LiveForgiven

My Christmas card to you.  Merry Christmas. 

jeff

This year Stacy and I have decided to have an upside down Christmas.  In fact, I want to challenge you to have an upside down Christmas as well.  We’re going to work hard to make this Christmas different in many ways.  As you know, Christmas is celebrated differently around the world.  It is no surprise to any of us that here in America it has become a focus on materialism and getting more stuff we don’t need.  So much so that those of us who truly want to celebrate the Savior’s birth need to be very intentional in doing so.  There’s one place in the world, however, where Christmas looks altogether upside down.   

I love Australia but if you go “down under” (to Australia or New Zealand) you’ll truly experience an “upside down Christmas”.  You see, there it’s summertime.  December through February is the warmest time of the year and Christmas is right in the middle of summer.  Santa is coming to town on a surfboard and Rudolph’s red nose is going to need some sunscreen.  The only white Christmas they’ll see is the white sand on Bondi Beach.  Instead of elves scurrying around, you may need to watch for koalas crawling around in the eucalyptus trees.  It’s cooler in the south and it’s warmer in the north and the currents flow in opposite directions.  Don’t throw another log on the fire unless you’re putting it on the “barbie”.  What a strange Christmas that would be for those of us who live on the “right” side of the world.      

This year let’s devote ourselves to an upside down Christmas.  I want Christmas this year to look altogether different from what our world has made it out to be.  Instead of the rat race of shopping and running from one event to the next, I’m going to slow down and spend more time in conversation with those I love.  Instead of seeing what I might get, I’m going to join a bunch of my favorite people and see what we can give to our community.  We’re going to the Samaritan Inn to sing with the homeless and spread some Christmas love to those who, like baby Jesus, have no place to lay their heads this Christmas.  Instead of racing through the holidays, I’m going to pause and pray and thank God for His Son, my Savior.  Instead of looking through the latest catalog of gifts available, I’m going to look through His Word and discover the gift of His love for me.   Not getting, but giving.  Not me, but others.  Ah yes, I’m having an upside down Christmas. 

It’s always been that way you know- upside down.  The big God became small.  Spirit took on flesh.  Holiness came to a sinful world.  The perfect was clothed in imperfection.  The sinless took on sin.  The eternal stepped into time.  The One who is life died for me.  What an upside down Christmas.  “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27.  An upside down Savior.  That’s the God we worship.  That’s the God of Christmas.  Let’s make this one different.  Let’s have an upside down Christmas. 

Merry Christmas from the Warren family to you and yours. 

We love you. 

(I’ve been a fan of Sara Groves’ music for years.  Now I’m a fan of her.)

Have you ever noticed how some people seem more grateful than others?  What’s the difference?  Why are some people thankful and others not?  What about you?  Would others describe you as a thankful person?  I think that a life of thanksgiving (or “thanksliving”) is a choice.  But I’m also convinced that the more vibrant your walk with Christ, the more grateful you are.  When you align yourself and, therefore your life, up with God’s perspective on life (that is, who you are and who He is), you will live a life of gratitude.  To the degree that we are not aligned to God’s Way, we become less grateful.  It’s possible to choose a life of gratitude but you must first acknowledge a few things… 

1.  Acknowledge what you have. 

The Bible says over and over again to “remember” what God has done for you.  The old hymn says, “Count your many blessings- name them one by one… count your many blessings, see what God has done.”  Health, home, church, family, friends, job, trials.  Are you content with what you have?  Or do you always tend to want more?  Be grateful for what you have.  Why are Americans so seemingly ungrateful?  How can such a materialistic people learn to be grateful?  What’s the solution?    

2.  Acknowledge why you have.     

• Not by your own power.  “He has made us and we are His.” Psalm 100:3   Everything you have is from God so “enter His courts with thanksgiving- give thanks to Him.”      
• Not by your own position.  Your position of power or wealth was not of your own doing.  We see this in the book of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way that “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes.”  Every person of any position has been put there by God.  If you have had any success vocationally or financially it’s only because of God.  God is the one who gives and takes away.  Whatever position you have has been given to you by God.
• Not by your own person.    “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’, says the Lord almighty.”  Zechariah 4:6  Why do some people have a sense of entitlement?  They seem to think the world owes them something, that they deserve what they want.  Others are so humble and so grateful when they receive even something small.   

3.  Acknowledge how you have.     

• You are blessed.   “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth and He adds no trouble to it.” Proverbs 10:22  Wealth brings great trouble when it comes through ungodly means.       
• You are loved.  Everything we have is an act of grace from God.  Romans 5:8  says “while we were sinners Christ died for us.”  1 John 4:10 says,  it’s not that we loved God but that He first loved us.  And verse 19 says we can now love others in the same way.   
• You are responsible.  1 Corinthians 4:1-2 says, those who are given a trust must be found faithful.”  You are a steward of all that you have.  How do I steward all that I have been given?  I am responsible for the grace that I have received from God. 

4.  Acknowledge who you have.     

• Family- express thanks to your family.       
•  Friends- let a friend know how grateful you are to have him/her in your life.       
•  Others- people in your life- your brothers and sisters in Christ.  In the end, life is really about who you have, not what you have.  If you want friends, be a friend.

Remember, gratitude is always centered on Christ. 

“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”  Romans 8:32   

All of God’s blessings begin with Jesus.  It’s why Thanksgiving is clearly a believers’ holiday.  It reminds me of the atheist who suddenly felt profoundly grateful and realized he had no one to thank.  We know who to thank.  Our gratitude is ultimately focused on a Person.  So, let’s thank Him!     

I love the old negro spirituals.  This sounds like a good one.  But it’s actually the story of what’s been going in our church family.  There’s been a whole lot of praying going on.  FBC McKinney has been so committed to private, “in your room” kind of prayer (Matthew 6:6), that we actually have a prayer room for people to access any time 24/7/365.  This month we’re celebrating 20 years of prayer in our Prayer Room.  Since 1987 we’ve had 9,653 people ask for prayer (by filling out a prayer card), and 18,458 people pray over those cards.  Nearly 10,000 cards prayed over multiple times daily; this adds up to hundreds of thousands of prayers!  That’s amazing!  Our church has been marked by prayer.  In fact, I’ve said it’s the most important ministry of the church- any church! This month we’ve been learning to pray like Jesus.  Here’s why this is SO big.  Think about it: The KEY to your Christian life is not found in what you know about God, not even what you do for God, but in the intimacy that you have with God through Christ, and the character and the qualities that are produced as a result of that one relationship.  That’s the ONE thing He’s called you to.  And as Oswald Chambers has noted, it’s the one thing that will be constantly under attack in your life.  Are you committed to daily, consistent, intentional prayer?  How are you doing?  If you want to be a Kingdom person and allow His will to be done in your life, it will all start with prayer.

Have you ever struggled in prayer?  The truth is we all have.  The tragic truth is that some of us have ceased to struggle.  In fact, we’ve stopped praying altogether.  Why is this?  I have a theory.  This may sound harsh to say but I believe it’s because many of us have been actually been praying wrong.  I discovered the key that unlocks prayer.This sounds simple, I know, but it’s learning to pray like Jesus.  So simple, but few of us do it.  Many of us are familiar with the prayer called the “Lord’s Prayer” and most of us are familiar with the phrase “Thy Kingdom come…” In fact, some of you know the rest of that phrase, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”  At the beginning of His ministry (and throughout the Gospels), Jesus came “preaching the Kingdom.”  In fact, most of His parables centered on this thing of the “Kingdom of God”.  In fact in Matthew 6:33, He said,  “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” 

What is the “Kingdom”?  

Jesus talked about the kingdom all the time.  Every parable is about the kingdom.  Most of them start with, “The Kingdom is like…”  Most of us think of the Kingdom as heaven- as some far off, some day, kind of place.  But Jesus says that we should pray for His Kingdom to come in the here-and-now.  We are to pray for His Kingdom to advance right now.  In fact, when the disciples asked, “When is this Kingdom coming; when are you going to bring this Kingdom?” Jesus said to His disciples that the Kingdom of God is among you- in fact, it is “within you”.  What is this Kingdom?  Well, a kingdom speaks of a king who is reigning, and of loyal subjects who pledge their allegiance to Him and who are following Him.  A Kingdom speaks of territory, of commerce, of an economy, and of values.  This is so important:

• The Kingdom is wherever God rules.
• The Kingdom is wherever God has dominion.  (power, control, dominance)

How, then, does His Kingdom come?  It comes as His people give Him rule over their lives.  It comes wherever His people are showing His power, His love through their lives.

• The Kingdom is wherever God’s people are surrendered and are serving

Him.  Wherever God reigns over people is where the Kingdom of God is.

• The Kingdom is wherever God is at work.  The Kingdom is wherever Jesus

shows up.  And Jesus shows up wherever His people are serving others, loving people in need, sharing His love with our world. Think about this: It seems that we’ve focused so much on Jesus as Savior- and that He is- but we’ve forgotten that He wants to be Lord of our lives.  Some of us have come to believe that once we’re saved, nothing else matters.  To be a Kingdom person means that you praise Him for saving you- but you realize that He has saved you in order that He might be LORD- Ruler, the reigning King of your life.    

What is His righteousness? 

Again, if we are to seek it- what is it?  And if we’re to seek it FIRST, we better figure out what it is and how we are to seek it!

• Righteousness is the very character of God- namely, His holiness.

·         To be righteousness, simply put, is to be like Jesus.  Jesus is the perfect representation, the image of the character of God (His righteousness), lived out in human form.  It’s important to note that, as we receive the forgiveness of God through Christ and His sacrifice on the cross- we are made righteous by Him.  In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that we have been “made the very righteousness of God in Him.”  And we are now to live the righteous life of Jesus.In the end then, a “Kingdom person” is a Jesus person.  And if desire to be a Kingdom person then Jesus becomes the Ruler in my life.  I give Him authority over every aspect of my life.  He reigns over my thoughts, my words, my checkbook, the decisions I make about how I spend HIS resources.  He reigns over my relationships, my calendar, my body, how I use His gifts given to me, how I spend my leisure time… He RULES.  Are you a Jesus person? 

There seems to be a consensus among leadership experts on what the most important quality of a great leader is.  Would you want to guess what it is?  Always at the top of the list is integrity.  Of course, the logic goes something like this: in order for people to follow you, you must be a trust-worthy person- a person of integrity.  Without trust, no one will follow you- so true.  As a leader, you must be able to build a high-trust culture so that your followers will come together and accomplish the collective vision of the leader together.  But what is integrity- really?  Integrity is generally understood as living according to a core set of values.  A person is said to have integrity if their entire life matches up with those core principles.  It’s similar to the word, “integrated”- it means that every area of life is joined together, combined, unified, an undivided or unbroken completeness.  (It’s like opening a book on any page and discovering the same consistent theme throughout).      

All of this sounds great in theory, but it doesn’t always work in practice.  And I think I know why.  There’s one question that no one is asking:  Where does integrity come from?  Are we born with it?  Do we just muster up integrity as we need it?  And if so, why do so many leaders fall?  Jesus instead, speaks of “righteousness”.  This is an attribute of moral purity belonging to God alone.  Jesus calls the “Righteous Father” in John 17:25. 

Paul says, “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’” Romans 3:10.  God alone is truly righteous.  No one in the world is righteous in the eyes of the Lord, that is, except… the Christian.  We are counted righteous in the eyes of God when we receive Jesus by faith.  Paul said he wants to “… be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”  Philippians 3:9  Our righteousness is based on what Jesus did on the cross.  The righteousness that was Christ’s is counted to us.  We, then, are seen as righteous in the eyes of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that we have become the very righteousness of God in Christ.  To be righteous is to be like Christ who said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 To hunger and thirst for righteousness means that you desire the life of Jesus above all things in life.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness you must first realize that you’re hungry.

Three Questions to consider today:

1. Do I “hunger and thirst for righteousness”?

2. Do I need to be “merciful” to someone?  We often think mercy is simply withholding punishment on someone who deserves it.  But biblically, mercy is actually giving help and compassion to someone in need.  It’s an action word, not a passive word.

3. Do I really desire to be “pure in heart”?  Are you seeking and maintaining a pure heart?  “Pure” means unmixed, unadulterated, integrated- that’s integrity- a life that hungers and thirsts for righteousness (and has a bias toward active mercy and seeks always to be pure in heart).  If you live this way, you will be a Kingdom person, a world-changer, a difference-maker, an influencer, a leader.   Leading without power means that I know who has the power- and it’s not me.  I must live my life only in the power of God- ALL of this begins with confession (acknowledgement of my sin) and repentance- a recognition of what Christ has done for us.  It all starts with a transformed heart- from the inside-out.  And only God can do that.  Exchange your hard heart for the forgiveness of Jesus- and live and lead forgiven.   

I love the story of the pastor who lived alone so he got a parrot because he thought it would be fun to have someone to talk to.  He hadn’t had the bird for long when he realized that all it would do was curse all the time.  (His friends wondered where the bird learned all these words).  A sweet, elderly widow in his church heard about his problem and said she had a parrot as well.  Her parrot, however, just sat around on her perch all day and prayed.  She offered this solution: Let’s put our two parrots together and perhaps mine will have a positive influence on yours!”  The pastor thought, “Why not?” so they put the widow’s parrot in the cage with his.  The pastor’s parrot move close to the female parrot and said, “Hey baby, what do you say we make beautiful music together?”  The little praying parrot looked up and said, “Praise God my prayers have been answered!”  Influence works both ways doesn’t it?  YOU are an influencer.  What kind of influence are you bringing to those around you?  There is perhaps no greater need in our world today than the need for leadership.  Think about it: All great countries, great schools, great communities, businesses, governments, and families have great leaders. Leadership matters.  Some see leadership as simply a position in an organization and as long you have the title of “leader” then you can power-up on others and order them around based on the authority and assumed power that you have because of your position.  Others define leadership in terms of the ability to manage the chaos of a rapidly changing world.  Peter Drucker, the great business guru, once made this distinction: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”  Leadership may be all of these things but ultimately leadership is how you interact with yourself, God, your family, co-workers, partners in ministry, and the world around you.  In order to understand the vital nature of leadership, it is important that we define the term.     

Leadership redefined: A leader is a person involved in a process of influencing and developing others in order to accomplish God’s purpose, in God’s way, and in God’s power. 

Simply put… Leadership = Influence.  If you’re a parent your success as a parent is determined by your ability to influence your children in a positive way.  If you’re a teacher your success depends on your ability to influence your pupils.  If you’re a coach, a manager at work, if you’re a friend, a colleague, if you connect with people in any way you are an influencer.     Of course the greatest influencer and leader of all time is Jesus Christ.  One definition of leadership says, “It is the ability of a leader to affect human behavior so as to accomplish a mission.”  Well, if that’s it then Jesus is clearly the greatest leader of all time.  I remember at the turn of the new millennium, TIME magazine ran a cover article that was not the “Person of the Year” or the decade, or even the century, but the person of the millennium.  Guess who it was?  Jesus.  I remember thinking, yea and the millennium before that as well!  Jesus remains the greatest influencer of lives in our day- and He always will be.  And He leads in a way that no one will ever match.  I’ve embraced a daring assignment for the next few weeks.  I’ve been, for years, studying the leadership of Jesus- and trying to emulate it in my life as a husband, as a father, friend, and pastor.  I have been led to the Beatitudes as a model for leadership and influence in our day.   

Read the Beatitudes- Matthew 5 and see if the traits Jesus offers there describe your life.  I’m finding in the Beatitudes something I’ve never seen before: I believe that in the Beatitudes we find the ingredients necessary for leadership in our world today (and it has been an amazing journey for me thus far).  The BIG idea in this: In the Beatitudes Jesus describes what it is to be a person of influence.  Stay tuned… let’s explore this together!  I’ll post some more learnings soon!

During the summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain in 1992, one of track and field’s most memorable events took place.  Derek Redmond, from Great Britain, was running the race of a lifetime in the 400 meters.  He was coming around the last turn when he felt (and heard) his hamstring pop.  He fell face down on the track in excruciating pain.  He immediately tried to get up- what he called later, “animal instinct”- and, in a crazed attempt to finish the race he hobbled on one leg toward the finish line.  The crowd rose to its feet.  Out of the crowd came a large man in a T-shirt, pushing security guards aside.  It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father.  He ran out on the track and held his son in his arms and said, “Derek, you don’t have to do this.”  Derek said, “Yes I do.”  “Then we’re going to finish together”, his father said.  Jim held his son, with his head in his chest most of the way, as both of them wept together toward the finish line.  As they crossed the finish line, the crowd roared… then wept as well.  Derek left Barcelona, not with the gold medal he had dreamed of, but with the memory of father who came out of the stands to help his son finish the race.  What a powerful picture of fatherhood.  In fact, it sounds a lot like what God has done for us in Christ. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  Jesus came out of the stands of heaven to help us finish the race.Dads, are you “in the stands” watching your child from afar as they hobble toward the finish line?  Or are you in the race with them, comforting them, holding them when necessary, as you guide them to the end.  Many dads start out well with their kids.  Few dads truly help their kids finish strong.  What will be your legacy?  Dad, get in the game.

Yes, I really did.  I may be the first pastor to tell his listeners to “get naked”.  We were in the midst of a series of messages on “Pure Sex”.  I was describing much of what I try to do is to keep single adults and our youth out of bed together and our married adults in the bed together.  That’s when I admonished all of the married couples to “get naked”.  I got a few “amens” from some eager to obey the Lord’s command to be fruitful and multiply.  I’m sure some were thinking, “Here am Lord, send me.”  Professor Howard Hendricks (at DTS) recently said, “In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering.”  I would suggest we are stuttering at best.  Mostly we’re silent, and I can promise that Satan is not.  John 8:44 says he is the “father of lies” and he’s been lying for generations and we are reaping the tragic results of a satanic attack upon our families and our culture.  In contrast, in John 8:33, Jesus says, “the truth will set you free.”  The truth about sex must be shared.  “Everyone else is talking about sex.  If we remain silent about sex with our children and teens (and adults) then we’re the only ones.”    Here’s what we’ve been learning: The very first temptation had to do with our sexuality.  In Genesis 2 and 3 we see the story of the fall and how Adam and Eve, prior to the fall were “both naked and unashamed”.  After they sinned against God they felt a need to cover themselves.  Why? Because our sexuality is Satan’s easiest door to shame.  Shame is a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace.  If blame says, “I did something wrong.”  Shame says, “I am wrong.”  Many have lived with shame for years and it has impacted your life more than you can realize.  We’ve noted that some things grow in the dark (fungus, mushrooms) and shame.  It must be brought into the light or it will not stop growing.  That’s why we need to speak about sexual shame.  We all have it; we just need to talk about it. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 teaches us a few things about “pure sex”. 1. Godly sex begins with Godly thinking.  2. Your “bod” belongs to God.  3. Sex is like glue.  4. Sexual sin runs deep.   Let me ask you the two shameful questions that we’re trying to be courageous enough to address: What seed of sexual shame has Satan planted in your life?  What dangerous and painful covering are you hiding behind?  As you think about sexual shame and start what may be a new path toward purity always remember that Our God is a God of grace.   I love what He tells us in Job: “Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.” Job 11:13-16 (N.I.V.)  

There’s a buzz in McKinney these days about Heaven.  Thousands are talking about it and with so many varied opinions about Heaven, it’s worth thinking about, especially during this Easter season.  I’m convinced that most of us don’t think much about Heaven because we don’t know what to think. Regardless of your religious beliefs, you can’t deny that some day you’ll leave this planet.  Isn’t it amazing that, weeks after her death, Anna Nicole Smith continues to dominate American news reports? (Are we tired of this?)  Her tragic story should remind us all that whether we’re rich or poor, famous or not, the death rate is still 100%.  Worldwide 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, about 11,000 will die this hour, and more than 250 thousand people go to either to Heaven or Hell today. 

Years ago, R.C. Sproul said, “Modern man is betting his life that there is no judgment and there is no eternity.”  Vance Havner once said, “Some people are so heavenly minded they’re of no earthly good.”  I understand what he’s saying, but I don’t think that’s our problem.  It’s seems that we don’t think about heaven enough.  C.S. Lewis was right when he wrote, “The people who have made the most difference in this world are the ones who thought most about the next.”  When you don’t live with God’s ultimate plan in sight, you live only for the here and now- and that gets hard and hopeless real fast.

So, what do you think about Heaven?  Maybe your opinion is like so many, but you’re afraid to say it:  “Heaven is going to be boring.”  John Eldridge, in his great book, “The Journey of Desire” writes, “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service.  We have settled on the image of the never-ending sing-a-long in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever amen.  And our heart sinks.  Forever and ever?  That’s it?  That’s the Good News?  And then we sigh and we feel guilty that we are not more spiritual.  We lose heart and we turn once more to the present to find all the light we can find.”  The problem is that many of us have reduced worship to sitting in pews and singing songs.  Singing is one of about a billion ways to worship God.  Worship is not an event; worship is life.  Randy Alcorn, in his definitive book on Heaven, writes, “Our belief that Heaven will be boring betrays a heresy that God is boring.  There is no greater nonsense.  Our desire for pleasure and the experience of joy come directly from God’s hands.  He made our taste buds, He put the adrenaline in our system, He gave us our sex desires and the nerve endings that convey pleasure to our brains.  Likewise our imaginations and our capacity for joy and exhilaration were made by the very God we accuse of being boring.”  The real question is this:  How could God not be bored with us?

Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven.  There’s something missing and we know it.  We can try to deny it or medicate it but in the end, we long for something that this world cannot satisfy.  When I feel fully alive, in the most glorious moments of life and beauty and purpose and joy, I’m experiencing what is to come.  At times, this life really is “a foretaste of glory divine” (in the words of the great hymn writer, Fanny Crosby).  I want to embrace all that life has for me.  I want to be fully alert and alive to all that God is up to in my world.  I want to love the things He loves and join Him in what He’s doing.  In the words of Paul Marshall, “What we need is not to be rescued from the world, not to cease being human, not to stop caring for the world, not to stop shaping human culture.  What we need is the power to do these things according to the will of God.  We, as well as the rest of creation, need to be redeemed.”  And that’s what God is up to.  God’s big plan is a resurrected people, on a resurrected Earth, worshipping a resurrected Savior throughout eternity.  This is where all of history is heading.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “In the truest sense, Christian pilgrims have the best of both worlds.  We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next, and we take solace whenever it does not.”  I hope you’ll find yourself in a great church this Easter season.  Check out whatsupwithheaven.com and join the conversation. 

You can hear more about Heaven as we preach through a series of messages on Heaven leading up to Easter.  We’re also anwsering your questions about Heaven on Wednesday nights!  Also check out our podcasts, or to watch live- go to www.fbcmckinney.com.