Good Friday, Easter and worship music

Today is Good Friday. I worked, then I went on a 20 mile bike ride. During the bicycle ride, which was on the Greenways in Springfield, I enjoyed nature. I looked at God's creation, and it was good. I saw squirrels, rabbits, birds, trees, flowers and a lot of people. How anyone could possibly look at all that I saw today and think it all came from nothing. That there was a time that space, time and matter didn't exist and it all came into being from a "singularity" or that it just all existed just so and now we have life springing from non-living matter without the guidance of a master's hand is beyond me......and totally irrelevant to this blog.

Instead, I want to look at what I did when I got home on Good Friday. I came home and have spent the last 3 hours in front of the computer signing worship songs. I love to worship, and I have listened to my favorites tonight: Brandon Heath, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Third Day, Sanctus Real, Tenth Avenue North, Matt Maher, John Waller, David Crowder, Jeremy Camp, Newsboys, Chris and Conrad, Kutless, Chris Tomlin, Finding Favour and Jonny Diaz. Hillsong and Sidewalk Prophets. I am sure that I left some out, and as for the women and rap worship that I listen to.........I just can't hit the notes or rap well enough to sing on a night of worship.

I just want to share a couple of songs with you that really stood out to me. It is not on me to judge anyone, but there are a lot of people that have forgotten what it means to be a Christian. They have forgotten what Good Friday and Easter are about. Christ died for us, and yet we are afraid to look different to the world. We may go to church, we may tithe, we may raise our hands in worship. That does not make a Christian. Are you cussing, fornicating, drinking to inebriation, drugging, lying, stealing, gossiping, etc. I ask you to listen to this Matthew West song and ask if it describes you. Are you going through the motions:

So, are you just going through the motions? If so, you don't have to anymore. You're past sins no longer matter. God is a God of love, and He loves you regardless of what you have done. He loves you anyway:

Jesus loved us so much, that He did not want us to be bound to death. He wanted us to have the opportunity to be forgiven:

How could He possibly remove the debt of sin that we all owe? He paid the ultimate price for us. Jesus paid it all:

But that is not enough. It was not enough for Jesus to simply die for us. Many have died for others. What He did was come back from the dead. For us, He is risen:

Jesus died and came back three days later. Today we remember His death. On Sunday we celebrate His resurrection. Because of His sacrifice and resurrection, we are changed once we accept Christ. He gave us amazing grace and our chains are gone:

So in closing, we are created new because of the Grace that was shown to us not only when Christ died, but when He was resurrected. Because of that I am a new person, I'm not who I was:

What I really want you to focus on as we approach Easter Sunday is that we were born into sin. God loved us so much that He sent Christ to die, so that we could have eternal life. The problem is that most of us take the Grace we were given for granted. We continue to live our lives as the world does. Christ said that they would hate us as they hated Him. We are not on Earth to fit in, but to shine like a lamp on a hill. You are no longer who you once were, so live like it! If you truly believe that Christ died for you, show it. Your attitude of gratitude should set you apart from the world. Your life should do one thing, like a beacon in a world of darkness it should shine:

Come As You Are

Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

We are not called to be perfect. In fact, at first we are just called to show up, period! We are called to come to Christ as we are, weary and burdened. That means we come to Christ as sinners with our sins in their full glory. Our sin is active when we come to Christ. Romans 3:23 tells us that all sin. It is in our nature to sin, especially when we are in the world.

Mark 2:17 Christ let's the Pharisees know who He came to save when He said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The same story is also related in Matthew 9 and Luke 5. 1 Timothy 1:15 parrots this when it says that Christ came into the world to save sinners. So Christ came and He came so that the sinners could be forgiven. What does that mean for us? Does that mean that we are fine the way that we are when we first come into relationship with God and can stay the same?

In one word, NO!!! For example, I work at a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility. I tell my clients that it does not matter what reason they came into treatment for originally; whether it is to get their children back in their custody, to stay out of prison or to make someone they love happy. At least they are here. Now if when they leave that is still the same reason that they have to stay sober then we have a problem.

You see, simply walking through the door is a huge hurdle. Once we have opened the door, then a relationship with Christ can begin to happen. Christ has the ability to take the direct consequence of our sins away. Our not wanting more than that is the problem! Francis Chan says that many of us do not want to be saved from our sin (as in we will sin no more), but only from the consequences of our sin (eternity in Hell).

We need to be worried about much more than just the consequences of our sin. We need to abolish sin from our lives! In John 8:11, Jesus instruction to the woman caught committing adultery was to, "go and sin no more." He did not tell her to go and try not to sin like many churches preach. He told her not to sin at all. That is what we are to try to do. We must try to live as Christ lived. Our lives should be lived as a tribute to God.

I have said ever since I was saved that my life is a gift from God, and how I live my life is my gift back to Him! It seemed like most of my life was spent slapping God in the face. That was how I used to repay Him for my life, by embarrassing and rebelling against Him. Now I live my life to glorify Him in all that I do. It is not always by doing the easiest thing, but by doing the right thing. It is done by following Phillipians 2:12, which says that we should, "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

That is what we should do with our lives. We will make mistakes, but as our relationship grows they should come less often and eventually almost disappear. Then we can be found pleasing to God, as talked about in Colossians 1:10, "so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."

I know many feel that because God loves us He is happy with us just as we are. That is true, with a caveat. He loves us as He is, but expects and wants the best for and from us. He loves us unconditionally, but even unconditional love wants the best for us and expects us to improve. If that does not make sense to you, then let me speak as a parent.

When my son was born I was just happy to get him home. I loved to watch him just lay there. That was great, but I could not wait for him to begin rolling over. Rolling over was pretty cool, but then came crawling. Crawling was amazing to watch as he figured it out. Now, I love my son with all of my heart. I have never loved anyone more unconditionally than I do him. Yet, when he began to crawl I still wanted more from him. As he matured, I wanted him to eventually learn to stand on his own.

Standing was still not good enough, because I would not have been satisfied with anything less than him walking since he had no infirmities. As he took those first steps I was proud. I got his first steps on video tape. He would take a couple of steps and then fall. I would look on proudly. As he learned how to walk better, I expected him to fall down less and less and to eventually hardly fall at all. I expected nothing less of him, and yet I love him unconditionally.

God is the same way! Come as you are. It is okay if you crawl through the door to worship. As you mature in your faith, you will find balance and eventually begin to take steps. Those steps will transform into a solid walk with God. He loves us unconditionally, and He expects nothing less from us than a firm walk (thanks to George McDonald for this example). We should expect nothing less from ourselves either. We need to stop using excuses to not do our best. 

I had a friend who was hiring at his restaurant. He was having trouble finding employees. When I asked why he was having problems he said, "I have a lot of applicants but nobody to hire. Everybody wants to get paid, but none of them want to work for it." That reminded me of so many Christians that I know. We all want to be saved, but we do not want to put in the work.

There are a lot of pastors today who preach the feel good, watered down gospel. They have thousands that attend their mega-churches, and they feel that they are doing the work of God. I tell you this, if we look and act like those outside of the churches we are doing something wrong. If we do as the masses do, the Bible let's us know where we stand. Matthew 7:12-13 says, "wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

God called me to come as I was, but in His infinite wisdom He saw that I could not stay that way. I have already talked about the changes that the Holy Spirit causes, and how following the whispers of God make our lives better. I will soon be writing a blog about the feel good garbage that some of the Christian authors and pastors are laying down as dogma! Religion truly is the opiate of the masses.

I do not want you to have religion! I want you to have a relationship with Christ. Ephesians 4:1 sums up what I say to you and what I want for all of you. Paul says that "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." We have been called to represent God with our lives. We have been called to Christ, who laid down his life for us so that our lives could be eternal. Can we not lay down our sins for Him?