The 4th of July and Two Kingdoms

“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’”
– The Gospel of John 18:36

With the July 4th holiday approaching next week you can be assured of one thing – churches around the United States will have services devoted to the theme of America and liberty. Activities like reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, singing God Bless America and salutes to the armed forces will be dotted in orders of worship throughout the country. If I could get a dollar for every sermon that deals with “freedom” in our nation's pulpits a weekend from now I’d become a very wealthy man.

And I think for some churches it can be a very scary thing!

Let me preface this by saying I am grateful to God to be an American. While I don’t think our country is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else. I consider myself patriotic as well. In high school I wrote a piece on the great gift of being an American for a scholarship competition sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It went all the way to state as a finalist. My wife and I have been to a Presidential Inauguration. My uncle fought in Vietnam. My great uncle in WWII. My father served in the Army. I even have a brother who worked in the White House in the role as Special Assistant to the President of the United States. So rest assured, I love the good ole US of A.

I just get really leery of churches that devote entire worship services to the greatness of America. It’s not that one can’t consider America great, it’s just not as great as God. In fact, it is so “not as great as God” that it (or anything else) doesn’t need to be worshipped. Remember, for most churches the Sunday service is a worship service, and that worship is reserved for no one else than Almighty God. However, I believe many churches walk a very thin line by conducting services that leave people with the impression that America is worthy to be given that which only God deserves…worship! It's won't be uncommon in many churches next weekend to have a service where people will pledge their fidelity to our nation, sing songs of praise to her and raise her colors high in a space that is supposed to be set apart as “God’s House”. Does anyone see, if not a possible contradiction, at least a sizeable tension here?

Only the Lord is to be worshipped. Nothing, not even our wonderful nation, gets that kind of billing. In fact, there are numerous texts that show how impotent America (and any other nation for that matter) is in front of the Most High God.

• Psalm 47:7-8, “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.”
• Daniel 2:21a, “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings…”
• Daniel 4:34b-35, “For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"
• Psalm 33:10, “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the people.”
• Acts 14:16-17, “In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
• Revelation 12:5, “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron…”
  

Make no mistake, when it comes to an arm wrestling match between America and God for worthiness of worship, there is no competition. America's existence in this world of ours ultimately rests not on its economical or military prowess but upon the sovereign wishes of God. Therefore, now that we know everyone’s place in the grand scheme of things, it seems churches (who represent God’s Kingdom and not the nation where they happen to be located) would be wise to put together services next Sunday in such a way that there is no guessing on the part of the congregants on who/what is to be the rightful object of worship!

The great Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin taught that Christians were citizens of two kingdoms: God’s Kingdom and man’s kingdom. As such we have responsibilities to both. For example, we obey the laws of the United States of America AND we seek to follow Jesus Christ. While these kingdoms are not equal (always God before man), when we can obey both, we should. But somehow over time many churches have tended to blur the line. Even today you can hear people talking in one sentiment or another about how America is God’s nation. Unfortunately, this is a confusion of kingdoms and becomes worsened when churches add to that confusion by hosting services which drift into more America-centric worship than Gospel-centered worship.

Can a church recognize liberty and America in a church worship service? I think it can but I’d strongly encourage it to happen within the context of a God who ultimately and unreservedly is the object of worship in that service. Let there be no confusion on Sunday! However, I’d put money on the fact that many churches likely cross the line from a biblical appreciation for the state to an idolatrous adoration of it when they gather on weekends such as the one we’re approaching. Again, I’m not saying American Christians shouldn’t celebrate their nation, I just think there are better arenas for doing that than a Christian worship service held by a those who have been given a new identity in Christ as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) While our natural birth has made us Americans, the Gospel has made us “sojourners and exiles” in this world (1 Peter 2:11), thus believers are to reserve their highest allegiance for the One who has given them an identity that transcends any earthly citizenship.

How does that affect us? Well, at my church every Memorial Day, July 4th and other patriotic seasons we will continue to have people angered at our leadership because we don’t fly flags in the auditorium, or sing the National Anthem or have everyone stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. But let it be known, we as Followers of Jesus Christ have pledged our allegiance ultimately to the One who rules over every nation, including the United States. I will have many Presidents over my lifetime, but only one Lord. And because that is so, it means there is only One who is rightfully to be worshiped – one Kingdom over all kingdoms. At least for my local church to that end, we want that to be perfectly clear on Sunday!

My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man.
My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood.
It's to a King and a Kingdom.
- Derek Webb, A King and A Kingdom

Joy of Life

I don't know who these two adults are but I really like this kid!

NOTE: You should probably know that when a child gives his/her testimony on video he/she is reciting their story that they have already written down and brought with them to the video shoot. The stories are edited because of a child’s propensity to get distracted (an especially good strategy when it comes to the kiddo being baptized). Nevertheless, the words they use are their words. The edited video spares the congregation from having to watch for a torturous 20 minutes instead of two. ;)

This was filmed on June 4, 2008, at the worship service known as The Gathering.

What Fires Your Passion?

Today as a staff we worked through how our schedules should reflect our desire for self-leadership. In essence, what things do I need to do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis in order for me to be the very best I can be as one who vocationally serves God through the local church? Most of us had similar thoughts - eating well, exercise, retreats, and the like filled up the conversation. But in thinking about what activities I would add into my life, bigger questions rose to the surface of mind, not the least of which was: What keeps me passionate in life?

In other words, what things do I do that fire me up to live the life I live? For me, I can't think of very many personal evils worse than living a dispassionate life. It's not how I'm wired at all. I love living with an intensity, an edge...and being fired up about it all is simply par for the course. Call it hyper or being too revved up, it doesn't matter to me. I'd much rather be faulted for being too amped up than coming in day after day with barely a pulse. For me, living passionately is a vital cog in the machine of my self-leadership.

So I began to write down things that throw fuel on the fire of my passion for life. I'll give you a couple that I wrote down...

1. Hanging out with "Soul Friends".
The irony of ministry is that for very good reasons, while a pastor is around tons of people he can still be very lonely (I'll leave that for a potential post). Often, he will need to find close friendships outside the circle of his congregation. Now I should sayI feel that I am very, very good friends with many on my staff. In fact, I would consider a handful of them "soul friends" - friends who no matter where you are or what you're doing, almost always energize you. However, with that being said, I believe most of those friendships will come from the outside than inside of a pastor's congregation. That's been the case for me. But no matter how those relationships come about I've seen one truth demonstrably projected over the course of my life, when I hang out with "soul friends" I find myself more rejuvenated and impassioned for life. They are not optional. When I have time with them spaced too far out in the rhythm of my life, things go south for me.

2. Being a part of a "Learning Community".
I love to learn. My day is filled with learning. I can't stop it. I just do it. I can't escape the fact that I'm an eternal student. In fact, I really like that about me. The world feels much more alive to me knowing that there's so much out there to know. When it comes to God and his Church you can multiply that feeling a bazillion times! And what I've learned over the course of my life is that I like learning with others. I like journeying through issues and ideas with fellow pilgrims. It's stimulating to me. It fires me up and gets my passion engine running hot. I can't explain necessarily why, I just know it does. In fact, one of the reasons I love the leadership team I work with is that they are learners too! So if I know we're going to go into a room to discuss how this idea or that issue is going to affect, for example, how we make disciples at our church, I'm good to go for the long haul! Frankly, it's hard for me to let those things go when our time together has concluded. I like learning with others!

As I look over how I can better lead myself I know one thing - I need to have these types of experiences dotted throughout my year. That's probably a better indicator on how well I'll "perform" than how much sleep I get or how well I eat (not that those are unimportant). I want to live life passionately!

What feeds the fire of your passion for life?

"Wordling" a Message from 1 Corinthians 15:12-34

First off, this is my 100th post. I was thinking about doing something special but then that thought passed. Oh well...

I stumbled upon a web program called Wordle that provides a "word cloud" out of text you supply with greater prominence given to words that appear more frequently. You will be messing with thing for hours if you're not careful. I've only done one so far and I think it's absolutely, totally cool! Here is the wordle from my sermon outline on 1 Corinthians 15:12-34. The title of my message was "The Importance of Resurrection".

Now, try not to waste half your day doing some wordles of your own!

HT: Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds

Home Sweet Hill Country

"Don't ask a man where he is from.
If he is from Texas he will tell you so.
If he isn't...well, don't embarrass him."
- Anonymous

Man, can I tell you how much I love getting away to my little ranch house in Kerrville?!?!! On Monday I texted my wife asking her if she wanted to take off for a brief respite with the kiddos at the place I have spent most of the summers of my childhood - the Texas Hill Country. She didn't miss a beat and by Wednesday we were on the road (leaving at 4AM) with a Suburban full of kids and Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger". Kerrville didn't disappoint!

Most people don't know my background when it comes to Kerrville with story upon story of time spent riding horses, dancing at Crider's, playing "pitch" with my cousins, swimming and fishing in the Guadalupe River and making memories with my relatives (aunts, uncles, cousins and all). I might've grown up in the groomed plains of West Texas but my summers were all Texas Hill Country. And now I get to pass on that heritage to my boys.

Our place is actually not in Kerrville or anywhere else to be exact. The closest town (if you can call it that) is Hunt, Texas, but Kerrville is the closest "large" city. It's like saying you live in Houston when you really live in League City. However, our place is right in the middle of camps where families spend literally thousands of dollars to send their children (in fact, our neighbors will send their girls to a camp this summer not even five miles from our ranch house), and I'm blessed to get to do it all for free!

The last four days were chock-full of long hours in the waters of the 'Lupe, searching through the rough terrain of Big Bluff looking for who-knows-what and even had a little bit of Crider's thrown in. We missed the dance and rodeo (had to leave a little too soon) but did hit Crider's catfish cookout with the locals. Fortunately, all of my aunts and uncles happened to be around to invest in my kids over the week with old stories, swimming buddies and rides on the tractor. Standing around in the midst of it all, seeing the smiles and wonder ignite on the faces and in the hearts of my boys was pretty special for me. I knew the feeling.

In fact, I still feel it today.

Memorable Moment

Tonight my church took about 15 minutes to celebrate my ten years of being on staff as the Teaching Pastor. It was funny, touching and memorable. My wife and I were dearly blessed! They even rigged up our website for a season in honor of my anniversary. I love my church!

Here's to many more years...

Hairathon

One thing I've been consistent in...is that my hairstyles have never been consistent. Some guys have had the same cut since 5th grade. I've had five different types of cuts in one grade. I dunno. I guess I get easily bored.

I remember growing my hair out a couple years back and someone asked our Lead Pastor if he minded my long hair. He replied, "It really doesn't matter what I think, he'll get tired of it and change before you know it." I must say he knows me well.

Tonight I was running through a file (mind you, one small computer folder file) with random photos and amusingly noticed how many different hairstyles I've had within a short period of time. Feel free to laugh...

*Click to enlarge photo

C'mon Dad, It's Mendelssohn!

Tonight I was laying in bed next to my son Thatcher before he went to sleep for the evening. With the lights off, we spent time talking about our days and ended our time together humming classical music tunes seeing if we could guess the other's song. Now I must add that my son has been studying different composers at school (his mother is his fabulous teacher). We traded songs for a few minutes.

"Thatcher, that's Mozart's 40th?"
"That's right Dad."

"Dad, you're doing Beethoven, right?"
"You got it, son!"

Then he starts humming through a song for which I had no clue. He turns to me afterward. Silence.

I tell him I didn't know the song and he says, "Dad, it's from the Romantic period." like that was going to be the hint which would easily get me over the top.

After a few more moments of silence he exasperatingly says, "C'mon Dad, it's Mendelssohn!"

"Oh yeah," I reply not letting him see me silently laughing, bemused at the fact my kid thinks everyone (including his dad) should know Mendelssohn, and correspondingly, the Romantic period of the mid-19th Century by memory.

I'm giving his mother a raise.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement....7 Year Old-Style

This week my middle child Haddon got in trouble for saying something he shouldn't have. The punishment was vinegar in the mouth (a result of his third "infraction" for the same bad behavior for the day). My eldest son Thatcher, seeing that his younger brother was about to suffer, piped up and said, "Mommy may I please take Haddon's punishment?"

"Why would you want to do that?" Jennefer inquired.

"Because it makes me sad to see my brother punished," he replied.

So she went ahead and gave Thatcher the cap full of vinegar on the tongue.

I don't know if Jen or I have had an easier "pitch" to hit in pointing out the beauty of the Gospel to my kids than that moment.

Oh and by the way, I'm baptizing Thatcher this Wednesday.

Twelve (and Ten) Years and Counting....

Today marks my 12th wedding anniversary. I am truly blessed by God to have been given Jennefer as my spouse! This also happens to be the day (10 years ago) that she and I loaded up our cars and moved to Houston to be the Teaching Pastor at the church I currently serve. Can I also say I've been blessed to have been given the church I'm privileged to pastor? God's grace has truly been rich to me!