If Jesus had a scorecard, he wouldn’t be counting the believers

Ed Stetzer recently shared the following story:

Last year, Caroline Inglis was on the verge of an historic feat. No high school golfer, male or female, had ever captured the Oregon state title four consecutive years. Inglis won the class 5A state tournament her freshman, sophomore, and junior years. There seemed very little doubt that she would win the title again as a senior.

On the course, Caroline dominated the rest of the field­—finishing with a 3-under 69, nine shots better than any other golfer. On the last hole, with victory assured, she scored her first bogey of the day. That would not have been an issue, except for the fact that her playing partner wrote down she had made a par. Caroline signed her scorecard and turned it in, believing she had just accomplished an Oregon first. In reality, she had just disqualified herself.

In golf, turning in an incorrect scorecard results in a disqualification. Because she had signed and submitted the wrong score, Caroline forfeited the win even though her actual score was still much better than anyone else. Having the wrong scorecard can make all the difference in the world.

I wonder if we, Faith Church, have been using the wrong scorecard?  What would be on Jesus’ scorecard?

If Jesus had a scorecard, he wouldn’t be counting the believers.  Our bishop, Bruce Hill, recently wrote “Jesus doesn’t want believers, he wants disciples.”  How do you feel about that statement?  What is the big deal?  Are believers and disciples really so different?  Wouldn’t Jesus be feeling pretty good about people believing in him?  What is a disciple?

In our 3rd sermon on the mission of the church, we’re going to dig into this a bit.  Feel free to post your thoughts and questions now though!

Follow up to “Instant Fellowship…in only 15 minutes a week!”

So is it possible to have genuine fellowship in only 15 minutes per week???

As we heard from Phil Bartelt’s sermon this past Sunday, the answer is a resounding NO!

This past June we started an 8am traditional worship service.  In the weeks following, I started hearing from people who go to the 8am service, AND from people who go to the 9:30 service, that they missed seeing each other.  This sentiment was one reason we avoided starting the additional service for many years.  We didn’t need the space; everyone could fit comfortably in our sanctuary in one service.  So we questioned, Wouldn’t a second service divide the church?  Create disunity?  Put a damper on fellowship? 

The simple answer is Yes.  You can attend the 8am service and leave the church building before most of the people arrive for the 9:30am service.  And you can come to worship at 9:30am, by which time most of the worshippers from 8am have left or are in their Sunday School class.  The two may never meet.

But does that mean fellowship has been dealt a death blow?

Not at all.  The fact that we miss people from the other service has made us realize that we need to be intentional about building relationships.  We should have had that attitude of intentionality in the first place.  We have found that having 15 minutes of fellowship gave us the false impression that we were actually connecting with one another.  It was like a shot of fellowship that inoculated us from the real thing.  Our mission statement says the fellowship is about building authentic, accountable, healthy relationships.  That’s not possible in 15 minutes per week!  Our mission statement describes relationships where people delight in being together.  If we truly miss people from the other service, then we need to be intentional about building a deep relationship with them.  Call them on the phone.  Get together for lunch or coffee.  Visit them.  Encourage them and pray for them.  Then do it again and again.  Turn that 15 minutes into an hour or two each week and watch the relationship blossom!

I urge you to ask yourself how you can apply that teaching to a relationship!

Instant Fellowship…in only 15 minutes a week!

At Faith Church you can get fellowship real easy and quick.  All it takes is 15 minutes a week!  Just walk into the fellowship hall on Sunday mornings after worship, and from 10:45 to 11am, you have fellowship.  There are snacks and beverages too!   Sounds great, right?

Or is there more to fellowship?

Does what happens on Sunday morning in the fellowship hall satisfy the biblical picture of fellowship?

What is fellowship?  What does it look like?

Spend a little time on Google Image search, and you’ll see images like this:

Or church names.  Or people at a meal.  Or scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring!  But what is the picture of fellowship that we should learn and practice?

In our strategic planning process we came up with this description:

Fellowship – We delight in being with one another, building authentic, accountable, healthy relationships. (John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:11-24; James 5:16)

As you get ready for our sermon and discussion on Sunday, would you take time to read these passages and think about whether or not you have fellowship in your life?

Follow up to “Do we need to stop singing in worship?”

This Sunday we did stop singing in worship! 

While our worship leader, Becka, didn’t lead us in singing songs, she did lead us in worship.

The reason is that when we hired her, we did not hire a piano player.  If all we wanted was a piano player, it would be clear that all we wanted Becka to focus on was music.  But we didn’t hire a piano player, we hired a worship leader.  We want her to focus on leading us in worship.  And there is a lot more to that than playing songs.

With that in mind, on Sunday, after the sermon, which was about worship, she led us in a great time of worship.  Very creative, practical, relational worship of God.  What did we learn from this?

Worship is not defined by music.  But it should often include music.

Worship is not the domain of paid professionals.  But paid professionals can join with the entire congregation in worship.

Worship is not just what happens in a church building for an hour on Sunday.  But that time of gathered, organized worship can launch into a life of worship throughout the rest of the week.

Worship is not a set form.  But it can be experimental, including many forms, practices, and even rituals from a variety of God-glorifying traditions, if done from a heart that says I want love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

Worship is not about getting filled, feeling good, and loving the show.  But it can be inspiring, encouraging, and should be very celebratory, as we come to worship with the foundational attitude of giving, serving, and sacrifice.

So what did you learn about worship?

Do we need to stop singing in worship?

On Sunday we start a new sermon series based on our church mission statement: Loving God, Loving People.  I bet a bajillion churches have that exact same statement, but that doesn’t worry us much.  We had a fairly long strategic planning initiative a few years ago that led us to creating that statement.  Based on Matthew 22:37-39, where Jesus says that the two greatest commands in the Old Testament are to Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself, we condensed them to Loving God, Loving People.

But how do we actually do that?

We read in the Bible that there at least four primary actions that we should be involved in as we seek to love God and love people: worship, fellowship, discipleship and outreach.  So our sermon series will look at each one of these, leading up to our second annual Church Has Left The Building Sunday!

On Sunday we start with…Loving God through worship.

Have you heard the story of Matt Redman’s song “Here I Am To Worship”?  Its very interesting.  What would it feel like to stop the songs???

When we come to worship, what is our attitude?  Do we come to worship with the attitude that we are participants, that we have something to offer?  Do we come to worship expecting that what we offer will launch us into a week of worshipping with our lives?

Or is worship a time where we sit and watch the professionals do the job?  Do we feel we need to “get fed”?  And if it wasn’t a good morning, if the sound wasn’t right, if the songs were not our favorites, and the preacher was just not on, then we feel dissatisfied?

Read 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 in preparations for the sermon.  Feel free to discuss any questions you have about worship here.

This sermon will lay the groundwork not only for the rest of the series, but also for a special time of worship that we’re planning to take place in November…more on that to come!

Follow up to Saying “No” to Yourself

So how has it been going saying “No!” to yourself?

After my story about Turkey Hill Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, I had one person buy my two containers of it!  Come on, people!  I’m trying to say “No!” to myself too.  I guess you felt the need to help me grow some self-control.

I also heard that the lines at Costco were crazy long on Sunday.  So that must be the time and place to go if you want to practice patience.  Maybe you’ll be able to get some of their awesome samples too!  But Costco is also a test in self-control.  Where else can you get a gallon of ketchup that cheap?

Want to continue the discussion?  What does it mean to grow self-control and patience in your life?

 

Saying “NO!” to yourself

It is one of the hardest things to do. 

When there is chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream in our freezer, it is nearly impossible.

When U2 releases a new album, it basically IS impossible.

What is it?

Self-control. Patience.  Two of the most difficult words in the English language.  How many of you struggle with them?  Every couple weeks for the last two years I have been trolling the internet for hints and clues of when U2 is finally going to release their next album.  Why is it taking so long?  They are notoriously, maddeningly slow in releasing new stuff.  It’s looking really good (see pie chart).

Then there is the peanut butter cup ice cream, made by Turkey Hill.  I’ve had others which are good, but nothing compares to Turkey Hill’s version.  We almost need a special locking freezer to keep it from disappearing in one night, with the raging metabolisms in our house.  My wife bought some last night for our small group which is coming over tonight, and she had to give a stern warning about not touching the ice cream.  I wonder if it worked…  She had to leave the house today for a few hours, and I am at the office.  There’s no telling the power of Turkey Hill Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup ice cream.Turkey Hill Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

So as we prepare to study self-control and patience, how about you?  Can you say “No!” to yourself?  What areas are hardest for you to have self-control and patience?

Follow-up to What does faithfulness to God look like in the middle class?

We had a gorgeous day Sunday morning for worship in the park!  Afterwards the food and fellowship were great too.

The only glaring omission was our weekly sermon discussion group…  It is one of my favorite hours of the week.  Over the last couple years since we started it, we’ve had conversations that have ranged from thought-provoking (including the recurring “why didn’t I think of that for the sermon???” in my own mind), to emotional, to risky, to hilarious.  The past couple months, it seems to me, have been especially meaningful.

So let’s have a little sermon discussion here.  We do from time to time, but perhaps this week we have more of a reason.

I gave you an introduction to Sunday’s sermon with my post late last week here.

In the sermon I expanded on the difference between faith and faithfulness.  Do you remember what the difference is?  What are your thoughts and questions about that?  Perhaps you might read James 2:14-26 for a bit more on that.

I also discussed what it means to be faithful as middle class Americans.  Our lives are filled to the brim with all kinds of opportunity, the rat race, bills, entertainment, and having to balance it all with sanity.  School just started for our kids, so many of you are breathing a bit easier now that there is more of a schedule in your life.  Some of you have 7 free hours that you didn’t have a few days ago!  But with school comes homework, and sports, and early mornings trying to get it all together to make the bus, and so on.  Is there any time to grow the fruit of faithfulness in our lives?  Maybe you want to discuss that.

Finally, we talked about how God is the source of faithfulness, because he himself is perfectly faithful.  And yet, you might be wondering about God’s faithfulness.  You might be waiting for what seems like an eternity to have a prayer answered, a sickness healed, a relationship restored.  God doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the horizon.  Is he faithful?

So let’s discuss!

What does faithfulness to God look like in Middle Class America?

I’ll let you define whether or not you feel like you are Middle Class.  When I use the word “Middle Class”, I’m referring to pretty much everyone that is a part of Faith Church.  Not ultra-rich, but not in extreme poverty.

So what does faithfulness look like in middle class America, when we are swamped with bills, with work, with a million events, loads of entertainment options, sports, hobbies and we are just trying to keep it together?  We are much more focused on whether or not God is going to be faithful to us. 

For some of us, to think that we need to grow more faithful to God can feel overwhelming.  And so we have to ask why?  When we know that God’s way is the best way, the way of abundant life, why do we inwardly rebel? 

For some of us there are roadblocks to faithfulness. What causes people to not be faithful?

Follow-up to Flipping Out, Losing It, Going Off and other generally mean things

Remember the guy who confronted me when I was putting up door hangers?  Read the beginning of the story here.

When he approached me, at first I had to deal with the confusion of what was happening.   It was one of those moments when I started looking around to see if there were other people, because maybe he was talking to them.  No, he was talking with me.  No one else was around.  But I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

As he was still approaching me, I walked over to the sign, and sure enough, he was right.  I had been putting up door hangers, breaking the community rule.  I confessed, apologized and said, “I’ll take them all down right away.”

Then an amazing thing happened.

He seemed to soften.  He said, “So what are these hangers for anyway?”  I showed him one, and told him about our worship concert.  Now he was interested, and even approving.  It’s been a number of years, so I don’t remember the exact conversation, but what he said next was something along the lines of “Well, maybe you don’t need to take any down.” Amazing!

But I took them down anyway.  It wouldn’t be cool having a church break the law, or even a community rule, to advertize their worship concert.

The proverb is right: a gentle answer turns away wrath.  It might not work every time, but it is a great principle to live by.  My kids will tell you that I have a lot of work to do in this area, despite my story.

One of Jesus’ earliest followers, Paul, wrote about a situation where a couple ladies in a church he started were having a fight.  You can read about it in Philippians 4:2-5.  What is so interesting to me is the progression he advises.

  1. Agree with each other.
  2. Rejoice in the Lord.
  3. Let your gentleness be evident to all.

That second point is key.  When we rejoice in God, even in the middle of a difficult time, we can have our hearts and minds refocused on him, his provision, his purposes, his mission.  It reminds me of times, especially early in our marriage, when my wife and I would have arguments late into the night.  It was so agonizing and emotional.  What prolonged the fight was that neither of us wanted to agree with each other.  In other words, we wanted to win!  I remember thinking, after a couple hours of this had gone by, after I had made her even more upset by falling asleep in the middle of the fight, that my focus had been so self-centered that I forgot something important.

I forgot that I love her.

And when I refocused on that love, that it is not about me, but a commitment to her, it changed my perspective.  Then it was so much easier to let my gentleness be evident to her.  When we rejoice in the Lord, we are refocusing on our love for him and for others, and our bitter walls of division come crumbling down.  When we rejoice in the Lord, we can let our gentleness be evident to all.

I don’t know what happened with the two Philippian ladies who were arguing.  Perhaps they started rejoicing in the Lord and let their gentleness toward one another flow.  What I do know is that we can do the same.

I showed this video during the sermon because it shows how one famously cruel and mean guy was softened by rejoicing in the Lord.

Want to discuss this further?  Please comment below.