Lo$t: Where Am I?

Money is necessary for life. It is what we use to get the food, clothes, shelter, transportation, and everything else that we need for life. Because of its prevalence in our lives most of us have done something dumb with our money. It is easy to do. The reality is most Americans are lost financially. We have too much debt and too many obligations which lead to experiencing significant financial pressure each month. We need help when it comes to money. The Bible says too much about money for us to be lost financially. God cares about how we use our money, which means that money is a spiritual issue. The first step in getting unlost financially is to discover where we are. We need to understand that everything belongs to God and that we are His stewards managing His resources. When we remember this truth everything else begins to fall into place. Text: Matthew 6:19-21 and Luke 16:10-13 Big Idea: Christians are to be good stewards of their finances. Challenge: Figure out how much money comes into your bank account and where it goes each month.

Our Purpose and Our Healing

God created humans to bear His image. To bear God's image means that we are to demonstrate God's character: His love, grace, mercy, and kindness in the world around us.

How do we do that?

It starts with love. Jesus taught that our greatest responsibility is to love God and to love people.

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:37-40; CSB)

The best way we can live this life of love is to be kind and caring to those around us. In a word we are to serve. Serving is the foundation of the purpose that God created us to do.

It is logical that our purpose is wrapped up in serving others, but it doesn't make sense that our healing is too?

In fact, it seems contradictory to say our healing and our wholeness are found in giving our lives away. 

Conventional wisdom teaches that we need to take care of ourselves first before we have the capacity to help other people. Some Christians even teach that we need to love ourselves before we can truly love others. 

The truth that our healing is found in giving ourselves away is another example of the upside down nature of the Gospel. Wholeness is found in sacrifice and healing is found in serving others.

One of the reasons why our healing is found in serving is because we are are broken by our sin and selfishness, which leads to broken relationships. Our sin has led to a damaged relationship with God which leads to a damaged relationship with other people. Since we are created to live in relationships, to have damaged relationships means we cannot be the people God created us to be.

We lack wholeness when our relationships are not what they should be.

So how do we build relationships? 

It begins with reaching out to people in love. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught:

Matthew 5:23-24 (CSB)

“So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”

We are to take the initiative for reconciliation happen. Even if we have been wronged it is up to us to do what needs to be done to make things right. There is no guarantee that broken relationships will be repaired, but our relationships will remain broken if we do nothing. We find healing and wholeness when we do what is in our power to make things right in a relationship.

Not only do we need to reach out to people in love, but we also have to stop following our flesh. Paul gave the Galatians this warning:

Galatians 5:13-15 (CSB)

For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

Our flesh will lead us to be selfish, which in turns destroys relationships and holds us back from pursuing our purpose to love. To find wholeness and healing we need to be led by the Spirit. How do we know when we are led by the Spirit? We know the Spirit is leading when we experience the desire to help, serve, forgive, and encourage people. 

In our journey to become the people that God created us to be we need to know what we can do, those things that are under our control. How we follow Jesus is under our control and that is what I focused on here. There are times in our pursuit of wholeness when we need more help. This is when we should get counseling. A good counselor will help you to find the path of healing that you need.

The thought I want to leave you with today is that healing isn’t discovered in more self-care, but it is found in reaching out to people in love. Healthy relationships have a healing effect on our lives.

Progress Not Perfection

 One of the things that I would like to share on the blog are my sermons, since they are the result of a significant amount of pondering each week.

This is the sermon that I preached on January 1, 2023.

A new year brings with it a hope of a new start. All of us have at least one area in our lives that we would like to see changed.

The issue we face is that we have failed in the past and we don’t know why now would be any different. Our hope of a new start quickly turns into discouragement.

Thankfully, God isn’t after our perfection, but our progress. Our faithfulness to Jesus is seen in our continual transformation day by day and year by year.

Text: Philippians 3:12-14
Bottom Line: Our faith helps us make progress in our journey to become more like Jesus.
Challenge: Write down one goal for your spiritual formation and think of the step needed to accomplish it.

Is That the Real Reason for Deconstruction?

Ever since Donald Trump’s election as president, and especially since the pandemic, deconstruction has been a topic of conversation within Christian circles.

Deconstruction, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, “is the analytic examination of something (such as a theory) often in order to reveal its inadequacy.” 

Deconstruction, for the Christian, is the process of breaking down the beliefs and doctrines held by a church, denomination, or theological framework because the teachings and practices don’t seem to line up. 

When done in pursuit of truth deconstruction can be an admirable work. 

In fact, I went through a period of deconstruction in the years of 2007-2009 (though that wasn’t the term being used then), as I questioned many of the things I believed both religiously and politically. The one truth I held on to in this process is the resurrection of Jesus. I knew it was not possible to have answers to all my questions, but since I was confident about the resurrection, I trusted that to be my anchor point to help guide my life in pursuit of what is true.

Deconstruction, when done to reveal the inadequacies of your former belief system, is less about discovering what is true than it is creating justification for why you changed. This is why, even though I believe deconstruction can be a healthy part of our journey of faith, I am skeptical about all the deconstruction that is happening across the different faith traditions in the United States.

Take this tweet by Zach Lambert:

Because we are tribal creatures we want to be part of a group. If we feel like outsiders with our current group we are going to find a new one and we are going to adopt the practices of that new group. That is partially what is behind the deconstruction movement. People have found a new group to belong and they are joining in on this thing everyone else is doing. In this sense it is the “sexy” thing to do.

I would agree with Zack that people aren’t deconstructing to have an excuse to sin. This is a weak argument given by morality police to make it seem like deconstruction is all about emotions and feelings rather than real intellectual questions that need to be thought through.

My main problem with the tweet Zach's proclamation that people are deconstructing because the Christianity and Christians that they know are unlike Jesus. It is a subtle jab towards conservative Christians because he doesn't like their politics or their belief about Jesus.

What Zach is saying is that people are deconstructing from the Donald Trump supporting, LGBTQ+ hating, racist, and Christian nationalist Christianity of the political right, because that is not the Christianity of Jesus.

But is that true? Are people leaving conservative Christian circles to discover the real Jesus?

I pastor a church that is made up of conservative Christians who for the most part supported Donald Trump for president, hold to a traditional sexual ethic, and are very patriotic. There are certainly issues that we don't see eye to eye on, especially in areas surrounding politics and patriotism, but I don't question their love for Jesus or their sincere desire to faithfully follow Him.

The real issue isn't that conservative Christians are so unlike Christ, rather, it is a difference of opinion about who Jesus is.

We live in a culture where virtually everyone wants to claim Jesus their own. Jesus gets distorted as a result. If Zach is going to claim that people are deconstructing because the Christians they know and the Christianity that they have been handed are unlike Christ, then we need to know what he means by Christ.

From my perspective it seems that progressive politics may have influenced his understanding about Christianity and Jesus as much as conservative politics have influenced much of evangelicalism or libertarianism has influenced my perception of Jesus and his teaching.

The reason behind much of the current trend of deconstruction is the influence of progressivism into American Christian. This influence gives them a different lens to see Jesus, interpret Scripture, and evaluate the traditions of Christianity. Rather than deconstructing to a truer version of Christianity and Christ, they are adopting a Christianity that is more in line with the progressive thought they have adopted.

With the support of a new tribe they feel supported and safe to lob accusations and mischaracterizations towards those who hold their former way of thinking.

I understand the need to critique the current state of Evangelicalism, and other branches of conservative Christianity, in the United States. We need to talk about the unhealthy alliance of Christianity and politics, the lack of true discipleship, and admitting the flaws of those who came before us. 

What is not helpful in that discussion is the accusation that Christians who are loving, helpful, generous, and faithful are unlike Christ because they see the world through a conservative lens rather than a progressive lens.

Deconstruction has less to do with truly finding Jesus and more to do with finding alignment between faith and a new worldview.