One Thing “Christians” Need to Stop Saying

One Thing “Christians” Need to Stop Saying

One of my favorite questions I get to ask people as a Church Planter/Pastor is how they came to faith in Christ. Many of these stories are so encouraging and I love to see the excitement of believers as they recount how they were once dead in their sin but God called them to new life through the good news of the Gospel. These stories are true miracles of redemption and they often tell how they were an enemy of God and they realized how destructive it was when the Spirit opened their eyes to the reality of their sin and to the grace and mercy of God through Christ. 

However there are times when I ask this question and I get a response that troubles me. The person will make a statement something like this. “Well I have always been a Christian.” This is often along with telling of their Christian home and parents and along with church attendance. Don’t hear what I am not saying here, believing parents that put Christ first in the home and church participation are something that I always encourage but that does not make one a Christian. I can understand the origin of this statement and that the person is getting at but we need to be careful in making statements like this and here are a few thoughts on the topic. 

To say that you have always been a Christian is just not true and is a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Gospel. The Bible tells us that we were enemies of God because of our sin (Romans 5:10, Romans 3:23, 1 Peter 2:10) and were separated from Christ (Ephesians 2:10). When we look at what the Bible tells us about our condition we clearly see that no one has been a Christian all their life. There is always a time when we were separated from Jesus. A time that we, because of our sin nature, were at odds with God. But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sin made us alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).

To say that one has always been a Christian also lends to easy believeism. What I mean by that is it tends to dumb down or minimize the Gospel. In order for someone to come to faith two realizations have to happen by the power of the Holy Spirit. The first is a person has to see and realize their hopeless and destructive nature because of sin. In other words they have to see that they are sinful and wretched and hopeless because of their sin and what they rightly deserve is God’s eternal wrath. The Holy Spirit is what does this through conviction (John 16:8).

The second is the Holy Spirit also reveals the grace and mercy of God through Christ. The Holy Spirit enables us to see that we have a hope not gained by our own doing but through the complete and fulfilled work of Jesus on the Cross. When someone realizes their hopelessness in and of themselves and then see their only certain hope in Jesus is when true faith is evident. It is not our works that reconciles us back to God, but the finished work of Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I don’t believe a person can truly begin to grasp the magnitude of God’s grace through Christ until they begin to grasp the depth of their depravity. When we say we have always been a Christian we minimize our sin and minimize the great work Jesus has done on our behalf.

My encouragement to believers in sharing their faith is to share their past. Talk of their rebellion of God before knowing Jesus and the penalty that they deserved. But also talk of the unfathomable grace and mercy God gives through Jesus. Remember and tell of what God has saved you from and cherish and tell of what God has saved you to. 

Monday Morning Heart Aches

Mondays are tough for most, and that includes pastors. Especially pastors. We are usually coming off of the busiest and most stressful day of the week. We have given everything we have on the day before and we are drained, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Monday is when the heart hurts the most because Monday is when we are weakest.

I wanted to share a little about why our hearts hurt and give you a glimpse into the Monday of your pastor.

My heart hurts on Mondays.
My heart hurts because there are those that do not believe the Gospel that was preached yesterday.
My heart hurts because there were faces I did not see yesterday.
My heart hurts because I did not get to personally connect with every face that I did see yesterday.
My heart hurts because I don’t have more time to connect with people during the week.
My heart hurts because people don’t take advantage of opportunities and engage in biblical community.
My heart hurts because I have to be more concerned with numbers and dollars as a measure of success rather than people growing in their faith.
My heart hurts because people wade in the shallow end of faith in Jesus and don’t go neck deep.
My heart hurts because I know families in our church are struggling and I can’t fix it.
My heart hurts because there are those that are afraid to share and be real out of fear of what others may think.
My heart hurts because people choose other things to try and fulfill them rather than Jesus and Gospel community.
My heart hurts because there are those that abandon Gospel community because of a personal conflict or misspoken word.
My heart hurts because I see my own inadequacies and sin.
My heart hurts because I cannot be the perfect pastor of the perfect church.
My heart hurts because I worry about what I communicated yesterday and was the Good News of Jesus clear.

But my heart also rejoices on Mondays.
My heart rejoices because I was able to join others that I love in meeting with the God of the universe yesterday.
My heart rejoices because I saw several children brought to Gospel community where they were loved by others with the Good News of Jesus yesterday.
My heart rejoices because people were welcomed and felt safe in Gospel Community yesterday.
My heart rejoices because I saw others love each other with the love of Jesus yesterday.
My heart rejoices because God allowed me an opportunity, along with others to share the Good News of Jesus yesterday.
My heart rejoices because I heard of God’s blessings in others yesterday
My heart rejoices because God knows my failures and yet he loves me still.
My heart rejoices because I can trust His Word and it never returns void..
My heart rejoices because God has given us an opportunity to join in His plan in our community.
My heart rejoices because although I fail often God never does.
My heart rejoices because He is in control and not me.
My heart rejoices because God is working in and through our failures.
My heart rejoices because God makes Himself known and He saves!

Mondays...........

The Joy in Singing

1. It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
      to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2. to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
      and your faithfulness by night,
3. to the music of the lute and the harp,
      to the melody of the lyre.
4. For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;
      at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
Psalm 92:1-4

    I have to confess yesterday was not the greatest of days. It was just one of those days that my attitude was not great. We are exhausted from a busy summer that is not over yet and the stress of the never ending pace of all the things that come with church planting were weighing on me. We were looking forward to an evening away at a marriage retreat in Denver but in the midst of that I had a couple of difficult phone calls and because of my fatigue and stress I was not the most pleasant. I wasn't the most pleasant on the phone and Amy gently reminded me that I was not the most pleasant in person either.

    As we had dinner and sat with other planters and began the retreat my mind and my heart were not in the right place. I was tired, stressed, frustrated and irritated. I didn't really want to be there and all I could think about were the things I had to do and dwell on the frustrations of the day. I was not focused on the retreat, enjoying the company of other planters or time with Amy. I was being selfish. I was being pitiful and I just wanted to go and get some rest. And then something happened. The worship leader for the retreat stood up and led us in singing. And this is what we sang.

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness?
Whose love is mighty and so much stronger?
The King of Glory, the King of kings!

This is AMAZING Grace, unfailing love, That You would take my place, That you would bear my cross.

   As I sang these words I realized how selfish and sinful I had been. I had allowed the enemy to take a foothold in my day and he did it through fatigue and stress. I allowed the little minor things in life to rob me of the joy of the greater things. I was robbed of the joy of being with friends and the joy of time away with Amy and I was also robbed of the joy of being known and loved by God, all because I was being selfish.

   We all get this way from time to time. We get tired and stressed and life comes at us from all different angles and the enemy comes at us hard and fast and often in ways we never see. After all he is crafty and prowls around like a roaring lion looking for weakness and pouncing on us desiring to devour us. He is a thief that comes to kill, steal and destroy and he loves to steal our joy.

   But God is good and gracious and He loves us and He has these ways of reminding us of who we are in Him because of what He has done for us. One of the most awesome ways He does this is through singing. Just as the Psalm says it is good to give thanks to The LORD and praise Him in song. There is just something about singing that has a way of opening our eyes to see and our herts to be reminded of His grace and mercy. He says it is good to sing and praise Him because it brings all other things back into perspective. It has a way of taking our focus off of our first world problems and allows us to focus on His glory and majesty and favor upon us. It is humbling and uplifting all at the same time. It is a game changer for sure. I know it was for me.

How do we Glorify God?

One of my favorite parts of the Westminster Catechism asks the question "What is the chief end of man?" It is answered with this statement. "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." I love this statement because it defines the purpose of believers and defines the reward for those who seek to live out this purpose. However, it brought to mind another question I had and was able to discuss this with some dear friends the other day. 

Here is the question; How do we, as weak, broken, fallible and imperfect people glorify an all sufficient, all knowing, perfect, all powerful, wise, awesome God? This is a difficult question to answer without the right context. We have to understand that God needs nothing from us because He is all sufficient in Himself. 

He says in Psalm 50:10-12  

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, 

 the cattle on a thousand hills. 

11 I know all the birds of the hills,  

and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,  

for the world and its fullness are mine.

He says in Isaiah 64:4 that all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. 

What these passages tell us is that God is not a being that needs anything outside Himself and that when we try and offer Him what we may perceive as something He needs, we fail miserably. We do so because we have nothing, in and of ourselves, that He would desire. All we have is our brokenness. 

If this is so then how do we go about glorifying God? I would like to offer four ways we, as broken sinners redeemed by God's grace and mercy can Glorify God. 

1. Enjoy God. What this means is we enjoy His blessings and favor. We relish in the grace and mercy He gives. We wallow in His great love for us that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Enjoy the fact that He keeps us in His embrace as well. Like a small child that rests peacefully in the arms of their father while the conflict of the world rages around them, we too are to rest in Him joyfully. God is glorified when we enjoy His creation and splendor. Enjoy God, especially in the truth of the Gospel.

2. Be generous. God is a generous God and gives us all so much and we are to be generous as well. This does not mean that we are to simply give things away blindly. We are to steward what He gives us well. We see a great example of this in Matthew 25 where a master gave three servants different portions of money or talents. He trusted them to be good stewards of those talents that belonged to the master. Two of the servants did so and and brought honor to the master and increased his household. 

Like those two servants we are to examine the gifts and blessings that God has allowed us to steward and use them to grow His kingdom. Such things are more than money. Think of how you use your resources, how you spend your time, how you use your job, your home, and even your vacation. All of those things and more God has graciously given you and glorify God by using them to grow His Kingdom. 

3. Be obedient. I love the old hymn Trust and Obey. Those words mean a lot in glorifying God. For to obey Him means that we have to trust Him. We are to trust that He is God and knows best for us. A disobedient child dishonors their parents and we do the same when we disobey God. However a child honors their parents by their obedience and as well we bring honor and glory to God when we are obedient. If we are professing believers we are to strive to follow God's Word because our obedience is a direct testimony to the genuineness of the Gospel itself. 

4. Share God. God is infinite in all that He is and there is no danger of Him running out. But often we as believers treat Him as if there is not enough to go around to others. We have no problem sharing with others about our favorite restaurant and encouraging them to pay tribute to them without fear of them running out of food. But often treat Jesus as if He is just for us but that is not what scripture tells us. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 tells us that we are to GO and share the Good News of who Jesus is. The Gospel is the greatest manifestation of God's Glory and is to be shared because it is more needed and more beneficial than the greatest of meals at the best of restaurants. God is glorified when we direct others to His infinite goodness through the Gospel. 

Glorifying God is not a burden but a blessing. God does desire that we glorify Him in all that we do but this should be a joyful endeavor. For it is just a foretaste that all believers will experience in eternity in His unhindered glory. 

Light in Darkness

It is Halloween and this morning I donned a rainbow afro wig and stood at my daughter's school giving high fives to the students as they entered school, many with their costumes on. This was a bit uncomfortable for me but after a while it became fun. The students laughed at me and smiled as they entered and in a small way I was able to brighten their day as they brightened mine.

Halloween is a day that is frowned upon by many Christians. They see it as a day that celebrates darkness and in contrary to their beliefs and I would partially agree with that. I am not much of a fan of Halloween however on this day we are given an unbelievable opportunity.

This day is also a very special day for believers in Jesus. Today marks the 500th year of what many believe was the beginning of the Reformation. It was a rediscovery of the beauty and truth of the Gospel that had been hidden and abused by the Roman Catholic Church. It began by a German Monk nailing some arguments to the church door in Wittenberg Germany in order to spark discussion over the Word of God. Out of that came what we know today as the Protestant Church. The time prior to this was a very dark time in history but like Luther and many others they took advantage of an opportunity to be light in darkness. In fact one of the great Latin chants that came from the Reformation was Post Tenebras Lux, meaning After Darkness Light.

We as believers have the same opportunity as the Reformers did. Maybe not to the same scale as them but we have the same opportunity. On a day meant for darkness we have an unbelievable opening to be Light. This is the day when we do not have to go to the world but they come to our door and knock. We have a choice. We can either turn our porch light off and isolate ourselves or we can turn it on, bring out the candy, sit on our porch, meet our neighbors, engage them and build relationships, love them and in a small way show them Jesus.

I am reminded of Matthew 5:14-16 where Jesus says "You are  the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do my people light a lamp and put it under a basket., but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven."

We have a choice tonight. We can turn out the porch light and essentially put the light of the Gospel that saved us under a basket or we can turn on our porch light, make some coffee and hot chocolate and greet the world with the light and love of Jesus. I encourage you oh Christian, seize this opportunity on a day meant for darkness, be Light.

Leaving Well

As most know yesterday was my last day as a Tyler Police Officer. I retired 20 years to the day I was sworn in by Chief Bob Bond. I certainly have some mixed emotions because during my career I have acquired some great relationships and had the opportunity to do some really cool stuff.  There is very little I regret about my career. It has been great to say the least. From foot chases and pursuits down railroad tracks (twice), to rolling 5 deep with the Bike Unit to get ice cream.

There have also been tough times as well that I will never forget and that have had tremendous impacts on my life. Times of dealing with the sickness and loss of our son and having my brothers in blue just show up to sit for days in a hospital waiting room and grieve, praying together as another one's wife goes into brain surgery, preaching the funeral of another ones wife who passed away and being scared to death as we wait to hear the status of one that was shot by a fleeing suspect right before our eyes. These are memories that will always be burned in my mind and heart.

Months before yesterday I began to really think about what I wanted to say to these men and women that I have gone to battle with and that I consider more than friends but a special kind of family. There was one thing I did not want to leave un said. Here is a summary of what I wanted to convey to those that hold a dear place in my heart.

To my Brother and Sisters in Blue,

I have few regrets in my 20 year career and I don't want to end with one so I want to share something with you that I feel I must say. I believe it was John Piper that said the greatest of men and all their great deeds will be all but a tiny footnote in history in all of eternity. I know and realize that my presence will soon be a faint memory as a Tyler Police Officer and I am perfectly ok with that. It is just life. However I do pray that what follows is something that will not soon be a distant memory.

Many of us began in this line of work because we see the brokenness of this world. We see injustice and we are constantly faced with the obvious depravity of mankind. We see it more than the average citizen and we cannot deny this is a fallen world. We see unspeakable things that people do to each other and is proof that this world is fallen. We also began this line of work because we believe in justice. We believe that when the laws of our great state and our nation are broken we are to strive to bring justice. It is an oath we swore to uphold and we risk our lives to seek it because it is that important.

However there is a greater law than the laws of our state and country and that is the Law of God. A law that we all have broken. God's Word is clear that we all have sinned and fall short of His glory. And if we believe in justice we have to see the truth here. If we have broken the law then justice must be pursued just like the laws of our state and country. The justice that God requirers is death, eternal death. God's Word also tells us that the wages of sin is death. We have to understand the God's justice is perfect and the breaking of His law has severe consequences that apply to us all.

However the good news is that God is not only a God of Justice but He is one of Grace as well. And His grace is manifested in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His one and only Son. Because God is a God of Justice and grace He does not simply overlook sin, He demands punishment for it but for those that repent and believe in Him that punishment is placed on Christ. God's perfect justice is satisfied in one of two ways; either by unrepentant sinners being condemned to hell for all eternity or God's justice is satisfied by Christ going to the Cross and taking God's full wrath so that those that believe in Him will never taste eternal death.

God's Word tells us also that He that knew no sin became sin so that we could be reconciled to God. What great love that God has for us that He would do such a thing for those that have willingly broken His law. The Cross of Christ is a beautiful thing and is where the perfect justice of God intersects with the perfect Grace of God. What He requires in return is belief. This is not just seeing Jesus as a savior but seeing Him as your Lord.

I pray that if you remember nothing else, you remember this and that you believe in Christ.

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?

Be Warriors, keep your eyes on the King of kings.
No regrets! Your brother,

Josh Green

Commitment?

Pastoring is not easy and I have heard many times that if a man can do anything else but be a pastor he should do it, but if not do it with all he has. The Great Preacher Charles Spurgeon said "Do not enter the ministry if you can help it,. If any student in this room could be content to be a newspaper editor, or a grocer, or a farmer, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a senator, or a king, in the name of heaven and earth let him go his way; he is not the man in whom dwells the Spirit of God in its fullness, for a man so filled with God would utterly weary of any pursuit by that for which his inmost soul pants.

The struggles of pastors are often many but one that I have experienced and heard from many of my shepherding brothers lately is the struggle with our people's commitment to one another. We live in an age were little to no commitment is required of anyone. We see this in our economic structure where companies encourage non-commitment with easy purchasing options with little to no commitment. Things such as phone plans and internet service or even cable TV offer no commitment necessary to obtain what you want. What is worse is we see this bleeding over into the family and even the church. We see little to no commitment to the sanctity of marriage and what it represents. But we also see a decline in self-professing Christians to commit to the church.

Oh we commit to things. It is amazing that many families will commit to hours of baseball or soccer practice and all day Saturdays spent at the ball field or tournaments. They will commit hundreds of dollars to such things that eternally have no benefit but when it comes to the eternal things many are willing to commit even in the smallest amount.  

As I was reading today through the book of Ephesians I was reminded of this very thing. In Chapter 4 Paul urges the people of the Church at Ephesus to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they have been called and to do this with humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love and eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He then adds that the leaders of the church are to equip the saints to do the work of ministry for the building up of the body, the church.

What Paul is getting at is that all professing church members have a responsibility to one another to be a part of the church. This means commitment. Now many justify their commitment by attendance or maybe even a little service every now and then however there is still a great lack of commitment and it is detrimental to the health and growth of the church. 

I was told by a pastor friend the other day that the average church attendance of a "regular member" is 1.3 times a month. That number is staggering and is heartbreaking to pastors. Here are a few ideas of what it means when you just don't show up. 

• First of all it means that you are not concerned about your own spiritual growth. Like it or not the Bible is clear that we are to meet together regularly for fellowship and worship. The purpose of this is that we will be challenged and equipped to fulfill the calling that God has called us to and that is to glorify Him. When we break the habit of meeting together we quickly fall into the ways of the world and our spiritual growth slows to a crawl. 
• Secondly is says the we don't care about the spiritual growth of others. Weather you realize it or not if you are a true believer you have a place and a duty in the church. The Bible tells that the Spirit equips us to do the work of ministry and each believer has different spiritual gifts. When we fail to participate we are quenching that Spirit that God has given us to do His work for His glory. 
• We don't cherish the Gospel like we should. For the believer the Gospel is as relevant today as it was when God used it to save us. We need the Gospel message to be preached to us because we are easily drawn away form what has saved us. We need a constant reminder of the awesome grace God has shown us through the Gospel message. It is to be celebrated, sung about, prayed about and studied about with our fellow believers. This too is for the glory of God. 

 Commitment to the local body of believers is a command that God gives us because it is there that the Gospel is experienced and lived out and every believer has a place and a duty to take part. And the great thing is we are blessed when we do commit. We grow in our faith. We grow in our relationships and we grow the church.

So I urge you. make a commitment. Commit to show up. Commit to attend that Bible study. Commit to that women's fellowship. Commit to that time of corporate worship. Commit that time to serve missionaly. I have never heard anyone say they have served Christ and His Church too much. 

I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
Psalm 122:1