Hungry for God?

In hearing this excerpt from a recent sermon by John Piper, God reminded me of a couple things.

1) Come to church (or any time with God) hungry

I don't know what it is. Every time I'm reminded of this reality, it makes sense. Yet in this case, head knowledge rarely produces heart ache. I come to church the way I come to any other event. Glad to see friends. Excited to gather for corporate worship. Ready to hear God's Word preached. But am I really hungry? Am I starving for fellowship? Am I famished for worship? Am I craving God's Word?  Where is the expectation that only God can fill? Not just anticipation, because I can conjure up those feelings. No, where is my expectation that God will actually be present in our services (or Bible studies or devotions or prayers)? Where is my ravenous need to be filled with the food that only God can provide?

2) My lack of hunger is not because I am full of God

Here's the thing about being hungry for God. I think we are completely deceived about why it may be missing from our experience. Maybe we've have an occasional encounter with a deep, gnawing hunger for God, but in general, I think its safe to say we all live feeling quite full. Why is that? Have we really experienced so much of God that we have all of Him that we could possibly want or need? Is He a spiritual miser that doles out one bread crumb at a time? If its not these things, then what is it?

Reflect on the conscience-jabbing words of John Piper:

If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. . . .

The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ . . . the more homesick you get for heaven . . . the more you want "all the fullness of God" . . . the more you want to be done with sin . . . the more you want the Bridegroom to come again . . . the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus . . . the more you want a great awakening to God's reality in the cities . . . the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world . . . the more you want to see false worldviews yield to the force of Truth . . . the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed . . . the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea.  (A Hunger for God, 23)

All of that to say "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied." (Mt 5:6)

To God Alone be the Glory

The Ephesians 4:29 challenge.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. - Eph 4:29

Due to some specific circumstances in my life, God is reminding me of the significance and importance of Eph 4:29. And, He has not stopped merely at the surface level (i.e. say good, uplifting things) but has pressed on me that I must not only adopt grace filled speech, but a grace filled heart.

The more I sit under the weight of a verse like this, the more I realize my spiritual vision is way too myopic. I see what I want to see and don't see what I don't want to see. And the words that proceed from my heart often reflect not the heart of Christ, but the stunted, sinful, self-seeking heart of John. If living out Eph 4:29, or the myriad of other grace filled commands of God, is to become a priority in my life, something has got to change.

One thing is clear, if I am to be a speaker of grace or, to raise the bar, a modeler of grace, then the grace of which I speak and Grace-Giver of whom I model must be foremost in my heart and mind. Whatever the topic that is causing the challenge, my vision must return to Christ and His gospel. That is centerpiece of grace. Christ's death and resurrection, His reaching out and rescuing me, His breathing life into me while absorbing the Father's just wrath toward me must always consume me. Only then can I speak grace. Only then can I model grace.

But another thing is also clear, but I think easily forgotten. It is the reality that believers are always in community. We in the West (America in particular) have come to accept the cultural norm that church is something external. Most of us realize that the church isn't a building, but I would dare to say most of us view the church as something we join, an organization with officers and by-laws, etc. And while a local church needs organizational structures like these, this is not the church. We are the church.

Since we who profess Jesus as Lord are the church, we each have a duty to each other. We must (yes must) speak grace to each other. Not simply speak graciously to each other. Most people can do that. No, the Bible is clear, we who are the church must care for one another in a way that is simply unattainable except by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we try to muscle it, we will fail. But, if we strive in the power that God himself provides, we will bring glory to the Father, we will exalt the Son, and we will rely on the Spirit. Through this we will strengthen the church, both the individuals we are interacting with and the larger body as a whole.And by this we will bring grace to those with whom we interact.

As I write this, I am back to where I started. The heartbeat of Eph 4:29 is the heartbeat of Christ. It is a daunting call to give our lives and our pride and our preferences for the glory of the One who gave His life for ours. And, as I sit here writing this, it is clear to me that the biggest thing keeping me from going "all in" is that there is still too much John and not enough Jesus in my words and in my thoughts and in my heart.

May God change that today.

To God Alone be the Glory

The Foundation is Christ

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:11)

At the risk of overstating the obvious, for those of us who follow Christ, there can be only one foundation: Jesus himself.

One might ask, if this is so obvious, why write a blog post about it? Along those same lines, one could ask why Paul felt compelled to state it in his letter to the Corinthians.

The reality is this: We are very nearsighted and have spiritual alzheimers. We too quickly forget how we got where we are and where we are going. We need a frequent (dare I say constant?) reminder that we are the branches and Jesus is the vine.

I think one of the dangers of not continually stressing and reminding ourselves that Jesus is the foundation is that without it we simply assume He is the foundation. Unfortunately, assuming doesn't make it so. Assume Jesus is the foundation long enough and we will end up people, churches, even denominations that have Christ in their label but not in their blood. And if we take just a moment to pause, we can see the potential (or even reality) of this slide in our own lives, our own families and our own churches.

The solution? That is the easy / hard part. It is as easy and as hard as always going back to the foundation of Christ. God wants us to build and to grow. Personally and corporately. But we must build and grow explicitly on the foundation of Christ. It is easy because the gospel is simple, Jesus is always available to any who call on him and He is interceding for us even now. But it is hard because dependence on Christ requires giving up dependence on ourselves. Glory to God means giving up glory for ourselves. Making sure the foundation is true means calling into question and clarifying the foundation of others who may not share this core belief and value.

Remember, in the end, only what is done for Christ will last.

To God Alone be the Glory

Tuesdays from Phil 1 - Deep and abiding relationship within the Church

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:7-8

We can look at the Church, the Body of Christ, from two perspectives and I think each add to its beauty and its value. First is viewing the Church from Christ's perspective. He views us as his Bride, his Body and even as his very self. He takes our growth in holiness very seriously and does everything to protect us and provide for us, to sustain us and deliver us. In a word, Jesus is the ultimate, consummate Husband.

If the perspective above can be described as the vertical perspective, there is also a horizontal perspective. It would be how we, as members of the Church, view, relate and treat one another. This is where Paul's thoughts in Phil 1 kick in. Having the vertical dimension firmly in place, he expresses at least part of the horizontal dimension to his Philippian audience and to us. Clearly, Paul views the Church as a partnership in spreading the gospel, as we saw last week, but he is not simply utilitarian. Other people are not just a means to an end.  They are the end. "You are all partakers with me in grace"  For Paul, the cliche, the ground is level at the foot of the Cross, was true.

But there's more to this horizontal dimension. If we truly grasp the magnitude of the vertical dimension, if we truly realize that the Church is not simply a collection of people who share the same theology, but a dynamic, living entity that Jesus is creating for His glory and loves with the intensity of a husband for his wife, a parent for their child even as his own self, and if we begin to understand that we are partners in the gospel, then we will begin to comprehend the yearning that Paul had for the Philippians.

To be honest, I am nowhere near the perspective I just wrote. The Church to easily becomes a function or a facility or a few people that I know. Seriously, when is the last time I used (or even thought of using) the word "yearn" in connection with the Church? Maybe it will be today.

Father, we are too easily caught up in our own plans and agendas. We too easily forget that Christianity is not millions of people individually reaching out to you. Help us, help me, get a clearer vision of what you are doing  in and through the Church. And, by your grace, let us yearn for one another, that we may all grow more in love with Jesus and to be more humbly devoted to each other for His sake and for your glory.

To God Alone be the Glory

The Purpose of the Church

I ran across this quote by C.S. Lewis on the Gospel-Driven Church blog. Check it out here.

"The Church exists for no other purpose but to draw men into Christ. . . If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other reason."

-- C.S. Lewis