Spendthrift Disciples?

If someone asked you to describe the financial choices and spending habits of a sold-out, revival-hearted Christian, what words would you use? Here are a few I’m sure you’re thinking of: sacrificial, unselfish, generous, purposeful, responsible, cheerful, trusting, obedient, and transcendent. Here are a few that are not coming to mind: self-indulgent, miserly, impetuous, reckless, grudging, independent, rebellious, and myopic.

In the early years of the church, the first list of words described the Christian community. They had very little and gave away most of the little they had. They were primarily members of the “left-out” community. If they were one of the privileged few who came to Christ, they were known for the amounts of money they gave away, not the portion that they kept.

Today the embarrassing words of the second list could explain the financial attitudes of too many of us. We drive luxury cars and spacious SUV’s, live in expansive homes in the suburbs, eat in the top restaurants, play on premium golf courses, shop in trendy stores, cruise the seas and fly with the beautiful people to faraway places while most of our churches struggle to meet bare-bones budgets and cross-cultural Christian workers live hand to mouth.

Empty-Handed Arrivals in Heaven

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What is your least and His much?

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10).

The big questions in this verse are, “What is our least, and what is God’s much?

We’ve all heard some fundraiser or TV preacher tell us that if we’ll just give our little to God then He’ll give us a lot more money.

That interpretation may work to manipulate people into giving, but it’s not at all what Jesus is teaching in this passage.

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A Friendship Day

Two or three times a year I fight the 57 freeway traffic down to Orange County to meet one of my lifelong friends. Dave Burchett and I met in 1980, my first year at Dallas Seminary. I think our wives were in a Bible study together in the little neighborhood church we attended. Since Dave and Joni lived outside of the “spiritual cocoon” of the seminary culture, their friendship made a big difference during our four years in Dallas, Texas.

In the years since, Judy and I have moved all over the country—Michigan, Oregon, Southern California. Dave and Joni are still in Dallas, only a few miles from their original home. The four of us have only met together a few times in the two decades since. Dave’s a television director, so his travels give us more opportunity to see one another.

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The Greatest Bailout and Amnesty Program Ever

Depending on your political persuasion, you’re probably upset—a little or a lot—over the recent corporate bailout and amnesty programs.

If you lean to the left, listen to NPR, watch MSNBC, and think that Keith Olbermann makes some great points, corporate bailouts are just one more victory for the ruling elite in their relentless assault on the working class. It bothers you that somebody else has to pay for the sins of these corporate fat cats whose greed and lust for power drove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into impoverishment.

If you lean to the right, listen to Rush Limbaugh, watch Fox News, and think that Bill O’Reilly makes some great points, amnesty for illegal aliens is just one more step toward socialistic irresponsibility. It bothers you that good, hardworking people have to pay for the sins of these outsiders whose desperate desire for a better life drives them to our land of promise.

Before I get too energized over bailouts or amnesty, God’s Spirit reminds me of the greatest bailout and offer of amnesty in history.

Jesus Christ bailed out humanity by paying for the sin of the world on a cruel Roman Cross.

Jesus Christ offers amnesty to all who are enslaved by the power of darkness and invites them to freely enter His Kingdom of light.

Remember Yours?

Do you remember what it felt like to live bankrupt by your sin—hopelessly in debt to a God you could never repay? Do you remember what it felt like to be enslaved by the power of darkness—hopelessly powerless to break from the tyranny of sin and failure?

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Uh Oh, Galatians???!!!

When I talk about our theme next year at Church of the Open Door—Trusting Grace; Releasing Life, and add that our text is Galatians, churched-up people raise an eyebrow and say something like, “You better be careful with that grace stuff in Galatians. It can be dangerous.”

Most Christians have been taught to mistrust grace.

There’s always some wildly popular Christian book telling us that grace is dangerous and if someone isn’t “really committed” he or she isn’t a Christian.

One Reason We Mistrust Grace

I don’t know all of the reasons Christians mistrust grace, but I know one of them.

We’ve never seen it work in the context of community!

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Biblical scholars love to argue the Markan priority vs. the Mathaean priority. It’s basically a debate over which came first, Matthew or Mark. But, before you close this email because it sounds like I’m going to talk about something only New Testament academics really care about, let me assure you this is not a scholarly piece. (For those of you who know me well, that’s not much of a surprise!)

A few years ago when I was studying Mark, preparing to teach it to my friends at Church of the Open Door, I realized that my problem with Mark is more practical than theological. What I’m struggling with is the real Markan priority—the one Mark actually emphasized that I don’t want to be a priority in my life.

Jesus the Servant

When I read Mark’s account of the Lord’s life, I’m impressed with his emphasis on Jesus as the Servant who came to serve others. Mark was a privileged man who probably kept servants and grew up in luxury. He heard, through Peter’s words, that Jesus was asking those who followed Him, the rich and the poor, to become servants.

For me this is serving the people in my world—my wife, Judy, my children, our staff and elders as well as friends. But there’s those other ones too: The guy who calls me way too late wanting to talk about the same problem I talked with him about last week, and last month, or even last year, or the hurting friend who stops by the office all needy when I really don’t have the time. And then there are the people from my daily routine: The snippy girl at Starbucks who hands me my Americano, or the guy who crowds in front of me on the bench press machine at the gym.

The Worn-Out Jesus

Mark pictures Jesus as an extremely busy, exhausted Lord during His Galilean ministry. People were brought to him for days on end and even into the late night. They crowded Him to the water’s edge at the beach. He had to get away just to pray. And yet, what strikes me is the many times Mark says that He “touched them all.”

And that’s what Jesus is asking of you and me: “Touch them all in my name, all of them—the inconvenient and the inappropriate, the mean and the hateful, the left-out’s and the left-over’s.”

My Markan Assignment

Many weeks it’s my most difficult assignment from Jesus–to put someone else first when every fleshly molecule wants me to put me first.

Who is He asking you to touch in His name this week? Who is He asking you to serve today?

It’s His Markan priority for all who call Him Lord.

“And whoever desires to be first shall be slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:44-45).

Nightly Battle

I fight an almost nightly battle that you might find a little too familiar. My mind defaults to the problems and pressures of life the moment I try to relax. Thoughts fly toward worst-case scenarios—what will we do if? Or how will we ever get past that?

For some reason, Christmas just multiplies my anxious thoughts.

When this happens, there’s always one verse that brings me back to the sweet center of trust. Sometimes it even brings a smile just before I doze off.

What Are You Worried About?

If you’re wondering, “What could it be that keeps you up at night fretting Ed?” here it is. Please know, I’m not telling you this to show you how difficult my life is. I’m telling you this so that you can know that my life is just like yours. We’re all under pressure and worrying about our families, our friends, and our country; it’s just that we’re worrying about different details and pressures.

These are things that keep me awake:

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Recently I read Mark 4. The last line of the chapter led me to write this in my journal:

“Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:41)

Wow, Lord. Even as we’re attracted to your strength, it scares us. When we get in the boat with you and the storm comes, we plea to you, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” (v. 39) But then, when you exhibit your raw power as the Son of God, we secretly think, “Man, there’s nothing He can’t do. This is a little intimidating, praying to an all-powerful God.”

I thought about that paragraph, and wrote:

But still, if we’re not in the boat being tossed around by the wind and the waves, we’ll never see your power. So, Lord, I’m telling you right now, “I want the storm. Bring on the waves! Anything, as long as I am in the boat with you. Show me your power.”

Me and Jesus Wearing Capes!

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The birth of a child is a special event for any family.

We’re extremely selective when it comes to inviting people into the experience.

God’s angels invited shepherds to the most momentous event in history–the birth of His Son.

Ever wonder why?

I don’t know all the reasons, but I’m sure that one reason had to be that the shepherds’ hearts were ready for the event.

In a religious culture deciding who measured up to God’s standards, the shepherds didn’t have a chance.

They lived ceremonially unclean, hadn’t been taught the fine points of the religious law, were unschooled, ignorant, and, in the minds of most Jews, shiftless.

Few tended their own flocks. They were hirelings working for important and successful owners of flocks.

The next time you hurry into the convenience store servicing customers pumping gas along a busy interstate, look at the guy behind the counter.

There’s your modern-day shepherd from Jesus’ world.

But these shepherds had something the rest of that self-righteous religious society didn’t possess.

Hearts ripe to receive the love of God.

A heart that is working hard at trying to measure up to a demanding God isn’t ready to receive His love.

From the very beginning Christianity has been for those ready to look to God alone for hope and meaning.

Have you received the love of God? Or are you still trying to measure up?

The Un-me

If your life looks anything like mine, you know that most of the time there is a “you” that is there for others—problem is, it’s often not the “real” you.

The “you” at work doesn’t have permission to tell others that you don’t know how you’re going to make payroll, or your plans to let some of them go if business doesn’t pick up. As a supervisor or owner, you can’t let them know how much this economy frightens you.

Every leader or coach realizes that the “you” who stands in front of your team must not sweat…even when the challenges or the failures make you feel like you’re going to throw up.

A dad struggling with self-doubt or regret knows he can’t let it show. The “you” at home doesn’t have permission to ask the children to “help daddy through this crisis.”

You single moms know that there is a “you” that is always on. If your children had any hint at what’s really going through your mind late at night when you finally get to bed—the desperation, the loneliness, the exhaustion—their little lives would be wounded even more.

A husband’s shielding love presents the “you” that assures the wife of your confidence in God…even when your heart is screaming, “What do we do, Lord?”

A wife’s devoted love asks God for the courage to be the “you” that supports her husband’s tough decisions…even when you’ve voiced your reservations and your heart is crying out to the Lord, “What if this isn’t what we should do? How can we know this doesn’t put us at risk?”

The Me-me

But there is one place that is different, that place where you and I never have to be the impressive me, the confident me, the strong me, or the “spiritual” me—it is the only place safe enough to totally let down our guard.

It’s the safest place in the universe.

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