Is Connection Important?

     We reproduce what we are. On the third day of creation, God said, “Let the land produce vegetation; seed-bearing plants…The land produced vegetation; plants bearing seed according to their kinds…”(Gen. 1:11-12). God established a natural law in the physical universe for every living thing to reproduce itself. Jesus, speaking with Nicodemus, said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh; but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6). In communicating the deep mystery of regenerating new birth, Jesus also touches upon the principle of reproduction.
     Intimate connection is vital for life. “I am the vine, you are the branches… Remain in me, and I will remain in you” (see John 15:4-5). Jesus spoke these words to his disciples in the upper room. In that same room, Jesus finishes his prayer, saying, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26).
     Our most basic, fundamental need is relationship. God designed the growth process to be experienced through connection with his Body - people. The Holy Spirit communicates the life of Jesus through his Body - people. We thrive, grow and mature in Christ-likeness to the same degree we connect in meaningfully significant ways to his Body - people.
     Many people have remarked that small groups is not for them. The reasons for this statement are varied and many of them based upon previous hurts. Nevertheless, the truth is that we bear the image of God within, an image that is made for connection. To ignore this is like holding one’s breath because of air pollution. Think about it.

What is Community?

     What is community? It seems rather obvious that people form communities. People are social. Simply, this means they interact with each other in community. Does this adequately answer the question? Not for me.
     There is a difference between having an idea or opinion concerning what community is and the experience of connecting with others in meaningfully significant ways. The answer I am looking for will help me understand better the experience of community, not just developing an opinion.
     Is it important to distinguish between opinions and experience? I believe so. It seems apparent that experiential knowledge of relationship far outweighs the mere idea of relationship. In other words, experiencing a relationship tells me more about relationships than just thinking about them. For example, being in an unhealthy, dysfunctional relationship teaches me what it feels like to be in one. When I hear someone speak descriptively about the harmful effects of an unhealthy, dysfunctional relationship, I will readily understand them. Why? Because I will have known what that kind of relationship feels like.
Experiential knowledge includes both cognition and emotion. That is, it requires us to think reflectively and to feel experientially to obtain experiential knowledge. Empirical evidence refers to what can be experienced through our 5 senses. Materialism, Natural Scientism and the like are worldviews based on this very premise. At bottom, experiential knowledge and empirical evidence refers to what we physically bump into while living on planet Earth. Community is one such example.
     As Christians, we are taught that God created us in his image. God’s image is relational, therefore, we are relational beings; God lives in community (the Trinity), therefore, we are created social beings.
     Just as there is a real difference between the idea of relationship and the experience of it, there is a very real difference existing between knowing God as an idea and experientially knowing him. How, then, do we enter the intimate experience of knowing him? We do so by encountering him through others in the context of authentic community. Think about that for a moment. Reflect on a few of those relationships where you felt the presence of God. Was in not in community? Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered together, there I am in their midst.” Take a moment and read John 17. Is in not clear that Jesus desires intimate community with us? We should not be surprised. After all, God is love and demonstrated that love through Jesus, depositing in our heart the Holy Spirit that we might experientially know intimate relationship with the community of God.

Confident Hope

     “God is able to give us interior resources to confront the trials and difficulties in life… He is able to provide inner peace amid outer storms. This inner stability of the man of faith is Christ’s chief legacy to his disciples. He offers neither material resources nor a magical formula that exempts us from suffering and persecution, but he brings us an imperishable gift: ‘Peace I leave with thee.’” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

     “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with…peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Apostle Paul to the Roman Church (Romans 15:13).

     There is something about experiencing a deep, resonating peace when facing hard times. There is something about remaining calm when circumstances bring pain and confusion. Deep in the heart of faith is a reservoir of hope. It is this hope that contains a life-giving power possessed only by the Holy Spirit.
Our relationship with God, through Jesus, finds its ultimate expression in compassion toward others. But this first comes as we enter into a conscious awareness of His love for us. As our intimate experience of God’s love matures, our ability to demonstrate the love we have received enlarges.

     Often we find ourselves searching to feel good, to feel better than we do. Little do we understand that God’s peace, hope and joy are not simply to help us feel good. They are attributes of God’s character purposing to work through us. Why? So we might share something of God’s image within us.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Apostle Paul were not embarking a quest for mystical knowledge on a spiritual plane. Rather, they were enlightening us concerning the appropriate manner in which one experiences a life of true faith and love. Both men urged us to seek God as the ultimate source of peace. The outcome of such searching leads us to experience the outworking of the gospel.

     Ivory tower theology belongs within the confines of cognitive castles. Jesus’ theology, however, was deeply intelligent and wise, communicating a doctrine that produced profound, illuminating conviction. One could not walk with Jesus for long and not discover this. Yes, there is something about a deeply resonating calm emerging from an unfathomable peace. It is the confident hope we find through a relationship with Christ.

     May God richly bless you... 

Missions

“What is happiness?”  (It is) a feeling that one is being authentic in the living of one’s life…a feeling that one is contributing to life in some way - that one’s life is making a difference.” - Dr. Kathleen O’Dwyer.

“The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible…the whole antithesis between self and the rest of the world… disappears as soon as we have any genuine interest in persons or things outside ourselves” - Atheist Bertrand Russell.

      We each seek satisfying, delightful experiences.  In fact, many of our choices are based largely upon the pleasure we anticipate.  Sadly, the happiness we often find is fleeting, little more than temporal gratification.  Our appetite for deep satisfaction leaves us feeling restless, searching constantly to quell the troublesome crave. 

      Each Christian comes upon a “Damascus Road” experience, that cataclysmic moment where our search is arrested.  Richard Stearns (author of The H0le In Our Gospel) walks us through his own in Chapter 6 (A Hole In Me).  Considering himself a budding intellectual, he enrolled in Cornell University (Ivy League college).  It seemed his dreams were unfolding perfectly, that he was nearing “the good life.”  It is also where a “self-important, self-reliant, scientific worldview” fostered a “rationalistic fortress,” smacking of insensitive arrogance (pages 80-82; see also 2 Corinthians 4:4 & 10:5), ultimately led him to internal crossroads.

      God, however, did not seek to humiliate or defeat Stearns but to win his friendship and understanding.  He sought to awaken within him a sense of moral shame thereby bringing about a transformation of his heart.  The final goal being redemption and reconciliation.  This process He initiated through what began as a blind date (pages 76-79).

      Within the context of relationship is where we find the power of persuasion most potent.  Winning arguments belongs on the platform of debate.  Winning hearts happens in the womb of friendship.  It is how God designed us.  And it is within the environment of relationship we learn the importance of obedience.

      Stearns discovered that, although obedience to God was vital to the new relationship, his own brokenness brought a disheartening sense of discouragement.  But God enables true followers to mend their brokenness through obedience.  “Obedience is a splint God places on a broken life so that it might mend…(a) way of rehabilitation that God has chosen for us so that we might mature into Christlikeness…until love dominates our choices” (Wayne Martindale, et al., The Soul of C.S. Lewis).

      Citing the three commands - Love God, love others, and make disciples - Stearns recounts his journey of faith and consequent adventure.  Missions, whether local or abroad, is simply about living out our faith.  It is about transcending the daily grind, entering into the virtue of authentic happiness, of experiencing profound depths of joy.

      Loving God, loving our neighbor, and making disciples are essential principles Jesus set forth as foundational stones.  World Vision is the arena God called Stearns to live out these principles.  What is your arena?

Jeff

Blazing Glory!

      Do you remember Bon Jovi’s phenomenal song, Blaze of Glory? The crack of the snare, followed by Bon Jovi’s explosively rich, gravely vocals screaming with deep conviction, “I’m goin’ down in a blaze of glory!” The song intimates the passionate fire burning in each human heart yearning to leave behind some heroic legacy bespeaking our courageous impact in the world.

      In our culture, success carries weighty connotation. “Climbing the ladder of success” entails a variety of meanings, the most familiar one - “Living the American Dream!” Richard Stearns (author of The H0le in Our Gospel) acquired a position with Lenox, Inc. as president and CEO, the consummation of his vocational endeavors.      Surrounded with the ornamentation of corporate success, it was then, at the very pinnacle of his career, God’s call on his life came. A phone conversation in January 1998 threw Stearns into what he terms his “dark night of the soul” (see pages 28-36). During the momentous inner turmoil, one jarring question captured his thoughts: “What if my cowardice costs even one child somewhere in the world his or her life?”

      When we say that we want to be Jesus’ disciple, are we willing to be open to God’s will for our life? Hear the penetrating words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” If we are willing to break through the cowardice and desire to end the silence, Frederick Buechner offers this encouragement: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

     If the world portrays Richard Stearns as plunging from the zenith of success to accept God’s call, then Christ’s Spirit proclaims with deep conviction, “He’s goin’ down in a blaze of glory!” Our most courageous, heroic act is our willingness to follow Christ. For those whose lives we touch, they will experience the blazing glory of God’s compassionate grace and forgiveness - of God’s blazing glory found only in Christ. Join us as we journey through the H0le in our Gospel.

Jeff

The Hole In Our Gospel

      The message of the Hole in the Gospel will not feel relevant to everyone. But it will feel relevant to you. The message of the Hole in the Gospel will not move everyone to act. But its significance will be understood by you. Why is that so? Because, the Hole in the Gospel is often discovered in the very midst of our deepest hardships.

      Yes, the vision of the Hole in the Gospel can seem overwhelming. It's scope is broad and vast. Yet, the very heart of Richard Stearns lofty ideas were formed in the crucible of personal struggle, of prayer and honest reflection: his inner man. This is where Stearn’s thoughts will stir something deep within you. As you consider your own experience of church and faith, his words will resonate.

      It is not about "reading another book." That is exhausting. It's not about stopping what you love studying to engage a topic someone else thinks you should. That is simply unenjoyable. So, what it is about then? It's about going inward, asking yourself honest questions, and allowing God, through Stearns, to animate something powerful within you.   You will find God showing you some pretty amazing things about himself...and yourself. You be challenged to see the world from a fresh angle. From this vantage point, you'll come to realize your place and where you fit in. The message of the Hole in the Gospel will not speak eloquently to all...but your heart will recognize God's voice. Don't miss it. It's what you've been longing for.

Jeff