Surprising response

I'm reading through the Old Testament and am in the middle of Exodus. I've been utterly amazed at how awesome the OT is. If you haven't given it a shot you can do it in a year by reading 75 chapters a month, 25 days a month, reading 3 chapters a day is doable. Although, I say this having not gotten to Numbers and Leviticus yet. So we'll see.

I was listening to someone the other day answer a question about "Why would a loving God create people only to condemn them to Hell"? Seems like a fair question and probably one that many have wrestled with in varying degree over the course of our lives. However rather than giving a deeply scriptural and theological answer the man asked another question. A question that seemed even more compelling and has an even more important answer.

"Why would a perfect and Holy God make a way for sinners to be in right relationship with Him?" "Why would He choose sinful man as his agents of change in this world when in reality our sinfulness precludes us from ever being in His presence"?

How loving is our God that He would make it possible for sinful man to live with him in eternity, I believe, has a more interesting answer than "How could a loving God condemn men that he created." I am not going to answer this particular question in this post though, although, I will say that we are already condemned from the moment we are born. Condemnation came through Adam, not God. Moving on...

I want to share a story from Exodus that demonstrates a different response from an outsider to what God did during the Exodus. I share it because we as people typically respond to God in one of two ways when we critically analyze the situation in Exodus.



Chapter 18 in Exodus takes a diversion from the main story of the exodus from Egypt and the road to the promised land. In Chapter 18 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law brings Zipporah, Moses' wife, and their two sons out to meet Moses in the wilderness. Apparently his family did not accompany him to Egypt during the plagues and the exodus. He's been away from them for some time.

So they meet up and Moses tells Jethro all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that had befallen them and how the Lord had delivered them. Now I figure that when you hear a story like the one Moses tells for the first time you can respond in one of two ways: You can say I want no part of a God that kills people for his own fame and purposes, or I'm getting with that God because He is obviously the one God who is greater than all other gods and he is good to his chosen people.  Lets look at Jethro's response in verses 9 - 12:

"And Jethro rejoiced over all the kindness that the Lord had shown Israel when He delivered them from the Egyptians. 'Blessed be the Lord,' Jethro said, 'who delivered you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, yes by the result of their very schemes against (the people).'" And Jethro, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to partake of the meal before God with Moses' father-in-law."

I find his response to be unique. Let me explain.

Jethro, not being an Israelite, might be the first "convert" in the OT. If you read back a few chapters you'll notice that God hardens Pharaoh's heart multiple times and he does this so that His fame will be declared throughout all the earth. It says this multiple times in Exodus 7: 5, 9: 16, 10: 2, 14: 4, 17. So Jethro's response is of awe and he says, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other Gods". Seems like God's plan worked perfectly. Imagine that? God wanted to make a name and make it famous and Jethro is the first to recognize this outside of the Egyptians and the Israelites. 

Jethro is also the first person recorded in the Bible to hear of the accounts of what God did in Egypt second hand. He wasn't there, he didn't experience the exodus or the plagues. Yet upon hearing the news, he responds to God in a way that acknowledges how awesome He is and that he deserves to be worshiped and glorified. Jethro's response is completed when he brings God a burnt offering and a sacrifice. He's aligning himself with the Israelites and their God. 

Jethro's response could have been like "He did what, your God scares me to death because He just killed a bunch of people because He's got some crazy need to be famous. Sounds likes a selfish guy, I'm outta here, I want no part of this God". 

We're not too different from Jethro in that we never got to experience the plagues and the exodus first hand. So how do we respond to the same God of the universe that just wiped out the Egyptian army, but gave us his son Jesus as well? I understand the tendency in us to ask, "Why would a loving God do that to people he created and loves"? It's not wrong to ask that, but sometimes our questions to these things cause hang ups that we can't get over. This can become dangerous because some of us will form untrue beliefs about God because we don't want to deal with the reality that the same God who killed the Egyptians is the same God who gave us his son, Jesus, who taught us to turn the other cheek. 

Do we ever read these passages and say "I want to get with that God"? 

So in a twisted sort of way I appreciate the man above asking a question on the other side of the same coin that makes you think. While answering the question "Why would a loving God condemn people to Hell?" is useful and informative, a better question might be "Why would a Holy God create a way for sinful people to reign with Him in eternity?" The answers to this question will be like water to the parched tongue of your soul because you'll come to understand that we have and need a God who's first love values his name and fame above the sinful people He's chosen as his hands and feet. He is willing to do what is necessary to make and maintain his famous name in all the world via a rag tag bunch of people like us. This is good news for those who've put their faith in Him because of the promises that He's made to us. 

There's a reason that we give glory to God when the miraculous and the little things happen in life that can't be explained except by the hand of God. Paul sums up the whole Christian life in Colossians 3: 17 "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus." Basically, in everything you do live in a way that you honor the name of Jesus. Living like this spreads his fame. He's working in every situation for your good and His glory, so that others will see it and want Him... just like Jethro.

Point of Reference Part II

Let me explain why I believe things aren't that much different today than they were in ancient Greece. Just like the Corinthian church we live in an overtly sexual culture with much gender confusion where broken people are telling us to do what makes us feel good. New Christians are coming out of lives lived in a way that reflects our culture. Maybe they come from homes where Godly parenting wasn't modeled, had divorced parents, or a dad who worked too much and never spent anytime showing love to his children. Or they've embraced all the sexual and gender confusion that our culture is spewing today and have decided there is more to lose by getting married than to just keep hooking up and having friends with benefits. This is why things are not so different today than they were so long ago. Unfortunately, this is what the American Church will be dealing with today and in the future.

We no longer live in an America where the majority of people live with Christian values as their foundation even if they aren't Christians. We don't live in an America where people have a pretty clear understanding of right and wrong. America used to be a place where people went to church because it was a "good thing" to do and people wanted to have those "values" instilled in their children. Today this is no longer the view and because of that the worldview and value systems of people who are coming to the Lord today are so warped that it is going to take a total reprogramming of their mind and heart. Paul speaks of this in Romans 12: 1-2.

The process of renewing your mind begins after you say "yes" to Jesus. The rest of your life is a process of maturation/sanctification as a follower of Jesus. It means putting off your old ways and embracing the Holy Spirit who is shaping and changing you into the person God wants you to be. But there is a problem, this new life and what it means to follow Christ is foreign to us. So when the going gets tough we revert back to the old us, the old me. We behave and think the way we used to before Christ. I believe one of the reasons we do this is because many Christians today have no point of reference that life can be different or better, or that they can make this choice instead of that choice. I see young Christians date non Christians because they've never been in a relationship with another Christian man or women. They don't know what it's like, so they settle for something that is less than what could be because it's the only thing they've ever known. They will settle for sub-par marriages because they don't know that it could be the safest, strongest, happiest, and most sexually passionate place imaginable. They've never seen another way modeled for them. They just see all the divorce and despair in marriage and think it's normal so their expectations aren't really high and when things get tough they jump ship like the everyone else in our culture does. They do this because they've never seen a married couple struggle through hard things in their marriage and come out the other side in better shape than before.

I pray that someday my cousin will write a book about his marriage because he and his wife spent pretty much 3 of their first 4 years of marriage separated. I'll never do their story justice, but they stuck it out, worked hard, cried, prayed, sweated, and clung to the hope that their marriage could one day work. Today it is working and they are expecting their first child this month. I hope people close to them were watching them fight for their marriage.

I consider myself fortunate to have parents who gutted out a really hard period in their marriage. When the family farm split up it split up not only the farm but entire side of my dad's family. This happened nearly 20 years ago and we're still trying to heal from the serious hurt and brokenness of that event. But my parents marriage nearly split in the process as well. I was young enough to not really know that their marriage was in trouble, but it was a few years later talking to my dad about it that he shared how hard that time was and how committed he was to his marriage to my mom even though it was painful to be around each other for long periods of time. His resolve to keep it together and model something different to his children was strong and because of that I now have a different point of reference in my life for my marriage.

Point of references are not limited to marriage, but found in all walks of life. Remember the teenage orphan boy in Florida who went to church to find a family? That kid is one in a million. Not many people who've been in the "system" all their lives have the ability to see that life could be different and better than what it is. Thankfully today more than 10,000 families have inquired about adopting him. This young man could have believed the lies that the evil one whispers in his ear, "You're not good enough, no one could love you, you'll never amount to anything". But how many of us listen to Satan telling us to bail on our marriage, compromise our sexuality, downplay our worth, or quit on our kids? The list could go on and on.

These are the lies we believe when we have no hope and when we have never seen something different modeled in our lives. It is the responsibility of every mature Jesus follower to model a Christ-like life to younger believers. They need to see strong marriages, people who are not confused sexually as our culture is, love their children, and don't just go with the flow of societal thought. We must do this because if mature Christians won't, then we'll continue to have churches full of people who are the like the Corinthian church; people who love Jesus but have no point of reference and live their lives as such.

It's a beautiful process to be part of what the Holy Spirit is doing in another person, but it is also challenging because someone's growth isn't linear it's more of a zigzag line that jumps all over the place both forward and backward and up and down. Be patient, show compassion, and love them much as they navigate their way out of their "old" life and into their new lives. Be ready to cry, celebrate, encourage,correct, and be silent when needed, as they carve out this new way of life that is foreign to them. Over time it won't be foreign but familiar. And familiar will become who they are and then they will be able to replicate it to the next generation of young believers who need a point of reference that their lives too can be different.  Paul says this is what happens to us when we face trials in life that we persevere through in Romans 5: 3-6. Small victories in character formation produce hope and that hope sustains us as we work through changing our worldview from darkness to light. These trials produce perseverance, and perseverance produces proven character and proven character produces hope and hope doesn't disappoint because while we were sinners Christ died for us. One of the signs of Christian maturity is that you're living a life that shows others that our lives can be different thus giving them a new point of reference. Modeling something different that honors God is one of the best ways to give glory to God. And when God's glory is on display for all to see lives are changed and I want to be a part of that. Don't You?

Point of Reference Part 1.

From 2002 to 2004 Jen and I were missionaries to Oradea Romania. We worked with a wonderful ministry that placed abandoned Romanian orphans into homes with house parents who became parents to those children until they graduated. We worked with the dairy farm that was across the road from the 8 or so houses that the children lived in. Our job was to teach and train the Romanian workers in modern dairy farming practices.

We encountered many challenging things as we tried to work with the workers and train them in modern dairy farming practices. What became clear to Jen and I was that the Romanians point of reference of dairy farming was having 1 or 2 cows in the back yard that you sent out to pasture everyday and in turn received about a gallon of milk that they would harvest via hand milking. So for them, using automated equipment, following a breeding program, feeding fermented forages, and working with tractors, was quite the culture shock to them. Typically Jen and I would be the only people experiencing culture shock, but the farm became a point of culture shock to the workers as well. The farm was unique and unlike anything any of them had ever seen before let alone worked on. And quite honestly there were no dairy farms like this anywhere in the area and quite possibly the country. In short they lacked a point of reference that dairy farming could be different than their 1 cow in the back yard experience afforded them.

The fledgling Corinthian church that Paul writes to in the New Testament has a point of reference problem as well. The church was full of young followers of Jesus who were living in a city that was very cosmopolitan for that day. Every kind of belief, religion, trade, sexual practice, and philosophy was present in that culture. It was a smart city with a good economy due to trade. It became a melting pot for all sorts of people with all sorts of backgrounds that blended together to form a very "enlightened" culture that lacked a clear understanding of moral rights and wrongs.

Paul addresses these new church followers who are asking him, "Look, we love Jesus and have received him as Lord and Savior, but now what?" "We've been living a certain way for so long that we don't know another way is possible and if another way is possible, we don't even know what that looks like".

So Paul spends the book of 1 Corinthians addressing some of their issues like sexual immorality, law suites against each other, pride, and Christian marriage. He instructs them because their new lives needed to now be counter cultural to the way they had been living before they became Christians.

In short, just like the Romanians we worked with, the Corinthians lacked a point of reference that life could be different than what they were used to. They had never seen or experienced a different way than the way they had always known.

Having points of reference are quite useful in everyday life. Without points of reference we guess at how things might be different than they are. What life could look like becomes more of an abstract idea as opposed to a concrete idea. If a different life stays in the abstract, real change won't happen because the concept doesn't seem like it could be real. It will remain a fantasy, a "Pie-in-the-sky" kind of thing that only exists in fantasy land. The Corinthian Christians are not that much different than people coming to faith in Christ today. Thankfully there is hope for today's new Christians, and that is what part II of this blog will be about. 

Musical Excellence

In the wake of Miley Cyrus' destruction I wanted to address pop music and its lack of, for a better word, "music". As a matter of fact it was news to me that the VMA's were even on. Doesn't that stand for video music awards? Do music videos even exist anymore? So here's how I look at music in terms of excellence: vocal presentation, creativity, emotional involvement (goose bump effect), lyrics, story, , presentation, and harmony, harmony, harmony.

Pop music that is on the radio today is terrible. The only redeeming excellence aspect of it is that these artists have found a brilliant way to market mediocrity.

Here's what I mean. Most of these artists can't sing in public unless they can have someone there to synthesize their voice. They don't tell much of a compelling story and lyrically and emotionally they don't move you. The only emotional involvement you feel is the beat of the song. There is little to no harmony, but tons of creativity/marketing, because how else are they going to sell their "music"?

As Rob Gordon says in High Fidelity "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" My answer to that is "Yes".

So my goal is not to bash pop music, but to encourage you to seek out more excellent music. This can take many forms. I don't really listen to country music, but I love Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, and Brad Paisley. These guys sang/wrote some very unique songs that required some creativity and guts to do. Toby Keith and his patriotic songs and red solo cup, Garth's friends in low places, Paisley's "Celebrity" song. Incredibly creative musicians, I'm sure there are others and I would love to hear about them.

As far as pure quality of harmony you must give Barbershop music a shot. Four part mens harmony is without peer when sung well. There are cords and harmonies that the majority of musicians and non musicians have never heard. Take a listen to one of the best quartets of all time singing "Tonight Tonight" from West Side Story. Don't mind the mullet. Not Excellent. And if you can't bring yourself to listen to the entire song, just go to the 1:40 mark and listen to the chord progression and change.

The second song you must listen to is them singing a rendition of The Beatles "Blackbird". Once again if you can't listen to the whole thing just pick it up at the 1:45 mark and be amazed till the end of the song.

When Whitney Houston died last year the world lost one of the greatest voices ever. If you don't believe me, just watch some of her videos on You Tube. I think I spent a good day or so online watching her sing. It was her voice that made the songs what they were. I get goosebumps thinking about her voice. To be cliche, she could sing the phone book and I'd listen. Barbra Streisand and Glee's Lea Michele are unbelievable as well. Barbra and Lea lead me to my next thought: GO TO A BROADWAY SHOW!!! The music and voices are unbelievable and without effects.

In regards to Worship music at church. The songs that move me to tears and cause me to be unable to sing them are the hymns many grew up singing. The vast majority of the contemporary worship music today doesn't come close to the messages and lyrics or musicality of the old hymns. I'm not talking about singing them with an organ either. When done with a full band, hymns are incredible. I remember being at the chapel services at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where they only sang hymns. But something amazing happens when you have a full chapel of people singing their hearts out in four part harmony. God has to be smiling not only at the worship but also at the ear candy that it is. Not all hymns are excellent nor is all contemporary worship not excellent. (Disclaimer: God doesn't care what we praise Him with, just that we do it.) Look up the words to some of the greatest hymns sometime: It Is Well With My Soul, How Great Thou Art, Be Thou My Vision, Amazing Grace, Crown Him With Many Crowns, and others. Modern versions of some great hymns are crazy good, like Jesus Paid It All and Before The Throne. One Contemporary song that I believe is excellent is "Revelation song". But I've decided that if you have to use the word "Everyday" in a worship song then the author is not being creative enough.

Anyone watch "The Sing-Off" before it was cancelled? This show combined some of the best music, creativity, musicality, harmony, vocal presentation, and emotional involvement all in one place. The group that won the last season, Pentatonix, were the best of the 3 seasons winners. Watch the video and see if you don't get goosebumps, and by the way I don't really like the original song that much. These guys are just that excellent. The song starts at the 1:45 mark.

Oh yeah, and the one dude in Pentatonix did this on his cello. Unreal.

All of this is simply my opinion and preference. After all my blog is called demand excellence. So why waste time on mediocrity or even below average entertainment. Again everyone, help me out and point out who and what I've missed.

Be Like Jesus Disconnect

Not sure where I start this conversation this morning. For the last few years I've been part of a body of believers that has been very heavily focused on the life of Jesus. This is a good thing. What has transpired is this massive call by church leadership to live a life like Jesus lived. We are to, in the words of the Message Bible, be like Jesus and "move into the neighborhood". Outstanding concept, instead of asking people to come be like us (at church) we need to go and be with them where they are and take Jesus to them. An awesome and completely biblical approach. It makes sense because Jesus moved and lived and mingled with the outcasts, the poor, the sick, the riff raff. He loved people where they were, he healed the sick, fed thousands, gave sight to the blind and showed how much He values children. He got in with the people, got his hands dirty and showed people they were valuable and didn't condemn them the way the Pharisees did. The church has done a much better job in recent years of compelling people to live a life that mimics Christ's.


"So where's the disconnect that my title suggests", you may ask? It is a recognition of a disconnect between what Jesus did during his years of ministry and what he did at Calvary when He died on the cross for you and me. I believe that the church has, unintentionally, made His death and resurrection a separate thing from the way He lived his life.


In fact I'd say that His death and resurrection were a continuation of his ministry on earth and are not separate things. What I'm not saying, is that we are to die and be resurrected, but we are to obedient as Christ was even to suffer unto death. He was modeling obedience to His Father.

But another important thing is going on with Jesus' life on earth. He's showing us a new way to be human. He's literally demonstrating how and what we are to be like and what we will be like in the age to come. When he hung on the cross it was customary for the accused to call down the wrath of God on their torturers. But Jesus didn't do that. He said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". You didn't find him teaching that in a sermon, but demonstrating to us a new way to be human.

If a Christ-like life is what we are to attain to then we cannot separate His earthy ministry from His obedience to the point of death. Jesus was teaching us, as I said above, a new way to be human. It is a more perfect way, a holy way, the way he intended us to be from the beginning. It is right for us to strive for this new "human" way that Jesus showed us. His obedience unto death is a key for us to understand. Paul grabbed that cue and ran with it. Paul figured out what Jesus meant when he said "follow me". Paul was present, he watched how Jesus functioned and moved and interacted. He also had some special divine revelation as well. But if you read about Paul and the letters that he wrote to the churches you'll see a guy who is saying "If you want your life to look like Christ's this is what it's going to take and this is what it's going to look like if you want it to happen."  His letter to the Romans highlights what we seriously need to remember about how to become Christ-like.

 Romans 5:3-5

³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Just like Jesus, who suffered and died, Paul is saying that we must suffer in order to persevere and from that perseverance we gain character and from that character, hope. Paul gets it. In fact he's pretty much saying this is the way it must be done in order for us to become like Christ. We'd all love a step program for becoming like Christ, and Paul gives us one. Paul's life actually takes this path, in fact is probably because of this path that he says, "this is the way". Take a look at what he went through in his life to make his claims.       2 Corinthians 11:16 - 33

What is all this pointing to, suffering. Jesus suffered because of his obedience. Paul suffered because of his obedience. Jesus was showing us a new way to be human. Paul took up his own cross and followed Jesus and his Christ-like character was formed via his suffering. The fully "new human" way of living produces good fruit, or as the bible calls them, the Fruit of the Spirit. Paul speaks of this fruit in Galatians 5, they are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. These are the attributes of a fully formed Christian character. This is what a new "human" looks like, and it cannot be fully formed without us suffering. We can't fully become who Jesus created us to be and who he is changing us into without suffering. 

Maybe I'm a little off track with the title of "Be Like Jesus Disconnect", but I titled it this way because it's important that we don't disconnect the Jesus who valued the outcast and served people from the Jesus who suffered unto death for our sins. His actions are all the same act for him, they aren't separate things. It's all part of his obedience to his father. It's imperative for us to be like Jesus, not just when our neighbor needs help, but when we must stand in opposition to our culture. So when the church says to be like Jesus, it doesn't just mean that we care for the poor, it also means we are to suffer for His sake and it's from this suffering that makes us like Jesus.

God determines our needs

Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus".

I was listening to the radio the other day and the host of the show told a story about a man who traveled from town to town preaching the gospel. He took nothing with him but relied on the kindness of people for a place to stay and for food to eat. Upon entering one town he had no place to sleep and no place to eat, so he slept on a park bench and went hungry for the night. He meditated on Philippians 4:19 and came to the conclusion that God determined that he "needed" a good starving for the night.

I sat in my car in utter disbelief at those words. Wow, how crazy is it that God would be the determiner of our needs and not us. I know for a fact that as Americans we read that verse and immediately conclude that God will provide our needs according to what we decide is a need and not Him. Don't we all do that? I know I have. If you don't believe me just think about what you think about when you read that verse. God will provide food and shelter and relative decent health or a job or enough money to pay the bills. That's what we do. In fact in America we have so much that we've gotten very Godly by shrinking our list of "needs" to just the basics - food, shelter, safety, etc... because we want to seem humble and show understanding for what the verse really says. Am I far off? I don't think so.

But if we really look at that verse and look around this world at some of the suffering that we see of God's people we have to wonder if we have our interpretation of that verse correct. I know I haven't had it right. We never look at our trials as "needs" in our lives. And yet God's plan for us is to become like His Son Jesus Christ, so he will do whatever he seems fit or is "needed" to transform us into the likeness of Him. If that means we go hungry for a night or a few days we must look for the transforming presence of God in it. If we go jobless, homeless, suffer ridicule at work, lose a loved one, suffer sickness, or have financial hardship we must look for God's hand in each situation because it transforms us more and more into His likeness. We'll never completely understand God's wisdom in what he does, but I rest assured that He is in control and that He loves me deeply, so deeply that he is working in every situation in my life to make me more into the vessel that He can use for his glory.

I searched to find the man in the story above but could not. But I will be forever indebted to him for bringing a new truth and a deeper understanding of God's word to me.

Well Said Sir.

Thank you Chris Broussard, of ESPN, when asked about his personal beliefs about whether you can be Christian and openly gay. I'm so glad a person of his public notoriety has spoken up for the truth. It's just sad he's taking a beating in the media for his beliefs specifically because he was asked about them. But the reality is is that the beating is exactly what it takes for us to mature as believers. Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. These are Paul's words for how a person matures and becomes like Christ. So while it's a shame that he's taking a beating, he/we should "consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters^, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything". James 1: 2-4

Persecution and suffering are going to begin to become the norm as Christians began to clash with the thinking of our culture. We must be prepared and be ready to embrace that suffering for it produces a mature man and woman who lacks nothing. That should be good news.