Thursday, November 13, 2014

Not Guilty; Grateful.

I’ve recently been doing a sermon series with my church called “How to be Rich.”  No, it’s not a series on how to get rich quick; it’s how to be rich.  I’m basing it on the book by Andy Stanley of the same name and the sub-title gives a little more insight into what it’s all about; “It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have.”  One of the things we quickly learned is that pretty much all of us are rich.  And if you’re reading this you probably are too.  You may be looking at the pile of bills on your kitchen table and be thinking “funny, I don’t feel very rich.”  Well here’s some interesting statistics for you (according to Stanley’s book).  If you make $37,000.00 household income per year or more, you are in the top 4% of all wage earners in the world.  If you make $48,000.00 or more, you are in the top 1%.  It kind of makes you rethink that whole occupy movement doesn’t it. 

For me personally I have a wife who works, and I do too and so it’s probably not all that surprising when I say we are in the top 1%.  Not only that, we get to live and do ministry on Cape Cod.  We’ve got the beautiful ocean and beaches, pristine golf courses, and more ice cream shops than you can count.  There are places in the world where women walk hundreds of yards with big bowls of water on their heads each day just so they can have it for drinking and cooking.  We spray water all over our yard to keep it green.  There are places in the world where kids would be happy with one decent pair of shoes.  I counted the shoes in my closet the other day and came up with sixteen.  I dare you to go count your shoes when you are done reading this.  It can be quite the eye opening experience. 

I think it’s a good thing to understand that relative to the rest of the world we are very rich indeed.  But I’m not writing all of this to try and make anyone feel guilty.  I honestly don’t think you should feel guilty.  We had no control over being born American.  I’m also a big believer in the Bible teaching a strong work ethic, and that in turn can make many rich even by American standards depending on what field they work in.  And all of that is okay.  Guilt is not the emotion we should be going for.  The correct emotion or attitude that should well up in all of us when we think about such things is grateful.  We have so much to be grateful for.  And when we are grateful we should be grateful to God because He gives us so much.  The financial blessings come from Him.  He did after all create us with the gifts and abilities to allow us to earn a living.  But his blessings are so much more than just financial.  James 1:17 tells us every good and perfect gift comes from God. 


Remember those 16 shoes in my closet I referred to?  As a way to express my gratitude I decided I’m going to purchase 16 items at the grocery store for our local food pantry; one item for each pair of shoes.  It’s not anything major I know, but I’m also going to challenge the rest of my congregation to do the same thing this Sunday.  I figure if we get enough of us doing it we can stock them up pretty good for the Thanksgiving season.  1st Timothy 6: 17-18 challenges us not put our hope in riches but to be rich in good deeds instead.  This is one small good deed, but when you add them all up they can start to make a difference.  Maybe you should go to your closet and start counting. 

Thursday, November 6, 2014

On Politics, Ignorant Windbags, and Mark Driscoll


The mid-term elections are now over. How did your guys do….. or gals?  Living in The Peoples Republic of Massachusetts it was a bit of a surprise to see the some Republicans win this time around including our new governor to be Charlie Baker.  I rarely if ever talk politics from the pulpit. I prefer to keep my focus on the main thing; or better put the main person Jesus Christ. I figure I can venture into the political world at least a little in my blog though. For whatever its worth I’m not real big on identifying myself politically. I much prefer to simply identify myself as a Christian or Jesus follower.  For me personally that has led me in a more conservative direction, which in turn has led me to vote for guys with an “R” after their name more often than not. All that being said, I have a great deal of respect for many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who tend to go the other direction.  It’s okay that we may occasionally disagree about the best way for Government to be involved for the common good of the people. All of that is secondary to our common commitment to Jesus Christ and His call on our lives to love God and love others. And contrary to what those on the extreme left might say it is in fact possible to be a compassionate conservative and love others well.

There’s one thing I’m sure of, and that is my thankfulness for another election season to be over.  That means no more political commercials. Praise God!  I get so tired of obvious misrepresentations of opposing candidates. Sometimes the mudslinging can get a bit out of hand. It reminds me of a passage I read recently.

They are ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory.
1st Timothy 6:4-5a (The Message)

In this passage the apostle Paul is speaking about false teachers who did not agree with the biblical doctrines of Jesus Christ. As I was reading that description I got to wondering; can it sometimes describe us as Christians when we are in disagreement?  I’m afraid there are those among us who rather enjoy controversy and bad mouthing.  It’s like they are looking for a fight. My alma-matter Gordon College has been in the news a lot lately because of a stand its President recently took about the schools hiring practices as a private Christian institution. I’ve been following a discussion about it through an alumni group on Linked-In, and I think there have been some who definitely go over the line in trying to make their point.  I find that to be unfortunate. For the most part I’ve enjoyed reading the discussion because those participating all seem to be very smart and well-read individuals. And yet, when they go over the line with their disdain for those who may disagree with them, all I can think of is “conceited ignorant windbag.”

I’ve seen the same phenomenon with Mark Driscoll recently stepping down and Mars Hill church disbanding. There have been some who disagree with Driscoll’s conservative views and have gone over the line, almost celebrating his demise. I’ve never met Driscoll, but I’ve read a bit about him and listened to plenty of his sermons. As far as I can tell, he’s first and foremost a man who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, a gifted speaker, a family man, and someone who probably has some anger issues and pride. So why throw stones? He’s on this Christian journey just like the rest of us, and because of his ministry hundreds or even thousands have become followers of Jesus.

As I write about all of this one thing keeps coming to mind. I sure don’t want anyone to think of me as an ignorant windbag. It’s not a very flattering description for anyone; leave alone a Pastor.  I think I’ll play it safe and leave politics and Christian controversy’s on the periphery and keep preaching Jesus.