Archive for God
The Promised Shepherd
Posted by: | CommentsIn my personal devotion time with the Lord this morning, I came across a passage from Jeremiah 3:15 which says, “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” This is a great passage for me, and for you as well, because it is a promise that brings tremendous hope and encouragement for the future. I know that many have searched for a place to call home, and many here at The Bridge come from church backgrounds and religious traditions that have left them disillusioned about the future and the possibility of actually having a family in Christ. Take courage, friends! God has promised to be with you, and to provide Shepherds for you after His own heart.
Allow me to expand on this promise for a moment.
1. God promises to give you shepherds. The first observation I have is this: shepherds must be rather important from God’s view of things, or else He wouldn’t have wasted His time promising them to us. Therefore, it is very important that you find a man to be your shepherd. God says so! Having a shepherd is critical to God’s eternal redemptive plan for your life, so you need to make it your top priority to find one. Some may say that this passage is teaching about Jesus being our shepherd. While that is certianly true, I dont think that’s what this passage is saying. The noun, “shepherds” is in the plural. While Jesus is our great Shepherd, this passage is clearly indicating that there will be multiple shepherds. I’m tempted to use this passage to argue for a plurality of elders in the church, but to be fair to the text I think I would be pushing it a little too far if I did that. I safely conclude, however, that God is talking about modern day pastors and elders -not Christ, and He promises that you need them, and that He will give them to you. What about those who have taken the time to look for one, but have come up empty handed? Good question. There are many, even now, who may be wandering around looking for a place to be cared for, looked after, and nourished –where they know they will be loved and taken care of. This may have been going on for years, and they just might be on the brink of despair. Don’t despair! God promises that He will give you a shepherd. Do you need to stress over whether or not such a man exists? No, because God has spoken and promised that He will provide such a shepherd for you. The man exists; you merely have to trust God and search for him. God says that He will give him to you. The man exists, and he is a gift from God. There’s nothing you need to do but love and trust in God. You don’t need to do the Christian equivalent of a rain dance to make the sky pour down rain, or a pastor-chant for a pastor to pop up out of nowhere. All you need to do is love God, trust God, and wait on God. Maybe you have already searched for a man to call Pastor and have not found him yet. Maybe you have been through all the churches in Kamloops, and still you have not found him. Be patient. God will keep His promise. He will give you a Shepherd.
2. God promises to give you a Shepherd. God has promised to give you a shepherd. Do you want a place to be loved and cared for? Do you want the gift of having a man in your life who will look after you? Do you want someone around that will offer counsel and guidance, a stirring and encouraging word in times of distress, a friend that will love you and take care of you no matter what mess you might inadvertently get yourself into? Do you really want that? Most people will say “Yes, I’d love to have a friend like that.” But, truthfully, they really don’t. A friend like that will love you in such a way that he will not be able to bear it when he sees that you are making decisions which have as their inevitable outcome the sure destruction of your life and the harm of many of those around you. A true friend will speak. He must speak if he loves you. Like a shepherd, he will use a rod and a staff (Psalm 23:4). What’s a rod for? It’s for whacking the sheep when they need some motivation. What’s the staff for? The staff usually has a crook on it so that the shepherd can loop it around the neck of the sheep from a distance and tug him in the right direction. The Psalmist says that the rod and staff are comforting to him. Here’s a modern day translation: “The whackings and neck-jerks that you give me are a comfort to me. Thank you for whacking me and jerking me by the neck on occasion.” I find it incredibly odd that so many should pine away longingly for a shepherd convinced that God hasn’t provided one for them when clearly He promises that He will. Could it be possible that you’ve said “no” to God’s shepherd due to your hard and rebellious heart? Could it be that you’ve said “no” to God’s shepherd in your life because you refused to listen to the warnings and admonition that he gave you? Could it be possible that you’ve said “no” to God’s promised shepherd because you didn’t want to be shepherded? God promises to give you a shepherd. If you really want to have a shepherd in your life, and you want to see God keep His promise of giving you a shepherd, then perhaps you should get busy being a submitted sheep. Perhaps you need to work on your humility a little bit, and try a little harder to being open to the gentle corrections and appropriate admonitions from a Godly shepherd.
3. God wants you to have a shepherd after His own Heart. This is where the Word of God begins to cut both ways. It’s easy from a pastor’s perspective to exhort people to find a place of worship and get involved in a local church, and it would be too easy for me to recommend that they come to the Bridge. Before any such recommendation can be made two pivotal questions must be asked: What does it mean to be a shepherd after God’s own heart?Are the pastors here at Bridge Church shepherds after God’s own heart? I think I’ll save the previous questions for another post for another day. I think that the encouraging word that we can draw from this portion of the text is that God promises to give godly shepherds who are men after God’s own heart. I know that God has demonstrated Himself faithful in this regard. All throughout history the shadows of deception have threatened to plunge humanity into a dark age where there would be no understanding of God, yet God has always preserved a spokesman to speak to His people on His behalf. ALWAYS! So we can trust that if He did it once in the past, He will do it again in the future. He has, and He will! From my own personal experience, I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen the leadership from one church stray from God’s heart and suddenly another is lifted up to a position to speak truth to God’s people. God always begins a slow and tedious process (slow and tedious to us because it usually takes four or five years at a minimum, but five years is nothing from God’s perspective of eternity) of removing the offending shepherd and raising up a new shepherd in his place. So if you find yourself in a church where it is apparent that the leadership has strayed from God’s heart, then take courage in the promise of God to provide a shepherd after His own heart and start searching for a man who follows God’s heart. He’s out there! And if you haven’t found him yet, then be patient because God will keep His promise. **For me, this is a special moment of introspection. Am I a man after God’s own heart? I hope and pray that this is the case. As Paul says, “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.” (1 Corinthians 4:4) Likewise, I am not aware of anything against myself. But what should I do if the day comes that I fall before the Lord in failure? What should I do if, after preaching to others, I myself become disqualified? (1 Corinthians 9:27) I have watched so many pastors, deceived by the allure of sin, insist in the middle of significant moral failure that they still deserve to shepherd God’s people. They have clearly fallen from the Heart of God, and they now insist on continuing in a position of leadership. These men only further compound the problem. The church is always harmed, and the advance of the gospel is always slowed down in such situations. Here’s what I’ve decided to do if I am ever caught in moral failure and it is necessary that I must resign my position (I pray that I will follow through with this plan if that day, God forbid, should ever come.): I will use what standing I have left to guide the church towards the shepherd that God has promised to raise up, the shepherd that is a man after God’s own heart. If I sense that God has departed from me and has chosen to raise up a new leader, I want to get on board with God’s plan. I don’t want to be consumed with murderous rage like King Saul. I hope that I will have the heart to trust in the promise of God which is to give a shepherd after His own heart. I pray that I will have the heart to believe this promise and to obey this promise by guiding others towards the shepherd that God lifts up. It is this desire that actually prompted me to put my morning devotion into writing via this blog post, because I would like others to be able to use this blog posting as a tool of reasoning with me should the day, God forbid, ever come that I need to step down. If I fall from being a good pastor, a shepherd after God’s own heart, then may I have grace enough to guide others towards the promised shepherd who will replace me. When you, the members of Bridge Church, pray for me, please pray that I will always strive to be a man after God’s heart, and pray that I will always have the grace to step aside, should the day come, but still use my God-given intellect and knowledge of scripture to guide us toward the promised Shepherd. This is what I want you to pray for me for.
4. Who will feed you knowledge and understanding. This is where the Word makes things easy for both of us. What should you look for in a pastor? What should I try to do as a pastor? There are a lot of different items involved with the job description of a shepherd, but first and foremost is this: a shepherd after God’s own heart should always strive to preach the Word!!! A godly shepherd’s first order of business is to always be ready to proclaim the truth of God’s Word! This passage of text reveals to us that a sheep who loves God and wants to be a sheep after God’s own heart is going to be a sheep that searches diligently for a shepherd who preaches the word and seeks to give knowledge and understanding of the text. A good sheep is hungry for God’s Word. A good shepherd will find a way to deliver a tasty morsel of Word for the sheep to eat. Both the sheep and the shepherd are intricately bound to God at this point because as the one is, after God’s own heart, striving to feed knowledge and understanding of God through His Word, so the other should be striving to consume and digest knowledge and understanding of God. What a wonderful way to arrive at an understanding of godly shepherds and godly sheep: both the shepherd and the sheep, if they share a passion for God and can be described as individuals with a heart after God’s own heart, will be consumed with a love for the text of Scripture, for knowledge of the text, and for understanding of the text. Wow! This passage makes me want to study scripture even more, and helps me pray that the members of the Bridge would have an ever increasing and insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding of God!
I want to close with an exhortation. For those of you who have not found a church home, I’m not exactly recommending us, but I know our church will love and care for you. For those of you who are searching for a pastor after God’s own heart, I’m not saying that I am that man, but I do strive to be that man every day. But here’s my real exhortation: you must be hungry for God’s word. You must have a soul craving for it! If you lack a soul craving for knowledge and understanding of God, then you need to get busy cultivating a healthy appetite, and you need to be in the hunt searching for a shepherd who can feed you. So get hungry, and then get busy looking for a good shepherd.
“When your son asks…” Part 4: How to answer your children’s questions
Posted by: | CommentsIn your endeavor to answer children’s questions, it is important to keep a few things in mind:
Seek to build within your child a Biblical worldview, that is, a Biblical filter for seeing the world. We all have certain lenses by which see all of life through. For the Christian, these underlying assumptions about the world should increasingly conform to the truths of Scripture. As parents, you play a vital role in shaping those assumptions for children, and therefore in answering questions, as in all conversation and instruction with your child, you must consciously strive to help children and teens see the world through the truth contained in God’s word. The Bible is your ultimate authority in instructing your children.
Welcome the questions! Your child’s inquisitiveness is a gift from God and a vital part of their learning and discovery process. However, if you sense that they are asking questions to challenge your authority or avoid obedience, deal with this appropriately. For example, if a simple explanation to a “why” concerning a request does not satisfy a child, say to your child, “First, do what I’ve asked, then I’ll answer any questions you have about it.” This shows your child the importance of obedience, as well as your interest in answering any legitimate questions. A similar answer can be given if the questions come at times which it you are unable to answer. Return to these questions later for further instruction. The time you spend addressing your child’s curiosities, not only teaches them about the world in which they live, but also about how much you love and care for them.
If you don’t know the answer, find it out! Not only should you be honest when you don’t know the answer to your child’s question, but you can also use this as a time to show your child where to turn for answers. Is it a question whose answer can be found in Scripture? Open your Bible, consult a Bible dictionary, or call your pastor or trusted Christian friend for help discovering the appropriate passage. Is it a question about how something works? Check out a book from the library, find a reliable website with information, or call a friend knowledgeable in this area. By so doing, you model to your child the importance of life-long learning as well as share a fun and meaningful learning experience with them.
For more on answering children’s questions, check out the other “When your son asks…” posts:
Part 1: Why Should I Answer Why?, Part 2: The Healthy Lifestyle, Part 3: Death & Tragedy
Cultivating a Heart for Love
Posted by: | CommentsJohn 14:15-21 teaches that if you love God you will keep his commandments. We need to be careful about assuming that obedience equals love. The passage does not explicitly say that simple obedience is the same as love for God. The Pharisees were insanely legalistic about adherence to the law and keeping God’s commandments, yet it is obvious that they did not love God. How do we know this? Because when God showed up and said, “Howdy!” they executed Him on a wooden cross. We need to be very careful in understanding the relationship between love and obedience.
It is true that obedience is the result of a heart that loves God. If you love God you will keep His commandments. But obedience is not the same as love. So how do we cultivate a heart that loves God? Because if we can find out how to cultivate a genuine love for God then obedience will be easy. I am persuaded that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives us instruction on how to begin cultivating our heart for a genuine experiencing and expressing of love both to God and our fellow man.
“When your son asks…” Part 3: Death and Tragedy
Posted by: | CommentsToday I’d like to tackle a tough question, actually a question not just asked by kiddos, but one that many adults struggle with as well—death. When we experience death—be it of a family member, friend, or even beloved pet—or when we see deadly disasters, such as the recent earthquake in Haiti, we are often left with an unsettled “why” question. Perhaps more than any other topic, parents are unsure how to answer these tough questions from their children. At times it may seem easier to give simple answers such as “they’re in a better place” or “it was just their time,” or perhaps avoid the topic all together: My grandparents used to tell a humorous story about my mom as a child and her pet goldfish. Every day when she got home from school, my mom would run to check on her goldfish and feed it. One day while she was at school, the goldfish died. In an effort to avoid heartache, my grandma sent my grandpa to the store to buy a new one, hoping my mom wouldn’t notice the difference. The only problem—the goldfish he brought back was much larger. They put it in the tank and when my mom got home, she ran to check on the goldfish. Fearing her reaction and the ensuing conversation, my grandma soon heard her daughter exclaim: “Momma! Momma! My fish grew today!”
Perhaps you’ve been tempted to spare your child heartache through similar means. But the reality is, death is unavoidable and each encounter with it provides an opportunity to learn, grow, and place faith in our all-loving, all-powerful, Father.
In understanding the answer to this question, we return once again to the three-part story of God’s creation, man’s sin, and God’s redemption.
When God first created the world, it was good, actually He called it, “very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no death or decay. Violence, disasters, and heartache were unknown to the world. Man experienced perfect fellowship with their Creator. However, in man’s deliberate rejection of the Creator, sin entered the world. This sin changed everything. As God said, “in the day you eat of, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17), and thusly death entered the world.
This death is two-fold: a spiritual separation from the Creator and physical death (which also brings with it aging and illness). A few weeks ago at the Oatway Children’s Life Group, we learned about the devastating effects of sin, making a “Death came through sin” collage which included pictures of people, places, and animals demonstrating some of the effects of sin. Pictures included dangerous animals, buildings destroyed by disaster, people fighting, dead plants, families plagued by famine, and signs of war and pollution—all of which were not a part of God’s design for Earth but brought on through our sin.
When facing the issue of death in your family, it is important to explain to children that this is not how God intended the world to be. As a loving God, His plan was for us to experience paradise—not pain and suffering. Those came into the picture when we rebelled against His created order. Children (and us adults too!) need to understand God’s love in times of tragedy. Explaining the underlying reason for death and heartache can be a helpful first step in building trust amidst sorrow.
And it doesn’t simply in there. As Paul says, “But thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15). Mankind is not left in a cycle of heartache as consequence for our sin. Although we fully deserve to experience death and separation from the source of life, God provided a solution. He sent His son, Jesus, to take on our sins through death on the cross and then conquer death through His resurrection. Because of this sacrifice, we can have our sins forgiven and enjoy a reversal of its effects.
Yes, we will still experience pain on Earth, but we have the promise of something more. We have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him right now. We also have the promise that through accepting this gift, we will be with Him for eternity (Luke 23:43). And one day, He will recreate the Heavens and Earth, restoring it to its original state of perfection; we will have new bodies, ones not subject to death, pain, or sorrow.
Explaining this hope to children can provide comfort in the face of death or fear of their own death.
The subject of death does not need to by shied away from and may be a topic to consider discussing with your child before faced with it personally, as it provides a great opportunity for you to speak openly and honestly with your child, helping them to see God’s bigger picture, including His love and mercy. Explore the Scriptures with your child, discovering His promises about Heaven. A book I highly recommend on the subject is “Heaven for Kids” by Randy Alcorn (the adult version is fantastic as well). In this book, Randy Alcorn builds hope and anticipation through understanding the realities of an eternity with our Creator, something that we all need a good reminder of!
Christmas: Hold Your Life Cheap
Posted by: | Comments“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
I want you to give yourself and everything you have –give it all away for the sake of the Gospel this Christmas season and every day of your life thereafter. I want you to completely surrender your fortunes, families, and lives this Holiday season for the sake of God. Give Him everything. Give Him –EVERYTHING! Did I just say ‘families?’ Yes- give Him your kids! Did I just ask you to lay down your life? Uh-huh -I want this Holiday season to be remembered as the year you committed a lifestyle suicide! Am I talking about that vacation fund you’ve been saving for three years to go to Italy? Yes. Am I talking about that new big screen TV you were hoping for? Yes. Am I talking about your entire lifestyle and the basic way you even budget your money? Absolutely. Am I referring to a complete reorientation of your life’s principles and priorities? Yup, and then some. Am I about to waffle at this point and indicate that it’s okay to have lavish vacations and big screen TVs as long as you ‘go to church and love Jesus’? No way! I’m being dead serious. Why do I make such a bold request? Because icy hearts are warmed by sacrificial generosity and loving giving. It is possible to excite a humble joyful heart that will turn to embrace the Father with love, and then turn to thank you as a brother or sister -if you are willing to give with a sacrificial generosity and loving heart. So know this: I’m about to ask you to give your life away. I want you to consider your life as cheap and easy to give to others. But before I make my request let me remind you about the reason for the season as I was reminded of it a few years ago in a Hospital ER:
Christmas is really about a Painful Execution as God’s Gift to You under the Christmas Tree
I was startled from my revere by the blood curdling groaning and gasping of a man in extreme agony. I had driven my brother to the E.R. to get stitches in his scalp (that’s another story). As I was sitting bored in the waiting room glancing reluctantly at the bad selection of reading material and thinking about my high school finals that would take place the next week, an ambulance pulled up and harried paramedics were wheeling the gurney through the sliding doors directly into trauma care. It was a graphic site to behold: the man was strapped to the gurney laying on his left side with a four foot steel rod pierced through the right side of his body. His right arm, twisted behind him, was also impaled on the sharpened metal. As I stared transfixed, a lady next to me whispered, “It must have been an industrial accident.” They wheeled past quickly and in an instant he was gone. The horrible image lingered.
Because it was the Christmas season and I had recently renewed my relationship and committed to walking afresh with God a few weeks prior, I couldn’t help but start imagining the horror of the cross in that ER waiting room. It was an amazing time of worship for me in that waiting room. Have you ever taken time to try and grasp the horror of Calvary? Have you ever lingered on the hill of Golgotha?
Can you smell the blood and the rancid odor of vomit? Can you hear groaning and crying? Can you hear laughter and mocking? Try to hear the sounds of the crucifixion. The nails would have been heavy and large, far heavier and larger than nails that are used in construction today. There may not have been a sharpened point at the tip of the nail. Do you hear the grunting of the soldier as the hammer swung home to the loud report of the nail’s ringing? Can you hear the squishing sounds of tissue tearing and blood squirting across an open palm? I thought of the man that had just wheeled past on the gurney. Lord, have mercy…
Can you imagine the rough grain of wood and bark? The idea of wood splinters digging deep into my backside always gives me pause… but only for a moment. Splinters were probably the least of His agonies as the flesh and muscle of his back was flayed from his body, spine, and ribs by the cat-tail whip-beating that He endured previously. Lord, have mercy…
My hand touched my brow as I tried to imagine the scraping of thorns into my head. I remembered my brother who was having stitches sewn into his head in the room next door. With Jesus they certainly didn’t gently place the razor-barbed thorns on his head. They would have lassoed that wreath of thorns around the back of his noggin and forcibly jerked them down his face. Perhaps they gave the thorns a quick clockwise yank rotating them deeper into His scalp to better secure them so they wouldn’t fall off as He gasped for breath on the cross. Lord, have mercy…
Poisonous carbon dioxide would trap in His lungs by the nature of the position in which He was suspended. The build of this poisonous gas in his lungs would result in a pounding migraine headache -if He didn’t have them already from the lack of sleep, the thorns driven into His skull, the loss of blood from the beatings, and the beard pulling that took place through the long night. As the intensity of the migraine grew, He would have been very sensitive to light and sounds. Ultimately, He would be choking to death. He must alleviate the choking. Heaving with all His might He would try to pull Himself up supporting His body weight on the hook of the nails driven into His hands and feet… just so He could exhale and take a fresh breath of air. The nails would pull on his nerve endings and flesh sending sharp stabbing pains up his arms and legs, causing the muscles in His neck to tense, exploding neurological sensory impulses into his skull as a terrible pain that would be felt just behind His eyes.
The tension in His neck would produce lactic acid in His muscles and cause Him to stiffen. It would have been hard and painful to swing His head around from side to side… Crows would have circled overhead surveying the situation, waiting until their victim was weak enough, then they would swoop in for an easy meal beginning with the softest tissues, probably the eyes.
It really didn’t matter what He did. He could hang helplessly and allow poison to build in His lungs resulting in choking, throbbing body aches, shooting pains in his arms and legs, migraine pain, and tension. Or He could pull up and exhale, an action resulting in exploding migraine pain and wracked torture sensations all over His body. What lovely options He had to choose from. Lord, have mercy…
Of course, He did have options. He did have a choice. He chose the nails. He chose the thorns. He chose the beatings. He chose the cross. He chose to be executed. He was rightfully executed. When I say rightfully, I don’t mean that He did anything wrong to deserve execution. I say rightfully because He endured the just punishment of rebellion and endured the legal sentence necessary for sin. He paid the price so that all those who are truly guilty are now set free. Lord, have mercy…
And He did. He had mercy on me and you. God’s gift to us under the Christmas tree was a Painful Execution just waiting to happen. This is the meaning of Christmas. A man died for you. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! What makes Christmas so merry?
Merry Christmas… Christ’s divine omniscience was aware of all of this suffering and agony from birth. His birth. The moment that a baby cried out in a cold and dark manger is that moment that we all celebrate as we wish each other a Merry Christmas. As we think about a baby in a manger, we probably don’t stop to consider the God-child living with a powerful God-ordained destiny. As the child grew into the stature of an adult man, the God side of Him would already know while the man side of Him would shudder in anticipation. The God-Man would spend His entire human life looking forward to this cataclysmic moment. That was why He was born. God could send any number of prophets to teach us the things that Christ taught us. God could have used any number of people to work the miracles that Jesus worked. But only His Son could die for us. Only God could make us right with Him. Being right with God means we now get to truly live like never before.
Christmas is about life and living. We were all dead, but now we get to live! Now we are called back from the grave. As I ponder the life of Christ, I’ve concluded that living is giving. To truly live is to freely give. Free giving is true living.
What does it mean to Give?
With these thoughts always on the horizon Jesus would teach some amazing truths: love your enemy, love your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, forgive as you have been freely forgiven, glorify your Father in Heaven.
He also taught this: give. He said specifically, “Give, and it will be given back to you.” In order to clarify Himself, He further elaborated: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Many today twist this teaching into an idea of wealth and prosperity in this lifetime. The Messiah who gave us this teaching never knew wealth and prosperity. He taught the virtue of sacrificial giving as He approached a horrible tortured death –not a luxurious lifestyle.
And that’s the meaning of Christmas and life: giving. When we understood what He gave for us it is hard to justify our stingy hearts before Him. We are most like Him when we are giving. We are most like Him when we are generous. We are most like Him when we voluntarily and sacrificially give ourselves away for the sake of the Gospel. It is hard to be a Christian if you do not desire to give. It is impossible to know Christ and to join with Him as His disciple if you are not willing to sacrifice. To be a Christian means that based on God’s gift of forgiveness and redemption you are also willing to freely give: willing to grant forgivness, willing to freely offer grace, willing to be kind, willing to be friendly, willing to turn the other cheek, and willing to give of our meager possessions.
Here’s the truth: giving shows love, and when giving is done sacrificially it shows a confident trust in the One who provides all things. When you give forgiveness you show trust in the cross. When you give friendship you show belief in the eternal love of the Cross. When you demonstrate kindness you show agreement with the kindness of the cross. When you
At Bridge Church, I hope and pray that we will be a people that are giving, sacrificial, and generous with everything that we have and with everything that we are knowing the heart of the One who gives it to us. I pray that our church trust God with our entire lives. Rather than saving and spending our money for ourselves, I pray that we would radically give it away and entrust ourselves to the care and provision of the Father. Rather than spending lavishly on toys, I hope that our church would remember the many less fortunate who have never heard the gospel and never met the Father. I hope and pray that every member of our church family would prayerfully calculate how much they could do without so that they could give to the cause of advancing God’s kingdom, and take an active role as members of God’s family in directing those funds to those parts of the World that are desperately hurting to know the Father and to begin a relationship with Him. I dream of a day where we can give away half (50%) of our church budget for advancing the Kingdom all around Canada and the world. I dream of the day when the average church member asks me, “How much do you think I should keep for myself,” instead of, “How much do I have to give?”
Giving Breaks an Icy Heart’s Idolatry
You want to know the real reason we should give? It breaks our heart’s cold death grip on our trust in our money and our trust in ourselves. But sacrificial giving also shows the watching world that we place no value on self-reliance, and this is truly shocking to the watching world that knows nothing except self-reliance and independence. Sacrificial giving blows the watching world’s paradigm out of the water. Sacrificial giving demonstrates a love and trust in God that defies any logical or reasoned explanation. It defies the natural order of survival of the fittest. It is breath-taking to behold.
Sacrificial Giving is the meaning of the cross. It’s the meaning of Christmas. Only as we approach the cross in similarity to Christ –and that means total surrender of self and dying for something greater than ourselves- can we hope to win the hearts and minds of the masses. This thinking shouldn’t just touch our money. This thinking of dying-to-self-for-something-greater-than-ourselves should impact every aspect of our life. But it should also touch the way that we spend our money.
A lot of different attempts have been made and will continue to be made to explain away the significance of Christ and the Cross. But the Cross still stands. There are still many who behold the wonder of God’s Christmas gift to voluntarily take on the body of a man and willingly die, and they follow His example and give their lives up sacrificially for the opportunity to stand before kings, governors, judges, and executioners. They gladly trade their lives for opportunities to share the gospel. Having encountered the risen Christ in all His glory, they hold their lives cheaply. They hold the lives of others who do not know Him as extremely valuable and precious. And they make their trade based on that understanding. I hope and pray that Bridge Church would hold itself cheap.