me, and noticed that everyone else was waiting for this man too, she changed her attitude and decided to wait as well.

This is an interesting story no doubt, but I think there's more to the story then meets the eye. When I reflect on this event, it tells me two things about human nature:

1. Each of us tends to think, "It's all about me! Me, me, me, me, ME!!!!!!"

2. It only takes a little bit of encouragement FROM OTHERS to break us from this spell, even if only temporarily.

This raises many interesting questions: What does this say about how we ought to live our lives as Christians in a Christian community (the church)? What does this say about accountability? Carrying one another's burdens? How do we keep each other from giving into our own sinful natures? How do we encourage one another? What does this say about passages like Hebrews 10:23-25?

What do you think?

(...btw, I know that I'm the "hero" of this story, but at sometime in the near future I will confess to you another story that shows just how selfish I can be.)

-Tim

Schedule of Events

August ...What's left of it ;-)

Tuesday 14 - NO MARS HILL DISCUSSION GROUP!!!!! - Tim needs a break :-)

Friday 17 @ 7:30 Axis College/Career Ministry Continuing Study of Romans

Tuesday 21 @ 7:00 Mars Hill Discussion Group

Friday 24 @ 7:30 Axis College/Career Ministry Continuing Study of Romans

Tuesday 28 @ 7:00 Mars Hill Discussion Group - topic: TBD

September 1st, Service Project! - Movie Day @ 9:30a.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Please remember to let me know what you can help out with! And remember to pray for this event!!!

The Emergent Church

I've decided that is time for me to study the postmodern church (the "emerging" church), so I've now dived into several of their books and websites. In case you didn't know, the Emergent Church—which is notoriously hard to defined—is a new church movement that seeks to reform our current way doing church, and to some extent it seeks to reform our understanding of what Christianity is. They do this mainly by criticizing the current "modernized" church, and pointing out her many shortcomings. …And man, I have to admit, they are quite good at pointing out many of the problems that plague the church today. As I read their material I find that I am constantly challenged by their (often painfully) spot-on criticisms, which almost always demand some sort of action.

That being said, there are quite a few annoyances in their literature as well. One major annoyance for me is how they brush in broad strokes--you either fall into one category or the other; there are no other views, no in-betweens. For example we are told:

Rather than trying to capture timeless truth in objective statements systematized in analytical outlines and recorded in books and institutionalized in schools and denominations, narrative theology embraces, preserves, and reflects on the stories of people and communities involved in the romance of God—always beginning with and always returning to the treasury of stories in Scripture: the good, bad, ugly, and undetermined lives of those who have sought God and found God and lost God and served God and heard and ignored God and opposed God and betrayed God and returned to God and loved God all the more for having been forgiven much. In the process, it seeks to understand the direction and purpose and meaning of the larger narrative (the story of emergence) that these individual stories constitute.

Note the implied false dilemma here. Either we can concern ourselves with "trying to capture timeless truth in objective statements" or we can embrace a view which "preserves, and reflects on the stories of people and communities involved in the romance of God." Either we can concern ourselves with studying the objective truth claims found in some dusty old book, or we can actually have a genuine relationship with God, unhindered by the cold hard facts.

…Excuse me? Why is this an "either/or" situation? Couldn't it be the case that by studying the objective truth claims of scripture, we actually gain a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God? I mean, isn't it the case that the more we learn about Who this God is, the more in awe we are at His love, power, and majesty? Now don't take this the wrong way, I am not saying that the most learned have the deepest relationship with God, nor am I saying that studying the Bible automatically gives us a relationship with God. No, we have to submit to these truths and ultimately to God Who is the source of all truth. What I am saying is that this is not an either or situation. We must concern ourselves with both the truths of scripture, and a relationship with the God Who has gaven us the scriptures as a revelation of Himself. Knowing someone requires that you know at least something about them, and it is in the "timeless truths" found in the "objective statements" of that dusty old book we call the "Bible," where we find God's character revealed

What do you think?

Stay tuned, more insights to follow.