Theology is Nice, But How Do You Live

May 3, 2016

The small group was reading in Romans. More reading than studying.  Many just hit a verse and say they’ve underlined it many years ago.

Inevitably, someone starts in on “theology lite.” She/he begins to expound on some theology from a thinker they’ve probably never actually read. Happens all the time.

I intercede (interrupt?). That’s one of my weaknesses–speaking up.

Let’s look at the simplicity and beauty of the letter, I suggest. Paul says we all start life as sinners. We may have the “Law” or may not, but it doesn’t matter. We’re all the same. Given the era Paul wrote in and his audience, he tries to explain the whole Jew/Greek thing. Same conclusion.

By the way, as an aside, some people stop here. We’re all sinners, they proclaim darkly. But that’s not the end of the story.

By chapter 6, Paul starts to hint that there’s a better life ahead. Chapter 8 he hits us full on with grace. We can dwell in sin, or we can live freely in grace. Chapter 10 reinforces the thought.

Paul concludes the letter with how we actually live under grace.

Sinners–>Grace–>Belief–>New Life (beginning Now)

Theology is nice. It’s an intellectual exercise. Makes for heated arguments. Humans have done it for thousands of years.

But, does it help you when you walk through the door into the world?

When you boil it down, almost everything Jesus taught, almost everything Paul taught, what James taught, what Peter taught–how we live beginning right now, this moment. Are we harboring evil thoughts toward another? We just committed murder in our hearts. Watch someone with lust in our hearts? We just committed adultery.

Or

  • We saw someone in need and helped them (not preached at, gave them a meal)
  • We saw someone mourning and we wept with them
  • We saw someone rejoicing and rejoiced with them
  • We saw someone lost and showed them the way to life through discipleship

We can think all we want. It’s our response to living with God that counts.

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Where’s Your Heart Today

May 2, 2016

We had lunch yesterday with a couple who have devoted more than 20 years of their lives to mission work in West Africa. Charley teaches Old Testament to pastors in Senegal and the Ivory Coast. I really like the idea of helping local people grow and pastor and teach their neighbors.

The life of such a missionary is a rhythm. Go and serve. Return to the home country to refresh, renew acquaintances, and raise money for their support. They live from donations. It’s not an easy life, but with the right personality, it’s a good life.

This is one way of living out the last commandment of Jesus to his followers, “Go out to all the world teaching and making disciples…”

Do you support any missionaries?

A friend who has tried being a missionary has found that people over the past few years have become more and more unwilling to support missionaries. Churches are more inclined to look inward and spend money on their own wants and needs.

My wife and I send support to a number of ministries. We actually have organized our finances such that we can tithe to the local church and give offerings to ministries and causes that touch us. For you, maybe you count all the various groups as parts of your tithe.

It’s all where your heart is. Maybe you do it out of a sense of duty instilled at an early age. Maybe you’re a generous person as part of your natural personality. Maybe you’ve learned to become more and more generous.

Check out your own finances. If you are using close to 100% just to fund your own needs, maybe that means your heart is focused upon yourself. Taken to a place of dominating your personality, that’s called narcissism.

If so, consider the 80-10-10 guide to finances. When money comes in, set aside 10% for your church and charitable giving; set aside 10% for your future in savings; live on 80%. As you become better at this, you will find that you can live on less than 80% and give more. That is the point when your heart is changed.

Check out your church’s finances. Study the financial report. If your church has budgeted less than 25% of its budget to intentional giving outside its doors, then it is NOT a missional church–no matter what it tells itself.

Go check in with your spiritual cardiologist and seek the status of your heart.

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Don’t Sell Yourself Short

April 29, 2016

This week witnessed the annual reunion of the world’s largest manufacturing trade show. Many of the brightest minds in manufacturing technology gathered. These were people who are changing the way we’ll be doing manufacturing in the future.

I know many of them. It’s exciting to meet with all these people and share ideas, learn, grow.

I’ve also had the opportunity to meet people changing the face of how we do mission work, how we serve the poor, how we bring other people to discipleship.

God meant for all of us to change the world around us for good. There are numerous stories of developing and using whatever talents we were born with.

While I was pondering this on the 9-hour plane ride home yesterday, I thought about all the people who sell themselves short.

While I was in the Customs line entering the country (30 minutes before I learned I had been accepted into the Global Entry program and could have avoided the queue, sigh), I saw a small group of maybe three older couples. All their faces were shaped into pictures of bitterness, sadness, negativity. Same with body language. My heart ached for such loss of life before their loss of life.

How many people do you know who blame other people for their lack of success? It’s never their fault, right? “They” are always against them. The “breaks” never came their way.

Can these people be reached with hope? The self-help gurus of the 80s and 90s certainly tried by using preaching skills. Get you all fired up and ready to take charge–until you got home and reality set in again.

Then read the New Testament and stories of the first and second century Christians. Here were ordinary men and women who turned their lives around and did extraordinary things.

It is so important that we reach people early in life with the message of hope. The message that despite any adversity they, too, can change the world around them. That’s called leadership on a personal level. Or mentoring. Or making disciples.

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Some Days You’re Just Tired

April 28, 2016

I’ve had very little time to sit and think this week. Shortly, I’ll have many hours to sit and think.

Some days you’re just tired. Physically. And you need a break. I’m at breakfast in Hannover, Germany. It’s midnight in Ohio. Weirdest thing is I’ll have dinner in Ohio in 18 hours. I’ll take the train to the airport in 45 minutes, 1 hour flight to Munich, then almost 10 hours to Chicago. Then an hour to Dayton.

This week I’ve walked an average 5 miles a day for four days. That doesn’t count standing while interviewing people and taking notes. But being around all those people is energizing. There are many ideas. Many people working on the advancement of manufacturing technology.

I’ve learned over many years of this type of work. Appreciate your downtime. While I have energy, I’ll write all my notes from the show and post to my business blog, The Manufacturing Connection. Then, I’ll put some music on and relax and sleep for a few hours of the flight.

I have protein bars in the backpack. Never eat the airline food. It’s too full of fat and sugar. Drink water, not soda or alcohol (well, maybe one glass of red wine–for my health of course). Unfortunately, I’ll get home too late for Yoga class (I have come directly from Germany to Yoga–a great way to wind down the week).

By the way, this trade show is so huge that I walked that much and only really covered 3 buildings out of 20 or so that comprise the entire “Hannover Fair”. Perhaps 100,000 people here. Nothing in the US comes close to this scale. And the variety of languages you hear walking around.

There are rhythms. Energy and effort. Pause and reflect. I’m looking forward to the pause and reflect thing.

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Other People Are Not Always What We Think

April 27, 2016

When you know someone well, you get a picture in your mind about their overall life attitudes and ethics. Sometimes we are surprised when someone we thought we knew does something out of character, but usually when we know someone, we can predict their behavior.

When we don’t really know other people but think we do, we can be completely wrong.

Some people in the US have a picture of what a Christian looks like, thinks like, acts like, and so forth. Then they read something about Europe, for example, and form an opinion about Europeans. I’ve seen the same attitudes directed toward people of other areas in the world, as well.

If you ask around the rural American Midwest, the picture that you form about Europeans would be that they have loose morals, open sex, much drinking, no religion.

While that would not be every person in the Midwest, of course, you’d find enough to paint the picture.

I’m in Europe while writing this after having dinner last night with several Germans and a Dutch guy.

While by and large Europeans do not have the same view of religion as my neighbors, I for one am not ready to pronounce judgement on them.

Regarding personal morality, I have found every person I’ve met over the past 30 years of traveling over here to have the highest. You, my Midwest readers, may have heard about Amsterdam and other European cities where prostitution is somewhat open–that is, not hidden in truck stops and alleys like in America. That does not mean that every European man visits them.

Let’s take the thought of assumption to another level. Think of the rich young man’s encounter with Jesus. The man was obedient to God. He followed the laws. Jesus loved him. Yet, he went away sad when Jesus told him that to inherit eternal life he must give away all his possessions to the poor and follow.

Have you speculated on that man? Come to any conclusions? That is hard to do. We hear rich and paint a picture of a certain sort of man. But maybe that painting is wrong.

I think the reason for the story is not to point to the young man and allow us to speculate about other people. I think we are to take this story to ourselves. What are we willing to give up that gets in the way of our following Jesus?

Our job is not to assume what other people are like. Our job is to get ourselves right. Then we can meet other people with openness and sensitivity.

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Grace Turned Outward

April 26, 2016

I like that phrase from John Fischer and his newsletter “The Catch.” I’m thinking a lot about turning outward lately.

If you are in a church, where are you turned?

Are you turned inward–focused on fellowship with the people you already know and the building you already have? Are you turned outward–focused on others, serving others, telling others about your relationship, showing grace?

A friend was discussing these things the other day. She has noticed a general turning away from others outside the local church and an inward focus. They spend money on internal things. Spending to support ministries outside the walls is dwindling toward zero.

My own church has decided to spend somewhere around $350,000 on its current building. That’s above budget spending. Meanwhile, spending outside the walls is only around $60,000. (We send money to the denomination, too, but that’s a requirement, not an act of generosity or grace.)

What of yours?

It’s more than money. Go back and read Acts 2 through 4. The early followers of Jesus lived such a different and fulfilling life from their neighbors that as the customer in the restaurant in the scene from “When Harry Met Sally” said, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Back to John Fischer. He moderates a weekly podcast, “The Catch,” where he interviews interesting friends. He takes big chances, at times. But we learn much.

Last week he interviewed Wayne Bridegroom. He’s a conservative Baptist minister with a church on the poor side of Modesto, Calif. Migration from Southeast Asia began in the 80s, and he began meeting Christians from a variety of ethnic groups.

He opened the doors for a variety of groups to worship and encouraged their growth. At times there were Lao, Hmong, Spanish, Cambodian, and others worshiping. Sometimes they’d all gather together.

I thought, there’s one way that a church can reach out and serve the community. There was much more. I encourage you to listen to the discussion.

What ideas might you devise to turn outward?

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He or She Won’t Bring Instant Happiness

April 25, 2016

I’ve got to know if your sweet love is gonna save me. — The Eagles

I grew up relationship challenged. My parents were not good at relationships. They passed that trait along to their four sons.

But even I grew up dreaming that a girl (any girl) would save me–that is bring me happiness, endless bliss, solve all my problems.

While at university I stumbled across the writing of Rollo May. Love and Will was the first of several I read.  He discusses that situation. Even before I really knew about relationships (even though I was probably 19 or 20), I absorbed much wisdom from the book.

He traced back to classical and ancient times where men had those same thoughts.

But, wait a second ladies. Isn’t it true that most (or all?) women dream that marriage will bring them all the pieces of salvation? Stability, feelings of worthiness, security, someone to listen to their feelings expressed?

Well I’ll tell you. I stood on that corner in Winslow, Arizona. There was no girl in a flat-bed Ford slowing down to take a look at me. Or any other vehicle, for that matter.

No, all those feelings of safety, security, relationship, stability, they all stem from a developing relationship with God. Human relationships are messy. We misunderstand each other. We misinterpret each others’ comments or gestures. We expect one thing and get another.

We have to bring our own stability into the relationship for mutual benefit.

And how do we find, nurture, and maintain our relationship with God? Through our spiritual practices. Study. Prayer. Service. Worship. Humans have known for millennia about these practices. Yet, each one of us must learn the lesson anew.

[Oh, and sorry for my eclectic musical references. I know some people listen to only one genre. Most American readers of these musings probably listen only to “Christian” music. As for me, the only music I don’t listen to is modern country (the Nashville sound–earlier is good) and hip-hop. Just a matter of taste. The purpose of music is to  share feelings. You can find it in folk, classical, pop, rock, sacred, whatever.]

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Leadership Means Establishing Responsibility and Accountability

April 22, 2016

Responsibility and accountability. These are both spiritual formation values and leadership essentials.

One of the organizations I work with has developed a system of diffused responsibility and accountability. When there is no one person responsible for a function, that task will be undone and the function will not grow and prosper.

Think about Jesus. He made people responsible for themselves and for certain roles. His last instructions to his followers we call the “Great Commission.” He did not give the instruction to an organization. He gave it to those who follow him.

Then he told stories, such as that of the talents. The servants were given responsibility to make the most of the money the master entrusted them with. But then the master returned and held each accountable.

As a leader or part of the ruling board or committee, the essential task prior to oversight is to establish clear responsibilities and accountability. Do not put two different committees or point leaders in charge of the same thing. Now no one is accountable.

Establish point leaders for each important function that must be done. Start with the overall manager and then each functional area. There are certain things that must be done if the organization is to succeed. Assure that these are defined.

Just so in personal development. We are each responsible for our spiritual formation. No one will do it for us. We can search out guides and mentors. In the end, we are each responsible for what we did in response to Jesus’ commando–“Go into all the world and make disciples…” We are each responsible for deciding to be a follower and developing and using our gifts in the service to God and to all other people.

We cannot escape being held accountable for how well we accomplished our responsibilities in life. As Paul laid out in Romans, life in the spirit begins with faith and completes with how well we lived.

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Attitude Plus Action

April 20, 2016

When your mother repeated something, you knew that she meant for you to realize it was more than a comment. She was emphasizing a point you were supposed to remember.

I’ve been reading Matthew looking at just Jesus’ words. What did Matthew report that Jesus actually said. I discovered that reading chapters 4-7 regularly will keep us grounded in the teaching.

Yesterday, I noticed a phrase repeated. It was from Hosea 6–“God desires mercy not sacrifice.”

This must be important.

Sacrifice referred to the Jewish religious practice of going to the Temple and offering an animal to be killed in your name for the forgiveness of your sin. Of course, a business developed around the practice when businessmen figured out that pilgrims had a difficult time bringing their own dove or lamb or whatever. So they sold them in the courtyard of the Temple–convenience at a price. We know that drill today.

That practice is just one of many that grew up more focused on the ritual or the practice (we call it “works”) than on having a right attitude toward God.

So then I thought about the word mercy. When I considered all the teachings of Jesus I had just immersed in, I realized it was about attitude. It concerned the condition of my heart. It was existing in a state of loving God and loving my neighbor.

Sacrifice = ritual + law

Mercy = attitude + action

I realized once again how concerned Jesus was about the status of our hearts. And that contemplation and study are merely the foundation for getting up and serving and teaching.

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Inappropriate Explosions of Emotion

April 19, 2016

I had a conversation with a coach yesterday describing an inappropriate explosion of emotion I experienced over the weekend. And no, it wasn’t me!

It dealt with a coach explosion on the sideline of a game and subsequent venting in public. The coach I was talking with said, “Hmm, I’d better learn from that. Take a deep breath. I can get carried away at times.”

There actually exists a time for anger. Sometimes you just have to show emotion. There is a referee I know who is very good. Her weakness? She is always too nice. Sometimes you have to have “the look” that tells players she’s unhappy with that action.

I bet she develops “the look” when she gets married…OK, we won’t go there.

The deep breath comment is worth digesting.

Most times our anger is not that of an honest response to a wrong. It rather springs from sources such as wounded pride or excess of ego. Some of the angriest people are also the most insecure.

Andy Stanly discusses “what have we got to fear” on his current Your Move series.

Security comes from a deep relationship with God. Usually that was modeled by secure parents. If you were not so fortunate, perhaps a spouse or other relationship. Perhaps you could be that model of relationship to help someone overcome the fear and anger that resides deeply within.

In normal life, the deep breath before shouting at the kids or referees will save both us and others injured feelings and discord.

I go to my model. Jesus dealt with all manner of interruptions and even hate with patience and even-temperedness. However, when he was unhappy with the way the religious leaders were ripping off pilgrims to the Temple, he did not hesitate to show his anger at the sacrilege.

Deep breath. Slow release. Ahhhh. Now go face the day.

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