Facebook is an interesting phenomenon.  I am not nearly smart enough to really unpack that statement, but I will attempt to take a look at one emerging aspect of it.  While Facebook has been a source of bringing high-school friends of years past back together, and helping people to rally together around a common hobby, it is also manifesting the clear potential for becoming a device to create disharmony in the church.   Considering conversations that I have had with other pastors around the country, I think I am on the right track.  Drama of various shapes and sizes is being created everywhere and the private opinions of some are becoming public dogma on Facebook.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think Facebook has great potential for good and I have actually seen more of that than the other.  I constantly see friends consoling others, encouraging others, and cheering others on.  And who wouldn’t love seeing the goofy pictures of ourselves posted up for all the world to see.  I am still recovering from the fact that my wife let pics of me in a hairnet surface on Facebook.

Currently, there is a group or fan page for just about every ideal and person on the planet and by joining one of these groups, you can say alot, with very little effort.  Some of us are braver though.   There is a boldness that comes over us as we sit behind the computer screen that is not afforded to us otherwise, and we find ourselves saying things and getting into arguments over our preferences, and positions.  My concern in all of this, is that the gospel would be ignored, and rather than moderating our tone and being led by charity, we would allow ourselves to be drawn into arguments that are not helpful in the pursuit of following Jesus in community.

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Okay.  So how will you shepherd your families in 2010?  If you are a man, this should be on your mind.  If it is not, then you need to repent because your chief purpose as a husband and father has, so far, been neglected.  I am not trying to cripple you with condemnation for your failures last year, but this year should be different.  2010 is held out to you and your family as a gift.  This is the year that you grow up and start thinking about the spiritual formation of your family.

First of all, you need to run to Jesus everyday to be your savior that day.  The gospel is the power of God to free you from your self-absorbed life.  You need to dutifully pray and read your Bible, all the while pleading with God that your duty will be turned into delight.  Look for any motivation you can get to pray and read the Bible.  One of the reasons why we don’t pray and read the Bible is that we are always looking for the highest of motivations, when lesser ones will do for awhile.  We all want to devote time to Jesus because we love him with a passionate love that is intimate, and shaping but sometimes lesser motivations are all you have.  You know, motivations like, fear.  ”God will whack me if I don’t pray”.  Not the best motivation, but it will do for now.  How about, “If I don’t read my bible and pray, and teach my children, they will grow up to be serial killers,… I see the way Johnny tries to torture the cat”.  Use these motivations.  Jesus will use your lesser motivations to move you towards delight in your relationship with him.  Continue to plead with Jesus, and he will deliver himself to you in ways that you can’t imagine.

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I know that makes me sound like a sick, sadistic jerk, but it is a good thing actually.   It shows my love for the gospel of Jesus, for it is only the despairing who see the gospel as good news and give their whole selves to its truth.

Case in Point:

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Shame comes along side us like a life draining leech.  

It doesn’t matter who you are or what your philosophical or religious background is; shame will push you into corners of darkness that seem inescapable.  There is, however, good shame and bad shame.  Good shame is that which leads us to the recognition that we have done wrong, and we need to confess and ask forgiveness to those we have wronged.  It is good shame that leads a person to the foot of the cross, with their head bowed, seeking the kindness of a savior who gives generously to those who approach in humility and even despair.  I am thankful for the way that God works in our lives through shame before we have become followers of Jesus.  It is shame that leads us to despairing of believing that we have any device or scheme that will atone for our sins and put us in right standing with God.  This is a leech that drains us of confidence in ourselves.  It drains us of any hope that we can do enough.  The darkness of that place has us craving the light of love and forgiveness.  I had an encounter with a man a couple days ago that showed me the value of God sent shame.  He was so burdened beneath the weight of his own depravity, that the message of the cross was indeed, good news.  Were it not for the shame he labored under, he would not have understood his need for a savior.  Because of this weight, he bowed his head to Jesus, and surrendered everything.  Control, authority, direction,…everything.  There is an old song that simply says, “I surrender all.  All to Jesus, I surrender”.  Thank you, O Lord, for the shame that leads to surrender.  Through surrender, comes serenity in Christ and the removal of guilt and shame.

As good as shame can be, it can also be a wicked instrument of Satan to destroy our confidence in Christ and His finished work on our behalf.  I have known quite a few Christians who were spiritually “bedridden” because they could not get past the strongholds of shame in their life.  They were not believing the truth of God’s word about them, but rather believing that how they felt about themselves, due to the ravaging work of Satan through shame, was their reality.  This is a leech that robs us of vitality and destroys our will to persevere.  Many people begin despairing that Christ can deliver them when He already has.  They are simply choosing to  believe the accusers lies, rather than live in the glorious truth of resurrection.  Romans 8:1 says “There is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  This is the truth of every follower of Jesus.

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Yes, yes, there is such a thing as missional golf, and missional hunting, and missional bowling, and maybe even missional shopping.  By this I simply mean that people should use common interests with other people to build relationship and the credibility that is necessary to speak truth into people’s lives.  We are called to be on mission and I can’t think of a more fun way to do that than to take your natural interests and hobbies and redeem them for the glory of God.

I played missional golf today with a dude that I am hoping will get involved in life at the Journey.  I had the opportunity to drink a beer, and smoke a cigar with a guy while playing golf today which was a freakin’ good time and through this opportunity got to know him alot more and have the chance to begin building a relationship with him.  After the ninth hole, which was when the Philippine type monsoon set it, we went and had lunch and we both got real with each other and talked about some heavy stuff in life.

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1Cor. 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1Cor. 14:40 “But all things should be done decently and in order….”

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Today, my family and I went to visit a 90 year old lady in her “new” home. She has recently moved out of the house that she has lived in for over 40 years and moved into a home with one of her daughters.

This lady, is beyond amazing.  She has these little stuffed animals laying all around the living room with the little voice boxes inside them so that when you pull their arm or rub their belly or scratch their butt, they start singing some song that is usually incredibly annoying, but my kids love it, and Mrs. Ellen just starts getting giddy.  She finds such joy in my children causing these animals to make noises while my wife and I are about to lose our minds.

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This is the time of the year when people are either groaning the loudest because they didn’t pay enough taxes in or squealing with surprise and excitement cause they got a good chunk of change back.  I want to encourage everyone to recognize something about this time of the year, and the refunds some of you may be getting.

Paying taxes can be a grace gift that God has designed for you so that you can receive much needed help when you need it.  Getting your refunds is usually very timely for most people.  This is the grace of God to you.  It was His grace to give the money to you the first time when you were making it last year.  It is His grace now that comes to you in the form of a refund at the time when you most need it.  Some of you, and I know this from past experience, have received healthy refunds even though you paid very little in last year.  I remember several years past when this kind of grace was shown to me.

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I have been working on cabinets for four days straight and have to do it again later today.  It is really hard to focus on the main stuff about life at the Journey and all of my pastorly duties when I have do cabinet work this much.  I have been trying to work on my message for sunday all week but just haven’t had any time. Saturday will be sermon prep day,…all day.

Anyways, just thinkin’ about my Journey family and feeling grateful.  God has brought so many sinners like me into my life lately that have been changed and are being changed by the amazing grace of God and it’s so awesome to get to watch it happen.  Some of you reading this, are probably experiencing some of these changes.  God is working in you, showing you new things, wrenching old rotten habits away from you and while it hurts, He replaces them with joy.  And so, you are happy,….genuinely happy for the first time in a long time even though their is also the pain of separation from old crap in your life. 

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John 1:27 “It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 

In John 1:19-20, John the Baptist confirmed that he was not the Christ.   When given the opportunity to establish his own ministry several verses later, he pointed to Christ as the one to whom people should look.  John actually takes the position of a lowly servant and makes himself nothing.  

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