When God Loves You Enough to Interrupt You, Part 4

Jonah 4

If you’ve ever read Philip Yancey’s rivetingbook, What’s So Amazing About Grace,you know right from the story your heart is gripped as he opens up by tellingof a prostitute who figured out she could make more money renting her toddlerdaughter out to men in one hour than she could of herself in a whole day.  Then one day, she meets a group of Christianswho try to share the love of Christ with her and invite her to church, when sheresponds, “Church?  Church? Why would Iever want to go there? They would only make me feel worse than I already do.” Whatthis woman places her finger on is a sad reality of the local church, and thatis we are known for a lot of things, but grace is not one of them! We are notknown for being a place of grace.

I say this is sad, because grace was thehallmark of Jesus’ ministry. John said that when he saw Jesus, he saw a manfull of grace and truth. We see Jesus incarnating grace as He sits with thewoman at the well, lunched with tax collectors and spoke words of life overprostitutes at parties. Grace. What is grace? It is God’s unmerited favor? It’sgetting what we don’t deserve. Grace says, “I’ve got you covered, even when youdidn’t merit the covering.” Grace is getting the promotion when you didn’tdeserve it. Grace is godly children even though you weren’t the best parent. Graceis financial blessings even though you weren’t the best steward. Grace is theforgiveness of God even though you had the affair or the abortion. Grace.

Oh, if I can take a pit stop right here ALCF, Iwant to fire a shot and just declare that this is going to be a grace place. No,this is not going to be a place where we gloss over sin, for grace is notignorance. In fact, John said when he saw Jesus, he saw a man full of grace and truth. Grace without truth iscompromise, while truth without grace is condemnation. Grace sees sin, callsout sin, but grace still forgives and invites and loves. This is not going tobe a place where sinners get beat up, but ALCF will be the kind of church thatchallenges each other in our mess, yet does so with an arm around the personand says at the same time, “We’re family, and I ain’t giving up on you.” Grace!

Vesselsof Grace

If you want to know what grace is, look nofurther than the book we’ve been studying the last several weeks, Jonah. Herewe see God saving a whole city of pagans, adopting them into His family when theywere formerly the enemies of God and His people—we call this grace. Ah, butit’s important to ask the question: How did the people of Nineveh get thisgrace? Jonah. And how did Jonah get to Nineveh?Answer: the grace of God seen in God interrupting him over and over andover again, as He sends storms, oversees lots and appoints a great fish tointerrupt Jonah, so that Jonah would become a vessel of grace to these waywardpeople of Nineveh.  

I’m at your neighborhood, now. What does thishave to do with me? We’ve learned that God’s interruptions are not Hiseruptions, but are expressions of His grace. It’s important to see that whenGod interrupts your life, His interruptions in your life are not ultimatelyabout your life. Instead, God’s gracious interruptions in our lives is done forthe purpose of making us vessels of grace in the lives of others. Or to say itanother way, God’s grace interrupts us so that we can extend that sameinterrupting grace to others.  

Several years ago I did lunch with a prostitute(I’m not feeling much grace from you right now). Let me clarify. She was anex-prostitute, and there were about 10 of us at the table together. She told usof how she came to Christ. A man approached her one day with money wanting tobuy an hour of her time. She was shocked to discover that the only thing hewanted from her was for her to listen as he shared the love of Jesus with her. Shewas interrupted that day in the most amazing way by grace and she became afollower of Jesus Christ. She then went to rehab, got off drugs and left herlife of prostitution. You know what she’s doing now? Having been delivered, shenow has a burden to help other prostitutes—caught in their immoral life andaddicted to drugs—get free by the grace of God. God has used her to set dozensof prostitutes free. God’s grace interrupted her life, and now she’s become avessel of grace.

That’s what God wants of each of us. Hear me—allof us have received the grace of God, and the worse thing we could ever be is arule keeping, legalistic person who castigates and condemns people for failingto perform, as if you’ve dotted every I and crossed every T all of your life.None of us measure up! All of us need grace. And having received the grace ofGod, I want that same grace to flow freely through my life.

TheProblem With Grace

Ah, but grace is not easy. In fact, as we cometo our text, we’re going to see some very unsettling truths about grace thatJonah wrestles with, and that we all need to grapple with. Notice something oddin our text as it opens up—Jonah is angry. I say this is odd, because he’s justwitnessed what one scholar calls the greatest revival in human history—a wholecity comes to faith in God, but now when we meet Jonah right on the heels ofthis revival, he’s angry. And it is out of this anger that Jonah prays.  

Now let me stop right here and deal withsomething real quick that I hope will bless you. This idea of talking to Godout of anger is a real hard concept for me. Now I know we’re in progressiveCalifornia, but I grew up down south in Georgia, and in my house we didn’t talkto daddy and mama out of anger. If mama made you angry, you held it in, andthen I went to my room that was all the way at the end of the house, stood inthe corner of my room and whispered, “I hate her! I hate her! I hate her!” Thenway at the other end of the house, mama’s bionic hearing would kick in andshe’d say, “I heard that!” But again, this notion of talking to authorityfigures out of anger is foreign to me, and I’ve viewed it as sinful, but it’snot.

Notice, God never castigates Jonah for talkingto Him out of anger. He questions the validity of his anger, but doesn’tcondemn him for being angry. Why? Well, anger is not a sin. Paul says to theEphesians, “In your anger do not sin.” Jesus got angry when He cleansed thetemple, and theologians say that one of the attributes of God is His wrath oranger. If anger was a sin, then God is not holy, because God gets angry.  See, I think the lesson is this—we can trustGod with our feelings, not just with our facts, but with our feelings. Now weneed to be respectful in how we express anger, but God is all knowing, and ifyou feel angry, He knows it regardless of if you express it or not. God canhandle our feelings, even our anger.

Now, here’s the question: Why is Jonah angry? Look at verse 2 with me. Jonah is angry becauseGod has shown grace to the people of Nineveh. See, the problem with grace, hearme, is that we want it when it comes to ourselves, we just don’t want grace whenit comes to the people we don’t like. To say it another way, we don’t want toget what we deserve, but we want the folk we don’t like to get what they dodeserve.  Do I have any witnesses in thehouse today? The very thought of a group of people whom Jonah doesn’t likegetting grace angers him.

Grace isInsulting (1–2)

See, the first problematic thing we learn aboutgrace, is that grace is insulting. As my friend, Pastor Tullian says, “graceinsults our sensibilities.” Now why is this? Well, because we live in ameritocracy. A meritocracy is a society that is based on earning and effort. It’san equation society, that for the most part says, “do good things over there,get a good outcome over here.”

Tomorrow afternoon I will get on an airplaneand fly back to NYC. When I get to the airport, I won’t have to stand in linewith the regular folk, but will go to a special expedited line to check in. I’llalso go through the fast lane through security. Then I will sit in the DeltaSky Club—which I didn’t have to pay a dime for—and finally will sit in a nicebusiness class seat that was a free upgrade. Why all this specialtreatment?  Well, because I’ve flown overa million miles with Delta, and I have what’s called Diamond Status. I gettreated great because, well, I’ve earned it because of my status. That’s lifein the meritocracy—do good things over here, get good things over there.

That’s many of your stories. I’ve talked tomany of you who have put in the time with your education. You’ve gone to someelite university. You’ve earned the MBA, and the doctorate degrees, burning themidnight oil. Now you’re working great jobs and living in one of the mostdesirable places in the world to live, why? Well you’ve put your time in, youdid good things over there, and now you’re reaping good things over here. Thisis the equation; this is life in the meritocracy. And you’re also encouragingyour children to do the same.

But here’s the problem with grace: Gracedoesn’t play by the rules of the meritocracy. Grace doesn’t treat you accordingto your effort. Grace is a whole different currency in the kingdom of God. It’ssort of like Monopoly—I love that game. In Monopoly, you work hard, negotiate,buy homes and hotels, and collect a whole lot of money along the way. Now whenthe game is over, I tell you what you don’t do—you don’t take the cash youearned in Monopoly and go to Bank of America trying to make a deposit. Whynot?  Because the currency of Monopolycarries no value in the kingdoms of this world. Likewise, God is saying thecurrency of the meritocracy is fine for this world, but it carries no value inthe kingdom of God. Your Ph.D. ain’t gonna get you in the kingdom. Only gracewill. Your Ivy League education doesn’t earn you points with God. Only gracedoes. Your virginity doesn’t make you special in the eyes of God, only gracedoes. Jonah is upset and insulted because in his eyes, Nineveh doesn’t deserveto get in, and God is saying that’s exactly the point. Grace is insulting.

Grace isfor the Oppressed and the Oppressor (10–11)

God’s grace has triggered Jonah’s anger, andhere’s the main reason: Nineveh is a part of the Assyrian empire, and theAssyrians would be the people who would oppress and enslave the people ofGod.  Nineveh is a part of thisoppressive regime. So the very thought of God being gracious to the people whoenslaved Jonah’s people angers Jonah! I mean, to put this in perspective, thisis the social equivalent of God showing grace to the KKK, the Nazi Party, orISIS. What? “No God,” so we and Jonah reason, “these people are not deservingof Your grace!”

So how does God respond? He asks Jonah aquestion, “Do you do well to be angry?” Now when God asks questions, He’s notlooking for information He doesn’t have. He’s making a statement. It’s sort oflike the questions mama’s ask of their kids. I used to slouch on the sofa andmama would look at me and ask, “How are you sitting?” I’d want to say, “You’relooking at me aren’t you?” But I didn’t. Mama wasn’t trying to get information,she was just pointing something out. Same here with God. God is just pointingout Jonah’s sin. 

God now says to this angry, self-righteousprophet, “I’m going to bless you.” The text says, “He appoints a plant to growover Jonah giving him shade.” Watch this now: while he’s still in his sin, anddoesn’t deserve it, God gives Jonah grace. Then God makes this point in verses10–11…God says, “I love everyone, the oppressed and the oppressor.”

It was Dr. James Cone, the father of modern dayblack liberation theology, who said that God is only the God of the oppressed. Itmakes you wonder, what Bible are you reading? Jesus healed a Roman centurion’sservant to the disgust of the Jewish religious. He’s nailed to the cross by theoppressive Romans, and yet says of them, “Father forgive them for they know notwhat they do.” Grace is for the oppressed and the oppressor. Grace is for thelynched and the lynch mob. Grace is for the raped and the rapists. Grace is forthe betrayed and the betrayer. Grace is for the faithful spouse and thecheating spouse.

Let me press into this ever so gently, if Imay. This church has gone through a horrific church split. I wasn’t here forthis traumatic moment in the life of this church, so I can’t speakintelligently about it. But let’s say for argument sake that they werecompletely wrong, and this church was completely right. We were wronged bythem. Now let me ask you a question: let’s say God’s grace is on that church tothe point where they explode in membership, they’re the talk of the Bay, and themain catalyst for revival. Are you good with that? How does that make you feel?Does God’s grace on that church insult you? Does it make you angry like Jonah?

Grace isRevealing

See this leads me to the final point: grace isrevealing. If you ever want to see your heart, look at how you respond when Godshows grace to people you have a hard time with. Grace is like a colonoscopy. I’venever had one, but everything I’ve heard is, these things are not a day at thebeach. I’ve never met someone excited to have one. They’re uncomfortable, andyet necessary to get in and see what’s going on inside of us. That’s what graceis. Grace is like a colonoscopy. When God shows grace to that boss you don’tlike, that ex you’re still grieving or those people who’ve wronged you, it getsinto our hearts and shows us some things.

Look at what God’s grace to people Jonahdoesn’t like, does to Jonah. It reveals his racism. Jonah has a hard timebecause these people who get saved aren’t like him, they’re Gentiles. It alsoreveals his self-righteous pride. Just two chapters before, Jonah was rejoicingthat God’s grace rescued him out of the fish, and now he’s acting like he’snever needed God’s grace by pitching a fit! All of us have been there, haven’twe! Oh we’ve all battled short-term memory loss when it comes to God’s grace. Thosepeople over there ain’t the only ones who need God’s grace. We all need it. Whenwe want grace for ourselves, yet pitch a fit when others get it, we call thatpride!

Conclusion

Look at how our text, and therefore the wholebook ends in verses 10–11. There’s no resolution. It just ends abruptly like abad reality show. You’re like, “are you kidding me? What happens? How doesJonah respond? Why this abrupt ending?” Sinclair Ferguson helps us: “It carries no conclusion, because itsummons us to write the final paragraph. It remains unfinished, in order thatwe may provide our own conclusion to its message. For you are Jonah; Iam Jonah.”—Sinclair Ferguson. 

God’s been gracious to you. Youdon’t even deserve to live. How will you respond?

Check out more messages on ALCF’s Weekly Teaching Podcasts on iTunes

The One Reason You Should Get To Church On Time

If there’s one thing my years leadingmultiethnic churches have taught me is there’s no such thing as CPT when itcomes to getting to church on time (Yeah, if you don’t know what that is, askyour chocolate friend). Whites struggle with it. So do blacks. Asians.Hispanics. Everybody. No ethnicity has a monopoly on tardiness and the House ofGod.  Recently, one agitated, seasonedsaint in my church begged me to rebuke the people for their lateness rightbefore I got up to preach. Being the new guy, I passed…for now. I want to beginmy ministry on a note of exhortation and not rebuke, but the day will come(Whom am I kidding—the days willcome), when I will need to lovingly remind God’s people to do thecounter-cultural thing, and get to church in a timely manner.

Sure, you’re thinking, “Pretty self serving ofa pastor to plead with people to show up on time to ‘his thing’,” but actually,it’s not my thing, it’s God’s. Andwhile I could provide a list as to why you should—rambling on about how itshows respect to the worship participants who have spent significant time inrehearsals and preparation, along with how we’ll show up to work and our kids’activities on time—let me provide just one reason you should.  

As a preacher, it’s momentarily flattering whenpeople tell me they’re there for the Word.While I take this as a vote of confidence in the gifts God has given me,the longer I reflect on this statement, the more I see the selfishnessinvolved. Just about every church has two major elements: worship andpreaching. Worship is what we give to God—through our singing and giving (amongother elements)—the Word is what God gives to us. Show me anyone who skips outon a major part of the worship experience to just get the Word, I’ll show you aperson who has incarnated a consumer spirit that is wreaking havoc on theAmerican church. What in essence a person is saying when they miss a major partof the worship, just to receive, is that church, and therefore God, is allabout them, and what they can get out of it. Let’s call it what it is—nauseatingnarcissism (to be frank). Conversely, when we get there on time, and trulyworship God by singing to Him, we go to war with the gravitational pull ofconsumerism, and tell God we’re not in it just for us.

Why should you get to church on time? Becauseyou view church as not just a venue to receive, but to give as well. Spirituallymature believers don’t view God in utilitarian terms, but see Him as someoneworthy to give their all to.

Let’s get to church on time.

Check out the ALCF Podcasts on iTunes!

Jonah: When God Loves You Enough to Interrupt You

If youknow anything about the NFL, you know there’s a provision made that severaltimes a game one of the head coaches can throw a red flag onto the field andquestion a certain call. When the coach does this, he’s pretty much saying the judgmenton the field was not right, and they need to re-evaluate the decision. Manytimes these challenges will altar the game, changing an interception into anincompletion, or a set back into a first down.

Challengesare interruptions. When that red flag is thrown, everything stops and thingsare re-evaluated and often times re-routed. I read recently there’s an actualproposal on the table to give coaches the right to challenge every play. There’sno chance that’s going to happen. People don’t like interruptions.

Neitherdo I. I hate getting interrupted. Ask my kids. It’s not a good thing if theytry to cut in while their mother and I are having a conversation or on thephone. Interruptions like canceled flights and flat tires drive me up a wall. Butthe older I get, the more I’m warming up to the idea that interruptions arejust part and parcel of what it means to be human.

Interruptionsare also how God works. He cuts in on Abram (Later to be called Abraham),calling an audible and telling him to leave his home. God shows up abruptly toMoses through a burning bush, re-routing him back to Egypt. And on a Damascusroad, Jesus blinds Saul, transforming him from a persecutor to a preacher. Godhas an uncanny habit of interrupting us. 

Thisweek we start a new series at ALCF on the life of Jonah. There’s no way we canunderstand him without getting our arms around a God who interrupts. Thedictionary defines the term interrupt as tocause to make a break in continuity. To interrupt is to break away from thenorm. We see this immediately with Jonah. God tells him to go one way, Jonahgoes another, and God interrupts him by sending a storm and a whale to get himback on course. No, God didn’t interrupt Jonah to be mean or vindictive. Infact, God’s interruption of Jonah was actually the most loving, kind andgracious thing he could do. Think about it. If Jonah doesn’t get interrupted byGod, he has no real legacy outside of the one other verse in which he’smentioned in the Bible (When Jesus mentions him in other places it’s inconnection with the book of Jonah). We’re talking about Jonah today onlybecause of God’s gracious interruption in his life.

WhatJonah teaches us is that there is a direct relationship between the legacy ofour faith, and our willingness to embrace God’s interruptions in our lives. Thepeople I mentioned before—Abraham, Moses and Saul—are all men we continue tolook to for guidance. Why? Well, let me say it this way: I don’t think we’retalking about any of them, if they had not yielded to God’s gracious interruptions.If we want a life that really counts trans-generationally, we must be willing tobend to God’s interruptions. This is the lesson of Jonah.  

Why doesGod interrupt us? How do I know He’s interrupting me? What are some practicalways that I can respond to God’s interruptions? We’ll begin to answer thesequestions this week at Abundant Life. If you’re not a part of our church, youcan track with us via podcast.  

I’m soexcited to share this word with you, beginning this week.

Check out the ALCF Podcasts on iTunes!

On The Bike

Afew times a week I, along with several dozen other classmates, mount astationary bike for 45 minutes of pure hell. “Spin class,” the very mention of that phrase causes me to recoil. But thanks to Adam and his sin in the garden,it’s the price I now have to pay. So off I go at some God-forsaken, early-morninghour, going up and down from my seat, as I fiddle with the knob and adjust thetension on my bike creating more resistance and hopefully burning morecalories.

Nowspin class is hard enough, but what makes it downright deflating is when, likethe other day, my instructor is playing the role of drill sergeant as she pacesback and forth, begging and pleading with us to give it our all. I wanted to gopostal when she castigated one of my panting participants for not pushing itharder. Excuse me? How are you even talkingin sentences right now? Oh, that’s right, you’re not on your bike.

Nothing’smore deflating than a so-called leader who’s not on the bike with you.

Leadershipreally is about getting on the bike with your people. The leaders who mostinspire me aren’t necessarily the most educated, or even the most winsome. Butthe leaders who move me are the ones who are buying what they’re selling, whoare personally invested as much, if not more, than their followers. Leaderslike Cortes who needed his men to be so sold out to the mission in front ofthem, that he commanded their boats to be sunk, eliminating any possibility ofever going back. Leaders like Michael Jordan who was so determined to not letthe 1993 NBA Finals go to a seventh and deciding game, that he took only enoughclothes with him to Arizona for one night, instead of potentially two (they wonthat game—game six). And who could forget Jesus, who paid the ultimatesacrifice by mounting a cross, and doing for us what we could never do forourselves. This is real leadership, the kind that inspires.

Leadershipis not do what I say, but do what I do. There’s just no getting around this. Inour postmodern culture where we value normalcy—and this kind of flatlineegalitarian (I’m not using that in reference to men and women) sense in whichwe want to project we’re all the same—it’s easy to downplay the importance ofleadership. But the older I get, the more I’m convinced that nothing happens ofeternal redemptive value outside of loving, caring and proactive leadership, inwhich the leader is on his bike with the people.

Paulshowed this kind of “on the bike” leadership when he wrote his second letter tothe Thessalonians. He had gotten wind that some in the church were falling intolaziness and he needed them to work hard. So he writes, “For you yourselvesknow how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were withyou, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil andlabor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. Itwas not because we do not have that right, butto give yourselves an example to imitate” (3: 7–9, emphasis mine). This isleadership. Paul wanted his followers to step it up. He doesn’t point them to abook or blog to read. He doesn’t ask them to attend a class. He just simplypulls them close and says, “look at me.”He worked hard. He wasn’t idle. He intentionally modeled before them thedesired outcome. He was “on his bike.”

Thankfully,there’re numerous spin classes at my gym, with other instructors. Nikki, myMonday morning spin class instructor, is my favorite. Sure she gets on us,trying to extract every ounce of effort she can, but she’s earned that rightbecause she’s on the bike with us. Sometimes she’s so invested she can’t eventalk, just motioning with her hands to keep pushing. And we do. She’s earned itbecause she’s in it with us. That’s leadership.

Parents,our kids want to know if we’re buying what we’re selling them, if we’re “on thebike.” Pastor, your congregation wants to know if you’re “on the bike.” Christfollower, who takes the great commission seriously as you are pouring intoothers, your disciples want to know if you’re “on the bike.”

Check out the ALCF Podcasts on iTunes!

Six

I loveto read, and so far I’ve read some great books this year. I thought I’d share six of the books I’ve read so far in 2016 that have inspired me:

The Imperfect Pastor, Zack Eswine
Okay, Iendorsed this one, but still, I had already read it once before I was asked togive an endorsement to the second edition! I rarely re-read books…rarely, butthis one is so good I made an exception, plus I was anxious to see what newmaterial Zack added. Not only a gifted writer, but Zack places his finger onthe pulse of most pastors’ hearts as we battle envy, wrong motives, insecurityand people pleasing (among a host of other issues). I would recommend this booknot only to those of us in pastoral ministry, but also Christians in general,as it will show you (by implication) how to better relate to and support yourpastor.

The Power of the Cross, Tony Evans
Dr.Evans has been a significant inspiration to me, even before I started preachingat age 17. I remember listening to his radio ministry and hearing him in personand being beyond inspired. Charles Ryrie defines brilliance as the ability tomake the complex simple, and if this is true, Dr. Evans is brilliant. He hasthe gift to take deep, complex theological truths, and use the perfectillustration or analogy so that we can grasp it. This book is quintessentialTony Evans, as he brings the cross and the events of first-century Jerusalem toour homes and hearts in 2016.

Mea Culpa, Kyle McClellan
Wordslike self-effacing, vulnerable and transparent best describe this short volume. Kyle, a pastor who hasserved several churches, writes, as the title suggests, of his failures. I foundmyself nodding and even wincing in agreement as he shares his many ministrymiscues and fumbles. In this celebrity culture where so many pastors writebooks on success, using themselves as an example, and in our social media agewhen we tend to only show our best side, MeaCulpa is a breath of fresh air.

Prophetic Lament, Soong Chan Rah
No doubtmy favorite book I’ve read so far in 2016. Dr. Rah argues that because ourworship songs overwhelmingly have a triumphal edge, and with the deficit oflament songs, we have shaped a generation and culture who do not know how togrieve with those who grieve. Therefore, when historically oppressed minoritygroups grieve yet another instance of injustice, the church is ill equipped tosit and lament with those who are hurting. We need to return to the book ofLamentations, Rah suggests, while he walks us through it in a way that is deep,yet pastoral and practical. This truly is a must read.

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, Terry Teachout
I love jazzmusic…old-school jazz, and, of course, that means Duke Ellington. Teachout haswritten a rich biography on the legendary Ellington. My only critique is, inhis effort to focus on the music, the humanity of Ellington plays more of asecondary. Nonetheless, I found myself unable to put this book down as I wenton this musical journey of Duke Ellington’s life and career—a man calledAmerica’s greatest composer.

Good Faith, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
It’sbeen said that to be an effective Christian we need to keep a newspaper in onehand and a Bible in the other. To follow Christ means we need to have anunderstanding of culture, and Kinnaman and Lyons, authors of UnChristian, have done it again withtheir insightful book on culture, GoodFaith.

Check out ALCF podcasts on iTunes

From a Grateful Heart

Thispast Sunday, I preached my first sermon as lead pastor of Abundant Life.  Afterwards, the church graciously threw me areception where I stood for close to two hours shaking hands and receivinggenerous well wishes from our church. Ican’t even begin to put into words the love I felt and received from you. When I was done—or thought I was done—thewell wishes continued, as a stack of cards was presented to me in which many ofyou wrote words of life to me and our family.Korie and I feasted on your words when I returned home this pastMonday. Thank you!

AsI continue to think about this past Sunday, my mind drifts beyond the kindnessof our church to the elders who have (and continue to) lead you over theyears. Leading a church is tough. Leading a church in pastoral transition istougher. Leading a church through twopastoral transitions is just crazy, and yet these men have done it well andwith excellence. They have been faithfulin their leadership, prayers for the body and in the teaching of theScriptures.  These men have made toughdecisions, taken plenty of heat and have stood the test of time. Jesus’ commendation of the church at Ephesusand how they had “endured patiently,” is a fit description for our elders aswell. So these men deserve a biggerthank you than I do.

Ifyou are a part of the Abundant Life family, let me make my first big ask of youas your pastor. Can you, this week, sitdown and send a text, compose an email, write the letter, take out to lunch orpick up the phone and call one or several of our elders and just tell themthank you? Pick out something specific andencourage them. It’ll put valuable windin their sails, and give them an added boost of energy for what lies ahead.

P.S.: Theydidn’t ask me to say this at all, so let’s keep it “between us.”

PastorBryan

See photos from Sunday on Facebook.com/ALCF

Check out ALCF podcasts on iTunes.

First Things First

Thelegendary coach for the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, once found himselffrustrated with his football team. They weren’t playing up to their abilities,and had taken some things for granted. At his wits end, Lombardi huddled histeam together, and pointed to an object they all knew, and proclaimed,“Gentlemen, this is a football.” His message that day was clear—they haddrifted away from the fundamentals, and needed to return to the most basic ofthings. They needed to keep first things first.

Thisweek, we begin a series at Abundant Life called, First Things First. We’ll be hanging out in Revelation 2, whereJesus says to the church at Ephesus that they had, “abandoned the love you hadat first.” In His own way, Jesus is holding up the proverbial pigskin andsaying, “Church, this is a football.” They needed to return to the basics…andso do we.

Someoneonce said the problem with life is it’s oh so daily. Now if ever there was atrue statement, that’s it. There are kids to get off to school, errands to run,work attended to, headaches to deal with, people to love, lead and care for,homework to be helped out with, ball games to attend, money to be managed. Onand on we can go and, if we’re not careful, we can wake up one day and realizethat we, like the church at Ephesus, have drifted away from our first love,Jesus.  We never made a consciencedecision to put Jesus on the back burner, it just kind of happened.

What’sinteresting, is Jesus doesn’t accuse the Ephesian church of outright neglectingHim, He just says He was no longer first. To the church at Ephesus, Jesus wassomewhere in the picture, He just wasn’t front and center. That hits me rightbetween the eyes.

Weall were born with what I call natural wirings. By no means am I a perfectperson, but when I put my mind to something, I can be pretty disciplined, evenwhen I don’t feel like it, and this sometimes gets me in trouble. I grew up inthe church, and a phrase I heard a lot in my formative years was “quiet time.”Between the pastor, the youth director and my parents, I heard the message loudand clear of how important it was to spend a few moments reading the Bible andpraying every day (preferably in the mornings). This was sage wisdom. The Biblespeaks repetitively of the importance of immersing ourselves in the Word of God(i.e., Psalm 19; Psalm 119), and prayer (i.e., Matthew 6:5–15; I Thessalonians5:17). But the problem I ran into withthe quiet-time culture, is that I was tuning into Jesus for 30 or so minutesa day, while doing my own thing the other 23 and a half hours. Stringenough of these days together and you can see how easy it is for Christ not tobe first.  

IfJesus is going to be first He must be constant. Jesus recognized this. That’swhy He said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit byitself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me”(John 15:4). The word “abide,” simply means to remain, or to hang out. What’sin view here is a lot more than a “quiet time,” it’s a constant lingering inthe presence of Jesus. No, Jesus isn’t asking us to quit our jobs and spend allday everyday in meditation and prayer. He expects us to go to school, studyhard, work, love our families well and serve, but to do so with the backgroundmusic of our activities being Jesus. This is how Jesus becomes first, bybecoming constant.

Ifyou’ve ever been in love, you know this idea of constancy. When you fell inlove, you weren’t content with a 15- to 30-minute conversation in themorning. No. You called several times a day, talking for as much as you could. Whenyou hung up the phone, your mind marinated on your beloved. You wrote notes,went out, thought about and talked. This is what it means to abide. And ifJesus is going to be first, the same principles must apply—He must be constant. 

Ilook forward to sharing more with you this Sunday as we begin our series, First Things First. Hope you can join usat 10 o’clock!

Getting to Know Pastor Bryan Loritts

Recently, our communications director, Monique Funnie, asked our new lead pastor, Bryan Loritts some questions about his life, ministry and hopes for our Abundant Life family.

Monique:

What excites you about ALCF the most?

PB:

Wow.  I typically struggle with questions like these, you know “the most, the best, the worst,” so maybe if I could give you a couple of things that excite me “the most.” One I would say the opportunity God and you all have afforded me to step into an already multi-ethnic church, and to build on this value of diversity that has been a part of the fabric of the church for years. I mean, just look at our leadership—there are Indians, Hispanics, African Americans, Whites, Asians and so on. I don’t know of too many pastors who begin their tenure at a church that is already steeped in Christ-exalting, ethnic diversity. That’s pretty amazing.

The second thing I would say is where the church is positioned. We are in Silicon Valley, the tech empire of the world. Down the street is Google, Apple and Facebook (among a host of other companies). Then there’s Stanford, an elite institution. All this and more means some of the most forward-thinking, sharp, entrepreneurial people are right in our backyard, and we get a chance to shape and influence them, and, therefore, the world.  

Finally, I would say, and this is closely related to our location, but just the chance we will hopefully get to see God bring about renewal in the Bay.  Someone told me that there’s been no documented widespread spiritual renewal—what some would call revival—in the Bay Area. I don’t know how true that is, but I want to see God use me and other Christian leaders to be a part of something that would really be historic. I will spend the balance of my days praying for this.

Monique:

What character qualities would your wife and three sons use to describe you?

PB:

Watch it now. I’ve got two teenagers, so I’m not sure what they would say! No, I’m just kidding, I think. We actually just did this the other night at a birthday dinner they took me to, so this one’s easy to answer. My wife Korie, asked each of our sons to give five things they love about me. I won’t give you all of them, but they said things like disciplined, hard worker, fun, gracious, compassionate.  I won’t lie, the last two kind of shocked me, because as a parent I’m always thinking I’m too hard on my kids, so that was kind of nice to hear.

Monique:

How would you describe your devotional life?

PB:

Wow, good question. For the last 10 years, I’ve had it as my aim to read through the Bible at least once, if not twice a year. I read about nine chapters a day which gets me through the Scriptures about twice in 12 months. This year, I want to read through the New Testament once a month, and, if I move along about nine chapters a day, that will get me there. So, in my Bible reading, I fly at a really high altitude.  

But, I also see my weekly sermon preparation as devotion as well. To be sure, it’s different because I’m not flying at a high altitude, but landing at ground level and taking one passage and drilling really deep for like 15–20 hours a week.  Overall, I’ve found this combination—of soaring over Scripture and reading broadly while at the same time drilling down deeply—to be incredibly shaping in my life.  

When it comes to prayer, about a year and a half ago, I read a book that really emphasized praying Scripture. I had heard of this before, but I really felt moved by God to do this. So I memorized eight lengthy passages of Scripture, and will spend about 20–30 minutes a day praying them back to God. And then in the afternoon, I will typically take some time to intercede for my family, Abundant Life and others.  

Monique:

Who are your mentors?

PB:

My dad, Dr. Crawford Loritts. I’ve been blessed with a godly father who I still look to for guidance. Then there’s my godfather, Bishop Kenneth Ulmer. I’ll probably cry just as hard at his funeral as my own dad’s—that’s how close we are. He really taught me pastoral ministry, and shaped me into the preacher and pastor I am today. Finally, there’s Dennis Rainey, president of Family Life.  Dennis, and his wife Barbara, have been huge influences on Korie and me, helping us in our marriage, and to be better parents and people. Once a month, Dennis and I have a conference call where we check in with each other. I’ve been blessed to have this tribe of leaders around me.

Monique:

What are your favorite Scriptures and why?

PB:

There you go with the “favorite, most, worst,” questions (lol)! Hmm, that’s a tough one. I guess I could sound super spiritual and say the whole Bible, right?  What if I just gave you the eight passages I pray through: Psalm 1; Psalm 8; Psalm 15; Psalm 16; Matthew 5:2–10 (the Beatitudes); Matthew 6:9–13 (the Lord’s prayer); John 15:1–8; Colossians 3:1–4.  

Monique:

Thanks Pastor Bryan. We are so excited to have you at ALCF, and look forward to your ministry to and with us!

For more information on Pastor Bryan’s passion for the church and Scripture, check out the latest “Bible Study Magazine” article: http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/

Hear Pastor Bryan’s messages: ALCF Weekly Teaching Podcast

Christ-Exalting Diversity

As we look to the national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I’m honored to share with you some vital thoughts on Christ-exalting diversity, from one of the world’s foremost historians, Dr. Mark Noll.  This is an excerpt from the foreword to my book, Letters to a Birmingham Jail:

Bryan Loritts hasrecruited a serious lineup of pastors, Bible teachers, and Christian seniorstatesmen to do something that might seem foolish.  He has asked them to write letters to thelate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in response to his famous “Letter from theBirmingham Jail.” Dr. King wrote that letter to the white Protestant clergymenof that city  in April 1963.  They had expressed measured approval of civilrights in principle, but had also cautioned King and his associates aboutmoving too fast or becoming too radical in pursuit of their goals.  King responded with a classic statementdefending the moral–indeed, the biblical–imperative for full civil equalityfor black Americans, and for obtaining that equality NOW.

But that, areasonable person might say, was fifty years ago.  Why should Bryan Loritts and hiscollaborators bring up the subject now?Almost no American in the early twenty-first century objects to lawsmandating segregation.  Almost no onebelieves Jim Crow was right.  Almosteveryone thinks that equal opportunity under the law is a good and properthing.

Besides, did notthe election of Barack Obama as the United States’ first African-Americanpresident mark an important turning point in the nation’s history.  Since he took office in January 2009,opponents of Obama have mostly criticized his policies, while his supportershave mostly defended those policies.Except for a tiny fringe of the populace, the president’s ethnicity hasbeen almost a non-factor.  Moreover, inthe United States’ recent past, well publicized other political controversies,with economic problems uppermost, have dominated public attention.  

Yet for historiansand Bible-believers alike, there is in fact a great deal more to be said.  Quite a few historians, including myself,believe that many of the most important events in American history haveinvolved race in conjunction with religion.Quite a few Bible-believers, including the authors in this volume,believe that the explicitly Christian struggle against racism remains to bewon.

Looked at from astrictly historical angle, the United States continues to reap great evils fromthe seed that was sown through centuries of slavery and a century ofsegregation.  Yet guided by candidateseager to be elected and enabled by pundits eager to be heard, we Americansmostly ignore an alarming set of immense social problems.  

Whether bycomparison with other western democracies, or even by comparison with manycountries in the so-called developing world, the American social order is rivenwith pathologies.  These pathologies havearisen from many factors, but the nation’s racial history is everywhere prime amongthose factors.  Here is a shortlist:  the U.S. has by far the highestrates of incarceration in the western world; it witnesses more gun violencethan any other so-called civilized country; its entertainment industryglorifies violence, misogyny, sexual promiscuity, and infantileself-indulgence; it offers less medical and family support for the poor thanany other western nation; it maintains inequalities of wealth on a par with thecleptocracies of the Third World; its rate of infant mortality is several timeshigher than most western countries; and, most grievously, the nation iswitnessing a disastrous collapse of the two-parent family as the accepted normfor giving birth and raising children. The United States’ racial history is notsolely responsible for these indices of social pathology, but that history hascontributed substantially to every one of them.

Even more, most ofus believers need to confess that at least some of the time and in some of ouractions, we actively or passively nurture some of the underlying prejudice,paternalism, or  attitudes that remainfrom our country’s racist past.

Christianbelievers who view race and religion as defining the deepest moral failing inAmerican history should be very concerned about heeding the Scriptures that wesay we trust, as we approach questions of black-white racialreconciliation.  In dynamic fashion, thisbook outlines the continuing scope of the problem.  It also points to the proper medicine for ourdisease–deeper commitment to the biblical message that in Christ the walls ofprejudice that divide people from people have been broken down once and forall.  

It is a book that,in its own way, is as timely as the letter that Martin Luther King, Jr. wrotefifty years ago.

MarkA. Noll

Professorof History, University of Notre Dame

Member,South Bend Christian Reformed Church

An Open Letter to My Brother Ta-Nehisi Coates

My Brother,

When I saw you were being likened to our modern day James Baldwin, and your recent offering was being lauded as our Fire Next Time, I just had to order your book, “Between the World and Me”.  As I began my journey through your book there was this silent hope I had not been had by marketing hyperbole.  I was not disappointed.  In the course of a few hours I devoured your book.  

You were created to write.  I would have consumed your work even faster if it wasn’t for lines like these, forcing me to stop, and turn them over in my mind:  “To yell ‘black on black crime’ is to shoot a man and then shame him for bleeding.”  What a gift.

Both the timing and the prophetic bite to your book makes the comparison to James Baldwins, Fire Next Time inescapable.  You both write when race has become the most volatile subject of our life times (of course race has always been an issue here in America).  I’m not sure when you were born, Brother Coates, but it seems as if we are around the same age.  As I ventured through your pages I felt my head nothing constantly, as if I were some bobble-head doll, remembering the style of dress, musicians and sociological settings of what seems to be a life time ago.  

I, like you, have a teenage son (along with two younger sons), and share your harrowing concern for his “body”.  We’ve talked extensively about how to respond to police in the likely event of confrontation.  I labor over how to instruct my children in showing respect to the often white power structures who can harm their “bodies” without falling over the precipice into a Jim Crow like loss of dignity.  And I find myself guilt ridden at times over the strength of my discipline, knowing their margin for error as children of color in our society is slight.  You put pen to my guilt:

 Now at night, I held you and a great fear, wide as all our American generations, took me. Now I personally understood my father and the old mantra—“Either I can beat him or the police.” I understood it all—the cable wires, the extension cords, the ritual switch. Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered. I think we would like to kill you ourselves before seeing you killed by the streets that America made. That is a philosophy of the disembodied, of a people who control nothing, who can protect nothing, who are made to fear not just the criminals among them but the police who lord over them with all the moral authority of a protection racket.

Yours, Brother Coates, is a powerful work, insightful, prolific and prophetic.  Yet, it is a very dark book, leaving me asking where is the hope?  You don’t seem to have the acidic despair of pre-mecca Malcolm, but neither the subtlety of Ellison.  Between the World and Me seems to fit somewhere betwixt Malcolm and Ellison’s, The Invisible Man. 

I caught glimpses of your hopelessness when you made mention of not going to church, and yet even in this you are refreshingly vulnerable, wondering if your distance from “that institution” has caused you to “miss something”?  Most beautiful and telling of all is your passage on the eyes of our parents generation who were a part of the civil rights movement.  Those eyes, you notice, had something in them, something that seemed to be “fastened to their god”.  

I grew up in the black church, Brother Coates, where I learned of Jesus on long hot Sunday afternoons while dressed in a suit with no air conditioning, as my feet dangled off the pew, sweat dripped down my neck, and my only sense of relief was a wooden stick the ushers handed to me where a piece of cardboard was fastened to it with a picture of Dr. King on what side, and a funeral home advertisement on the other.  

My father lead me to faith in Jesus, and made sure we were in church every Sunday.  My black parents are not perfect, but have lived out the hope of the gospel for forty-four years together as husband and wife.  My dads parents were likewise Christians who attended an AME church, where Jesus had been the center of their marriage for over fifty-three years.  I’ll spare you all the details, but we can actually trace our lineage back to pre-emancipation days, where my great-great grandfather, Peter, was a slave, who was lead to faith by his master (a sad irony, isn’t it?), would go onto marry, and have a family built on the hope of the gospel.  In my direct line there’s no such thing as a man who divorced or didn’t believe in Jesus.

Our stories are different, Brother Coates, I know.  But I’ve often asked what kept my great-great grandfather, a slave, praying?  Hope.  What sustained my grandparents when they left North Carolina somewhere in the 1940′s, as part of that mass exodus known as The Great Migration?  Hope.  And why did my father not be overcome with bitterness when an elderly white man, who was clearly in the wrong, rammed his car into my father’s, then called him a nigger?  Hope.   

And what is that look in our parents eyes as they marched in places like Selma and Birmingham and sat down at segregated counters in Winston-Salem?  Hope.  

Brother Coates, to be black in 2015 means you and I have been burdened with the legacy of declaring a prophetic truth to our sons and the power structures of our day, but it also means we do so ensconced in a bright hope, the kind of hope our songwriter Thomas Dorsey had, or Mahalia Jackson sang about or Dr. King preached.  

You develop your book around the theme of the black body, what an image.  Our grandparents took pains when it came to the black body, did they not, Brother Coates?  I can still see my grandmother in her pearls, and all white outfit, headed out the door Sunday morning for church where she was a part of the mother’s board. I never saw my grandfather in jeans, even when he was just going to play checkers at the barber shop.  He’d put on slacks, dress shirt, suspenders and a nice hat.  The black body mattered to them.  The way they dressed was a shaking of the fist in the face of those who sought to take away their dignity.  Their black bodies spoke of hope.

The danger of a prophetic truth devoid of hope is it gives license to the oppressed to remain victims, and when a person becomes comfortable as a victim they do irreparable damage to themselves and to others.  Prophetic truth without hope leads to riots.  Prophetic truth and hope leads to marches and protests and change and Sunday best.

We need you, Brother Coates.  You have an other-worldly gift.  My prayer for you is you will stare at the eyes of our grandparents yet again, and find what they had, that “something way beyond,” and share it with the world.  

Yours,

Bryan Loritts