Dear Church, Seek the Lost

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

            Luke 5:31-32

Look at the people in your church.  How many of them have been there for less than a month? How many new people are entering your churches? How many new kids are showing up at youth group? If your church or youth group aren’t experiencing internal or external growth then something is wrong. Jesus came for the lost people. Is your church aiming for the lost people? Are you inviting lost people to your church…or your friends from another church? The reason people do that is because its easy to invite people to church who you know are open to it. But here’s the deal, those aren’t the people that need to be invited. Invite the lost people to church. If a church is proclaiming the true Gospel then how could anyone resist the power of the truth that every human desires? Stagnant churches are useless churches. Sure, Christians worshipping God together is great and we are absolutely called to do that. But if a church is not reaching the lost and spiritually sick people of their community, then they are not obeying Jesus. Jesus lived for the lost and dying, not the living. Seek the lost. 

He Is Everything

To a real Christian, Christ is everything, and everything that is not Christ is nothing. Is Christ your everything? Of course not, that’s insane right? How could he be everything? I have my family, my friends, my job, my school, my pets, my facebook, and my cell phone. Sure God is #1…but is he everything? If you think this is too extreme, too radical…then you are wrong. It is not too extreme or too radical. It is 100% extreme and radical because real Christianity is 100% extreme and radical. Jesus was radical. He taught salvation by faith alone, separate from the law. In his day that was radical! It’s still radical today! Christianity is the only religion where you don’t earn your way into heaven or paradise. Christianity is the only religion that recognizes that humanity stinks too much to be able to earn God’s favor by obeying him. Is Christ your everything? Is Christ more important in your life than anything else? How often do you talk to your best friends or significant other? For hours per day right? Because you love them and desire a relationship with them! If you truly love God and desire a relationship with him then you will talk to him on a consistent basis. He is not just “the big man upstairs”. He is the ruler of the universe who sent his Son to die on the cross to save you from your sin and he wants you to know him personally. He already knows you, so the only thing left to do is make him your everything and talk to him.  

Have Mercy

“Unless we learn the meaning of mercy by exercising it toward others, we never have any real knowledge of what it means to love Christ”. – Thomas Merton

Merton is speaking to something that most people struggle with, mercy. We live in a dog eat dog, cruel world, where people see mercy as being weak or getting walked over. What we need to realize is that God’s mercy is the only way that we can possibly be forgiven. If God did not have mercy on us, then life would be fair. Thank God that life is unfair, for if life were fair, then we would end up in hell no matter the circumstances. God’s mercy has allowed us freedom to live for him and know that we have been set free by his redeeming love. If we as people cannot spare other human beings even a fraction of what God has given fully to us, then how can we even claim to know what it means to really love Christ? If we have no ounce of mercy within us, then we know nothing of what it really means to love Christ. Loving Christ includes acknowledging the grace and mercy that he has given to us and being so grateful for it that we have no choice but to do the same for others. Showing mercy is part of loving God. 

Is Your Faith Genuine?

“Even today, when so many people instinctively grope for a kind of human security in ‘faith,’ it can happen that they are only partly seeking God. That is the danger of a ‘faith’ that is too intimately connected with the idea of ‘peace’ and psychological comfort.” – Thomas Merton

This quote reflects something that I have been thinking a lot about recently. There are so many people who think they are Christians and think they have faith and think they are safe in Jesus, when, in reality, they are not. Some people are searching for a type of security in faith. They claim to believe and even trick themselves into thinking that they are secure in Christ simply because they desire some kind of security of the mind. This security is completely false security. Merton is saying that the danger in this weak faith is just that; that people are tricking themselves into a sense of comfort that doesn’t really exist. When someone is so willing to put their fears to rest, they will sell out for cheap faith that provides security in nothing. Your soul is a huge price to pay for this tiny sense of temporary peace. Christians are called to genuine faith. Following Christ is not easy and if your only goal is avoiding hell and buying a one way ticket to heaven, then your goal will never be achieved. Genuine faith is priceless. 

Are You Really Saved?

Everyday you are surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of people who either don’t know Jesus or think they know Jesus when they actually don’t. Are you one of those people? If you died today, are you 100% sure that you would be going to heaven? Are you 100% sure that Jesus would look at your life and say “Well done my good and faithful servant”? Are you 100% sure that you have lived for Christ and not for yourself? Are you 100% that you haven’t wasted your life on things of this world? Have you walked in the light or in the darkness? Have you acknowledged that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself? Have you told Jesus, “I can’t do this, I need you to save me”? Have you obeyed God with your mouth and your feet? Do you really believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation? Do you love the world or do you love God? Do you deny Christ in front of your friends? Do you acknowledge that God is a God of love and wrath? Are you really saved? If you don’t know what you believe then you need to figure it out. Are you actually living like you are pretending to? Stop lying to yourself and face your humanity and sin. That is the only way to realize that Jesus is the only source of light and salvation in this dark and fallen world. If you don’t know if you are really saved then read through 1 John. If you don’t know if you are really saved then you can talk to your pastor or youth pastor or send me an email. There is no hope apart from Jesus. 

Reformation of the Heart

This last week as I sat down and watched the movie Luther with my awesome friends from the Calvary Baptist Church Youth Group, I really began to ponder and reflect upon something. The movie gives a fairly historically accurate account of the person of Martin Luther and the story of his life and obedience to God. He stood up against what he thought was wrong within the Catholic church of his day and began the Protestant Reformation. He saw a problem and he did something about it. He went from a man who was running away from Christ in a thunderstorm and falling in the mud, to one of the most influential men who has ever walked this earth. Over 540 million people today worship in churches that were a result of Luther’s stand. That is just today. 540 million people today worship in protestant churches. Think about the past 500 years and how many people’s lives have been changed and how many people have been shown the truth. All because one man took a stand to show what Christianity is really about and what it is really supposed to look like. Could a reformation like that ever happen again? Is there enough wrong with Protestant Christianity today that someone need stand? Maybe, maybe not, I have no idea. What I do know is that the church as whole today has innumerous flaws. So many “Christians” today don’t love God and they don’t love others. They serve themselves and no one else. The church itself does not need a reformation, Christians today need a reformation of the heart. We need to go back to what the bible says about God and life. We need to stop focusing on ourselves and how much money we’re making and how many people show up to church and get back to the heart of Christianity. Love God, love people. Stand up like Luther did. Stand up for what the truth. But know this, there will be consequences. Reform your heart and encourage other distracted Christians to do the same. 

The Real Self

“The flesh is our external self, our false self. The “spirit” is our real self, our inmost being united to God in Christ.” – Thomas Merton

Sometimes it can be very hard for me to remember that no part of my physical body right now has anything to do with who I really am. I know a lot of people struggle with self-esteem and self-image problems. America is obsessed with the flesh. America is obsessed with external beauty and the things of this world. Girls all across the country struggle with eating disorders and guys across the country become obsessed with working out in order to look better for the ladies. Americans, Christians included, are way too often fleshly focused. The flesh, our physical self is our false self. That is not who we really are. We are defined as people through our spirit and our connection with Jesus. The most real and only real aspect of a human being is their unity with Christ Jesus. The road to holiness can only be found by being true to who we are as Christians. There is no reality in our flesh. We are defined by who we are in Christ and nothing else. Not our clothes, not our jewelry, not our haircut, and not our bodies. Your unity with Christ defines who you are.  

Satisfaction

When was the last time that someone let you down? When was the last time that people failed to live up to your expectations for them? I think everyone knows the feeling that I am talking about. It stinks to be let down. It stinks when people disappoint you. Now when was the last time you disappointed someone? Your parents maybe? Your spouse or significant other? Humanity is a never ending cycle of  disappointments. You will never meet a person who is significant in your life who won’t let you down. No one you know will ever live up to your expectations. None of your friends will always be there for you. No job that you ever have will completely satisfy your needs. No amount of food will last forever. No amount of sex or inappropriate relationships will satisfy you. No matter how much TV you watch, it will always disappoint you. No matter how much time you spend on Facebook, people will not like you any better, and it will let you down. You will never meet a person who is significant in your life that you will not let down. You will never live up to anyone’s expectations. You will never always be there for your friends. You will never always please your parents. You will let people down, and you will let yourself down. Psalm 145:16 says that God opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing. The love of God is the only thing that will satisfy you. Ever. Not even all of his glory or love in totality, he only needs to open his hand and lend us a taste of his power and love and we will be satisfied. Things of this world will never satisfy you. If you are dissatisfied with anything in your life then you are looking in all of the wrong places. Open your eyes and see that God is the only thing in life worth living for and dying for and that lifelong satisfaction comes only from Jesus Christ our Savior.