This week our country has a birthday. We are celebrating its 243^rd birthday if I’ve done my math correct. The 4^th of July has come to represent one main word, Freedom. The sad observance today is that we are losing a sense of what freedom actually means. Freedom doesn’t mean one can do anything one wants. If that were the case there would be no need for any laws to govern the people, and without laws to govern the people there would be wars and chaos within the people at catastrophic levels. Isn’t it interesting to think that in a free country where we consider ourselves free, we still need direction and accountability? It is because the human heart in and of itself is desperately wicked.

In the Christian thought there are two basic understandings of freedom. Freedom From & Freedom For. Freedom From regards the condition we have been set free from in the past with its governing statutes. In the sense of our country, the Revolution brought freedom from the tyranny of the “old country.”  Freedom For brings us into the present freedom to express ourselves in ways the “old country” restricted. In the same we as believers since the cross have been set Free From the tyranny of sin. We are now set Free For the beauty to walk with Christ that otherwise could not have happened until we were set Free From the holds of sin.  Freedom always comes with a past and moves us into a future that is determined by the choices we make today.

“Do you know Jesus?” Or “Have you found Jesus?”

These type of lead in questions in sharing our faith can be so confusing for folks. Heck, I’m a pastor and much of the Christian jargon that is used is confusing to me because many Christians don’t use Biblical phrases but rather “churchy” phrases. Many folks are simply turned off of this kind of talk.

What Christians need to do more than anything to have an effective witness to the world is to learn to have authentic conversations. Conversations that are real and honest and share the heart. The world has too many fake conversations and sadly many of these take place where truth is celebrated. We must return to allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and share what is on our heart and mind. When we don’t have it all together we mustn’t be afraid to say so because none of us do. We are all a work in progress. As evangelist David Ring used to say, “I’m not okay, and that’s okay.”

As a follower of Jesus I’m simply a work in progress putting one foot down in front of the other. My life is about allowing Jesus to take over my existence and be the Captain. It is about me letting go of control and allowing Christ to not only save me from myself and sins, but allow Him to redeem and transform me into the person He created me to be. This transformation can be messy which sadly many of us aren’t comfortable in talking about. The only way people are going to see what the grace of Jesus can do for a messy life is to reveal the work He is doing in you and me. Pray that these are the conversations that we get to have with people not just simple, short religious phrases that to the majority of the world make absolutely no sense.

This weekend we celebrate Father’s day. For many this will be a time to celebrate, for others, a time to mourn either the loss of their father no longer here or that lack of a father they longed to have but never received. For many this is why the idea of a Heavenly Father is a big pill to swallow because they don’t have a good picture of earthly father in mind.

Our Heavenly Father came to be for us what our earthly fathers never could. He came not only to show us love and forgiveness, but also to be a gift of light on a dark path, to guide us in uncharted waters, and to be a safe place to come to when life is overwhelming. Our Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves, and didn’t think His creation would be complete without us. He loves us more than words can say, but He proved His own love for us in that He sent His own Son, who was willing, to take our place because of our sin. Jesus wanted us to be a part of His Heavenly family that the Bible says because of our faith in Christ we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Jesus was willing to share His own rightful inheritance with us so that we too could call His Heavenly Father our own.

So whatever position you may find yourself in this weekend, whether celebrating a wonderful dad, or mourning the loss, or lack thereof in regards to an earthly father, now in Jesus, you may reach out to your Heavenly Father. He will be a dad to you forever and ever. He loves for His children to call out to Him not because we give Him new information, but He loves to hear the voice He created in us.

Our country is presently reeling as we see the divide of our country deepen and the voices on both sides grow louder. It is a sad reality, and for many, a reality that only a few years ago would have been something seen on a distant land not in our own backyard. Many people point back and forth from race to riot to reform but the main thing that is not spoken of is redemption. Billy Graham said there will never be world peace until we first have peace within our own hearts. So I would say we don’t have a skin problem, but a sin problem, where the issues of race will not be found in rioting but in the grace of Jesus.

            In my years of counseling I have found that either love or fear are the two most motivating factors that open us humans up for change. Either something we love deeper than our divide will motivate us forward or fear will push us backward. Sometimes either one can be beneficial in their own way because it gets two people or two groups of people out of the rut of going back and forth so they can take a fresh look from a new perspective at whatever was the disagreement. It doesn’t mean they will resolve the issue right away, but unity and common ground must be found before resolutions can be achieved. Otherwise, we stay in the bowels of the heated arguments until we are exhausted only to lay things down to fight again another day.

            Christ came to call all of us out of ourselves and biases and our self-righteousness and self-will to find unity in grace. Only in grace can our ears be open so that we can see something beyond our own agenda. Only if more people would be open to said grace in our communities across America. Knee-jerk reactions to appease angry mobs or political groups only band aide the problems but never heal the hurt or sew up the divide. Whatever the issue then swings on the pendulum of two divides swaying in favor for one for a while and then the other for a while, but a solidified fix doesn’t take place. What we need in these difficult conversations, so that healing can take place, are real conversations where adults show up to the table without temper tantrums to undermine, where hearts are humble, evidence is necessary, truth is sought, and ears more than mouths are open and used. Politics, government interests, reactionary methods won’t solve this problem, but a redeemed heart of grace can, and that must begin within ourselves. 

Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In light of the recent riots and looting, we must begin to consider the underlying issue of justice, and what justice actually is.

What you recognize as an injustice and how you respond to an injustice says everything about your personal worldview of justice. Justice is always rooted in your view of ultimate reality. Does the buck lie in the person and character of God or is it reduced to individual subjectivity of our own created reality. If we see evil done, and out of a sense of justice do more evil, then evil wins creating more injustice and only fosters the propagation and perpetuation of injustice. 

We must begin to see the value of people thru the image of the Creator in whose Image they bear and no longer based in creed, race, sex, religion, etc. We can’t see humanity in terms of black and white, police or civilian, or in any other categories apart from the reality that all are in need of transformation and redemption. Evil becomes a form of justice in an unredeemed world which is no justice at all. Evil can’t trump evil, but only make it flourish the more. It’s the bumper car effect kicking the can of self-righteousness wrapped in its wounds which perpetuates evil down the road.

If justice alone is the only thing offered to an injustice then sheer restraint is necessary to control the perpetuation of evil, and we must ask whose justice is being served at this point anyway, but if love and forgiveness are offered, which takes the greatest strength of all, in conjunction and alongside justice served then redemption takes root. God is both love and justice and in God’s World these two never work separately. God is not in the business of merely restraining evil but in the business of transforming evil into good. What we need more than evil battling evil are simply ears that will listen on both sides of the divide with humble and open hearts, but when hearts are hard ears normally are closed.

Let us all pray for unity, peace, conversations to really begin, and hearts open to the redemptive message of the Gospel that can take any person, ANY PERSON, and give them an eternal “do-over”. You will never be open to forgiveness until you see your own need of it. May we see justice thru our own brokenness and see love in the person of Christ offering a second chance because He took the ultimate justice of God against evil to offer hope and the light of truth when times of darkness, like these we see on TV, reign so prevalent in a society. Praying for all the lives that have been hurt or taken during this time. May God be with their families.

Many of us have grown up in church and have become so familiar with the lingo that the Biblical words we use have somewhat lost their meaning. We have spiritually at some level become deaf to Christian terminology and important truths of Scripture which over time can affect our spiritual intimacy with Jesus. This is why I’ve said many times in talks that one of the most important elements of discipleship is the willingness to unlearn. Unlearning terms or meanings of words and reinstating Biblical meanings for those same terms can have a wonderful effect on our spiritual growth.

Such as seeing the term “confession” not as confessing sins to a man in a white collar, but rather the understanding of the original meaning of confession which means “come to the same agreement as with God” regarding our sins and failures.

Consider the term “judgment” as not a gleeful, supernatural cosmic bully taking his frustration out of humanity, but rather a loving God who desires to make His creation right again and holds justly wrongdoers accountable with the option of forgiveness.

Repentance is another term that gets lost in religious confusion, but it is a term that simply means to turn around, or in modern terms, to make a U-turn.

When you consider these three religious terms (judgment, confession, repentance) and their original meanings, it begins to create a new picture of God which in turn creates a new connection. If God created this world for the purpose of goodness and desires a relationship with His creation, specifically His Image-Bearers, then knowing that God is not jumping at the chance to send people to hell but simply telling them stop contributing to the evil of this world (judgement) and turn back around to me (repentance). Then when we say, “You know God, You are right, and Your way is the best way,” (confession) and as a result a relationship begins to form. This is the foundation of the Christian life. Sometimes our religious language gets in the way of authentic relationship so take the time to make sure the words we use are in Biblical context so that we can continue developing a Biblically sound, and authentic relationship with the God who created us, loved us, and is willing to restore us.

Where are you with your life? Where are you in dealing with this pandemic? Where are you really underneath the surface where no one can go but you? Where are you in all this?

            After Adam and Eve disobeyed God to basically become a god for themselves they heard the Lord God walking in the garden looking for them. The Bible says the Lord ask the first question of Scripture to them when He asked them, “Where are you?” Now at first read one could say that God was looking for them and that is a natural question to ask, but we must also remember that God doesn’t need to ask any questions because God is All-Knowing, and this brings up another question. Why did God ask them a question? Well, just like our teachers in school the question wasn’t for Him, but for them. They had disobeyed God and were living in shame with their eyes open to new levels of evil. They felt embarrassed because they saw themselves through their now fallen eyes of seeing both God’s ways and what would not be God’s ways. This is why the tree they took the fruit from was known as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

            Now going back to the question itself, and if the question wasn’t for God, then what was the purpose of asking the question. It was so Adam and Eve could take a deep look into their own hearts and realize not where they thought there were, but where they actually were with God. Google Maps uses this same logic. Before it asks you were you are going it asks you where you are because it doesn’t matter where you are going if you don’t know where you are. You may actually be in Lone Oak, Texas but if you believe you are in Oklahoma City and want to travel to New Orleans no matter how great the directions are from OKC to New Orleans they will be of no use to you in Lone Oak. This is why many reject Christianity because the first call to salvation is admitting we are sinners in rebellion to God. This doesn’t sit well with our egotistical self-righteous masks, but it is none the less true. God asks all of us just like He did the first couple, “Where are you?”, not to shame us, but to save us because He loves us. So wherever you are in your life come to Jesus to be shamed no more and experience His all encompassing love of salvation and grace.

This past Sunday we did the drive-in church thing, and it was a lot of fun!!! People got to be together even when we can’t get together. It was good to see friendly faces sitting in their car wanting to be a community of faith again.

            This brings up a very important topic to discuss, which is, “Why are we so inclined for community?” Now of course, there will be a few hermits, and I can even be one of those myself at times, but in reality, all of us long for a sense of community. I believe there are a few reasons as to why. 1.) We were created in the image of God who is a Being in community within Himself. I know at first reading this may sound confusing, but God is three Persons in One Being: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We can discuss this truth at some future point, but if God is a Being in community within Himself, it makes sense that those created in His Image and Likeness long for community. 2.) We all want a place to belong. As humans, just like flowers, we all need roots to grow, and community allows for this. We need a place to be and become settled within so that growth can take place. 3.) It also allows the human heart to have accountability. Any of us can justify our actions when we are both judge and jury of our own lives. The Bible says our heart is desperately wicked, and it is for this reason we need to have an objective counterpart in our life to help point out areas we cannot see. We all have a shadow self, and without proper accountability, we can begin to live in the shadows. Community is an important part of being human so thank God for it when you get the chance to gather again. 

This past Sunday we celebrated the greatest day of human history when Christ came back to life again after defeating the powers of death. Now, in the aftermath of such an event, we must ask, now what? What do we do with such an event, and how should it affect us today as believers? The straightforward answer is…transformation! We are to be transformed ourselves and also in the business of transforming this world.

            The hardest person to look at and hold accountable is ourselves. Yet, we are to be transformed into living and looking like Jesus. The Bible says anyone who confesses faith in Christ should live as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6 We are to consider our lives and do inventory of our behaviors, thought processes, desires, and bring them under the control of God’s Spirit that now lives in us. We are to be transformed before we can begin to look at helping others in their transformation. Before we go further we must realize that our complete transformation will not take place until Christ returns. So as we begin to assist others, we need also to let others assist us, and all of it needs to be done through Christ’s love.

            The second element is to begin transforming this world with the atmosphere of Heaven through how we as Christ followers live in this world. Christ’s message was self-giving love that was sacrificial to the needs of others beyond one’s self. In the same way, Jesus said the night He was betrayed that this is how the world will know and recognize you as my disciples in how you love one another. The key element is allowing ourselves to be transformed and in doing that it will have a broader impact on our world. Instead of looking at what others need to change, unless done in extreme humility, we need to allow God’s Spirit to shape us in such a way that Christ resurrected life is evident in how we give ourselves, show ourselves, lead ourselves so that we administer the life of Heaven right here and right now on the earth which is the purpose of the Lord’s prayer.

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ^[1]

^[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ro 12:1–2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.