Christmas: It's Not Your Birthday

This is the title of an upcoming sermon at a local church called Church at the Center. I have not heard the sermon, but when I heard the title it started my gears clicking. I immediately wrote it down and said, “There is the title of my next blog.” It tied in with the recent theme of my 2 most recent blogs so I will continue on with a series that has addressed greed and hedonism and end it today with coming to Christ as the perfect way to start the new year.

The last couple of weeks I have written about many being unsatisfied with what we have and how we feel God owes us more because of our faith in Christ. We no longer are asking ourselves how can I be the hands and feet of Christ but instead what can God do for me. In this same vein, Christmas has lost its’ meaning.

Now is where everyone will jump in and remind me that Christ was not born in December and that Christmas has many pagan traditions and is therefore premised on a lie. I know all of this. I also know that the wedding ring does not stop people from cheating or intensify the feelings you have for someone and the declaration of independence was not signed until almost a month after July 4^th. They are representations and reminders of momentous occasions.  

Christmas is the same story. It is a reminder of the greatest gift we have been given, the birth of Christ. Christ was born so that we would have a mediator between us and God. He was born so that we might receive grace and a promise of salvation. If not for Christ, we are lost. Our sins are not taken away; we have no bridge to God and no promise of eternal life.

That makes Christ’s birth a pretty big deal. In fact, that means the birth of Christ is THE big deal. Some where in our celebrating of Christmas this meaning has become secondary to what can I get for me. The main concern is about getting and receiving material things.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy both giving and receiving gifts. It is a blessing to have the finances and loved ones to generously give and receive gifts on the day we celebrate the greatest gift of all being given to us. I just wanted to remind you that without Christ there is no Christmas. It is not about season’s greetings, but merry CHRIST-MASS! Christ truly is the reason we celebrate this season, whether it is the correct day or not.

In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” That means that Jesus came to save all of us, for Romans 3:23 tells us that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So what do we have to do in order to be saved and reap the gift of Christ's sacrifice?

1.       You must have faith that Jesus died to forgive your sins. Ephesians 2:8 states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

2.       Ask God into your heart in the form of the Holy Spirit to guide you. Ephesians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”

3.       Confess your sins to God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

This year, let it be the year that you decided to try a new way of living. To steal an expression from the 12 step groups: Give us 90 days of your life, and if at the end of that 90 days you are not fully satisfied, we will gladly refund your misery. This year as you are giving and receiving gifts, with every gift you buy and every gift you get, remember the greatest gift of all that you were given over 2000 years ago.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS, enjoy food, fellowship and gifts with loved ones and use the holidays as a time to commit or recommit your life to Christ and being a fount of Christian love and warmth for all to experience in the coming year!

God Owes You Nothing

As I was sitting in church yesterday, I had an epiphany. Maybe it was in conjunction with always hearing people talk about how unfair life is when they are actually blessed beyond belief. We feel that we are to have these great things and that life is supposed to be a bowl of cherries. When things don’t go as we want them to, people lose faith in God or are reaffirmed in their reasons to doubt His existence.

The truth of it is that God owes us nothing. I know, you are thinking this is unbiblical but you are quite wrong. Isaiah 43 has some things to say about this. In verse 7 it states that we were created for His glory. In verse 22 and 23 God says that the Israelites had not wearied themselves for Him nor had they honored Him. Instead, verse 24 says, “you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses.”

The Lord’s Prayer has been changed over time. “Our Father, who is in heaven…….gimme, gimme, gimme!! We have gone from living our entire lives for God to only doing what we feel we have to and then maybe a little more so that we can get more. Some preachers encourage us to sow financial seeds in the lives of others so we may reap financial blessings and to help others get well so we may gain healing and restoration.

The prosperity gospel misleads many just like faith healing can. I believe that there are people healed, just as I know that there are rich Christians. There is nothing wrong with that. But what if you are poor and destitute? Think of Christians who have nothing in 3^rdworld countries that could be killed for believing in Christ. I guess that they are not obedient enough. How about the person who is not healed? I guess they don’t have enough faith, like Paul from the New Testament.

Do you see how this way of thinking can be detrimental? Maybe we are exactly where God needs us to be.  There are going to be poor and sick Christians that have just as much faith as those who are rich and have been healed.  What, were you expecting to be repaid for the money you tithe? I know that some pastors may tell you that, but it is untrue. Job 41:11 says that God owes no one because all that is under heaven belongs to Him.

“But the Bible says that faith without works is dead. Works count for something, right?” Works are the evidence of salvation, not the cause of salvation. We do good works because they are the right thing to do, not because of what we can gain from them. That is the wrong spirit of giving and doing anything.

 “But what has God done for me lately?” Everything!! Christ died on the cross. Jesus paid it all. He was the blood sacrifice for our sins and now we have the hope of everlasting life. God has given us 2 major life changing gifts: Christ dying to forgive our sins and the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us. What more could we ask for? Why should you feel a sense of entitlement?

“The Bible promises us riches,” you say. Yes it does. But why do you instantly think money, houses, cars, vacations, yachts, etc. The riches we are promised are not financial ones. The riches I have found in Christ are emotional and spiritual ones. I am optimistic and I have hope. I can smile through almost anything, and when bad things happen I have learned not to dwell on them. This world and my life in it are but temporary, not eternal. I keep my eye on the prize of eternal life and that allows me to cope with anything that is thrown at me.

So, the next time you begin feeling like God owes you something remember that he does and you may not like it if He were to pay you what you have earned.  Romans 3:23reminds us that we all sin. Romans 6:23a informs us that the wage of sin is death. Based on our deeds we are owed death.

When I talk to my clients in drug court and they tell me they don’t get what they deserve, I always tell them they are right. If we had been caught every time we had done something illegal, we would not have the ability to walk in freedom. Instead we would be in prison the rest of our lives. Drug court and probation is more than we deserve based on our conduct but we still have been given a shot at redemption. The same is true with our sinful lives.  

Romans 3:24 says that “all are justified freely by His GRACE through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 6:23b says, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternal life is a GIFT from God that we are given, and that is all we have the right to. Stop asking God what He can do for you and instead constantly ask yourself what you can do to live your life as you were created to.

So what can we do to live our lives the way we were created to live them?

1.       Trust in God. Proverbs 3:5-6 states that we are to trust in God instead of ourselves and submit to His will. Let his will be done, not our own. We do not know what plans He has for us and realize the biggest tests make the best testimonies.

2.       Learn what it means to be content. Philippians 4:11-13 shows that the secret to being content is not having a lot or a little but instead putting faith in God. Remember, our needs may or may not be met. We are to give of ourselves any way.

3.       Make your life a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1-7 tells that we all have gifts, and we are to use those gifts to honor God. If we have the ability to teach, we are to teach. If we are well off financially then we are to give to those less fortunate. Once again, it reminds us that the gifts we have are through grace. Our lives are miracles. If not for God than we are not here to begin with.

4.       Love God and love your neighbor. Matthew 22:36-39 tell us that the greatest commandments are to love God and others. We do this by living our lives by God and treating those around us as Christ would.

5.       Deny sinful desires. Luke 9:23says we are to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily to follow God. Everyday we choose whether we are guided by our flesh and greed or by the Holy Spirit.

Looking back, I realize I have felt this way for some time. I have taken to praying to be the hands and feet of God for the people I come in contact with, that God help me be more like Jesus today and that I do his will. When I pray for others who are having struggles, I ask that they have the strength they require and are given the wisdom to do what is needed so that God’s will is done.  

Scriptures of Recovery: 1 Timothy 1:15-16: Jesus Saves Sinners

1 Timothy 1:15-16, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life."

When I first came into church, I knew that I was different. I was in a room full of people and I knew they were not like me. They had not been abused like me as a child. They had not done drugs like me, drank like me, sold drugs like me, struggled with depression like me, gone to prison like me, etc. I felt completely out of place and knew that I was being judged by them. I was extremely nervous and uncomforable at first. Then some things happened to change that. This passage is one of those things.

Paul tells us that this passage should be taken at face value. It is not only “trustworthy” but also deserves “full acceptance.” He is giving a double guarantee that what he is saying is true, and what he is saying is huge! He is saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners, not to condemn or look down on them. This is echoed in several other scriptures from Jesus Himself:

Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Mark 2:17, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:13, “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

"So He has only come for the sinners and not those who haven't sinned'" was my first thought. Then I remembered Romans 3:23, which says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” To support that Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.”  So Christ came to save all of mankind, for we are all born into sin. The righteous and healthy Jesus talked about were the Pharisees and others like them who falsely believe themselves to be without sin. 

When Paul talked to Timothy he wanted to remind him that although Christ came to save sinners, there was no one that was not redeemable. Even someone like himself, who had hunted down and persecuted Christians, was still able to be saved. That is why Paul says “of whom I am the worst,” so that no one would lose faith in their ability to receive grace.

Paul said that although he deserved death, Christ’s grace covered him just as it did everyone else. He was sending a message to have faith and confidence in salvation, for if he could be pardoned so could anyone and everyone else.  In fact, this is evidenced over and over again in the Bible. After all, it is not just Paul that sinned:

1.  David was an adulterer and conspired to murder a man whose wife he had slept with and gotten pregnant.
2. Peter had anger management AND denial issues, chopping off an ear and then denying he knew Christ 3 times.
3. Jonah ran from God when he deemed what God had commanded him to do was too hard.
4. Thomas doubted that Christ had been resurrected.
5. Rahab was a prostitute.

I saw this quoted on Facebook, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called!” That is the absolute truth. God calls us, the Holy Spirit guides us and Jesus Christ redeems us. That is good news, and that news is made extremely evident in 1 Timothy 1:15-16.

That is why I love this passage. It helped me realize that not only could I feel comfortable inside of a church, but that I was called to be there by Christ Himself. When I am at a recovery meeting, I know that I have earned my seat there. I belong there. There is not a closed meeting the world over I could not sit in. These two verses let me feel that way about church as well. I am part of the body of Christ. There is a seat inside of the church just for me. There is a seat just for you!  I am saved by grace and promised eternal life and so are you. That is great news!  

I Killed Jesus

Today I am writing to you about a T-Shirt that I own. I get more looks when I wear this shirt than any other. Today, I had about half a dozen people comment on it and at least 50 people read it then glare at me as they walked past. The problem is they see "I Killed Jesus" written in white and can't read the rest written in gray. This shirt, made by Not of This World (NOTW), is an amazing conversation starter. More than that, it is a statement of truth.

The shirt actually reads, "I killed Jesus & Jesus died to save me ...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. 1 Tim 1:15" This is one of my favorite versus, written by one of my favorite authors. It is written by Paul, who had something in common with Prince as they were both formerly known as something. Paul was the Christian formerly known as Saul. He had once been the scourge of Christians. He hunted them down, persecuting and killing them for their believes. He was bad news.

Then something happened. You can read about the road to Damascus in Acts Chapter 9. He goes from following Judaism and hunting down Chrsitians as Saul of Tarsus in the first couple of verses to his conversion to Christianity then full circle to a conspiracy by the Jews to kill him. He accepted Christ and traveled all over the country, going from city to city proselytizing. What a change the Holy Spirit makes!

Every time someone comments on the shirt, it tends to go like this. Someone says,"So you killed Jesus, huh?" To  which I reply, "Yes I did. Jesus died to forgive us of our sins and I am a sinner. So are you. If not for our sins Christ would never have had to die. He died because of us." To which most walk off after saying something monumentally profound, such as "Well that makes sense."

The truth is Christ's crucifixion is the greatest thing that ever happened to man, and yet the worst thing man has ever done. It is the definition of the Taoist Yin Yang, an equality of good and evil. Christ died so that our sins could be forgiven, a one time sacrifice that changed the outcome of our lives. That death gave us grace, unmerited favor for while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Yet killing the only perfect person who had ever lived, the son of God and son of man.......that is a pretty bad deal on our part.

Yes, Christ died willingly. Yes, it was actually the Romans that killed Him based on the request of the Jews. But He came here to die for a reason. He came here to die for our sins. If we do not sin, He never has to be the sacrificial lamb who was slaughtered. Since He died for our sins, by proxy we killed Him.

So did I kill Jesus? Yes, we all did. Romans 3:23 tells us that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Not just me, not just you but everybody! He died for us all, so that we could one day know eternal life. Now I want to give you something to think on. This is food for thought for today, and I want you to really think about it today as you chew on it. I know that it really struck me today when I thought about it.

When Christ died, it was to not only redeem us but to remove us from the bondage of sin. When we come to Christ, we are healed. Sin is a sickness, and the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23). With his own life Christ paid that debt for us. BUT every time we sin we drive another nail into Jesus. We kill Jesus over and over again every day. When is enough enough?

So I only have one question for you today: Hasn't Jesus suffered enough?

What is A Moral Failure

I heard today that Pastor Tommy, who I think is an amazing pastor, stepped down as the lead pastor at North Point Church for what was called a "moral failure." I have never heard of a moral failure before, and I will not presume to know what he did or did not do. Everyone else can speculate about what he did. Personally, hearing the news today made me think about the affects that his stepping down could have on some of my friends and clients who go to North Point Church. So, this blog is for all of you.

First, what is a moral failure? As someone who is in recovery, I would imagine it is what I would call a relapse. If you are on parole you call it recidivism. Others might label it sin, character flaws, stumbling, sexual indiscretions or any number of other things. Bottom line, you messed up! That might be the best way to say moral failure, really. For the purpose of this blog moral failure will be referred to as relapse.

So, what is a relapse? Imagine you have sworn off something: drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, premarital sex, cheesecake, cutting yourself, cussing, etc. You are off to a good start. A good start is labeled differently by different people for different transgressions. It might be 4 hours, a day, a month or 10 years without a relapse. You are kicking butt and taking names, and all of a sudden you do it again.

One day you find yourself smoking that cigarette you swore off, or having sex with someone other than your spouse and breaking your wedding vows. All that you can think is, "How could this have happened?" You want to know how? In the program they say that addiction is cunning, baffling and strong. I think that addiction and the devil are synonymous, and they are experts at what they do.

At one time Satan was in control of my life. I was his soldier, and my lifestyle carried out his bidding. I had actually made drugs my god. When I got saved, the devil was kicked out of my life. He was no longer the main focus. That said, he is still there. Remember, the biggest trick the devil can pull off is convincing us that he no longer exists. When we do that, we immediately let him back into our lives.

Even if you are aware of him, remember that he is still aware of you too. Right now the devil is in the back of your head. Satan is lifting weights, running on the treadmill and doing research on the internet. He is getting stronger and smarter with only one goal. The Devil wants to get back into your life! He wants to move from the back of your brain and into the front of your brain.

The sad thing is that Satan has a plethora of tools at his disposal. This is his world and he knows it well. He can use your friends and family. He can use the television or the radio. He can use the gas station or even church. If you stop sleeping around, he will use porn. If you stop doing drugs, he will come at you with energy drinks. If you swear off R-Rated movies, he will come at you from the television and the radio. He does not like to lose. The devil will stop at nothing to have you back. He will use any one, any thing and any place to accomplish that goal! 

He will also use the people that we put upon a pedestal. For some that may be Pastor Tommy, and that is what scares me for some of my clients. They attend North Point and they have elevated Tommy to hero status. The problem with heros is that they are still human. My experience with hero worship was my sponsor in Narcotic's Anonymous. He had 11 years clean and had been my sponsor for 7 years when he relapsed. It started harmlessly, he drank a couple of O'Douls at a bachelor party. Two weeks later he was shooting up heroin.

How could that happen? How could someone with that much clean time fall off the wagon? I'll tell you how, because we all are capable of messing up if we let our guard down for one minute. Putting someone on a pedestal is always a mistake, because we all slip sometimes. Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That means everyone, even a favorite parent or your pastor, makes mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes.

Look in the Bible. David slept with a married women then had her husband put into the front lines and abandoned so that he would die. Peter denied Christ 3 times. Paul wrote over half of the New Testament, and in Romans 7 he said that he wanted to do good things, but found himself not doing them. Instead, he found himself doing evil things that he didn't want to do.

So when someone messes up, what should we do? Should we humiliate them, or abandon them? Should we avoid them and talk poorly about them? Should we pray for them and offer our support? I would advise the latter. We should pray for them, and if it does not jeopardize us we should be there for them, also. I have told friends that I could not meet them at their house where I knew they were using, but that if they wanted to meet me at an NA meeting I would talk to them after it. Be safe, but be supportive!!

When someone has a relapse, I always remember the saying but for the grace of God, there go I. I could just as easily have suffered the same fate if not for God's mercy. I need to appreciate what I have and remember that God loves us all, even the sinner. 1 Timothy 1:15 reminds us that Christ came into the world to save sinners. We all have the ability to sin, to mess up, to relapse. So how do we protect ourselves from a relapse?

It requires a mentor/sponsor, accountability partners, working the 12 steps/living Biblically and actually applying them in our lives. We need to avoid places, people and situations that are dangerous. We need to read the Bible, truly study it and apply it. We also need to pray constantly. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says that we are to "pray without ceasing." We should always be in contact with God. Why is this important?

Phillipians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through He who strengthens me." Without Christ I was weak and a servant of Satan. With Christ I have overcame my addictions and have been able to share my faith, hope and recovery with others. That has been done, not by forgetting the Devil is there, but instead doing everything that I can to keep him at bay.

So I hope that my friends and associates who go to North Point are not shattered by the latest development there. Instead I hope that it reminds them how easy it can be to make mistakes. Hopefully they will focus more on their relationship with Christ and what they can do to make that relationship stronger.

When my sponsor relapsed, it did several things to me. First, it reminded me how strong addiction and by proxy Satan are. Second, it made me remember that my addiction doesn't take a day off, and neither should my recovery. I have to daily do things to build my sobriety and my relationship with Christ. That is because I know that Satan is using new tricks every day to get back into my life. As long as I stay prepared and vigilant, he will fail.

After my sponsor relapsed I was there for him with prayer and encouragement to help him back up. We talked daily and met at meetings several times a week. He had done so much for me, and I was blessed to be able to repay a small part of what he had done for me back to him. I am sure people feel the same way about Tommy. He has helped thousands. I hope that everyone remembers all that he and his family have  done for them and that prayer and support rains down upon Tommy, his family and the North Point Community.

Scriptures of Recovery - Romans 3:23

I can remember sitting in church the very first Sunday that I went. I had been invited by friends because I was hopeless and stuck in a major depressive episode. I had not been to a Sunday service in 20 years. I had stopped going to church the first week of my 5th grade year. I am exact on that, because that is the week that my mother left my father and we went to live with my paternal grandfather. He was my abuser for the next 1 1/2 years. That is when I had decided that there could not be a God. Don't get me wrong, I had tried church several times in high school. I felt out of place in church and from my sophomore year on I had not been to church other than weddings and funerals.

As the service started, I was already feeling a little more open to what was about to be said. One of the songs before the service was Third Day's "Cry Out to Jesus," which you can read about here: http://spiritualspackle.blogspot.com/2011/07/songs-of-recovery-cry-out-to-jesus-by.html. It opened me up to listen. So there I am, sitting in church actually listening as the pastor, Cal Swenson, gave his sermon. 

I remember sitting next to my friends Nate and Becca thinking that I did not belong in church. Truth be told, I probably did not feel that I deserved friends that were as caring and kind as Nate and Becca. I was looking at them and the people sat around me, all the while feeling that I we all had nothing in common. What could they possibly have in common with me? 

Then Cal read Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 

I suddenly looked at every one around me, and I felt that maybe I fit in. I was not the only one in there who had sinned. But, and there is that word but, as I looked around I still felt that my sins were far more and far greater than every one else in there. I was so full of self-loathing that I felt my sins completely outweighed every one else's. 

I did not believe in God at this time, but I can remember thinking that even if God was real, my sins were bigger than his forgiveness. I guess that it is really easy to make God insignificant if you have no faith in Him. That does not make Him so, but perception is reality (at least your perception is your reality). Amazing how Paul helped me see that all can be forgiven. His conversion from Saul of Tarsus to Paul and what he was employed to do when he was Saul helped me realize the extent of God's forgiveness, but that is for another blog!

So all sin, not just me but everyone that sits in church. I mean from the pastor to the deacon to the greeter at the door.  Mother Teresa, Ghandi, the Pope, all of the disciples, everyone! I had somewhere forgotten that no one is perfect, not even the people in church. Romans 3:10 expresses this best when it says, "There is no one righteous, not even one."

Sometimes I wish that the people in church would remember that and stop looking down on others and instead love them enough to get them inside of the church. That gives the Holy Spirit the chance to work on them. I believe that we should hold each other accountable, but acceptance in a genuine and nonjudgemental fashion is what will get people to stay so that the Spirit can begin to work on them and recreate them. This is a soapbox of mine, and I will step off of it now and get back to Romans.

So we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. This is a relief, because as a sinner it should make it hard to look down on other sinners. I know that this does not really happen, but it should. As I looked around the church that day, even though I knew that my sin's were more extreme and more frequent, I felt a little more like I could come back. I felt like maybe I at least had one thing in common with everyone in church at New Life. We were all imperfect, and we all fell short of the glory of God. 

Since we all fall short of the glory of God, which I would define as how God intended us to be. We were made to be holy, righteous, and eternal. We have all fallen short thanks to Adam and Eve. That said, it is time that we begin to accept responsibility for out actions. How do we do that? 

Romans 3:24-25 says that we are, "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood." So Christ was sent to redeem us from our past sins, so that we could be justified. Justified is another way of saying declared righteous. So thanks to God's grace, we are now able to be declared righteous based solely upon what Jesus did for us. 

When Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa on the way to Golgotha, He knew what He was doing. The blood that He shed, from the whipping post to His crucifixion, was all done so that we could be forgiven. We sinned against God, and out of His mercy, love and grace He sent His Son as an atonement. What we could have never done on our own, God out of His love did for us.  

Just so that you do not get caught up like I once did in my sins and never being able to find forgiveness, Romans 3:28 says that, "we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." That means that we are not justified, or declared righteous by our obedience to the law. Instead, we are declared righteous by having faith that Christ died so that we could live eternally. 

Finally, this is not a ticket to sin. 1 John 2:3-6 states, "We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did." 

So in summation, everyone sins and no one is perfect. Jesus was sent as a sacrifice so that we could be forgiven of our sins by God. We are redeemed of our sins not by our acts, but by our faith. Yet, this does not mean that we are free to sin. If we put our faith in the redemption of Christ, our lives will be directed by the Holy Spirit that resides inside of us and we will begin to live lives that are more and more Christ-like. Ergo, we will live life more righteously and sin less!