Make Jesus the Reason for the Season

Here's a plan for letting your neighbors know that the Kingdom of God is near to them: Get about twenty Christmas cards and write something like this in each one:

Season's Greetings! We're so happy to be your neighbors. Please let us know if we can help you in any way, whether it's loaning a tool, helping with a chore, or maybe you just need someone to talk or pray with.
Love,
(name, phone number, address)

Then, as a couple or as a family, knock on the twenty nearest doors and spread some Christmas cheer. Maybe bring bags of cookies or chocolates, too.

Lock the door! Turn off the lights!

I used to think it was my Christian duty to hate Halloween. Participating in a "Harvest Festival" a few days before 10/31 was OK, but on that dreaded date, we would turn off the porch light, close the curtains, hunker down, and watch a video. But I was missing an excellent opportunity to meet my neighbors and share the gospel. How often do dozens of people ring my doorbell in one evening?

Our new Halloween tradition consists of us all dressed in non-scary, non-evil, non-slutty costumes, passing out candy with an attached note on orange card-stock:

Enjoy the chocolate! We're John and Gina. We teach Sunday School at Chandler Christian Church. We hope you kids can visit us there soon! http://www.chandlercc.org

Maybe we'll get visitors to church that way. If nothing else, our neighbors will know that the Kingdom of God is near.

How Then Should I Preach?

Christians are too often known for being against a lot of things, rather than for being positive. Looking at other Christians around me, and especially at myself, I think I know the reason. I think it's due to the fact that it's fairly easy to logically explain why homosexuality, lying, gossip, pornography, and divorce are harmful to everyone involved, and there can be a certain accompanying amount of pride in revealing these truths--I demonstrated superior wisdom, and I did my Christian duty. But to be for something, we have to be for someone--Jesus--because we know better than to preach ourselves. And it's natural for us to feel embarrassed to preach a 2000 year old Messianic message of miracles to the modern, mocking masses.

How does one preach Jesus? Talk about the predictions of his first coming. Describe his blameless life. Gush over the incredible wisdom he used to lift the oppressed and confound his opponents. Proclaim his imminent return. Most of all, tell about his grace! Grace that washes away our sins, grace that nailed the requirements of the Law to the cross, grace that sovereignly intervenes in every area of our lives, grace that gives us the power to live right.

God give us enough holy boldness and humility to share this indescribable gift with every people group on Earth, as well as to our next-door neighbors.

Tithes

It is commonly accepted among Evangelicals that a Christian must pay tithes to his local church. I do not find this anywhere in the Bible. The Old Testament shows Abraham tithing to a priest, and Moses commanded Israel to pay tithes to priests, but in the New Testament, all Christians are priests. Jesus taught that giving to the poor or to "the least of these" is the same as giving to him, and, in fact, this principle is found throughout Scripture. Yes, there are a few New Testament instructions and examples concerning giving to churches, but it is never referred to as a regular ten per cent that is due.

My wife and I divide our ten per cent between a variety of ministries, with the bulk of it going here. The founders of this evangelistic charity are good friends of ours.

For more detailed dissertation about Christian giving, read this. I don't agree with all of his conclusions, but it's food for thought.

"Cussing"--Why Is It Wrong?

Profanity is often referred to as "mature" language. Yet we've all heard children use these words. Are these kids more mature than their peers? Hardly. It is immature language because:

--cussers don't care if they bother others (in this, they are on a level with those who pass gas, loudly chew gum, or burp in public),

--cussers usually don't even use profane words according to their definitions, and

--cussers often trivialize and disrespect the names and titles of the awesome and wonderful Lord of Lords.

I don't misuse the names of your loved ones; please don't do so to the one I love more than anyone else.

Everything in this article thus far is also in my other blog, http://jgapinoy.blogspot.com, which is aimed at the general public. The reason I bring it up in this blog--aimed at the Church--is because of the phenomenon of "Christian cussing". Do you use slang words that were invented for the sole purpose of sounding like the cuss words you condemn? I used to, but God convicted me about it, and I made an effort to stop. At first it was an effort--I actually had to think of ways to express myself properly. Now it is no effort at all. Please consider what I'm saying, and give it a try.

Confessions of a Church-Hopper...?

For the first two years after I came to love Jesus, I was a dedicated church-hopper. Eventually, though, I learned that I couldn't really serve the Body of Christ that way, because no one could count on me being there at any given time. For the next seventeen years, I was stuck in the other extreme. I was in a church that frequently warned against leaving "The Fellowship". "The religious world", as the rest of Christendom is called by this group, would surely make me "lukewarm". "You have to bloom where you're planted--Psalm 1!" was the mantra. So when I sensed that the Lord was leading me to leave that fellowship, I prayed about it for two years before finally leaving. I was concerned that it would take me months to find a good church, but thank God, the first one I checked out became "home"...for three years. I've been serving in yet another church for the last three and a half. Am I a church hopper now? Call me what you will, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a better man for having had these transitions at these specific times. I can point to areas in my character, in my knowledge of good doctrine, as well as in my ministry abilities that have been strengthened as a result of changing churches. I understand that a move to the wrong church could have been disastrous, so being sensitive to the Lord's leading is always crucial.

Paul, who was a Christian for at least fourteen years before his first missionary journey, was a part of at least four churches during that time. Nevertheless, I hear slight hints of contempt from brothers and sisters occasionally when they refer to departed saints.

Yes, remaining in one church for decades can be God's will for some. But others are called to these times of transition.

"Are My Needs Being Met?"

I'm a little weary of the mindset that says that the number one thing to look for in a church or Bible study group is, "Are my needs being met?" Obviously, that should be a factor sometimes, but not numero uno every time. When Hudson Taylor labored alone in China as a missionary for all those years, was it because they were meeting his needs?
At one time, my wife and I were part of a Bible study group that was--how do I say it?--needy. The leader and his wife had their act together, but the rest of the group consisted of a man with a plethora of health problems whose wife died some months earlier, another man who was unemployed while his wife had just lost her mother and whose father and brother were battling mental illness and drug addiction, and the dear elderly woman who was nearly blind and nearly deaf. We did not attend those meetings because they were fun or fulfilling. We went to be a blessing.
The greatest missionary of all, the Lord Jesus Christ, left the honor, glory, and riches of Heaven to hang out with sinners, the sick, and hypocrites. He did it, not for any immediate kicks, but "for the joy set before Him." That joy was knowing that we would become His bride, His Church. He did it for love.