Risk is Right

“Risk is right.”- John Piper

I usually don’t encourage others to read a book until I have finished it, but I feel fairly confident about this one.  So if you are looking for a book with challenging theology and convicting arguments about life and purpose, you need to pick up Don’t Waste Your Life, by John Piper.  I’ll probably wait to finish the book to give my complete list of thoughts, but there has been one chapter that I just have to write about.  Now.

Throughout the book, John Piper has been speaking to many of my current convictions and feelings about American culture and American church culture.   He has encouraged the many questions I have been asking about my own life and their need to be asked, by everyone.  Am I pursuing a prosperous life that God wishes for me, or am I imposing what my own beliefs of what it means to be prosperous?  Am I grasping the magnitude of what God has purposed me for, or am I distracted by a comfortable life or this “enchantment of security” that John Piper says so many of us fall into?  Do I truly believe that God will prepare and provide for me, or do I need to be constantly worrying about my immediate needs?  Do I think my constant preparation for the future is to glorify God, or am I trying to minimize risk of living uncomfortably? 

That is just the short list…  I have had so many questions running through my head this last year that I don’t feel this list does it justice, but that’s not the focus.  The commonality among all these questions is asking on some level if I am living life in accordance with the Gospel?  For me I feel like my life is too safe, to easy, lacking too man relationships with hurting and broken people, and too risk free to “fit” into the pages of the New Testament.  This is why John Piper’s simple statement struck such a chord in my life.

Friends, “Risk is right”. 

“On the far side of every risk–even if it results in death—the love of God triumphs.  This is the faith that frees us to risk for the cause of God.  It is not heroism, or lust for adventure, or courageous self-reliance, or efforts to earn God’s favor.  It is childlike faith in the triumph of God’s love—that on the other side of all our risks, for the sake of righteousness, God will still be holding us.  We will be eternally satisfied in Him.  Nothing will have been wasted.” [emphasis added]

(Don't Waste Your Life, John Piper)

This may just be me, but I believe my call to follow Christ has been distracted by my comfort bubble too long, avoiding risk like we avoid that awkward admirer… the knowing that they are there but hoping that if you ignore them long enough maybe they’ll just go away, kind of thing.   If I truly let the God of the Bible prepare and provide for me, as he constantly promises, I think I would be willing to risk a little more for His sake and making His glory known. 

Friends, it is my hope that we can help each other learn to risk it all for the sake of Christ, sooner rather than later.  Today I ask you to consider the things that are keeping us from living the Gospel; only we can answer these questions for ourselves.  We have been given only one life; let’s not waste it. 

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Muscle Cars and Mexican Food

With only 5 days and $140 (could have easily been less if I had been 25 years old), I bopped around the Pacific Northwest meeting people, celebrating the wedding of my old roommate and his beautiful wife, and experiencing God around every corner.  I didn’t have much time to explore Seattle, Tri-cities, and Portland, but was there long enough to know that I want to go back. 

Grant and Laura’s wedding was beautiful.  Beautiful bride and bridesmaids, sharp groom and groomsmen, muscle cars, family, friends, and Mexican food…  all the secret ingredients to a perfect wedding.  Congratulations to the newly weds!  I am so glad was able to make it out there for the special occasion, and was grateful for the added bonus of doing a little traveling with my friend Ben Bosse (I saw some of the most interesting things while traveling with Ben) and being able to do a little exploring of my own. 

In all of this bouncing around Washington and Oregon, meeting new people and seeing old friends, I was reminded how much I love hearing people’s stories.  Where they are, how they got there, where they aspire to be, and how they feel God plays in to all of that.  Fortunately I met some pretty kind folks at the wedding, on the road and while visiting a friend at Portland Bible College (PBC), and everyone had a story.

Sarah was my ride to Portland.  She does interactive media for the Trailblazers, combines fashion and her love sports, and loves to tell it like it is… I learned a good bit sharing a ride with her, specifically that girls can know what they are talking about when it comes to sports.  Do not test her knowledge when it comes to Basketball, guys.

Dale helped me kill time at Safeway while waiting for my friend Ben to get off of work in Portland.  He recently turned 83 years old, enjoyed sharing prostate jokes, has been in Portland since 1953, is now currently on a diet per doctor’s orders, taught me the meaning of the word “tumescent”, and left me encouraged that one day I might be as young as him when I’m 83. 

While Dale and I didn’t share the same spiritual beliefs, I think his many years of living still left him with some wise words worth sharing.  Do everything that you can so you don’t miss anything you could have done.  Not bad advice for anyone, but could be greatly misleading if we only do things for ourselves.  I think he meant for this statement to be focused on both our own passions and love for others.  If any of my new friends in Portland are reading this, check in on my buddy Dale at the Safeway where NE Fremont runs into NE Sandy Blvd.  He likes to sit at the tables outside and watch for the moon between 5:30 and 7:00 pm. 

Solomon was a traveler we met with some friends from PBC on his way to Seattle. He reminded me that people aren’t always a product of their own decisions, and sometimes life is harder for some than it is for others.  Both of Solomon’s parents died by the time he was 13, was emancipated at 15, and has been traveling the country since 16.  He is 23 years old and loves to read.  Even though he seemed to have little, he was very content with what he did have.  I’m sure Solomon wouldn’t mind any extra prayers, if you remember it would be greatly appreciated. 

My friend Ben from high school introduced me to a ton of amazing people at PBC where he just started going not to long ago.  I didn’t get to spend as much time in conversation with many of them, but was incredibly encouraged by their faith, obedience, and pursuit of God.  What God did at PBC was truly amazing, and a total answer to prayer.  I am forever grateful for my short stay here and cannot wait until the next time I run into these friendly faces again.  Thanks to all of those who fed me, drove me around, prayed over me, and delivered some very prophetic words from the Lord.  God is certainly using you all for awesome, awesome things.  I will be thinking about you guys and praying for you often. 

As for now, back in Nashville… landscaping, cleaning pools, coaching soccer, teaching climbing, and just trusting in Jesus for whatever is next.  Adventure on, friends.

You have to live, you know?  If you want to go anywhere in the world, pick up a book and read it.

-Dale

Radical

I just finished reading the book, Radical, by David Platt.  In my digestion process I usually choose to write about things…  plus, I am still out of regular work, so this is what I do… journal. 

Did I enjoy the book?  I did, it was very thought provoking and convicting; at times it was also affirming of certain things that have been on my heart.  Yet, just like everything we read or see on television, I think we need to enter with the mindset that these are human thoughts and should be thoughtfully considered and even challenged.  Blind agreement can be dangerous, if we read something that parallels much of our own beliefs, we can often fall into believing the whole thing. 

I’m not writing this to say that I disagree with David in his book, yet there is much that I am still processing.  In fact, I would certainly recommend others to read it and would welcome their thoughts on this book and its message.  There are great arguments found in David's writing, and I think God has used this book to inspire many towards a radical pursuit of Jesus.  But at the end I am unsure if David missed something, I’m not even sure I can explain what it may be. 

Absolutely, I believe we are all called to a radical obedience of the gospel.  However, this may be very different for a lot of people, depending on their season of life.  Not only did Jesus call his disciples to give up everything and follow him, but I also believe that he entrusted others with large amounts of material possessions for His glory (just a few that come to mind are King David, Joseph, and Daniel).  God can use us where we are at, I fully believe this.  But, we must be soooo careful that we do not confuse where we are currently, with God’s will for us.  He has given us free will, that doesn’t mean that everything we decide, and do, is a part of God’s greater plan for us.  Only when we are walking in step with Jesus, will we more consistently make those decisions and choices that God wises for us as a part of His perfect plan (the whole draw near to God, and He will draw near to you idea). 

This is where my little disconnect with the book comes in.  I believe David, maybe unknowingly, has painted a picture that God has all called us all to go abroad, as soon as possible.  Yet it seems right though, "Go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 26:19).  Honestly, I do not believe David intended for us to feel this, but I found it continually resonating in my mind the more I read.  Ironic enough, this is largely how I desire to live; but for myself, and for others who read this book, we felt that in order to be a committed Christ follower we must go abroad, and soon. 

I do believe God is calling many of us to give up everything and go.  Yet, I do not believe that God wills us to go with out preparation by studying the Bible, learning the language, or understanding the culture.  Nor do I believe he will ask many of us to walk away from all other responsibilities in our life. He has entrusted many of us with these responsibilities (families, finances, relationships, etc...) to be used for his Glory.  However, I do believe He can call any of us, at any moment, prepared or not, responsibilities or a lack there of, to go right now...  but I do not think this is how God calls everyone.  In fact, by Jesus’ example we see that he spent three years discipling twelve men before deploying them.  He prepared them, before sending them out.  If I can be certain of one thing it is this, God is preparing us, and He certainly desires to send us. 

It is quite likely that your time will come when you can, and should, give it all away.  I’ve been inspired by family friends who, after both of their kids left for college, sold everything to go work full time at an orphanage in Guatemala.  Still, before their kids went off to school they would make annual trips to this orphanage and give of themselves generously, as a family.  They raised their family in such a way as to prepare them to be deployed. 

So this is my take, where do we begin our radical obedience to God?  By getting on our knees, studying the Bible, and pursuing the heart of God with other Christ followers.  There is no cookie cutter way in which God works…  but He is working, and he will do crazy things in your life, and mine, when we radically pursue Him. 

II Corinthians 4:5
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Freedom, Money, or Both?

Yesterday I shared a cup of coffee and good conversation with a complete stranger, but our conversation didn’t feel that way. Granted, this was an arranged get together...  but encouraging non the less.

We talked briefly about my upcoming pilgrimage to pursue deeper relationships with those from other cultures and my desire to connect people in America to greater needs around the world.  After a few encouraging words and a little advice, our conversation shifted to American culture.  Both of us agreed that we had a “secret” desire to see a less distracted culture, one where we do not constantly witness people acquiring stuff to make us happy or more comfortable. 

Then he said something that was so simple, yet so profound. I had to write it down. 
Freedom is what money creates in our society.

I was immediately brought back to my notes from last week’s sermon on Matthew 6.  There was so much truth behind these words that I actually became a little overwhelmed.  This idea that I have struggled with about American culture being a distracted culture, seems more accurately defined as a culture that is pursuing “freedom”.  The more “responsibilities” we have, the more money we need in order to receive freedom from those responsibilities… vacations, cars, clothes, and the like.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… …For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

The eye is a lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.

Matthew 6:19-24

One of the reasons we are sooo distracted by a consumer market is because we desire freedom.  There is more to it, but I strongly believe this to be a large part of why we struggle with stuff.  If I could only have “this”, then “that” would be better.  We are looking for freedom in things and money, when really it can only come from God.  It is not only with money, though.  This is also true for many areas of life.  Work, relationships, and achievements are often pursuits of what only God can fulfill… security, love, and affirmation.   

Do we still need money?  Well, that is an interesting thought; and I want so badly to say, “No”.   Billions of people are living on much less per day than you or I ($2 roughly), but when examined closely it is all assigned a dollar value.  Yes, the world operates on the exchanging or trading of some form of currency, but Jesus is quick to warn us about what or whom we serve.

You cannot serve both God and Money.

The more we turn our focus [eyes] towards trusting in something [Someone] greater than ourselves, and our own power, we can find freedom.  Likely in the form of less stuff, and more sacrifice.  What was the model the Christ and his followers laid out for us?  They gave it all…  they trusted Him with everything they had...

I feel like I have had to say this on multiple postings, but please do not come to the conclusion that I believe possessions to be bad.  This is not that case.  I know that great good can come from those who God has given much.  I am not asking everyone reading this to sell everything (however, if God puts it on your heart I won’t stop you).  For me, I need constant accountability about where I spend my resources, because I have not been given much, and my desire to do “good” is much bigger than my bank account. 

So here is my question for all of us, how are we pursuing freedom? 

Are there needs, locally or globally, that we are ignoring in our own desire to be free?  Do we need to entrust our desires for freedom to Someone else?  Or, are we trying to serve both God and Money?

No one said it would be easy...

For what it is worth, I hope this post is encouraging, as discouraging as it may read.  It seems that the last few weeks of my life have been filled with a common theme that many of us struggle with in our pursuit of Christ.  I have been blessed with an opportunity to live in a close community of young men, who are passionately pursuing the heart of God, for the next few months…  and I could not be more grateful for this opportunity, especially now. 

Brothers and Sisters, followers of Christ, we have chosen a difficult journey.  The adventure that we have signed up for by following Christ is just that, an adventure. 

Will it be fun, exciting, and at times painful?  Yes. 

Will it be easy?  Absolutely not. 

Somewhere along the line we fell into this ideal that following Christ will mean an easy and prosperous life, free from hardship.  I do not know where we get such ideas.  When we study the Word, God never promises us an easy life for putting our faith, hope, and trust in him.  We have twisted God’s promise of a more fulfilling life to think that we will have a more prosperous, blessed, and easier way of life.

Friends, these are lies. 

No one said it would be easy. 

In fact, the Bible constantly reminds us of the difficulties that we will face (See: Matthew 6:34, John 16:33, Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-4).  The Bible constantly reminds us of our need to be actively pursuing Christ (Romans 8:1-2, II Corinthians 1:8-11) .  The Bible constantly reminds us to be ready to face opposition, because it will come (I came across this great sermon my Mark Driscoll from Nehemiah 4 on this, if you have an hour please watch it).

Why do you think it so important to be in community with those who share your heart?  Why do you think we desperately need to spend time in prayer and reading our Bible? 

Because it [passionately following Christ] is not easy, especially when we try to do it alone. 

It is not easy to live by faith, when culture is telling us to take control of our own lives.  It is not easy to love others, when culture tells us that love is a currency, to be used for our own self-gain.  It is not easy to surrender everything, when culture tells us that we are defined by our material possessions, relationships, successes, and even failures. 

I hope you see the picture that I am trying to paint, if our lives are becoming too easy for too long… maybe we need to examine our heart.  Do I think that every minute of every day must be difficult to prove that we are following Christ?  No.  Yet, if our hearts are to glorify God we must know that we will run into hardship. There will be people who oppose us. 

However, we do have hope.  We have been promised life, and life to the fullest.  Additionally, we have been granted the opportunity to see the world through our Savior’s eyes.  If we remain faithful in our struggle with sin, if we struggle well, He will elevate us.  Daniel was spared from the mouths’ of angry lions (Daniel 6).  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were spared from a fiery furnace (Daniel 3). Elijah brought fire from heaven, on multiple occasions (I and II Kings).  Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, placed in prison, and was then elevated to the second highest position in Egypt (Genesis 37-45).  Paul and Peter faced constant imprisonment; James and Stephen were killed for their faith (Acts and pretty much the whole New Testament).  Jesus was conspired against, betrayed, mocked, beaten, and crucified…  These are who we should aspire to model our faith after.

Do I think all of us will face such extreme persecution?  No, but if the value of our lives were the salvation of countless others like these men and Jesus, shouldn’t we live in a way that stirs the pot a little?  Maybe a lot (we can only hope)?  I truly believe that if we surrender to God’s will for us, he will use us for great things… just like all of these faithful followers. 

If you have made it this far into this post, thank you for sticking with me.  While I am not the first to tell you, or at least I hope not, being a Christ follower will not always be easy. But God has not left us to do it alone either, we have our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have Him.  What more could we need?

II Corinthians 1:9-10

“Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.  On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,”

God, Here’s Your Reminder…

Let me just get right to it.

Today at ethos, my home church, Pastor Dave spoke on Matthew 6:19-34.  Now this is a scripture that I have read countless times, but have failed to reach many of the conclusions found in Dave’s message today.  Yet there was one in particular that really hit home. 

Our worrying is an open assault on God’s ability to care for us.

Think about your own prayer life, it is probably a lot like mine.  We go to God in our times of need.  Every little petty thing, the things we usually worry about, we remind God that we are in constant need.  Dave painted a great picture of a son asking/reminding his father of his every need.  It sounded insulting. 

I asked myself if I treated God that way... reminding Him of everything I need that week?  Instead of asking the Lord for wisdom, discernment, or a deeper intimacy and love for him, I find myself reminding the Lord of my need to eat and pay the rent.  Do not misunderstand me, I’m not convicted by my trusting in God’s provision.  He wants us to fully trust Him for providing, and sustaining.  Yet my heart wants to trust that God will provide, without spending my intimate prayer time reminding God of my “little” needs.  Instead, can I trust without reminding God that my rent is due in two weeks and ask God to bring me closer to Him, whatever it takes?  Maybe that just means really trusting for God’s provision down to the very last minute.  

Not only does our worrying keep us from intimacy with God, it keeps us from trusting that God’s plans for us.  They are exciting, adventurous, and BIG plans, but we cannot let our worrying to openly assault God’s ability to care for us.  If we are caring for that which God will provide, we are incapable of being used for other things, amazing and God glorifying things.

In all honesty, there is sooooo much more to second half of Matthew 6 than just trust.  I really encourage any of you who are reading to listen to this message by checking out the church’s podcast (Sermon Title: More Like Jesus : Part 2 posted August 21st).

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds then.  Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:26

In Grace and Love,

PBANDCY