The Tyranny of the Now

The Israelites were hanging out in the wilderness, awaiting the appointed time when God would lead them into the Promised Land - that place that was "flowing with milk and honey". The inheritance that God had promised, a paradise handed down from the time of Abraham.

In the midst of the waiting, some of the tribes started looking around at wheee they were now. Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, specifically, looked at the neighboring people, shepherds like themselves, and they liked what they saw. "This land is good for grazing, it would support our flocks. Hey Moses, why don't we just stay here? I mean, you guys go ahead and take the land on the other side of the Jordan, we're good here. We'll even help you fight for it, but we like what we have now and we're done waiting. Just give it to us."

Moses consulted with God and the answer came back, "sure, as long as you go out and fight with your brothers, you can have this land". So, there they stayed, outside of the promised land, outside of what was rightfully theirs, outside of what God had promised to them and their forefathers. They stood on the wrong side of the Jordan, looking west at what could have been.

How often do we do this? How often do we look at what we have now and give up our God given right to something better? We're still going to have to fight, we're still going to face trial and temptation, why not make it worth the fight?

Your relationship with God, with your significant other, with your kids, with your friends and family - why settle? Your spiritual life, your job, your legacy - why settle? God wants so much more for us, and he wants us to fight for it.

To do that, we've got to get past the Now. We can't settle for the status quo, we can't assume this is as good as it gets. We must believe the promises of God and be willing to give up the offerings of society. If we settle, we'll only find ourselves on the wring side of the Jordan looking west, wondering what could have been.

Location:Columbia Pkwy,Cincinnati,United States

Honor, Love and Fear

Honor everyone.

The word translated as honor from Greek is the word “time” (prounounced tim-may’). It means to value or highly esteem. This word means to treat as precious, weighty or valuable. -Craig Groeschel

What do we honor today? I didn't ask WHO we honor, because I think in many cases we honor things more than people these days. Things don't let us down like people do, they don't quit or turn their backs on us.

Before we put the cart ahead of the horse, lets talk a little more about what honor is, because it isn't a prominent thing in American culture. We're much more into respect. There is one big difference between the two. Respect is earned, but honor is given.

We choose to show honor to someone, regardless of what they have done or haven't done.
We respect authority and wisdom and accomplishment. We honor effort, motive and existence.

Who do we choose to honor?

Love the brotherhood.
This can mean two things, I think it means both.
Love the people in the brotherhood.
Love the brotherhood itself.

What's the difference? One is loving the believers around you, the other is loving the bond that makes us an extended family. There are plenty of ways to demonstrate love to people, but how can we show love to the bond that keeps us together?

Fear God.
When was the last time you just sat back and thought, "Sweet merciful crap, God is incredible!"? When was the last time you let Him knock your socks off? When was the last time you had a Holy Sense of Divine Wow?

Like so many things, God doesn't force this on you. It happens only if we let it.

Honor the emperor.
"Everyone" includes the emperor, president, governor, police officer, elder, parent, group leader, boss, manager, _________

We choose to give them honor. This isn't an option, or something we withhold until it is earned.


1 Peter 2:17

Location:Columbia Pkwy,Cincinnati,United States

Leaning

We're individualists. Almost to a person, we assume it is best to do things on our own. We celebrate the self-made man, talk of pulling one's self up by one's bootstraps and love watching the lone-wolf hero save the day against all odds.

We are so inundated and enamored with this ideal that we don't even realize it at times. We expect individuality and independence to such a degree that we assume anything else is an aberration.

The Flying Pig marathon this past weekend was in many ways a celebration of individual drive, individual effort and individual accomplishment. 18,500 runners set out to prove themselves. Each one on a personal mission to overcome a 26.2 mile obstacle. Except when they weren't alone.

Somewhere in the midst of the main throng of runners, something stood out. It had volunteers talking and radio operators alerting stations further down the course.

The scene could be interpreted in two completely different ways.

A senior gentleman was clearly struggling through the race. He was panting and wheezing, but this was common and didn't set him apart from so many other runners. What did set him apart was the fact that he couldn't stand upright. He was leaning... at something close to a 45 degree angle.

I'm no running expert, but I'm pretty sure that standing upright is crucial to proper running and plays a big part in endurance. Leaning hard to the right side is a recipe for a short run.

But this man was going strong at mile 21 because he wasn't running on his own. He had a partner. Next to the gaunt old man was a younger, thicker, muscular runner who was quite literally holding him up.

The senior man's right elbow was tucked in the crux of the younger man's left arm and they ran together.

When they approached our location, you couldn't miss them. The radio operator called to teh medical tent and the next station, letting them know that a runner was coming who would need their help. It was the obvious explanation. This man had bit off more than he could chew and was now struggling.

But, I don't think that was the correct interpretation. The younger man wasn't wearing a race number. He wasn't a runner that had stepped in to help a struggling stranger. But, he was clearly a runner. He was dressed for the event and knew what he was doing. He was not a spectator who stepped in either. The two men also didn't stop when they reached us. They didn't ask for help, signal a need or even slow down when they got to us.

This wasn't an emergency help situation. This was a team. A team that was determined to accomplish something that would be impossible alone.

There was no way the older man could run a marathon on his own. From the look of things, he couldn't even stand upright. But this impossibility became a 26.2 mile opportunity when he did one simple thing. He abandoned individuality and embraced community. If he did his part and depended on his partner to do his part, they could accomplish the impossible. I wasn't at the finish line, but something tells me this is exactly what they did.

How often do we judge something as impossible because of our individual limitations?

How much could be do if we embraced mission in community?

What would it take for you to step out of individuality?

Who cares!?!

Paul and company were traveling through Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and they had similar reactions at each place. Some were curious, some were angry or jealous, but they all cared. This was why Paul started preaching in the synagogues. He knew the people there cared. But his message inspired others to care as well.

"But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city."

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

Both of these people cared enough to act - for or against Paul. He got a similar reaction everywhere he went. So did the other apostles. Their message resulted in action. Does the church today still inspire the same action? Does it still get people hot and bothered, does it still get people to daily search for truth?

What do people in our community care about these days? What are we doing that people would care about? What are we doing to get the people who are already in church to care?

No matter what strategies we create or what structures we set up, they won't accomplish anything if people don't care enough to take part in them.

Compare and Contrast - Charity & Community

I was reading some of Perkins' "Beyond Charity" where he talks about the difference between charity (not the biblical word for love, the modern practice of giving stuff to people to make yourself feel better about not being someone who depends on people giving them things to survive) and community development.

Then I was reading Acts 4 and 5 where Luke describes the situation of the early church. Here, like in Perkins' book, people in need are cared for.

So, my question for today - how does the early church practice compare to today?

The two are similar in that the people who had gave to the people who didn't. In this way everyone was taken care of. There has been a lot of political talk lately about "redistribution of wealth" and even some talk of the Bible's command to bring this about. Is this what we are reading about in Acts?

Another area of comparison is sacrifice. Many (we don't know if it was all) of the early Christians gave all they had to one another. They didn't give leftovers or just a portion, even though giving everything was not demanded of them. Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead because they lied about giving, not because they withheld a portion of their giving. They didn't have to give all the money they had, they just had to be truthful about what they were giving.

The people had a choice as to what they gave, it wasn't mandated and it wasn't a tax. Giving is an individual choice, not a rule followed under threat of penalty. It is a way to show that you love your neighbor as yourself. It should make us happy to give, we should enjoy it. If we have to give, it isn't any fun.

The third area is relationship. These people lived life together. They didn't consider their possessions their own. They weren't giving up what they had, they were sharing it with people they cared about. The watch passed down from your grandfather to you has much more value than the one from the department store glass case. Why? Relationship.

Redistribution of wealth, welfare and even things like Product(Red) [love you, Bono], exist only because true giving does not. They exist because true charity does not. They exist because true love does not. They are Diet Coke, the unnatural, man-made substitute that will never really duplicate the original.

Ain't nothin' like the real thing baby.