100% God+100% Man=100% Savior!

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).

The One who spoke the entire universe into being made a decision to rough it.  As the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son was 100% God.  Then something absolutely crazy happened.  Somehow, someway, He added to 100% Godness.  He took on 100% humanity too!  That’s the new math.  The new DIVINE math.  

100% God+100% Man=100% Savior!

But the Son didn’t sit back and chill out after taking on His brand new humanity.  He was about to make a road trip.  He had mission.  The Son packed up and headed to earth.  He headed into the very creation He shaped and formed.  But when He left the lap of heaven’s luxury, He didn’t check into the Four Seasons or the Plaza.  He “dwelt among us.”  John tells us that the Son of God went camping.  The original text tells us us that He literally “tabernacled” (Gr. skeno’o) once He got to earth.  In other words, Jesus set up camp and pitched a tent.  The Message describes how Christ “moved into the neighborhood.”  For the Second Person of the Big Three, His accommodations were just a bit less posh than the glorious palace He enjoyed back home in heaven.  God went camping.  God was roughing it.  And if you have any doubts about all that, remember where Jesus made His arrival.  In a stinky old barn behind the Motel 6 in Bethlehem.  

At this point, John jumps into the story and tells us what he saw.  “We have seen His glory.”  Since we know Jesus’ buddy wasn’t hanging out with the shepherds when the angels lit up the sky in glory, that can’t be what he’s talking about.  The apostle could be talking about that crazy day Christ took him, his big brother Jim and their fishing buddy Pete mountain climbing.  Once they arrived at the summit, something wild happened.  Jesus started changing and glowing!  Their Leader pulled back the curtains of heaven to let them know just who He really was.  Or John could be describing Jesus’ appearance after His resurrection.  And their’s a chance that this is his way of summing up all of their experiences with the remarkable Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilean.  His teaching exposed God’s glory.  His miracles revealed God’s glory.  His love disclosed God’s glory.  John and the boys saw Jesus’ glory with their own eyes.  They didn’t get this crazy stuff second hand.

John and the rest of the posse realized Jesus was more than Mary and Joe’s kid from Nazareth.  He was the one and only Son of God.  While he was a great dad, Joe was His adoptive father.  He and his wife had other kids.  But Christ was an only Child.  His Dad in heaven just one Boy.  Jesus was someone special.  That’s the meaning behind the term we translate “only.”  This is monogenes, which means unique, one of a kind, one and only or the only one like it.  Jesus is unique.  He’s one of a kind.  He’s the one and only.  He’s the only one.  There was and is NOBODY like Him.  Ever.  It’s interesting to understand that the word “Son” isn’t there in the original Greek text.  You can actually write this phrase in English as “the unique of the Father.”  The First Person of the Trinity had only one Son.  There was and is no one else like Him in the history of the universe.  Jesus, the one and only.  

One of the things that made Christ unique was the fact that no one who was so overflowing in goodness spoke so bluntly.  Jesus was “full of grace and truth.”  Everywhere He went, He opened up the fire hose of God’s blessing.  Healing.  Teaching.  Loving.  Caring.  But Christ also pulled no punches when it came to telling the truth about sin.  Just ask the lady caught in adultery.  Or the woman sitting by the well in Sychar.  Or the religious bullies known as the Sanhedrin.  He told them the truth.  He made it perfectly clear that they needed a Savior.  One way to understand John’s wording is that Jesus made the Good News REALLY good because the bad news is REALLY bad.  

That’s what happens when you experience the one-of-a-kind Son of God. 

100% God+100% Man=100% Savior!

Christmas Preps

Over in the book of Matthew, we see folks getting ready for Christmas (Mt 1:1-25).  Getting ready for the FIRST Christmas.  As a matter of fact, God is the One making all the preps.  Unlike me, He didn’t wait until the last minute.  God has been getting things ready for a few thousand years.  I need to remember that the first Christmas wasn’t just this cute, quaint one time event.  It was thousands (if not millions) of years in the making!  And God was behind it all.

Before we read of His birth, we get a meticulous telling of Jesus’ family tree through His adoptive dad Joe.  It’s VERY interesting and important for a couple of reasons.  First, this establishes the Child as coming through the line of Abraham and David on Joe’s side.  God had made super specific promises to Abe and Dave about one of their descendants (more on that later).  Take a moment and check out some of the names of Jesus’ ancestors.  Holy moly!  There are double dealers, cheats, backstabbers, oppressive dictators and a wide variety of knuckleheads.  Not exactly a series of hall of famers.  That’s because this story isn’t about them.  It’s about the one and only Hero of the story.  Christ Jesus.

Second, Matt never refers to Joe as Jesus’ dad.  He makes it very clear here in chapter one that he’s “the husband of Mary” (v16) and “her husband Joseph” (v19).  On the other hand, Matt clearly wants us to be sure Who the real Dad is, the “Holy Spirit” (v18, 20).  Wait, what?!?  Yup, that’s right.  Not the heavenly Father.  But the Third Person of the Big Three.  Joe is a blue collar laborer from the backwater boondocks of Nazareth.  He might be a descendant of the great King David, but he swings a hammer for a living.  His kids will grow up with a strong work ethic.

Third, we read that despite the supernatural influence from His Dad’s side, this Baby has a human mom.  Matty lets us know that after that spectacular conception, Mary experienced a pretty normal pregnancy.  It became clear that “she was found to be with child” (v18).  She would go into labor and give “birth to a Son” (v25).  Mary was the one chosen by God to carry and nurture the Christ.  She was the one “of whom Jesus was born” (v16).  Mary is almost certainly a teenager, maybe as young as 13 or 14.  Joe the carpenter has popped the question and they plan to marry.  But plans change when God gets involved.

This amazing combination of divine paternity and human motherhood comes together in a way no one expected.  He’s not some 50/50 combo of God and mortal.  Nope.  He’s 100% God.  He’s 100% Man.  How does that all work?  Don’t have a clue.  It’s all part of the miracle of the Dude we’ve come to call the God-Man.  The funny thing is that one of my pet peeves is when an athlete says they’ve given 150% effort.  It’s not possible.  The most anyone can give is 100%.  Well, anyone except Jesus.  He can give 200%.  100% God.  100% Man.  And it took every bit of that to save my sorry self.  

Fourth, there’s the Child.  An angel gives Joe instructions on naming this Baby.  “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save people from their sins” (v21).  This is the Greek form of the ancient Hebrew name Joshua which literally means “Yahweh saves.”  When look closely at verse 21, you see that this Child isn’t just some sort of undercover operative sent by God.  He’s the One who’s coming to do the saving.  He’s flesh-wrapped incarnation of Yahweh.  He’s coming on the greatest rescue mission the universe has ever seen.  This One who’s coming to save will have a name to match.  

Matt tips us off to a second title for Joe and Mary’s Boy: “Christ” (v1, 16).  This is the Greek version of the OT title Messiah.  In other words, Jesus is the One everybody’s been waiting thousands of years for.  God first promised our first parents of this Hero back in the garden (Gen 3:15).  He pledged to Abraham that One of his descendants would be a blessing to the entire planet (Gen 12:2-3).  Yahweh assured King David that a Member of his family line would sit on the royal throne for eternity (2Sam 7:13-14).  These are just three of the hundreds of predictions of this God-sent Hero who would come to not just save the day but our very souls.  This Child is the long-promised, long-awaited Messiah.  He’s the Christ.  This term means “Anointed One.”  He’s anointed by God the Father for this incredible search and rescue mission.  He’s anointed with God the Spirit in order to have the supernatural power to accomplish it.

The angel tells Jesus’ adoptive dad Joe about one of the many predictions about this Boy.  He’ll be called “Immanuel, which means, God with us” (v23).  God first shouted this promise through the prophet Isaiah a few hundred years before.  Matt pulls back the curtain and sheds a little more light on the name.  It “means, God with us.”  He doesn’t want Joe to miss the point.  He doesn’t want us to miss the point.  This is not going to be just another Jewish baby.  When Jesus makes the scene in that smelly barn, God will have come down in a way the universe has never seen.  He is God with us.  He is Immanuel.  And what I need to always remember that He wasn’t just with us for a short 33 years.  God is STILL with us!  God is STILL with me!  Just before His breathtaking liftoff back to His Dad, Jesus promised that He wouldn’t ever truly leave us alone again.  God is STILL with us.  God is STILL with me.

Returning Serve

In tennis, some players have booming serves.  Others can return just about everything their opponent fires at them.  But the best players are those who can not only uncork powerful serves but can return them as well.  

What in the wide world of sports does this have to do with First Impressions?  Well, thanks for asking.  We do what we do each weekend because we’ve been served.  We’re actually returning serve.  Let me explain.  Jesus first served us.  Now we return His serve by serving others.  In their book Creature of the Word, Matt Chandler, Eric Geiger and Josh Patterson describe how everything we do is a response to what Christ did for us.  “The foundation of our service is built upon Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection for us.  It begins and ends with Jesus--begins there because He is our original motivation and ends there because only in Him are empowered to serve others.”  The fact of His service through His life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection on our behalf is certainly fresh in our minds in the days following Easter.

Jesus serves us first.  We return His serve.

As followers of Christ, we need to remember that we don’t serve out of guilt or some misguided effort to earn a place in His kingdom.  That’s over.  That’s complete.  That’s why Jesus yelled from the cross, “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30).  There’s absolutely nothing we can add to what He’s already done.  He did for us what we could never do for ourselves in a million years.  When it comes to a serve, that’s an ACE!!!  But we return His serve by serving others with radical hospitality.  

-We return serve by welcoming people into our parking lots.

-We return serve by providing a friendly ride on our shuttles.

-We return serve by greeting folks with a wide smile at the doors.

-We return serve by guiding guests throughout the campus.

-We return serve by brewing people coffee, lattes, and mochas.

-We return serve by cooking up hot meals in our kitchen.

-We return serve by interacting with folks in the auditorium.

We return serve as a response to the overwhelming grace Jesus has showered on us.  We serve as an act of worship of our Savior.  We serve because He first served us.  A couple of hundred years ago, Martin Luther hit the nail on the head when it comes to what our service is all about.  “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”  And that’s EXACTLY the return of serve we hope to provide through First Impressions.

Jesus serves us first.  We return His serve.

(This post originally appeared on the Hope Community Church blog. I was asked to contribute a piece about the meaning of service for our church's First Impressions ministry. http://blog.gethope.net/serving-2/returning-the-serve.)

Something’s Gotta Give

Look around. There’s somebody in the room. Or should I say something. It’s an 800 lb. gorilla of money and giving in the local church. So often, churches approach the topic at extremes. Either they never talk about it. Or they put their people on a HUGE guilt trip.

But let’s face facts. The issue of money and giving cannot and must not be avoided. It also must not be abused. You see, Jesus talked about our money more than He talked about heaven and hell combined.

Paul addressed giving in his second letter to the Corinthians. A year earlier, they had heard of the desperate financial situation of the church in Jerusalem. The early Christians in Israel’s capital were under tremendous persecution. As a result, they were broke and needed help. The much-wealthier Corinthians offered to help. In 2nd Corinthians 9, Paul let’s them know that he’ll soon be heading to Jerusalem, so they should get their money together.

In 2nd Corinthians 9:6-15, God gives us 5 principles for Grace Giving.

I. God calls us to give LAVISHLY (v6)
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (2Corinthians 9:6 NIV)

Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. (2Corinthians 9:6 The Message)

God calls us to give LAVISHLY because He is a LAVISH Giver.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us… (Ephesians 3:20 NIV)

You can’t out give God!

II. God calls us to give INTENTIONALLY (v7a)
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2Corinthians 9:7 NIV)

When Paul writes “decided in his heart,” that simply means that your offering is between you and Jesus. That's why it's called Grace Giving! It's a heart issue. Remember Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21 NIV)

We need to make up your mind and be intentional. Plan and purpose to give. That means planning AHEAD of time. Uh oh, there's the "b" word...BUDGET! We need to remember that under the principle of Grace Giving, the tithe is standard or guideline. It is NOT a legalistic requirement.

I invite you to take the test God describes in the book of Malachi.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:10 NIV)

You see, 90% with God goes further than 100% without Him.

Let's be clear about what giving to God is NOT...
-It is NOT “Powerball for Jesus”
-God NOT some divine vending machine
-It is NOT the price of admission to church
-It is NOT a way to pay for music, the sermon, or childcare
-It is NOT tipping Jesus
You CAN’T bribe God. Remember: Jesus looks at heart

God calls us to give INTENTIONALLY because He is an INTENTIONAL Giver.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

You can’t out give God!

III. God calls us to give HILARIOUSLY (v7b)
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2Corinthians 9:7 NIV)

God calls us to give willingly...not out of guilt. He's less concerned about WHAT we give and more concerned about WHY we give.

God LOVES a cheerful giver. I mean, He's absolutely CRAZY about cheerful givers. The Greek word for cheerful is actually "hilarious". Yup, that's right. Jesus wants us to be hilarious givers.

God calls us to give HILARIOUSLY because He is a HILARIOUS Giver.

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32 NIV)

You can’t out give God!

IV. God calls us to give RELENTLESSLY (v8)
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2Corinthians 9:8 NIV)

"God is able" doesn't sound very "Almighty" to me. Once again, our English translations don't do justice to the richness of the original text. It actually means that God is AMAZINGLY and POWERFULLY able. Let me take a stab at translating one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

And God is amazingly and powerfully able to overflow all grace and resources to you, so that in all things and at all times, and possessing all that is necessary, you may overflow in every excellent work. (2Corinthians 9:8 Jay’s Translation)

God calls us to give RELENTLESSLY, because He is a RELENTLESS Giver.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 NIV)

You can’t out give God!

V. Be a fire hose of God’s grace (v9-14)
As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." (2Corinthians 9:9 NIV)

Or as Eugene Peterson paraphrases it in The Message...

As one psalmist puts it, he throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. (2Corinthians 9:9 The Message)

Here's the scoop. God gives to us so that we can give. We're blessed to be a blessing. Jesus explains the responsibility of being the recipient of divine blessing.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48 NIV)

VI. God calls us to give SACRIFICIALLY (v15)
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2Corinthians 9:15 NIV)

God gave His one & only Son Jesus ...an AMAZING, indescribable sacrifice!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV)

God calls us to give SACRIFICIALLY because He is a SACRIFICAL Giver.

You can’t out give God!

VII. God is the ULTIMATE Giver
God is a…
-LAVISH…
-INTENTIONAL…
-HILARIOUS…
-RELENTLESS…
-SACRIFICIAL Giver

You can’t out give Him. He’s an extravagant Giver and He DARES YOU to try to out give Him. Take the 3 month tithe challenge. Pledge to give your first 10% to God for the next three months. I promise you that two things will happen. First of all, Satan will immediately try to discourage you. Secondly, God will bless you in such a way that He'll blow your socks off. Somehow. Someway.

But as my good friend John Logan says, "If you haven’t given yourself to God, He doesn’t want your money." Have you given yourself to Jesus?

God is an extravagant Giver…and He’s making us into His image! And that means He's making us into givers too. God doesn’t need your money. He wants your HEART!

From sermon at Freedom River CC on March 9, 2008.

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

They say the first step in getting help is admitting that you have a problem. Hello, my name is Jay and I’m easily distracted. Do any of you any of you struggle with focus? I am a “brightest light in the room” kind of guy. It takes so little to steal my attention from the task at hand. I can devote myself to prayer and say, “Dear Lord…oh look, a bird!”

Let me give you an example of what I’m up against. My desk at home is usually a land fill, just piles of papers, books, guitar picks and paper clips. About once a month, I make the decision that for the next two hours I’m going to clean things up. I’ve resolved that today is the day. I begin by sorting through the first layer of papers, throwing some away and filing others. Then I run across a magazine that I’ve hung onto that has an article or two I want to save. I open the magazine to find the articles when an ad catches my eye. “That looks interesting,” I say to myself and notice that it has a website with more information.

I boot up my computer and as it’s spinning up, I remember that I need to send an email to a friend. I open my email and before I can send the note, I notice that I’ve received a note from another friend. Well, I’ve got to respond to that one first, don’t I? You can see where this is going. I can sit down with the best of intentions to clean my desk. And two hours later, my desk is still a mess but I’ve read two magazines, checked my email and surfed the web. Folks, I can head into the kitchen to do the dishes after supper and end up mowing the yard…and I can’t even figure out how I got there! I struggle with keeping the main thing the main thing.

I think many of us struggle with focus in our relationship with Christ. We are easily distracted and lose our focus, especially those of us who are involved in ministry. We are in a constant fight to keep the main thing, the main thing. And sadly, for many of us it’s a losing battle. Today we’re going to examine someone who fought the same frustrating fight. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about keeping the main thing the main thing.

As you turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 10, let’s set the stage. The Gospel of Luke is the story of Jesus told by Luke the Physician. Before there was Dr. Phil, there was Dr. Luke. Dr. Luke wrote this specifically as a report to person named Theophilis, which means “lover of God”. But he also wrote this to Gentiles or non-Jews in general. The Good Doctor describes this as an “orderly account”. So let’s pick up the story in Luke 10:38-42.

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a
village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home.

Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what He taught.

But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to You that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it-- and I won't take it away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42 NLT)

First of all, Martha chose her absence while Mary chose His presence (v 39-40a).
Mary made a choice to…
…Sit at His feet
…Listen to His word
…Take position of disciple
…Know Jesus!

Martha made a choice to…
…Stay busy
…Throw together HUGE meal
…Be “distracted” (Greek perispao)

Second, Martha chose to labor while Mary chose to listen (v 40b).

Third, Martha chose crisis while Mary chose Christ (v 41-42).
Martha created crisis where there was none
Mary kept the main thing the main thing...and knowing Christ is the main thing!

Paul’s main thing...

I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ. (Philippians 3:7-8 NLT)

David’s main thing...

Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart's desires. (Psalm 37:4NLT)

Jesus’ words...

“And this is the way to have eternal life-- to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One You sent to earth.” (John 17:3 NLT)

Our relationship w/JC calibrates all our lives.

3 Ways to calibrate our relationship w/JC
Spend time at His feet
Spend time in His Word
Spend time in His Will

Conclusion: Am I a Mary? Or a Martha?
So each one of us should ask the question, am I Mary? Or am I Martha? Do I choose His presence or my absence? Do I choose to listen or to labor? Do I choose Christ or crisis?

Have we lost sight of the main thing? Have we forsaken time with Jesus because we are just too busy? Ministry is no excuse. We can’t give what we don’t have. John MacArthur warns that we can’t let our service to Christ degenerate into busyness devoid of Christ. I ask again, have we lost sight of the main thing?

Keep the main thing, the main thing. And the main thing is knowing Christ.

Jay

From sermon at Freedom River CC on January 27, 2008.

Jesus & the Master of the Obvious

175,ooo. That's the number of new blogs EVERYDAY! 175,000. Makes me scratch my head about why anyone might want to read what I have to say with so much other stuff out there. Maybe no one will. Well, read on...if you dare!

For those of you that tuned in to our previous episode, you might remember that I'm currently reading 2 Corinthians. Just started it really. Chapter 1 is absolutely chock full of juicy stuff.

In 2 Corinthians 1:19, our man Paul writes, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy..." Paul is kinda the master of the obvious, isn't he? If a Christian is going to preach, they're certainly gonna preach Jesus, right? Right? Apparently not.

I'm sorry to say that a quick listen or gander of various preachers would seem to make this the exception rather than the rule. Some wink and smile and tell us that God wants to make us rich...very, VERY rich. And they say the Lord will be happy to do just that if we pony up with a "love gift" of $29.95. Such a deal!

Others pound the pulpit and proclaim a "do better Gospel". Sadly, it's nothing but a lethal legalism. You come away thinking that God is sitting on the edge of Heaven with a lightning bolt in His hand just waiting for us to goof up. ZZZZZAP!!!

Still others tell us that God is there like some sort of supernatural life coach. He's ready to make our lives better if we just give Him a call. Operators are standing by!

Where's Jesus? A quick check of the Bible gives us numerous examples of what preaching Jesus looks like. Over and over in the New Testament, they preach Jesus. Peter did...and thousands repented. Philip did...and he got a free chariot ride. Stephen did...and he got stoned. Paul did...and God changed lives all throughout around the Mediterranean. John did...and he got exiled to Patmos. Even Jesus preached about Jesus after His own resurrection to two guys headed home to Emmaus.

Over the past couple of years, God's provided me with the humbling opportunity to preach His Word. Paul's simple phrase in 2 Corinthians 1:19 is a powerful reminder to those of us who are God's errand boys at our local churches. When we preach, we must preach about Jesus...each and every time.

In Christ,
Jay