September 5, 2009

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'" Luke 15:4-6

I am highlighting the different levels of lostness that Jesus mentions in this chapter 15. In yesterday's post I talked about the Pharisees who were lost with their faith due to self-righteousness. This morning I am going to focus on the lost sheep who was lost from the fold due to self-indulgence.

How do I come to that conclusion? Well, what do sheep do? They graze, they grow wool, and they have lambs. They are notorius for following blindly and are basically defenseless. Those last two attributes make them a favorite target for predatory animals. That's about it. Not much is expected of them and they rarely disappoint.

So, how did this one sheep wander away from the other ninety-nine? Did he rebel? Was he a teen sheep wanting to assert his independence?

Nothing that dramatic. He just nibbled his way into trouble. It was just another day in the meadow, grazing with the flock. The shepherd was standing guard and all was well.

This hungry little fellow likely found a good patch of fescue or clover and pigged out (sheeped out?). His appetite took control over his judgment and he followed the fescue. Because he was more focused on the fescue than he was on his flock, he gradually wandered off. He nibbled his way into separation from the flock and alienation from the shepherd. Becoming a slave to his appetite he ended up isolated and lost.

Unfortunately, that scenario plays out everyday in real life. While there are plenty of people who are on a mad dash to Hell flaunting their sin and grabbing for the gusto, there are a majority of people just nibbling their lives away.

You were there. So was I. We didn't wake up one day and decide to leave the fold and become hopelessly lost. Like the sheep, we wer led by our appetites and chasing vain pursuits, found ourselves alone and in need of a shepherd.

Here's more bad news. While sheep can nibble their way away from the fold, they never nibble their way back.

Now for the horrible news, when a lone sheep wanders into the wilderness, his life expectancy seriously dimishes. Every predator in the area will relish the opportunity to nibble on him. When he is isolated from the flock and out of the shepherd's care, he is dead meat.

Thank God for a Shepherd Who cares for every sheep! Thank God for a shepherd Who is willing to risk His life to save even one lonely sheep! Thank God for a Shepherd Who is more powerful than any predator! Thank God for a Shepherd Who knows where we are even when we don't. Thank God for a Shepherd Who arrives ahead of the predators and picks us up and carries us tenderly upon His shoulders.

It is a wonderful thing to go from being lost to being loved! Even a sheep can appreciate that!

So, what are you nibbling on? What has taken your attention away from the flock and what has distracted your focus from the Shepherd? If you are being led by your appetites, you are asking for trouble.

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." - Jesus

How about nibbling on that today?

September 4, 2009

"Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Luke 15:1-2

Jesus has a lot to say about lostness because it is a huge issue with Him - and God - and all of Heaven.

It is instructive that it is to the religious leaders that He is trying to make the point of how important lost people are to Him. Unfortunately He had to do that because lost people where not important to them.

His lesson consists of three parables that fill the entire 15th chapter of Luke. In His teachings Jesus points out four kinds of lostness and the one devasting consequence of being lost. I want to take a look at each of those over the next few days.

The first level of lostness is that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They were lost within their faith. Their lostness was due to self-righteousness. Because they were sons of Abraham and because they were students and practitioners of the law they assumed they were righteous.

Let me ask you a question. If you believe you are in Paris, France but are actually in Paris, Kentucky would you be lost?

Not only would you be lost, you would be clueless and your belief would be worthless.

That pretty well describes these religious leaders. Jesus knew it, they had no idea. How lost they were is illustrated by the fact that they thought they were righteous and Jesus was a sinner. That's only 180 degrees out of phase.

What were they trusting for their righteousness? They were trusting their relatives, Abraham and Moses and King David. Since those were righteous people who pleased God and they were of the same lineage, therefore they are righteous.

They were trusting rules. These were men who knew the law inside and out. Not only did they understand the law, they knew all the applications, implications, exceptions, derivations, and permutations of the law. And they thought though having it in their head meant they had it in their heart.

And, they were trusting their rituals. They observed all the feasts and sacrifices required by the law. These guys were 100% kosher. And 100% lost.

These who were supposed to know the way and show the way were like "the blind leading the blind" into the ditch of despair. Their self-righteousness was their undoing.

What did this cost them? It cost them a relationship with the God they thought they served and with His Son, their Savior, Jesus. And it caused them to fail in the sacred responsibility God had envisioned for them to be the source of salvation for their nation.

But, in the process of pointing out what was wrong with them we risk becoming like them. We need to understand their error which was self-righteousness - looking for what was wrong with everyone else to justify their own rightness.

The truth is, each of us have a little of that in us. And if we are not careful we can have a lot of it.

How do we fight self-righteousness? We don't. That very question arises from the roots of self-righteousness. So, what do we do?

We live in relationship with Christ by faith and ask Him to unleash His Holy Spirit in our life. His Spirit of Righteousness will expose all unrighteousness in us.

Unless we lose ourselves in Him we end up lost.

September 3, 2009

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'" Luke 15:4-6

I remember being an eager young pastor coming out of college determined to win the world for Christ. Here I am 37 years later still trying to get it done.

Have I failed? Am I discouraged? Will it happen before I get promoted to Heaven?

The answers, "No, no, and probably not."

But I have discovered something along the way that has helped me a bunch. I think it will help you when I share it.

I don't have to reach the world. Neither do you. We just need to reach the people that God brings into our corner of the world, to our area of influence.

I haven't reached the world but I touched Rhonda Baker. Rhonda is now serving on the ministry staff of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. They touched 20,000 people at Easter. Every day Rhonda walks into the lives of Las Vegas show girls, strippers, and prostitutes and shares the love of Jesus with them. Some of them believe and find Christ. If God hadn't touched Rhonda through my ministry, Rhonda wouldn't reach these otherwise unreachable women. I am glad I reached Rhonda.

I haven't changed the world but I touched the life of Nick DeCola. For over 20 years Nick and his wife, Debbie, have evangelized and discipled hundreds of college students on the Campus of Syracuse University in New York. Now they serve on the training staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in Orlando. Nick and Debbie haven't reached the whole world, but they are training world changers.

I haven't changed the world but I touched the life of Tim Howard. Tim is the strongest soul-winner I have ever known. He has personally led hundreds of people to Christ and has trained dozens of others how to do it and he developed an outreach method that has been marketed and used around the world. He has a vision of reaching a 1,000,000 people for Christ in his lifetime. He might just do it.

No one person can reach the whole world. We aren't even wired to emotionally care for the whole world. That would wear us out.

But here's what we can do and what we should do:

CARE - about lost people. Pray that God will give you a Great Commission mindset and a Great Commandment heart.

CELEBRATE - anytime anyone comes to Christ, join Heaven in rejoicing and celebrating their salvation!

CONCENTRATE - on the few people that God has placed in your world, under your influence and in your friendship circle. Pray for their salvation regularly. Show them love and kindness. Earn the right to share your faith with them.

If you reach a few and I reach a few and the few we reach reach a few more and those few reach a few......well.........

September 2, 2009

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10

"For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate." Luke 15:24

If you hang around church very much, you will hear church people bemoaning the fact that "our church is not on fire", or "God just isn't moving at our church".

This morning, I want to examine those claims and offer some insights from the text we are studying this month - Luke 15.

First, let's get some clarification on terms. What does it look like when a church is on fire? What is the fire and how do you get it and how do you know when you have it?

When I hear people say that and I ask them what it is they are looking for, I rarely get an answer. If you are longing for something that you can't define, you are postioning yourself for perpetual disappointment.

What is evidence that a church is on fire? What is evidence that God is moving? Jesus gives us some clues here in the verses I have highlighted. A church that is alive and on fire is a church that celebrates life change. A church where God is moving is a place where lost people are being found. A dynamic church is a church that celebrates what God celebrates rather than trying to get God excited about what they are doing.

Jesus gives us some insights in these parables He tells and in the people He is telling them to.

Jesus is addressing these remarks to the religious leaders of the day. The heart of His remarks are in Chapter 14 and the application of them are found here in Chapter 15.

What had these leaders done to make their church and their religion such a dead, difficult and dispiriting place? Did they sing hymns instead of choruses? Was their worship leader lousy? Were the sermons flat?

I don't think so.

They had made the church a cold place. When a man suffering with a painful disease showed up and Jesus healed him. (14:1-6) Instead of rejoicing and celebrating they rebuked Jesus and condemned Him for violating their Sabbath rules.

A church becomes cold when conformity becomes more inportant than compassion and rules become more important than relationships. Condemnation becomes the prevailing attitude when that spirit prevails.

A church becomes cold when class-consciousness becomes more important than caring for the needy. This church gave preference to people of power, position and prestige. They were using their fellowship to build their resume' and reputation instead of the Kingdom of God. When this attitude prevails the church becomes closed to the very people who need it the most. (14:7-14)

A church becomes cold when comfort becomes more important than carrying a cross or counting the cost of following Jesus. (14:25-33) Jesus didn't come to serve the Church, Christians are called to take up His cross - discipline, surrender, sacrifice, suffering, death to selfishness - and pursue God's purpose. He cautions them that it is better not to start this journey if you haven't considered what it will cost you to complete it.

A church becomes cold when it celebrates and seeks the wrong things. Jesus told the three parables in Luke 15 to confront their spiritual pride and misguided priorities. They were expecting God to celebrate the fact that they kept unclean people (publicans and sinners) out of their fellowship. And they felt entitled to God's blessing because they were His faithful sons who served Him and played by the rules, even though they were filled with spiritual pride and resentment toward others. They had become a "feed me and bless me" club that was angry at God because He didn't see how good and deserving they were.

Jesus shows them and us how to have God's blessing on our lives and on our church - SEEK WHAT HE SEEKS AND CELEBRATE WHAT HE CELEBRATES - lost people being found!

Do you want your church to catch fire? Do you want to see God move in your midst? Care about lost people enough to shake off your conformity, your class-consciousness, and your comfort. Pick up cross, count the cost, and do what God blesses.

Are you willing to lay down you life and pick up His cross today?

September 1, 2009

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." II Peter 3:9

I recall an incident that happened when Barbara and I were on our honeymoon. It was the occasion of our first "tense moments" as a couple.

And yes, she was right, I was wrong.

We had been having an amazing time touring the incredible city of San Francisco. But as with all good things, it was coming to an end. It was time to get to the airport and return our rental car. Knowing that I needed to return the rental with a full tank of fuel, I waited until I was near the airport to pull off and find a gas station where I filled it up. I jumped off the expressway onto an access road and found a station. After getting gas, I discovered that I could not get back on the expressway at the same place I got off. That was where the fun began.

Every notice how sometimes thiry minutes seems like thirty seconds and other times it can feel like thirty hours? Guess which one this was?

I drove up and down this access road that ran parallel with the expressway where I needed to be, but could not find a way to get there. The airport was on the other side of the expressway but we couldn't get to the airport because we couldn't get on the expressway.

Becoming frantic as I traversed back and forth over the same route. I glanced at the odometer and noticed that I was within a few miles of using up my free miles. That didn't bring any comfort.

It was about that time that Barbara intruded upon my frustration with a practical suggestion, "Why don't you stop and ask someone for directions?"

That is not an option I readily entertain during the coherent moments of my life, so I can't say I was receptive to the idea then. So I did what all men do when they don't like something but are trying to avoid a confrontation - I muttered.

Undeterred, she repeated her suggestion. I responded in kind. This continued until in desparation, I pulled into a gas station and humbled myself to ask for directions. As it turned out, no one in their spoke English. In the next five stops I managed to meet four more Spanish speaking groups and some Japanese brethren, but no one who could speak enough English to help me. Finally, Heaven smiled on me and I found someone to show me the way. We got to the airport a few miies over the limit but they were gracious and had mercy on me when I shared the story with them.

In my lifetime, I have only asked for directions maybe a dozen times. Half of those were on that fateful day.

Having had that experience, I think I can relate to where many people are spiritually. They have an idea where they need to be but aren't sure how to get there, not sure who to ask, or how to ask, or even how to get an exact fix on where they are now. Or maybe they took the risk of asking someone for help, but found a person who didn't communicate with them.

Maybe you have been there. Perhaps you are there now.

I am sure you know somone like this. If not, you should. Every Believer should be intentionally building friendships with people like this in order to earn the opportunity to direct them to Jesus.

What on earth are you doing for Heaven's sake? Who are some people God has placed in your life so that He can use you to show them the way to Him? If you haven't taken the time to figure that out. Shame on you.

Before you go to bed tonight, sit down and prayfully ask God to show you who those people are in your life. Write those names down. Begin praying for their salvation. Pray for the chance to have spiritual conversations with them.

August 31, 2009

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10

I am back from vacation!

For the sake of accountability I want you to know that even though I took time off from writing my daily posts, I did not take time off from my Bible reading. I hope you didn't either!

During September I am going to be studying Luke 15. The series is entitled "LOST". I hope to capture the sense of urgency that God has for lost people.

Have you ever been lost? Can you remember the fear and the desparation that you felt when you realized you were lost?

When my kids were young I took them to Six Flags amusement park near Chicago. We had an amazing time. They found their delight in shaming me into getting on some rides I had no business going on.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and told them that henceforth they were riding the roller coasters without me. I think they could see the fear in my eyes and understood I was serious. So, when the urge hit them to get on the American Eagle, the world's largest wooden coaster, I told them I would be waiting for them at this exact spot. I made them promise to stay together and keep track of their little brother.

Some forty-five minutes later, I saw my oldest son, Matt and his sister, Bradi emerge excitedly from the milling mass of humanity. They ran up to me and started to tell me how much fun the American Eagle was. But I was more interested in knowing where their little bother was.

"Where's Marcus?" I asked.

They looked behind them. They looked at each other. Then they looked at me.

"We don't know. He WAS right behind us!"

The terrible realization hit us - Marcus was lost, knee-high, somewhere in that ocean of strangers. Was he safe? What if someone had grabbed him? He must be terrified.

We tried not to panic. Not wanting to risk being separated from those two, I made them promise to stay right where they were and I waded into the crowd. Desparately I began the frantic search to locate my lost son.

I looked, and I looked, and I looked but to no avail. I concentrated my search in a general area where I thought he would be. No luck.

After combing that area several times and not finding him. I was trying not to panic. I decided that I had better go back and check on the other two and make sure they were alright. When I got there, I discover they were fine. Matt, Bradi AND Marcus were waiting impatiently for me to return. While I was desparately searching for him, he had ambled calmly back to them.

My panic turned to joy! My son who was lost was now safe! We were all together again!

I think in that brief moment I experienced what God feels when one who was lost in sin, repents and comes to faith in Christ. What relief! What rejoicing! How sweet the celebration!

Heaven is a happy place. There is continual joy and bliss. But only one thing sets off a celebration in Heaven - when a sinner repents!

For those few tortured minutes I was obsessed with finding my lost son. It was the only thing that mattered to me at that time.

That is how God must feel all the time. I had just one lost child, He has billions! For that reason alone He sent His only true Son "to seek and save those who are lost".

As one who has been found and as one who knows the relief of finding, I want to live with the urgency for lost people that the Father had for me and the urgency I had that day at Six Flags.

How about you?

August 22, 2009

This morning I have to confess to a long-term, ongoing, passionate relationship with the local church. I believe that healthy local churches are the hope of the world. Some of my greatest joys have happened through the local church and many of my deepest hurts have happened in the local church. I have given my adult life to serve it. In fact, today is the first day of my 38th year of serving as a local church pastor.

Disappointment is one of those emotions we would rather not deal with. And no matter how many times we are disappointed it never gets easier.


If you hang around life very long, you will get disappointed. The church is no exception. In fact, the church can be more disappointing because you tend to have higher hopes and expectations for people.

The Local Church is the Body of Christ! But the problem is it is made up of people – and led by people – and people get it wrong sometimes. People disappoint you and let you down. Sometimes you disappoint yourself. Disappointment is a fact of life in the church so we need to learn how to go through it AND grow through it.

Obviously, we have had a disappointment this week in the church. I have been disappointed. I’m sure I have been a disappointment. So, as a pastor and a teacher of the Word I turned to it for some personal help on how to deal with disappointment and I would like to share what I found. Can I do that?

I am going to share some thoughts from Luke 24:13-32.

I think the key verse in that section is verse 21 – “but we had hoped He was the one who would redeem Israel…..”

Can you hear the disappointment in that statement? I can. And it is a revealing insight into the nature of disappointment. DISAPPOINTMENT IS WHERE HOPE COLLIDES WITH REALITY!

That can actually be a healthy time because it can help us get a better grip on hope and a new understanding of what is real.

Let me show you how these guys dealt with disappointment.

THEY TOOK A WALK, V. 13

"Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem."

When you get disappointed it is helpful to get some distance from the situation and retreat to a safe place. These guys had been in Jerusalem for the Passover when Jesus was crucified. They were now bewildered believers trying to sort out everything that had happened. So, they headed home.


When you are confused and disappointed and not sure what to think or do, head back to what you DO know. Surround yourself with those you trust. Don’t project the disappointment you have with one person onto everyone.

Probably THE best thing you could have done today was to come here. There is safety here. There is familiarity here. There is love here and healing here.

HAVE A TALK, V. 14

"They were talking with each other about everything that had happened."

When you are feeling the sting of disappointment the best thing you can do is talk with the right person in order to sort out your emotions. The worst think you can do is talk to the wrong people.

As this was developing I was thankful to have the friendship and wisdom of some of our key leaders, and my very wise and capable wife. Talking with them was a life-saver for me!

I want to commend our leaders for how they have handled this situation this week. When Tim resigned and it became apparent that he wasn’t going to change his mind, I accepted his resignation and informed the Leadership Team and a few other key people who needed to know. Out of love for Tim and the church they managed that information properly. They kept to themselves. They didn’t gossip. They prayed, they wept, and they supported me.

That allowed us to have this talk this morning in this setting.

I will be happy to talk to any of you who need more information.

LOOK FOR JESUS, Vv, 15-16

"As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him."

Because these men were on the right path talking about the right stuff, they were at a place where Jesus could join them! When Jesus shows up, things get better!

But, if we don’t handle disappointment properly and if we cop an attitude and get overcome by emotion and talk to the wrong people it makes it hard for Jesus to show up.

I am so thankful that our core leaders didn’t do that so that God can show up here this morning.

Norma Jean Mortenson was a young girl who spent much of her childhood in foster homes. She was very familiar with disappointment. When she was 8 years old, she was physically abused and given a nickel not to tell anyone.

Went Norma Jean tried to tell her foster mother about the man who had abused her she was spanked and told never to tell anyone because he was the guy who paid their rent.

She grew into a very pretty girl and then a beautiful young woman. People began to take notice, especially men. They would whistle at her and flirt with her. While she liked the attention, she wished they would get to know her as a person and like for who she really was.

Eventually she was discovered and moved to Hollywood. She was given the name Marilyn Monroe with the promise that she would be turned into an American sex symbol. It worked and she became an overnight success. But she still longed to be loved and recognized as Norma Jean, the person that she was.

She went through three marriages pleading for someone to love her as a person and not as a star or an object. At the age of 35, on a Saturday night, Marilyn Monroe took her own life. Her maid found her the next morning on her bed with the telephone hanging off the receiver.

One of her biographers wrote that the dangling telephone was a symbol of Norma Jean’s life. She died because she never got through to anyone who understood.

How sad to move from disappointment to disappointment and never find Jesus.

In the midst of your disappointment, look for Jesus, He will be there and He will NEVER disappoint you!

REGAIN PERSPECTIVE, Vv. 17-32

"He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" "What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Maybe the greatest blessing of walking with Jesus is getting to talk with Jesus – and more importantly listen.

The weird thing about this whole dynamic is that we see these guys talking TO Jesus about their disappointment ABOUT Jesus. As it turns out He was would they thought He was.

DISAPPOINTMENT IS WHERE HOPE COLLIDES WITH REALITY.

That can be a bad thing. Sometimes disappointment can turn into disillusionment. Has anyone ever been disillusioned?

When any of us invest too much hope in any person or leader, we are bound for disappointment.

If I haven’t already, I will disappoint you.

This is where the story gets good. As they shared their disappointment about Jesus to Jesus and as they walked with Him and talked with Him and learned from Him their perspective changed! Their hope returned. They realized that they had actually UNDER estimated Who Jesus was!

Jesus was more than they hoped! He was more real than they had imagined!

How many things in life turn out to be better than you expect? It is a short list – and Jesus is at the top of it!

I know there are a lot of disappointed people here this morning. I am one of them. Someone we invested our hopes in has disappointed us. That’s life! It happens! It will happen again!

That is why we need to learn to deal with disappointment:

TAKE A WALK

HAVE A TALK

LOOK FOR JESUS

REGAIN PERSPECTIVE

Let’s deal with this disappointment. Let’s stay united and keep on loving each other. Let’s reach lost people. Let’s let God grow a great church.

Let’s be like the stubborn old mule:

A farmer owned an old mule. He was kind of sway backed and not much good for anything. But he WAS stubborn. Since the old mule didn’t see very well any more he fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the awful racket from the mule’s braying and came to see where he was. When he found the old fella down in the well, he decided it wasn’t worth the time, money or effort to hoist him out and the well was dry, so he decided just to order a load of dirt and fill in the well and bury the mule. He called His neighbors together and told them what happened and what he was planning and enlisted their help haul dirt to bury the mule. But the only trouble was they underestimated how stubborn that mule was.

Well, they shoveled in the first load of dirt and it hit him on the back her reacted out of his stubbornness and thought, “SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!” He did. And he did it with the second load, and the third load, and the fourth load, and all the loads until the well had been filled to the top and he walked away from the well! Once on top, he “SHOOK IT OFF AND STEPPED UP!”
WHEN WE LEARN TO SHAKE OFF DISAPPOINTMENT, THE VERY THINGS THAT MIGHT BURY US, CAN END UP BEING WHAT LIFTS US TO JESUS!