Failures of Community - Sexual Misconduct

Ephesians 5:3

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

The last few months in the Metroplex have revealed quite a few failures by church leadership in the area of sexual misconduct. Our church history is also stained by sexual misconduct (see this video for my thoughts). It is infuriating that men and women who have been given leadership in the church have chosen to abuse it for their own pleasure and pursuits. 

Paul is clear in Ephesians 5 that this should not even be named among you. This accusation should not even be thought of in light of you. The temptation of sexual promiscuity is all around. Whether you are seeking it or not, images, enticements, and invitations are being made to pursue what is outside of what is best. 

The stranglehold that sexual sin can have on your life is not foreign to me nor to many close to me. It is a vicious cycle of shame, guilt, fulfillment, and desire. It is always desiring and never satisfying. 

Today, I want you to pray for those who have been hurt or harmed by the church through sexual misconduct. 

Pray for those boys and girls taken advantage of. 

Pray for the victims of abuse of power and position. 

Pray for healing. Pray for help. 

Pray for them to know that God is love even though what they experienced was not. Pray for the victims of sexual misconduct today.

Failures of Community - Sarcasm

Failures in Christian Community - Sarcasm

This past Sunday as we discussed Christian Community, I began to think about the negative versions of community I have experienced in church. So for the next few days, I want to bring these to light. The first detriment to community I think about is sarcasm. 

Now, I know that I am one of the worst offenders of this. Sarcasm has become the cheap conversation substitute that has taken over our friendships, our churches, and our workplaces. I was at a ministry luncheon a few weeks back and the leader started the whole talk with this statement: “Sarcasm is the love language of this group.” While it got a few cheap laughs, it broke my heart to think that in a collection of ministry leaders we are choosing sarcasm over encouragement. 

I am reminded of Ephesians 4:29 today.

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Sarcasm is fun. Sarcasm is funny. Sarcasm is not building up. Sarcasm does not give grace. Rather than joke sarcastically, what if we spoke intentionally? Rather than disparaging a friend in jest, we spoke highly of a friend seriously. Sarcasm is a cheap substitute for honest feelings and conversations. 

Today, I challenge you to fight the temptation to be sarcastic. Speak in a way that builds others up.

God is calling me to generosity!

2 Cor 8:1-4

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.

I have always been impressed by this writing of Paul about the church in Macedonia. Paul is clear that they are in the midst of hardship. Severe trial. Extreme poverty. This does not seem like fertile soil for generous people.

Yet, he is clear, even in the midst of trial they were rich in generosity. They gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability.

This is not a devotion to twist arms towards church giving. This is simply a reminder to all of us who are in the midst of an inflated economy, with soaring house prices and car prices, and burdens that seem to show up weekly, that we are still called to be generous towards God.

We are called to live towards him in a spirit of faith that he can and will provide. Remember who Jesus praised in the temple, the woman who gave the smallest sum because it was also the biggest sacrifice.

It is easy in this season we are approaching to be caught up in gift buying and the extravagance of the Christmas celebration (none of which are necessarily bad), but I urge you to consider how you can support something more than our own abundance. How can you be generous with your time, your stuff, your resources, and even your money this season? Who can you help? Who can you bless? What can you sacrifice so that someone else can have?

This has been a great year at our church and we have many things to celebrate. If you are contributing to our church, I want to say thank you. Your generosity not only feeds my family but it helps us feed people with the Word of God. If you have not started giving, maybe God is calling you to say no to something so that you can say yes to this. Even if you are giving, I still think we can hear God calling us to take another step of faith in the world of our finances. I know that he has done that with me multiple times in the past year and a half.

I do not know the outcome, but I do know that God calls us to be generous people. You can be generous with many things. Will you?

God is calling me to submit to authorities

1 Peter 2:13-14

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Quick Story: A few years back, I ate lunch with Cooper at his school but I got frustrated. The policy in the school is that parents may only sit with their kid at a special parent table away from the other kiddos. I understand the safety precautions that have to be taken, but I felt as though Cooper was being punished by having to sit with me and miss out on time with his friends. He eats with me every night—it is not that special to him. I shared my displeasure with one of the teachers (a co-worker of Carlin’s) and I thought he was being unnecessarily punished.

As you can see, I don’t do great at following authority. I struggle being boxed in. I prefer to follow rules that make sense rather than rules that just happen to exist.

And then I read 1 Peter 2:13-14. Submit to authority.

Take note, what Peter is commanding is much bigger than what I was just bemoaning.

Peter is writing to persecuted people who are being abused, made bankrupt, ignored, and potentially killed by the authorities and he says SUBMIT.

Peter is writing to people who have lost their home, their business, their connection to the outside world because of their faith in Christ and Peter says SUBMIT.

We live in a divided world that fails to submit. I have read that 16.7 BILLION dollars were spent in previous elections because we do not want to submit to the enemy (I mean the other political party). When we lose, we fight. When we fail, we blame others.

As Christians, we must learn that we will not always get our way. There are places to fight for justice, equality, the overlooked, the hurting, but there are also times to submit. To leaders you didn’t vote for. To bosses who are selfish. To company policies that are unnecessarily limiting.

We follow a greater God than this world can offer. This greater God who is in control commands us to submit. So, even when it is hard, may we submit to the authorities that are over us and seek the good of our world in spite of difference of opinion.

God is calling me to live purposefully

1 Peter 2:12
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

One of the greatest blessings that Carlin and I have experienced in our move to Dallas is the street we live on. We could not have asked for a better group of neighbors. Every day (that is not an exaggeration), we see, talk with, share our life with the people that live around us. We have eaten dinner, planned parties, celebrated birthdays, borrowed tools, and helped out wherever possible. Our neighborhood is a sweet place to live.

We are intentional with our neighbors as well. I know where some of them stand in their faith journey, but not all. So, each day, I seek to interact in a way that Jesus is known and thought highly of. I feel like I get to be a witness of what the church should operate like, how Christians should treat others, and how we are to love.

A few years back, one of our neighbors even said, “We have never had a friend that was a pastor, so we didn’t know what to do or how to act.”

I have tried my best to live both similarly and differently to my neighbors. I want a relationship with our family to feel natural while also feel different because we believe differently. I want them to feel safe while also feel loved.

We are not perfect at it, but our hope is each day to build relationships that point others to Christ. That does not mean we ask “If you died tonight, where will you spend eternity?”, but we model, invite, and open our home and lives to those around us so they may experience the life of faith.