Is the Gospel of Jesus really for YOU?

Just a reminder to all of us.. it keeps the tune of "Amazing Grace" on the tip of my tongue.
Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ for you?
Read and See.

Who is the good news of the gospel for?

The good news of the gospel is not for the super-spiritual.
It is not for academicians who would imprison Jesus in the ivory tower of hyper-exegesis.
It is not for noisy, feel-good folks who manipulate Christianity into a naked appeal to emotion.
It is not for hooded mystics who want magic in their religion.
It is not for Alleluia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of desloation.
It is not for the fearless or tearless.
It is not for red-hot zealots who boast with the righ young home-owner of the gospels: "All these commandments I have kept from my youth."
It is not for the complacent, hoisting over their shoulder a tote-bag of honors, diplomas, and good works actually believing they have it made.
It is not for legalists who would rather surrender control of their souls to rules than run the risk of living in union with Jesus.

Who is the good news of the gospel for?
It is for the sorely who are still shifting the heavy suitcase from one hand to the other.
It is for those in survival mode.
It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed to know they don't have it all together.
It is for inconsistent, unsteady disciples whose cheese is falling off their cracker.
It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents.
It is for earthen vessels who shuffle along on feet of clay.
It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a great disappointment to God.
It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scoundrels.
It is for spiritual whores.
It is for people like us if we realize that the our weakness and brokenness that we can feel are only a faint scent of the nauseating offense of our sin to God.
(adapted from Brennan Manning's "The Ragamuffin Gospel")
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled."Jesus Christ c.31 A.D.

Get Lost & Then Get Found, Or Swallowed in the Sea

I watched the coolest TV show last night. It's the Planet Earth series on the Discovery Channel. The episode I watched was filmed deep down, on the ocean floor. I was amazed by the High Definition pictures of the Dumbo Octopus and the trickery of the bottom-dwelling Monk Fish. I was awed by the darkness far below the surface of the ocean. Honestly, it was a little frightening, and I was just sitting on the couch. Of course, my thought was, "What would it be like to be there without any equipment? Just to be there." It's a hypothetical question. I'd die long before I could get there; and i wouldn't see anything if I could get there.

And yet, that is where we are. Bear with me. Imagine you are at the bottom of the sea with the monk fish, humongous crabs, and eels. What would be required for you to live? Assuming your lungs were already full of air, you'd have a few minutes (unless you're David Blaine). Then your lungs would fill with the frigid water and it would be lights out. Simply by your presence in that place, you are required to do something you are absolutely unable to do in order to live. Sound familiar?

We are in a similar situation here on dry land. As a matter of fact, our plight is much worse. We don't even have a few minutes. Simply our existance in the world of a holy God, requires something of us which we are absolutely incapable of doing. What is that thing? Being like him. We don't have the spiritual gills to pull it off. To tell people or to believe anything else is an awful lie. Can I be saved by my good deeds? You would be better off to believe you could survive underwater by only breathing a little water at time. Perhaps there is no need to be saved at all. Maybe I create my own destiny and reality as the secret would have me believe. Tell that to a drowning man. I'll bet he doesn't believe you.

The drowning man is more fortunate, though, because at least he understands his plight. At least the drowning man knows that if he doesn't get to the surface his life will end. The secret tells me to believe that I am God, and that I make the rules and the outcomes. A serpent whispered a very similar secret to a very nice naked couple once. God has asked of you the exact thing that you will never be able to accomplish. Do you realize this? That's actually the point. It's only when you realize that you are completely dependent upon the God of the universe to rip you out of the ocean of your sin and revive your dead heart that you'd even want the sort of Paradise he's preparing for you, anyway.

My friends, whether you are a believer in Christ or on the outskirts, wondering what it's all about, you need to be reminded that the secret is no secret at all. It is as clear in this gorgeous spring weather, and in the incredible ocean floor as it is in the pages of your Bible. You are not alone. You are in a world that was created for you and that Creator demands that you be like him and be like his world, which is GOOD. Unless you cry out to Christ to save you, this world will be as deadly as the pits of some undersea canyon for you. He wants you to understand that he is your sufficiency, your necessity for life. Beg him for eyes to see this reality. Ask him to save you from this grave.

Believer, run to this good news that he did IT ALL that you would be rescued out of death! Run to this truth that his grace really is sufficient for the pain, loneliness, emptiness, and monotony of life. We run to entertainment, food and drink, sex and relationships and it all becomes more and more empty. After a while, I need more and more of it just to feel normal. But he has saved you. He is saving you. He is perfecting you. Find joy in that fact! Do not forget that you were dead. Do not forget that you were at the bottom of a great ocean, crushed by its weight; the icy chill of sin filling your lungs. Do not forget that he did this. The more we think upon this truth, the more we will find ourselves in tears of joy; striving for holiness and desiring his will. Think on it. Meditate on it. Never forget. This is the good news that saves lives, that God himself came and died and rose for you if you will only believe.

the quest for community

I just got on-line banking. I know, you must be thinking 'you are just now getting on-line banking?? where have you been? you paelentalogical, archaic fossil.. I bet you still listen to cassette tapes!' (and you'd be right).
Anyway, as I've been enjoying the thrills of tracking exactly where it is that Chrissy has been abusing our debit card, I've actually found myself somewhat mourning the fact that I no longer need to interact with human beings to meet my banking needs. I've had to say goodbye to my favorite teller at my preferred Bank of America branch.
On-line banking has given me convenience, but has cost me relationship.
The same is true for so many other aspects of our society. I pay-at-the pump when I buy gas, happily circumventing the gas station attendent. I buy most of my stuff on-line saving me the hassle of being around people at the mall.
I use the self check-out line at the grocery store. I read other blogs to get the opinions of those I'm interested in hearing from. Heck, I even buy gift cards for gifts these days... see, now I don't even need to bother knowing you well enough to find out what you really like and don't like, do it yourself!!

Maybe I'm going overboard here, but the on-line happy, entertainment-addicted, consumption-oriented, full-throttle paced suburbanite culture that I'm part of seems to be steadily losing its ability to enjoy meaningful relationships and community, and yet is, at the same time, starving for it.
I myself often feel that I have more contacts than real relationships and have more appointments than shared experiences with dear friends. What gives? How do we bridge this gap?
A couple of thoughts... which are by no means comprehensive..
1.) Know why we long for community:
Because of creation. We long for community because we were created by a community (check out the pronoun usage in Gen. 1.26). A Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created you.. a 'we' created a 'you' and you are not complete until you find other 'yous'.
2.) Know why we struggle with community:
In addition to the obvious cultural shifts and struggles I wrote about above, there is also the inclination within our hearts to cover up, cover over, and to hide our true selves from others. This is a hangover from the fall of mankind into sin. When sin entered the world, the first responce of Adam and Eve was to cover themselves.. (see Gen. 3). We are no different. We fear being found out and exposed and rejected as unlovely.
3.) Know where freedom is found:
In the Gospel we learn that God made a way for us to experience both reconcillation and restored relationship with Him as well as the possiblity of true community with other Christians in the church. The way of the world is to live by the 'pecking order' (a barnyard term expressing the relational patterns of chickens!). We tend to build our identities around what we have, how we look, how smart we are, who we know, or some combination of the above. This neatly puts us into cliques, social strata, clubs, and castes. It divides us. The cross does away with the assumptions that this system is founded upon. It exposes all of mankind as hopelessly lost in and of themselves and offers hope if you come to it with nothing but your need.

Well, what do we do with all of this?
I long for the gathering to be a community.. imperfect and messy as it is.
A place to belong.
A place to process your story in relative safety.
A place to wrestle with the pressing questions of life without feeling like you're being indoctrinated.
A place to find love, friendship and truth.

That can only happen when we hate our own sin worse than we hate everyone else's,
when we make a commitment to belong and to serve, not to just be entertained,
when we ask God for the grace to see the same potential in others that He was able to see in us.

will you join me in this journey?

Know What I Mean?

Isn't it getting to be pretty outside? I'm so glad that spring and warm weather are right on our doorstep. There seems to be an undercurrent of excitement all around. There's a good scent in the air (even if it makes you sneeze) and the flowers are beginning to bloom again. All of this makes me certain that our government is out to get us and spoil anything good for us. . . Why else would they stick "tax day" right in the middle of all this spring-time splendor!? That's right, it will be here soon, so get ready! H&R Block would love me right now. . .

What if I decided to cheat on my taxes this year? What if I had absolute certainty that it would never be found out? It's an unrealistic, hypothetical question, but humor me. What if? This isn't a blog about whether I should or not. Just sit and think for a moment about all the implications of that act. It is a lie that no one else would ever know about. The question I want you to ponder is not "is it worth it?" Instead tell me what I am saying by cheating on my taxes? Am I saying anything? Let's then imagine that you find out, but you are the only person on earth who will ever know.

I blogged recently about communication. You can find that here
. With some presuppositions from that blog I'd like to explore this question a little. You come to me and ask why. First, in the idea stage I might say to myself, "I needed this money. No one else would know. I am not hurting anyone else. The government will never miss the paltry amount that a waiter pays anyway." Then, I would likely repeat my thoughts word for word. I might even have a very compelling reason. Perhaps I would tell you I had a child who needed an expensive medical procedure.

You would receive that communication. Although, you heard the exact words that I spoke, you would interpret my words through your own filter. In a split second you would imagine what it's like to be me. You would piece together fragments to create back stories and conversations between me and others that lead me to this decision. Maybe you would have sympathy or maybe not. Maybe you would agree with my decision or maybe not. I think that you would interpret all of my reasons to mean, "I didn't want to pay taxes, and I thought I could get away with it." Even if you interpreted it differently, my point is that you would categorize my communication under your own heading, and not within the framework that my words provided.

Most of our comprehension of communication stops here. In fact, I think we are each struggling mightily (if struggling at all) to push beyond this point in our understanding of meaning within word and deed. But I submit to you that there is another facet to this farcical situation. First there was the conception, the idea, my reasoning and thought process. Then there was the realization, the words and actions, the actual cheating and verbalized reason. Then there was the reception or perception of what the realization actually meant. However, all of this is meaningless and we are completely lost if we do not have some sort of actual concrete standard as to what it means to say or do anything.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to a certain standard of communication. We are called to recognize that when we act and speak outside of His will as revealed in the Bible, we are in fact communicating something far greater than we may ever have previously realized. Cheating on my taxes communicates that I do not respect the government or authority; it communicates to others (even if they never hear me say it) that I believe I am held to a different standard; it communicates to God that I do not trust Him to provide for my needs as He has promised in Scripture. My sin causes me to scream at the top of my lungs (even when I look around to make sure no one sees) that I am not on God's team. Sin communicates a sort of pride that declares me as God over my life. Sin communicates that I live life on my terms and God must accept me for the good person I am. This sort of communication is much clearer than the usual sort of babble that spills from our mouths.

As I said, I think we are all struggling with this reality, eventhough it may never have been put in these exact terms. The actuality of our communication will match the ideas of our hearts and minds, and the words and deeds of our lives when we are perfected by Christ in the end. And take heart, believer, He promised that this will happen! As we struggle to work out our salvation together and learn to love our Savior all the more, let us pay special attention to what our words and lives are REALLY saying to our Lord and to the watching world. It is only because He has given us His Word and His Idea, that our words and ideas can find meaning in their (our) alignment with His character. Struggle on, church!

Martin & Laura

Many of you know Martin and Laura Elvington from our community, but you may not know that last spring Martin had brain surgery to remove a tumor that was in the central area of his brain. In order to get it out they had to go in through his nose, this caused a great deal of trauma to his nasal passages. He was in and out of the hospital with infection and complications, but finally shunts were put in his brain in order to drain the build up of fluid, so that he wouldn’t need to check into the hospital, and his body would rid itself of the excess of fluid. This is a pretty typical solution, but still brain surgery.

Last fall Martin went the radiation to keep the tumor from coming back, and has since been feeling better, and getting his bearings back.

This past Wednesday we got word that there had been some drippage from his nose, they determined that it was a CFF drip which implies that is wasn’t just a stuffy nose, but actually brain fluid. They determined that probably one of his shunts isn't functioning correctly and will need to correct that. This means going back into his brain. Although this isn't horribly complicated, it is brain surgery which can open him up to infection. The following is the latest we heard from Laura:

"i have a few new pieces of information. they are almost positive that he has a malfunction in one of his shunts and they open to do surgery at the beginning of next week. until then, he will have to have a lumbar drain (out of his back) and just hang out here this weekend. he's in no pain right now so we are just praying that he can get thru the weekend without contracting some life threatening disease (like last time). i guess that's it.

Laura

Although they didn’t do the lumbar as of last night since they needed to do a cat scan first, surgery is still looming and they are still doing tests and figuring out the best thing to do.

I believe it is safe to say that they covet your prayers at this time. Thanks in advance for them!

poopie play-dough and growing spiritually

It was something of a traumatic experience, mind you. Here's the scene: it was about 20 minutes before the last 'home gathering' started. Chrissy and I had been feverishly trying to get our house into some symbolence of order and it was time to wake up our two year old, Anabelle, from her nap.
As the door to her room swung open I was greeted with an invisisble fist.. or at least that what it felt like. The offactory lobe of my brain screamed out in revultion, my sense of smell was seared with a mix of the obnoxious odor of methane gas and general 'uck'. It seems that possilby 10 minutes into Anabelle's 3 hour nap she had 'poopied' in her pants. That was bad enough, but there was more.
She had apparently become facinated with her ability to make what she referred to as 'poopie play dough'. I know this is gross, but, over the course of her nap time-- when she should have been sleeping-- she pulled her poop out and began to fashion 'play-dough' like scuptures and to fingerpaint with her newfound artistic median.
Wow. What a mess. What a smell. Oh, my, its in her hair and all over her 'blankie' and between her fingernails. Oh wow, its 15 minutes before people begin to arrive.
Perhaps the toughest part of the whole situation is how well she'd been doing with her potty training. She had learned what to do, how to do it, and where to do it. She was a marvelous example of potty-training prowess. I mean she had skills!
And now, this. :(
Well, the home gathering turned out just fine and, after enough chemicals were applied to Anabelle's room the stinch subsided to tolerable levels.. and, of course, thankfully, skin IS washable.
Ok, what's my point (other than to gross you out!!)?

It reminds me of what spiritual growth can be like. We too can make big messes, sometimes at inconvinent times and in inconvient ways and sometimes on the heels of some great stride forward or victory.
I used to think that spiritual growth was a pretty straight-forward proposition: you pray, read the Bible, share your faith with others and, wa-la, you are a mature believer. Well, its true that spiritual growth does take place through all of the above, but its rarely the linearly upward well-paved path into ever growing episodes of triuphant victory that I once thought it would be. In fact, it sometimes seems as though for every victory I have, I end up taking two steps backwards in another area.
God has his own plan to grow us up. When God's children prosper one way, they are generally tried in another for few of us can bear unmingled prosperity without forgetting the Gospel.
Have you discovered some previously unconsidered area of filth in your soul? Have you run back to some habit or hangup that has ended up robbing you of your dignity? I'm thankful that we can bring our 'poopie play dough' to our Heavenly Father who will, in the Name and on the Merit of our Savior Jesus Christ, wipe us clean and give us another chance. Real growth is rarely easy, but it is, in Christ, a promise (see Phil. 1.6). Real people are messy. Maniquines are sanitary. There is no such thing as mess free ministry in the lives of real people. God is about making a core-level difference in real people, not just changing the window dressings without messing with the ultimate trajectory of your life. May you re-commit to take your messes to the only one who can clean them up.
Sola Deo Gloria
matt b.

Sea Foam Threes and The Joys of Expiation

This week I decided that I have a neurological condition known as synesthesia. Perhaps I am wrong. It is likely that I will never find out. There is a long history of self-diagnoses in my family. When we Moores lock onto something, we rarely feel the need for confirmation or rebuttal from experts. In fact, after reading a few paragraphs we are usually quite certain that we ARE the experts! Perhaps you’re not as quirky as me. . .
By the way, synesthesia is a condition in which two unrelated sensations are coupled in a person’s mind (www.mit.edu/synesthesia). It takes many different forms. Often, people involuntarily see (or relate) certain colors to certain numbers, months, letters or words. There are various instances in my life. I always see the calendar in a circle, with varying shades of green for spring, blue for winter, yellow for summer and reddish orange for autumn. The calendar is counter-clockwise and spins to a specific date if I’m speaking about that date, (I thought you might need some detail to prove that I’m not making it up). A friend of mine relates personalities to numbers. He hated certain numbers while doing arithmetic as a child. I never even realized that it might be abnormal until recently.
The point of this blog is not really some obscure mental condition. There is a correlation in all our lives, I think. My point is that our minds are powerful and that our interactions with this world are not merely interactions with this world. Every morning you shower (hopefully). You step into the tub, turn the handles and adjust the temperature, until you have the perfect ratio for comfortability. We have this issue at our house with extremely hot water. It’s a little scary sometimes! It’s similar to my Grandmother’s old house. The water used to sporadically spurt from the faucet. It was so difficult to get it just right! It was always a little too hot. We lived with my “Grandmama” when I was in second grade. It was an odd period of my life when my family was moving back to West Virginia from the northern Virginia suburbs of D.C. Every morning as I adjust the temperature in the shower, I am in my grandmother’s tub. I see her house. I smell her house. I can almost hear her around the corner, just beyond the bathroom door, singing. Every morning, if the water is hot enough, I not only experience that, but also things from 20 years in the past. Every day, in a sort of “synesthetic” flash, I interact with myself as the awkward kid who didn’t get the jokes or the invitations; the kid who just wanted people to like him. Everyday. . .
I recognize that my imagination might be a bit more vivid than the Average Joe. But I’d wager that your story isn’t all that different from mine. I’ll bet that you not only confront traffic, bills, and coworkers everyday; but you also come face to face with little moments from your history every single day. Maybe they are funny moments, like hearing a loved one singing off key in the next room. Perhaps the moments are less pleasant and seem more like demons. Maybe every time you grab coffee or smile at a stranger something drags you down. For whatever reason, those are often the sorts of images that actually stick with us. All seems well, but in a moment you are brutally reminded of your extreme inadequacy because of a mistake or victimization.
I think those moments are likely all over all our lives. If not, it is merely because you have yet to be humbled. It will come. Praise God that it does! If it weren’t for these moments, I’m not sure that we would ever grow. See, I think God desires me to experience “Spiritual Synesthesia” (yes that is an awfully cheesy way to say it). I think he desires the interactions of my life to immediately conjure images of Christ Jesus, the cross and the mercy and grace given to me! He desires that my self-doubt be met with His power, and my foolishness with His wisdom. Yet, the Truth often flies far below my radar!
So I’m thankful that I encounter an almost paralyzing moment of self-doubt everyday. I’m thankful that I have to address difficulty everyday. I’m thankful that He allows my flashbacks and freak-outs in order that Christ Jesus might be the only one I can cling to, lean on, hope in, trust in and abide in. One day He will perfect and glorify me and the freak-outs will be over. Until that day, my involuntary memories and sensations must be met with the Truth, the Gospel, the good news that I belong to Him and He belongs to me. We will find that Truth by interacting with God, His word and His people. People of God, it is of the utmost importance that you preach the good news to one another. For no matter what hellish images you may involuntarily conjure throughout your day, this good news is the power of God and the fragrance of life to those who are being saved! Every disgusting deed of your existence was poured out onto Jesus, and it was crucified with Him, once for all. Only in this gospel do you find truth like this! Only in this gospel is there true motivation! Only in this gospel is there strength and power to confront the flashbacks and freak-outs. My friends let us trust only in this gospel!