Lost and Found

I was lost, not knowing where I was going or where I was coming from.  He found me, I'm pretty sure at least, some have told me that I found him but that doesn't feel true because I wasn't really looking for Him.  He loved me, He loved me, He loved me, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me and it has and will forever change me.  There has never been a greater motivating force in my life.  His love is so great it transformed from a sinner to saint, from a slave to a son, from someone who judged everyone and everything to someone who sees that reconciliation is not counting other's trespasses against them.  He welcomed me with grace, I can't reject others by their works.  He gave me a reason to live.  He showed me the way, in fact He demonstrated it for me.  He became like me so I could become like Him.  It has marked me deeply.  I feel indebted to Him but not because I feel like I owe him some grand gesture of sacrifice, I couldn't repay what He did for me if I lived a thousand lifetimes.  What I do owe is an expression of the love that He invested in me.  The world that He died for deserves the revelation of the love that motivated Him to die for them.  Yes, He died for them.  He died for sinners.  He died for those who didn't deserve this amazing, awe inspiring, incredibly sacrificial love.  He died for all of us, and when he rose He did so with a purpose.  He released love to conquer every fear, He released freedom to destroy everything that keeps us bound.  What amazing news.  It feels so free to be in the business of reconciliation, love inspires people to greatness while fear paralyzes people to insanity (doing things over and over again and expecting different results.)  You can threaten people with judgment but you can't threaten them with Love.

Thank you Jesus for finding me, thank you for choosing me.  It is my honor to see your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

That's the view from Here...

Metonymy

About 10 years ago I had a dream.  In the dream a word was repeated over and over and over again.  Metonymy, metonymy, metonymy kept going through my mind in the dream.  I don't remember anything else about the dream other than I just kept repeating this word.  Then as if to reinforce this word even more it began to be spelled for me M-E-T-O-N-Y-M-Y.  I know I'm slow sometimes, but the Lord really was trying to get me to see something here.  I woke up thinking I need to find out what this word means.  I went straight for the dictionary and discovered that a Metonymy is basically a figure of speech where something is described through an association or connection with that something.  For example when we watch the news and someone says "the white house issued a statement today" we know that the white house itself can't issue a statement; it represents something it is associated with.  The White House represents the President and his government.  So what's the point?  What does this have to do with me or the church?  The beginning of the answer came on a walk later that day.  I was walking to the church, where I pastored, and I was meditating on 2 Corinthians 5.  Specifically, I was meditating on being a minister of reconciliation.  Not only did Jesus become a minister of reconciliation; He became reconciliation for us.  He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  He didn't just do something for us He became it for us.

Jesus was a metonymy of the Kingdom.  To use the name Jesus is to talk about the kingdom.  This is why John's message was so important.  Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand.  The kingdom is within arm's reach.  The Kingdom has arrived.  It was even more significant than we might realize. It was an invitation into a new way of life.  A new creation reality.  Being "born again" means that I too become a metonymy for the kingdom.  We who know and have relationship with him all become a metonymy for the kingdom.  When people meet us they meet the kingdom.  We become like what we are associated with.  We issue a statement with our lives.  We are the letter known and read by all men.  We represent the reality of another world.

and that's the view from here...

Selling Jesus

Have you ever tried to sell a product you didn't believe in?  I have.  When I was going to University I tried to find jobs that would make me the most amount while requiring the least amount of effort.  Seemed logical to me.  The only problem was it never worked.  I would get all excited about these multilevel marketing schemes, after all I was great with people, had lots of friends.  Here's the thing your friends aren't interested in buying the stuff your selling if it doesn't work or it doesn't benefit their lives.  They aren't friends with you so you can sell them stuff, they are friends with you because they like you.  Evangelism has become a lot like this.  Selling a product that we know about but don't always believe in.  If we did believe it we wouldn't have to sell people on it.  No salesman in the world is going to have to sell me on a product that works and will improve my quality of life.  That product just sells itself.  What if we actually lived what we believed?  What if instead of emphasizing getting "the word" out we became the word known and read by all men?  What if the way we lived actually caused people to want what we have?

The great commission in Matthew 28 has been championed as our marching orders.  This commission was given to disciples that had walked in relationship with Jesus for 3 years.  He had been pouring His life in to them, investing in them, preparing them.  Am I saying we have to walk with God for a certain amount of years before we pursue this commission?  No, i'm saying that evangelism flows best through relationship.  Jesus said that the greatest commandments where to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  Then he taught us that eternal life was to know the Father and the One whom he sent in John 17:3.  These pivotal statements promote one very important thing; relationship.  The point of christianity, in my humble opinion, isn't evangelism it's relationship.  Christianity is defined by our love, which without God, is at best conditional.  Conditional love requires some selling; unconditional love sells itself.  God so loved the world that He gave His Son.  Why did he give his son? Because he so loved the world that he desired a relationship with His creation.  God, the creator of the universe and all supreme being, wanted to get to know you.  That's amazing!  That motivates me to tell other people the opportunity they have in front of them.  It works, it's changing my life and without a doubt it will change yours.  I don't have to sell things I believe in.  I talk about them all the time.  Leadership is influence and when we believe in what God has invested in us we will see the greatest evangelism the world has ever seen.  We'll see believing believers whose love for God compels the nations to follow suit.  They will know us by our love, not our ability to sell something that's free.