Archive for February, 2008
I am excited about a new series we are launching at Five20 this weekend. We are doing a series on who is Jesus and we are calling it Not Ur Momma’s Jesus. I think many 18-25s in our post-Christian culture have a distorted view of who Jesus is or at least who He claims to be. This series will allow us to examine the claims of Jesus Himself and I think we will discover that Jesus makes some radical claims that do not allow us the option that He is just another prophet or a good man. We are using a lot of material from Mark Driscoll & Gary Breshear’s Vintage Jesus in this series.
One thing we have discovered doing ministry in a city like Vegas is that people just like it straight. I said recently at a conference that we can’t afford to water down the gospel in our context because too much is at stake. Only the gospel can transform lives so we would be foolish to try and side door it. We bring it straight. That’s how people in our culture want it. Now after they hear it, they may dismiss it, argue it, ignore it, belittle it, slander it, or simply turn away from it, but they at least want it straightforward. I have reached a place in my ministry where I have simply realized I can’t change a single person. Only the gospel can do that. For that reason, I am just going to let the gospel stand on its own. I can’t force people to believe.
With this mindset, there is the reality that you have to learn to trust the gospel. I can’t convince people they need Jesus. It is not my job to convince them. It is my responsibility to share Jesus. The longer I am on the journey the more I am learning to trust God’s sovereign grace. His grace is so much larger than I can comprehend. I am not going to make the mistake of trying to limit the gospel or one’s receptivity of it to my own theological box or presuppositions.
Starting this weekend at Five20 we will examine the claims of Jesus. We will be straightforward with them and then we will simply ask the question that Jesus asked the disciples about Himself in Matt 10 – who do you say that I am? We will allow the claims of Jesus to stand on their own. Our three core values at Five20 are explore, respond, and engage. This series will emphasize those three values as people examine the claims of Jesus, are forced to respond to them, and hopefully are engaged with the reality of the gospel.
It’s official … I can feel my neck turning red as I type. This weekend NASCAR invades Vegas which means every redneck this side of China will make their way to Sin City. Interstate 15 will be lined for miles with RVs, big pickups, SUVs, and other vehicles that can crush anything in its path. NASCAR brings out a different breed of people for sure – many who come straight from the local Wal-Mart.
This afternoon, my son Zac and I will join the parade as we take in the qualifying round. I have never been to a NASCAR event and have never really cared to go. Again if it does not involve running with, catching, or shooting some sort of ball then it does not really qualify as a sport in my way of thinking. I have always heard NASCAR actually stands for Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks. Today I will become one of them.
Driving in Vegas feels like you are driving on a race track most of the time. Today we will experience for a short time those who get paid to drive fast! I am sure Zac will love it. He loves cars and noise. If nothing else, it will give us a little daddy-son time as we elbow our way to the general admission section. Look out reds – here we come. Now if I only owned a pair of overalls or a Jeff Gordon cap….
Do you ever question why bad things happen to Christ-followers? Why was I in a wreck on Sunday night? Why is such and such person battling depression? Why is this person going through this life situation? Whenever negative life happens, we have a tendency to question. I have also discovered that a lot of people automatically assume that there is some spiritual reason why certain bad things happen. This person was in a wreck so something must be going on in their life. This person is struggling emotionally so there must be a spiritual issue. We have a tendency to assume negative life = something is wrong.
Here are a couple of thoughts about this concept…
~ I am not sure it portrays the God we serve. God is love. He is not a vengeful Judge that is waiting to send speeding cars in our direction for every sin we commit. If so, He would be very busy. In reality I am sure there are not many times in my life where I am not struggling with some type of sin – even if it is the internal battle of pride or worry. If negative life situations were always linked to sin, we would live life under some dire circumstances. God knows us fully and completely. Does He send life situations to capture our attention? Obviously. Is every life situation an attention grabber or indicate there is something deeply wrong in our lives? No.
~ We live in a fallen world. I regularly warn people not to see a demon behind every flat tire. We live in a world that is simply affected by sin. Bad things happen because sin has distorted the entire system in which we live. Most of the time a flat tire is simply a flat tire. It does not mean Satan is attacking me. Wrecks often happen simply because a person was not paying attention like he should (speaking from experience). It does not mean there was some supernatural cause. Life happens and when you live in a fallen world – bad things simply happen. Thankfully one day sin will be taken away and we will be able to live life without the consequences and misfortunes of a fallen world.
- We are human and as humans we have emotions and struggles and difficulties. We live in a finite body that is also affected by the fall. Sometimes discouragement has less to do with my spiritual condition and more to do with my external circumstances. Sometimes I simply get down. I get drained. I get tired. I get discouraged and depressed. Does this mean there is some huge sin in my life? No. It may simply mean I am feeling the affects of my limited, finite flesh. Our bodies are corruptible and perishable. We have not exchanged them for our incorruptible and imperishable glorified bodies at this point. So guess what? I am going to go through seasons of life where my corruptibility weighs on me.
- When life situations happen, we do need to examine our hearts and lives. These periods of life should draw us closer to God and cause us to depend more on Him and less on us. Life situations are used to prune, refine, shape, and mold us. They grow us into Christ-likeness. So we should use them to grow.
Life is tough. Life is difficult. Sometimes life simply sucks and we are forced to deal with our own limits as finite, sinful human beings who are 100% dependent on a God who is everything we are not. Amidst the difficulties of life, remember sometimes bad things happen just because.
Amidst all of the craziness of being in a wreck and the subsequent activities involved, I did not even think about the fact that I have been involved in two major accidents in my life and in both of them I was driving a VW. My first wreck I was driving a VW Jetta and was t-boned by a car driving over 65 mph. Sunday night I was driving a VW Passat and rear-ended a truck. Those are the only 2 VWs I have owned. Perhaps it is the curse of the VW?
So as I begin my new car search, perhaps I should “steer” away from VWs???
Here’s a couple of pictures from our Pushing Daisies set. Great job team. The flowers in the back actually move up and down. Cool & somewhat light set for a series that could otherwise be dark. We also have 2 giant yellow hands that symbolize hands coming out of the dirt. I will try and post them later.
Exciting weekend for a number of reasons…
- Friday night we began shooting our Easter video. We are undertaking a huge video project for our Easter series. I will post more about it later but we started shooting on Friday night at Lake Mead. Of course it turned cold and rainy that day in Vegas so it was quite an experience. Those involved came through in a huge way. Props to some key peeps: Kenny G – life saver with your trailer and food prep, our cast – John, Jack, Christi, Jennilyn, and Sarah – you were cold and wet and yet you were still the bomb, Heidi Ho – stepping up big time, our video team – Wojo & Trevor – huge sacrifice to get in a wet suit and get wet, Little Wheels – thanks for keeping our head in the game, all the other supporting crew that helped with lights, sound, etc. It was a fun and productive night. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out.
- Starla and the kids took a night away on Friday night so I came home late to an empty house and a dog. No sleeping in with the stupid dog who insists on getting up at 7 am.
- Spent Saturday afternoon and evening just relaxing. We were all tired and needed the rest. I did watch American Gangster for a second time. Denzel is such an incredible actor. Starla slept through most of it.
- We began a new series on Sunday called Pushing Daisies. It is a series about the afterlife. We talked about death on Sunday and the certainty of it. I gave the gospel at the end. The band performed Dave Matthews Band’s Gravedigger. That is a solemn tune.
- We continue to have good attendance heading into Easter. Looking forward to seeing what is going to happen. We still have a lot of prep over the next 4 weeks but it is definitely shaping up to be a huge Sunday.
- For at least 15 years of my life, my wife has told me that I follow people too closely on the road. I have always pushed back with the reality that I have not had a car wreck since college. All of that changed Sunday night. I was on the way to teach at Five20 when I lost focus for a moment and slammed into the back of a large pickup. My VW Passat was the perfect size to fit right under his bumper so his truck was sitting on the front half of my car. My airbags deployed and everyone was okay. I am a little cut and sore but nothing major. I have no idea what happened other than I was not paying attention for a moment and then looked up and was about to hit someone – scary moment.
- My VW is toast – which is somewhat ironic in that I had shot a video last week with a casket that had a small drawer in it. In the video I jokingly put my car keys in the drawer and said I was taking my VW with me. God has a sense of humor.
- Things happen so fast in a wreck there is no way to remember details. Cop: How fast were you driving? Me: I have no idea. Cop: What were you doing? Me: I have no idea. Cop: Why didn’t you see him stopped? Me: I have no idea. Cop: Where is your registration? Me: I have no idea. You get the picture.
- Crazy things go through your mind after a wreck. Thought #1 for me: where is my cell phone?
- No matter how many times you say “I’m okay” the people on the other end of the phone still freak when you say “I have been in a wreck.” Most of my conversations went something like this: Are you okay? …. Yes I am okay … are you sure you are okay? … Well now that you mention it – I am missing my right ear.
- Sarcasm does not mesh well with the word “wreck.”
- And so the journey begins … insurance companies … tickets … looking for a new car … etc. Oh the joys of being in a wreck.
I will post pictures later.
So we are sitting at lunch today talking about Lost. One of our staff members is unable to contribute to this weekly conversation because she is not a Lost watcher (or a TV watcher in general). One of her reasons for not watching Lost or any other TV show consistently is because she does not want to have to be home at a certain time on a certain day each week. She does not want a TV show to dictate when she is home and what she is doing. Valid point except for one elephant standing in the corner named TiVo or DVR.
I made the point that this argument is considered invalid when you own a DVR. You can record your favorite shows and watch them whenever you choose. From there, I developed a theology of TiVo that suggests that TiVo/DVR is actually a matter of proper stewardship. Here’s a couple of reasons:
1. Since you can record the shows while you are gone or busy doing something else, you can continue with your fellowship or connection and do not have to worry about leaving a certain place to get home and watch a TV show – unless you really just need a good reason to leave and then you can fall back on that lame excuse. So DVR preserves and encourages fellowship and connection with others.
2. Since you can record shows and watch them later, it does not interfere with your family time with your children. You can wait for them to go to bed before you start your favorite show. So DVR makes me a better parent because it allows me more quality time with my kids.
3. Since you can fast forward through commercials, DVR allows me to be a better steward of my time. I actually spend less time watching television because I know watch one hour shows in 47 minutes or so. In actuality, I can almost watch 3 hour long TV shows in the same amount of time it used to take me to watch just 2! DVR makes me a better steward of my time!
4. Since you can focus on just the content of the TV show and not the content of commercials, the DVR prevents me from wanting more “stuff” that I see advertised on TV. I rarely watch commercials any more. DVR circumvents covetousness, greed, and lust in my life.
5. Since you spend more focused time on just the TV show itself, the DVR frees up more quality time with my spouse. No longer do I need to cram 30 minute conversations into the 2 minute windows that commercials are playing during shows. We can watch the show itself and combine the commercial chats into one longer and more in-depth conversation. DVR makes me a better spouse and listener.
There you have it … a theology of TiVo. Now that I think about it, it might be a sin to NOT own a DVR or TiVo system. I do know one thing I would love to find the guy who invented the system and give him a big man hug (I am assuming it is a guy because it has to do with watching TV more effectively).
Interesting article from Forbes on America’s most “sinful” cities. They created a formula based on the seven deadly sins and then ranked America’s top ten on each sin. Las Vegas only made the list once and did not rank #1 in any category. Not sure we should be proud of this accomplishment but it does reinforce my presupposition that the sins of Las Vegas are everywhere, they are just more publicized and openly accepted in our city. What is done behind closed doors in other cities is done on the streets of our city.
At the end of the day, we are all sinners in need of grace. Whether you rank #1 on the sins committed list or #100,000, we are still in need of a Savior.
My friend Darrin Patrick of The Journey Church in St. Louis spoke at the Evolve Conference on repentance. Darrin is a gifted communicator when it comes to talking about theological issues that are relevant for the church. Usually I leave his talks feeling like I need to dig a hole and crawl in. Some of the things he said this week resonated with what God has been teaching me about depravity and grace.
Darrin used the analogy of a trampoline which I do not have the space or time to demonstrate fully but it was a great picture of the reality that the more I recognize how sinful I am the more I see what an incredible Savior He is.
Sometimes it blows my mind that God loves me unconditionally. We can talk about unconditional love and seek to practice it with those we love the most (spouse, kids, etc.) but in reality our unconditional love is still somewhat conditioned on other preconditions — a developed relationship with a spouse, the natural love of a parent, and so forth. In other words, those relationships in my life that could perhaps be defined as unconditional are in reality preconditioned. I don’t love your spouse or kids unconditionally. Do you know why? I don’t have a relationship with them. So even those relationships in our lives that could perhaps fit the example actually fall short of demonstrating the type of unconditional love God shows.
Throw into this mix the reality that God loves me unconditionally while knowing EVERY single thing about me and my mind continues to be baffled at his love. I know my wife and kids as well as anyone on planet earth, but I do not know them as fully as they can be known. There are things about my wife I do not know. There are things about me she does not know. I know my kids as well as they can be known but there are still nuances about their genetic makeup that I do not get. I can never fully look into the depths of my wife’s heart or see into the soul of my kids. No human can fully observe what goes on in my heart and mind. If humans could somehow see that deeply, I am afraid it would dictate how we love.
Yet God sees fully into my life. There is nothing hidden from his sight. He sees my weaknesses, sins, flaws, pride, lustful thoughts, rebellious spirit, self-centeredness, jealousy, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness … He sees it all. And what He sees is offensive to His nature. His holiness is offended by my lack of holiness. He has every reason to love me with conditions and to choose NOT to love me. Yet He loves – He loves unconditionally and fully. He loves without strings. He loves without demands. He loves without preconditions. He loves without exception.
I am not sure I can wrap my finite mind around the magnitude of God’s love. I am not sure I can comprehend the reality that God can never love me any more OR less than He does right now. I am not sure I can grasp unconditional love. So what do I do with it? I accept it (which is often the most difficult step) and then I live in it. I live in the reality that God loves me IN SPITE OF me.
“God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us.” Still a sinner & still in need of this unconditional love we call grace.