The Center of Your World

Narcissistic Personality Disorder may soon be dropped from the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  Why?  Essentially because it's now considered just a manifestation of normal personality.   But here is the problem - dropping it from the manual is essentially throwing in the towel and waving a white flag where self-centeredness exists.  It will basically be telling our culture it's OKAY to be a narcissist, just not an extreme one - well, not for now anyway. 

We have become such a society of me, me, me.  The minute our feet hit the floor in the morning it's  - "how do I feel?"  "I need a cup of coffee."  "What do I feel like doing today?"  "Which outfit should I wear?"  And it only gets worse as the day wears on. "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired, I'm bored, I'm lonely, I'm rich, I'm poor, I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm just right, I'm smart, I'm dumb," etc.  It's not necessarily what we are, it's that we're constantly thinking of ourselves in every thought throughout the day.

Now one would think that a culture filled with people looking for self-gratification would be brimming with lots of self-fulfilled, satisfied people. But they couldn't be more wrong. Our culture is actually brimming with divorce, drug use, spousal abuse, child abuse, alchoholism, crime, suicide, etc.  There is just one problem with the theory that self-gratification leads to self-fulfillment.  Self.  We cannot look to ourselves for any kind of gratification or fulfilment.  It's impossible.  Our fulfillment comes from the One who created us and gave us our purpose to begin with - God.  And He created us to bring Him glory.  So how could we be fulfillers of our own desires?  Wouldn't we then be giving ourselves the glory?   But we weren't created for that purpose.  And when we don't fulfill our purpose we end up with a society full of miserable, misguided people looking for happiness in all the wrong places.

Then there are those who believe that helping others will bring them happiness. After all, they've taken the focus off of themselves and placed it on others.  Or have they?  We look to their motivation and often find they are patting themselves on the back for a job well done - whether publicly or privately. And the happiness is fleeting.

Our goal is not to do good on this Earth. Our goal is to do God's will and then give Him the glory. And by doing that we no longer puff ourselves up thinking we are "good" when in fact, we are fallen.   When we are in the center of God's will, we have a sense of peace and joy.  We can know that we are fulfilling our purpose on this Earth by bringing Him glory. It means we have truly taken the focus off of ourselves and placed it on God, who will then guide us to those He wants us to serve. 

We don't need to "know ourselves" - at least not the way all the self-help books and programs tell us we should.  By listening to them we only continue to put ourselves in the center of our world.  Jesus is the one we truly need to know and place in the center of our lives.  He will then help us to know his Father.  And it is He who knows us better than we could ever know ourselves.  God created us to bring Him glory and with a purpose in mind.  He will guide us to accomplish that purpose if we allow Him.

Prayer for February 20

O Lord, Heavenly Father, from whom all good and perfect gifts come. O Father of light, who causes us both to desire and to do your good pleasure; O Lord Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of faith; O Holy Spirit, who works in all things according to your plan: We ask you to continue the good work that you began in us, until the coming of Jesus Christ.  May we become richer in all kinds of knowledge and experience so we may learn what is best.  May we remain pure and blameless.  May we be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which were produced in us by Jesus Christ, for the glory of God.  Amen.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6

Our Constitution

In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled on the case of a Missouri slave named Dred Scott.  Scott's master had taken him into the free state of Illinois.  Because of the Missouri Compromise and a law passed by Congress, residents in free states could demand their freedom.  So Scott sued for his freedom.

Scott's owner, John Sandford, challenged the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise, arguing that slaves were private property protected by the Constitution against deprivation without due process of law.  Therefore Congress lacked the constitutional authority to ban slaver in Illinois or anywhere else.

The Supreme Court ruled in Sandford's favor.  Scott was sent back into slavery.  And then the Court ruled that Congress lacked authority to forbid or abolish slavery in federal territories.

When Lincoln became president, he was so outraged by this verdict that he ignored and openly defied the ruling.  His administration treated free blacks as citizens, issuing them passports and other legal documents - something that was unheard of.  Then he signed legislation restricting slavery in the western territories.

The point he was making was certainly one about humanity and God given rights, but Lincoln was also demonstrating the beauty of a system put in place by a group of men who knew about the power grabbing nature of mankind.  These men knew the courts were just as susceptible to the corruption of fallen man as the other two branches of government.

Today we seem to have forgotten that the three branches of government are equal in power to each other.  There is no one branch that has more authority.  And yet the courts seem to believe they have the final word on all matters that lie before them.  Not so.  We need to support the brave men and women who are courageous enough to stand up to the courts. We need to elect more politicians who know the Constitution and are willing to defend it.  If we fail to do so, we can expect things like gay marriage and abortion to be forced upon us - and only ourselves to blame.

LOVE

Since we are approaching Valentine's Day, I thought an article on LOVE would be appropriate! 

Loving Our Enemies the Way God Loves His

Scott Armstrong, Issue Number 9, June 2006

The king of cutthroat, Donald Trump, superintends—no, he rules—a TV show called The Apprentice, a reality television program where young professionals vie to be the last one standing, the grand prize a position in Trump’s company. If you’ve seen the program (or any of many reality shows like it—Survivor, The Bachelor, etc.), you know that when faced with elimination, the competitors can be vicious, each one hoping to persuade “The Don” that the others are weaker and undeserving. In turn, their victims wait to mete out revenge. It is a dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest world.

We live in a kingdom of this world that, at its core, trades on retribution and revenge. Like the Middle East past, present (and undoubtedly future), the “eye for an eye” culture is full of enemies to be pilloried and hated. And though many people want peace, the cost of giving up the right to exact judgment or collect on debts is too great. Proud and wounded hearts simply do not understand how great their own debts of darkness are. Loving an enemy makes no sense in a non-Christian worldview. Enemies are enemies and they deserve judgment for their sins against us, and since there is no implicit trust in a God who will carry out justice, it is up to us to impose it, and to keep the score even.

The Extent of Radical Love

So it is no wonder that Jesus’ audience was incredulous about His teachings on relations with the enemy. In Matthew 5:43-48, as part of His Sermon on the Mount discourse, Jesus says that, contrary to the popular belief of the time—hate your enemies—they should love them instead. In verse 44, he describes one way that we can do that: Pray for them. Luke 6:27-36, a parallel passage, goes further: Don’t just pray; bless them. Give them things they don’t deserve, and generally do good to them. Loving an enemy is not simply a thought in the mind, but an action of the heart that involves godly movement toward an enemy. Jesus is no-holds-barred here, and doesn’t hold back the radical extent of love. No wonder he made so many enemies.

 

Why does Jesus say such radical and unpopular things? “Because, as Bono and B.B. King have both said, “Love came to town.” And it was coming to all sorts of people, including the traditional enemies of the Jews. In the Matthew passage, Jesus tells them to consider the love of the Father, who has mercy on the unrighteous by sending them the life-giving rays of the sun and water for their basic needs. He wants them to see His love for the enemy.

He then challenges His own people. He reminds them that the hated tax collectors are capable of basic love toward those they worked with, and that run-of-the-mill sinners were capable of simple love for fellow sinners. Are they then not much more responsible to love others radically? God’s people, after all, know His abundant and lavish mercy (Luke 6:36).

And what, according to Scripture, might happen if our enemies are loved radically and unexpectedly? They will either have their evil intent and shame exposed (Proverbs 25:22) or they will be become friends (Romans 5:10). When evil encounters love, it must either flee or be transformed.

In the Presence of Our Enemies

New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg says, “The true test of Christianity is how believers treat those whom they are naturally inclined to hate or who mistreat or persecute them.” In other words, loving our enemies is at the core of our faith and our witness.

So do we love our enemies well? If your first thought was, “What enemies?” you may be limiting your definition of an enemy.

Webster says it is “one who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes the interests of another; a foe.” That may include Osama Bin Laden or a criminal who victimizes you, but from time to time it will be your spouse, child, parent, friend, or co-worker. Where there’s fear, hatred, contempt, unrighteous anger, or a similar feeling, there’s an enemy.

This explains why, when we get cut off on the highway, we angrily call the offending driver a “jerk” or something much worse. When a friend hurts us with words, we relish a good comeback (even if only in our mind). We want to punish people for their sins, to become God’s vigilantes. Giving mercy instead of revenge feels weak to us and doesn’t bring a satisfaction to our bloodthirst. Jesus tells us that our hearts are full of a raging darkness that has nothing in common with following Him.

Why is this so hard? It is because we forget who we are and what we’ve been given. This is Jesus’ point in both the Matthew 5 and Luke 6 passages. When we can no longer see the mercy that’s been given to us, we don’t give mercy to others. (See the parable of the unmerciful servant, in Matthew 18: 21-35.)

This should sober our hearts. We were once the enemies of God, won to Him by His unexpected and radical love toward those pitched in battle against Him! The bottom line is this: When God’s mercy grips our hearts and we are able to see the true depth of our sin, then extending mercy to others—especially those who do us evil—becomes just possible, but desirable. We begin to want for them what was given to us.

Love Must Be Sincere ...

But hold on a second. How do I love an enemy who keeps abusing me? Does turning the other cheek mean I lie down and let myself be stepped on repeatedly?

Indeed. It is one thing to be caught off guard by an enemy’s attacks, but quite another to be in regular relationship with someone who seeks your harm.

Author Dan Allender defines a true offer of love to enemies: “Love can be defined as the free gift that voluntarily cancels the debt in order to free the debtor to become what he might be if he experiences the joy of restoration.” It is a gift, but a gift can be refused. And if it is refused, there can be no restoration.

The love Jesus refers to must be genuine and bold. Romans 12:9 states, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what it good.”

Love is Not Indifference

“Turn the other cheek” does not mean that Christians should simply allow enemies to routinely abuse them. We teach fellow Christians to “forgive and forget,” telling them that when they are sinned against, it is their responsibility to offer forgiveness and move on, even when the abuser (enemy) remains unrepentant.

But Scripture clearly teaches that forgiveness and restoration only come to those who desire it. Not confronting an enemy who is full of unrighteousness is not love—it is indifference. Jesus’ command to love our enemies meant caring for them, and that requires us to move in close enough to invite a relationship that is built on mercy and care. In all situations, we should offer an enemy mercy which, Allender points out, necessarily means that we must “revoke revenge.” The goal is always to bring about healthy shame that causes repentance (Proverbs 25:22).

Allender states that, “Bold love is a commitment to do whatever it takes (apart from sin) to bring health (salvation) to the abuser.” There cannot be true love without a hunger for justice, and doing good for the enemy may not always feel good to the enemy.

This can mean setting up appropriate boundaries that protect a person from future abuse; it may mean asking God to bring the enemy a “severe mercy” that would cause them enough pain and grief to bring them to spiritual surrender; or possibly even cutting off a relationship that is destructive as a way of saying, “I will stop pretending we have a relationship until you repent of your wickedness.” The difference between revenge and love, then, is not the absence of pain or conflict, it is one of motivation and desire—the former desires to get even and leave a person in destruction, the latter revokes revenge in favor of bringing about restoration.

No two situations are the same. Some require more passive confrontation (not responding to an attack other than to offer forgiveness), while others will require a bolder form of love (perhaps cutting off a relationship to expose an enemy for the purpose of repentance). In each case, though, our response must be predicated by a desire to love rather than to seek retribution or revenge, which belong to God only—this is the whole of His teachings.

The World’s Experience of Our Love

“That is all fine and such,” a skeptic says, “but talk is cheap—Christians don’t really practice this.”

As my wife, daughter, and I plant a church in an urban area, we encounter neighbors who wish they were in a “blue state,” are highly interested in spirituality, and some of whom are homosexuals and have adopted children. Others display tattoos and piercings, and quite a few of them have a strong and distinct opinion about “born-again” Christians: we are bigoted, narrow-minded, hate-filled, war-mongering hypocrites with a poor track record for love of the “other,” especially those opposed to our faith.

Is this caricature of believers correct? Sometimes, absolutely. And so the Church of Jesus occasionally makes unnecessary enemies and responds poorly to true enemies of the faith.

And yet, more often than not, I know that love of an “enemy” is often either ignored or overlooked by a world wanting to avoid the lordship of Christ. I have seen an international church community persecuted to the point of death in places like China, the Sudan, Indonesia, and India, respond with mercy and forgiveness toward their tormentors. It seems that we are to come with open hands to our enemies and ask for forgiveness for the times we have failed to love them.

And then, even our failure affirms the grace and mercy of a God who continues to love us.

Scott Armstrong is a pastor currently planting a church in the historic city neighborhood of Candler Park in Atlanta, Ga. He lives there with his wife, Kerstin, and daughter, Karis.

A Greater Evil

Be assured that Christianity is under attack in the United States of America.  The enemy has drawn a line in the sand and followers of Jesus Christ must take a stand.  Up to now there have been strategic battles on Christmas, sanctity of life and our schools (prayer, religious education, etc.).  Obama's health care initiative is the latest to assault religious freedom by forcing Catholic institutions that receive federal funding to provide access to contraceptives for their employees - something that goes against their religious beliefs. But it doesn't stop there - and believe me, the evidence that something even more sinister is on the horizon comes from an interview of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Justice Ginsburg causes storm dissing the Constitution while abroad

12:40 AM 02/06/2012

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has caused a storm of controversy by saying in a television interview that the people of Egypt should not look to the United States Constitution when drafting their own governing document because it’s too old and there are newer examples from which to draw inspiration.

“I would not look to the U.S. Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012,” Ginsburg said in the interview, which aired on Jan. 30 on Al-Hayat TV.
Her comments have stunned writers across the conservative blogosphere, though many major media outlets have not given much attention to it.
In the interview, she argued that the United States has the “oldest written constitution still in force in the world,” so instead “you should certainly be aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone one since the end of World War II.”
“I might look at the constitution of South Africa,” Ginsburg said. “That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary.”
Ginsburg, appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Bill Clinton, said South Africa’s constitution is “a great piece of work that was done” and cited other documents outside America’s constitution that Egyptians should read.
“Much more recent than the U.S. Constitution, Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Ginsburg said. “It dates from 1982. You would almost certainly look at the European Convention on Human Rights.”
“Yes,” she concluded, “why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world?”

What's happening here is not isolated to Justice Ginsburg.  There are other Justices and many liberals who feel the same way about our Constitution.  What is most alarming is a principle that on the surface sounds compassionate and humane.  Human rights.  What caring person would object to human rights?  Yet those two words might cause our republic to topple.  Not because we shouldn't take care and protect the lowest and poorest in our society, but because those two words take God out of the equation. In our Constitution our rights as humans come from God, not the government.  In Justice Ginsburg's world and most liberal secularists' world, rights come from the government. 

In Democracy in America, Alexis deTocqueville warns that democracy is dangerous. It causes selfish individualism, consumerism, conformity, a disregard for the past and future, and ultimately the establishment of a despotic nanny state. The biggest reason, according to Tocqueville, that the Americans have been able to avoid the pitfalls of democracy is their religion.

"Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. Religion is much more necessary in the republic . . . than in the monarchy . . . it is more needed in democratic republics than in any others. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?"

Without God in the equation, our democratic republic will eventually and inevitibally collapse.  Our focus must be on the Lord and our strength comes from Him alone - not ourselves or our government.  We must get on our knees as a nation, confessing our sin of waywardness and beg for His mercy in order to bring back His hand of protection.  God appoints the rulers of the nations and He will appoint our next president.  Can we have influence one way or the other on who God appoints?  I believe we can.  Look at the Old Testament when the Jews wanted a King.  God gave them what their hearts desired.  What does our heart desire?  God or a king?

Great reading:

http://www.per-fidem.org/codex/tocqueville.html

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/465.Alexis_de_Tocqueville

Healthy Churches

This was too good to wait until tomorrow to post.  I challenge all of us to not only evaluate the church we attend, but evaluate our own involvement.  ARE you involved?  DO you serve our Lord?  Or do you leave it for the leaders and those "called" to a certain ministry?  HAVE you held your brothers and sisters accountable?  Or is it easier to shrug it off and just be comfortable.  Growth, in the best way, is not comfortable or easy.  If you haven't felt conviction or some form of discomfort lately, then I would surmise you haven't been growing either.

Principles of Healthy Church Growth

by Phil Van Auken

Understanding Church Growth

• The growth of a local church is the natural byproduct of its spiritual health (intimate relationship to God).
  
• The church belongs to Christ, not to us. He has a unique growth plan and purpose for each local church that makes up His body. Christ, not man, makes the local church grow.
  
• Some churches are redwood trees, others are bushes; some are flowers, others are grass. But ALL of the plants in God's forest have strong roots.
  
• Christ is interested in Kingdom growth (converted souls), not man-made growth based on the "3 Ms": materialism, marketing, and management.
  
• Christ is interested in the right motives for church growth: love for sinners; a sacrificing lifestyle that is salt and light to the world; dependence on God (humility).
  
• Man's motives for church growth are: the "3Bs": (budgets, baptisms, and buildings); empire-building pride (like the Tower of Babel); staff career-climbing; and guilt.
  
• Christ vomits man-made growth out of His mouth. (Rev. 3:18)
  
• Man-made church growth causes church cancers: congregational politics; materialism; competition between churches; cultural (undiscipled) Christianity; congregational homogeneity; performance-oriented staff (the "CEO" pastor).
  
• Growing churches are thus not necessarily healthy churches.
  
• Christ calls us to labor in a number of overlooked fertile harvest fields: growth in corporate prayer and patience; growth in heartfelt, genuine worship (instead of routine rituals for God); growth in the percentage of members who do the work of the church; growth in congregational diversity (ethnic diversity, as well as a mixture of new Christians and mature Christians); growth in member discipleship and empowerment; growth in ministry partnerships with other Christian organizations outside your local church.

Today's Lukewarm, Naked Church

• The comfortable, non-sacrificing church.
  
• We expect the staff to do the work of the church. "That's what we pay then for, isn't it?"
  
• We expect missionaries to save all the souls. "That's what God called them to do, isn't it?"
  
• Church leaders must stay out of the comfort zone and model sacrificing discipleship to the congregation.
  
• The church must be in the world to save those in the world. (John 17: 6-19)
  
• Growing, spiritually healthy churches must make room for the non-Christian, the "near-Christian," the immature Christian, and the backslidden Christian. Legalism and membership conformity cause the church to lose its warmth (salt and light).
  
• The church must tithe its budget and time to go beyond church walls in the local community.
  
• Why we don't pray: (1) We're comfortable and don't want anything (2) We don't care enough about others (3) We think small (4) We don't want to get involved (5) We're afraid God will respond and we'll have to interrupt our comfortable routine.

In The World...

• Church growth does not take place unless a new Christian enters God's Kingdom. Transferring memberships between churches is "recycled" (man-made) growth.
  
• Because our society is breaking down morally, most church growth opportunities today come from crisis ministry: divorce, unwanted pregnancies, alcohol and drug addiction, family abuse, etc. This is the harvest field that Christ labored in and said was white unto harvest. (John 4:35 and Matthew 9:37-38) Unfortunately, this is crisis ministry, not comfortable ministry.
  
• Middle class America is comfortable and secular, so this is often a barren harvest field to work in. Unfortunately, many churches want to do all of their work in this harvest field, because middle class church members have money and usually require only a modest amount of the church staff's time and energy. Crisis ministry church members can be disruptive to church routine and require a lot of time and attention. Highly legalistic churches don't view the "crop" in crisis harvest fields to be very worthy of harvesting. (Matthew 9:1-6)
  
• Church growth requires the church to be all things to all people. (1 Cor. 10:33)
  
• Because God has a unique purpose and plan for each local church, He is doing special work in each church. Leaders should find where God's special construction site is for their local church and go to work there. If we want our church to grow, we should work where God is already working in our midst!
  
• The more a church grows numerically, the more it must engage in discipleship. New Christians need "big brother" disciplers. Church growth is discipleship.
  
• The best form of discipleship is "on-the-job" ministry service to the unsaved and to those in crisis. Disciples of Christ must get beyond the comfortable walls of the local church and go out into the world where people are hurting and searching for forgiveness and a fresh start in life.
  
• The local church cannot grow if it seals itself off from the world for fear of being "tainted" by sin. We have the whole armor of God to help us be in the world but not be of the world. (Ephesians 6:13)
  
• Churches should look for ministry partners to provide growth opportunities: Prison Fellowship, community Christian service agencies (Salvation Army, etc.), other congregations, etc. God extends special blessings to unity among the brethren.

...But Not Of The World

• Christ's local church is not a business ("First Baptist Incorporated"). A CEO and board of executives shouldn't run it. The job of the church staff and lay leaders is not to perform. This is Christ's role. Church leaders are to be spiritual role models, reflecting the light of the Holy Spirit to the congregation and a dying world.
  
• The local church must not use the devices of the world (entertainment, material wealth and comfort, power, slick marketing, autocratic management, etc.) to run itself and promote its interests.
  
• The church must emphasize outreach (to the unsaved) over inreach (to the comfortable congregation).
  
• Church leaders must encourage and empower members to get away from the church for outreaching ministry activities.
  
• Church leaders are to empower members, not control them (which is the proper role of the Holy Spirit). When staff seek to control people, someone goes out the back door of the church every time a new member arrives through the front door.
  
• The Bible is meant to be applied, not merely studied.
  
• Small churches shouldn't envy middle size churches. Middle-size churches shouldn't covet to be large churches. Large churches shouldn't lust to be "super" churches. All church growth is Christ's business.
  
• The wrong church growth tools are: pressure, competition, guilt, and entertainment.
  
• The right church growth tools are: prayer, sanctification, discipleship, outreach, sacrifice, discomfort, sorrow, compassion, diversity, Bible-applying.

Encouragement In The Garden Of Gethsemane

• God doesn't value you or your church for what you do. We don't have to earn God's love or blessings.
  
• God has a unique role for you and your church. Look at your ministry through His eyes, not man's eyes.
  
• Church growth is God's work.
  
• Church growth happens one saved soul at a time.
  
• The grass and bushes in the forest are just as useful and necessary as the tall trees.
  
• Be the Christian God wants you to be and He will sanctify you to help the members of your church become the Christians He wants them to be. When the members of a church are the Christians God wants them to be, the church will grow and grow!

---

Note: This article originally appeared in Phil Van Auken's website.

Prayer for February 3

O Eternal Light, eternal salvation, eternal love, eternal sweetness, let me see you, let me feel you, let me taste you.  O eternal delight, eternal consolation, eternal happiness, let me dwell in you; everything I lack in my misery I find in you.  You are all abundance, and apart from you is nothing but poverty, woe, and misery.  Life without you is a bitter death.  Your kindness is better than life itself.  Amen.

Because they lovingkindiness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.  Thus will I bless thee while I live:  I will lift up my hands in they name.  Psalm 63:3-4