Restoring the Image

What will I worship this Christmas"

I heard today that if you purchased everything in the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" it would cost over $96,000.  It's an incredible struggle to fight against the commercialism and materialism of Christmas.  If you choose to fight against it, you're taking on our whole culture.  It's not so much unlike declaring 'Jesus is Lord' in a culture where the law of the land says 'Caesar is Lord.'  It's not easy, but It truly is a declaration of worshiping a different God.  If you think that's a bit of an overstatement, check out exibit A below.  It broadcast on November 19th and was called Oprah's Favorite Things. I challenge you to watch it. Try to count the number of people crying over getting 'stuff.'  Look at how many people look as if they're in a Charismatic worship service. And this was only the first 3 minutes.  If you don't think it rises to the level of worship...I don't know what does.  The gut honest question to ask ourselves is...'What will I worship this Christmas?"

Is it blasphemous to worship a...

Is it blasphemous to worship a ... sandwich?  This was the advertising at the place I went to for lunch today.  The funny thing is that the thing that makes this advertisement work is that it's silly - we all know it is blasphemous - that's what makes it catchy and funny.  That made me think about how easy it is sell out and worship something other than God without hardly thinking about it.  There are so many things that tempt us to exchange the worship of God for something else.

For Judas, it was 30 pieces of silver. Money.  In the end it killed him and he died penniless.

Sometimes I think I sell out for even less than 30 pieces of silver.

The temptation so often is to gratify some seemingly immediate desire even though it costs us our long term goal - sometimes even our destiny.

In Genesis 25 there's a little story - just five short verses (vv. 29-34) - that tell us the gravity of what can happen when we gratify the immediate instead of denying ourselves and holding out for the real goal.  In the story of Jacob and Esau, it cost Esau his destiny as the firstborn.  He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.  Now, I like stew, but seriously, it couldn't have been that good. (I realize God's plan worked out through this, but that's for another post...)

Here's the point - if we aren't careful, and we sell out in a major way to temporary and immediate gratifications of our flesh instead of sticking to God's plan - we can end up like Esau and actually forfeit our destiny.

I'm not sure what tempts you, but maybe it would be helpful to use this ad, but instead of sandwich, put in the temptation with which you struggle.  I think it helps remind us of how silly it is to exchange some temporary thing for our destiny in Christ.

Let's try it.  Is it blasphemous to worship a ________________?

 

 

Another great Chick-fil-a song :)

This is just funny - I do love Chick-fil-a!

 

Controllable appetities?

Ever since I taught Biblical Theology at VFCC I've been incredbily facinated with the overarching story of the Bible from start to finish.  I love discovering the threads that comstitute the tapestry of the whole story.  And when I find those threads also woven into my own life I'm just blown away and amazed - especially when they are summed up in just one verse.

One of those threads that is a summary of our struggle, from the beginning, to Christ's temptation, and then to us is found in 1 John 2:16, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."  That verse sums up so many of the struggles we face.

It starts in Genesis 3.  When Eve is tempted, we are told specifically what really got to her. Check it out - "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], and that it was a delight to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and that the tree was desirable to make one wise [boastful pride of life], she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6).  It seems just like a normal description, nothing special...until you look at the same Tempter tempting Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4.

The first temptation is after Jesus has been fasting for 40 days and the Tempter tempts Jesus to turn a stone into bread. Certainly Jesus is hungry [lust of the flesh].  The second temptation consists of showing Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world in a moment [lust of the eyes] and says that if Jesus will just bow down and worship, it all could be His.  Everntually it all is Jesus' anyway, but Satan was tempting Him with seeing all of this to take a short-cut.  The third tempation was to 'prove' that Jesus is the Son of God by throwing Himself off the pinicle of the Temple - the temptation to prove Himself, to show off, to boast [the boastful pride of life] and test God the Father (or test Jesus - but that's for another blog post).

And then there's us, or at least me (thought I think you'll be able to relate).  I struggle often with the lust of the flesh - appetities for food, sexual appetites, desire for comfort and pleasure; the lust of the eye - materialism, always wanting more, advertisements convincing me I need the newest shiny thing; and the pride of life - thinking I deserve this or that, convinced I'm a self-made man, or simply desiring the credit so I can be highly esteemed in someone's eyes.  When I think about this, I really can't put the blame on Adam and Eve too much - I fall for these things too.

Of course Christ has purchased our freedom, but until He returns we still fight the battle.  This is where a few of the spiritual disciplines really dig in and make a difference.  The discipline of fasting gets right at the lust of the flesh.  The disciplines of frugality or simplicity get at the lust of the eyes and the desire for more.  The discipline of humility flies in the face of the boastful pride of life.

The military has a saying, the more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war.  I would say, the more we practice these disciplines willingly, the stronger we are to fight the enemy when he brings the temptations.

The Bible is amazing.  It's one long thread...from Adam and Eve...to Jesus...to us.  Amazing.

 

Celebrating a brotherhood...

     I'm in Washington D.C. this weekend doing a marriage retreat for my Battalion.  It just so happens that I'm sitting in the lobby area Saturday night using their free wifi and there's a Marine Corps Birthday Ball going on in a ballroom right next to me. It brings back a lot of memories, and I have to admit, makes me want to put my Marine Corps dress blues on again. Marines know how to throw a party.

What's striking is the brotherhood, commeraderie, and spirit of the Marines.  Rank kind of goes out the window because they focus on their common bond as Marines and celebrate the legacy of those who have gone before them.

I think we in the church could learn a lot from these hard core partiers.  I don't think that we in the church honor those who have gone before us enough. The ones whose shoulders we stand on.  I also think we too often focus on the things that divide us more than the incredible bond that unites us.

Maybe Marines are such a brotherhood because the stakes are so high for them.  They will literally lay their lives on the line for each other.  They are dedicated to their mission and are willing to give their lives to accomplish it. 

I think that's the key.

When we in the church are serious enough about our mission that we are actually ready to give our lives for it, we will experience a brotherhood and a dedication to eachother that perhaps hasn't been seen since the early church...when they lived...and died...for the cause of Christ.

Just thinking about that gets me motiviated!