.......about the Gospel in a fortune cookie!

          I like Chinese food okay, but don't eat it that often...(my brain and stomach cry, "Yes!", but my arteries yell, "NO!").
          The last time I ate oriental food, though, I ended the meal with a very unique fortune cookie.
          Most fortune cookies' words--in my opinion--are either trite, or don't make any sense.  
     
          But, the words on the little strip of paper inside this cookie read:  "The simplest answer is to act."

         I was just thinkin'.........that we as Christians usually talk a good talk.  And we usually listen good.  We can stay awake during a sermon, and maybe say "Amen" at least once during a sermon.  And we can put together a committee and beat to death some real need!
                   But,  how readily do we ACT?
     
          The majority of Jesus' brief three years of ministry....He was DOING!  And a good part of His words to His followers required ACTION!

          Several times---before Jesus met with the disciples in the Upper Room on that Passover night--the men got into several discussions concerning who was the "greatest".
         But, on that night, Jesus' "simple answer".....was to act!   And He acted.....by washing their feet!
          In Robert Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, (*), one of the twelve Spiritual Disciplines he outlines is.....SERVICE.   Jesus acted out what He expected of His followers!
          Jesus demonstrated to His disciples what it meant to act and to serve others.
          
          Earlier in His ministry (Matt. 5:14-16), Jesus told the crowds on the mountain that their "lights" (their actions) were to:
                        1. shine before others;
                        2. show good works, in order to,
                        3. glorify God!

          In his letter to the "Jesus-Followers" in Colossae, Paul's prayer was that they "would bear fruit in every good work." (Col. 1:10 ESV)

          When we ever find ourselves facing a need, or a situation (in our life, or in someone else's).......the simplest answer is to act!

Tommy
(*) HarperOne, copyright 1978


     

.....about a "myopic" church!

          Only because my wife has been a visual specialist in the public schools, do I even know what "myopia" means!

          It's a surprisingly short medical word for nearsightedness.

          I was watching a segment of the "Today" Show recently and a man was having contact lenses surgically attached to his eyeballs to correct his myopia.
          I didn't watch too much of it, because I get the "willies" when I see someone messing with eyeballs!
          But, while I was listening to them talk about all the things concerned with the surgery....and all the technical things about myopia, I began to think about the church.

          I was just thinkin'........if there are any churches suffering from myopia!

          Are there some churches that are nearsighted?  I mean.....are there churches that can't see much beyond their own doors?
          In the days we are living, if the church is going to have any significant impact on the 
non-Christian world.....it's going to have to be "farsighted" (the medical word is: hyperopic).
          Our vision is going to have to look beyond the walls of our churches to have any effect on the people around us.  
          I know of a church that is sitting in the middle of a very rural area near a very small town with a population of less than 1000.   The church is ancient, and the pastor (at that time) was well into his retirement years.  The town--and surrounding area--is predominately German and Catholic.  
          Yet, the little church---which was hardly running 50 on a good Sunday morning---was running well over 70 adults and children for their Wednesday night activities!
          Obviously, this little church had 20/20 vision that extended way beyond its historical, antique doors.
          When I think of the word "vision" in context with the church, I think of that verse from Proverbs that says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (28:19)  In the original language, the word "vision" means: mental sight, dream, revelation, prophecy.
          If the church is going to reach people, it's going to have to have "mental sight" and a "dream" that goes beyond its walls!
          The church cannot be "myopic" about God's commission to reach people.

          Is your church nearsighted.......or farsighted?

Tommy
     

........about sidewalks!

     I was driving home from the office the other day on my usual path.  
     For some reason, I noticed that when I left the "older" residential area (nearer the center of town) and entered the "newer" neighborhood, something was missing!

     The sidewalks were gone!

     It made me start thinking about sidewalks!  (I guess that says something about how my brain can be easily distracted).  
     When I was growing up in Austin, there were sidewalks everywhere.  A person could walk.....or ride a bicycle....or push a baby stroller almost anywhere without having to get on a city street.
     I learned how to ride a bicycle.....on a sidewalk!
     I learned how to roller skate.....on a sidewalk!
     I learned how to skateboard.....on a sidewalk!
     I drew hopscotch squares with chalk....on a sidewalk! 
     I went trick-or-treating.....along a sidewalk!

     The sidewalks were what tied the neighborhoods together.  Neighbors visited neighbors...along the sidewalks.

     If you drive through any new housing development today, you won't see any sidewalks!  Most people don't even know their next-door neighbors' name.

     If Peter, Paul and Mary were still writing and singing folk songs today, I'm sure they would be inspired to write a song titled, "Where Have All the Sidewalks Gone?"
     We live in a new day....where the solid, foundational connections that held us together as a neighborhood, and a society...are no longer there!   The absence of sidewalks has disjointed us as neighbors.  It has disjointed us as a society!  There was a kind of  "connectivity" about concrete.  

     I was just thinkin'...........are we losing the sidewalks of our churches?   
     Is the connectivity among members slowly disintegrating?  Are we losing those solid, foundational, concrete paths of doctrine and belief?
     Maybe we ought to start repairing the "sidewalks"!  Maybe we ought to even build some new ones into our communities!

Tommy



     
     

....about "The Church of the 100th Sheep"!

     I have a friend who is a member of a church named, The Church of the Good Shepherd.  That is usually a common Lutheran church name.
    
      We Baptist use real creative names like: "First"!  We ought to use names that have to do with shepherding or other Biblical concepts.

    
 I was visiting a church a few months ago and the pastor briefly mentioned that famous "ninety-nine sheep" parable from Luke 15. 
     
     I was just thinkin'............do we get too satisfied sometimes with our "pretty good" attendance---and are just happy that most of the "sheep" are "safely in the fold"?
     I wondered.....how much time, energy, and money do we spend on that "100th Sheep"?  That one that's lost and NOT in the fold?
     How much of our church life and activity is concentrated on finding that "100th Sheep"?
     I've observed that most of the churches with which I'm familiar are doing a pretty good job of keeping their pews reasonably full.....and the offering plates full enough to take care of essential needs.

     But, if we take Jesus' parable literally, I think He's telling us that a pretty substantial amount of our......time.....money.....energy.....programs.....and activities, should involve "going after the one which is lost until we find it."  (Luke 15:4).

     If that's the case, maybe---to help us focus on our real purpose---all our churches ought to change their names!

                              Maybe at your next church business meeting.....

                                      you should suggest that your church change its name to:

             The (your town name) Church of the 100th Sheep!

Tommy

......about the bottom side of a duck

     I was flipping channels the other day and came across the Animal Planet network.  I don't know the name of the program, but found myself watching the bottom side of a duck swimming across a pond.

     The camera was under the water, aimed directly up--at the duck's underside.  All you could see was a pair of legs and webbed feet....churning through the water like a precision machine.
     The scene soon switched to the topside of the water and you saw the duck gliding across the water with, seemingly no effort at all!  It was beautiful and graceful---flowing so smoothly---the water was almost motionless.

     I was just thinkin'.........how the church is sometimes like the bottom side of a duck!

     A lot of the work goes on "underneath" that no one really sees.  There's a lot of "paddling" going on "underwater"....that makes the church function properly.
     Most people don't see what all the pastor does on the "underneath side"!  Most people don't know what the church secretary does on the "underneath side"!   Most people are not aware of what all their Sunday School teacher does...on the "underneath side"!
     
     I thought about a passage from 1 Corinthians 12:

     "Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities,

 but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all......

There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God

who does the work in and through all of us who are His.

The Holy Spirit displays God's power 

through each of us as a means of helping the entire church."

(1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 TLB)

      Each one of us in the church have gifts, or "special abilities" that are needed to 'navigate' the church through life's waters.  And a lot of those gifts function "underwater"!

     That may be what Jesus was talking about when He said:  "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven."  And He added, ".....do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."  (Matt.6:1,3) 

     If the job is getting done right "underneath", then what the world sees of the church on the "topside" should be a smooth, graceful, beautiful flow of God!

     On the surface, when it looks like things are cruising along smoothly and effortlessly....it means that, underneath, there is always someone paddling like a duck!

Tommy    

......about a bridge to nowhere!

     A few years ago, the County was rebuilding a county road that zig-zagged through part of western Gonzales County.
     The road crossed the Guadalupe River a few miles west of Gonzales.  There happened to be an old historic iron truss bridge on that road (that's it in the picture), and the plans were to replace it with a simple modern concrete span.
     Some of the history buffs in the county decided to save the old bridge and bring it to town.  (seems some people in Gonzales---like other small towns---like to save old things!).  So, they got a grant, hired a crew, and spent months preparing a spot for the old bridge to stretch across a small drainage "creek" that meandered through town---and only had water in it when it rained!
     It was in a nice, visible location, along a well traveled artery through town, but it served no other useful purpose.  Our neighbor lady---at the time--immediately dubbed it:  "the bridge to nowhere".

     I was just thinkin'.......about bridges--and churches!

     Robert Lewis, recently wrote a book titled: The Church of Irresistible Influence, and suggests that the church is to be in the business of building bridges into its community.
     I thought about 1Peter 2:9, where we Christians are called to be "royal priests".  And I remembered from some seminary class that the word "priest" in the Latin is the word "Pontif", (and of course we think of the Pope when we hear that word).
     The Latin word pontif actually means "bridge builder", and, for some, the Pope is considered to be the "bridge" between man and God.
     But if we believe that Christ is the bridge between man and God, should we not be the"construction crew" out there spanning the chasm between sinful man and a redeeming God?
     Peter calls us "royal priests", or more exactly--"royal bridge builders"!  So, our churches should be like a construction company with teams of royal bridge builders!
     But, I wonder if some of us---and some of our churches--are just building bridges to nowhere!  We've got Christ in our churches.....we've got most of the "building materials" we need.....we spend a lot of time doing "stuff"----BUT, are we connecting to the lost world?
     Are we just building bridges to nowhere?  Or are we building bridges that are connecting a Lost People to a Living God?

Tommy

.....about a "Mediocris" Mountain Chalet.

     In the French Alps, along a mountain trail, there is a cabin that was built in the 19th century.
     The trail leads to the top of Mont Blanc, which gives hikers a breath-taking view of wildlife, flowers and the scenery below.
     To the top of the mountain it's a five mile hike.....making it difficult for some to make the entire trip.  The cabin was built half-way up the mountain as a high altitude "way station" for hikers to stop for rest and refreshment.
     A sign on the trail tells hikers that they have arrived at "Mediocris".  The Latin word medius means "middle"....and ocris means "a rough stony mountain".  In other words, travelers were in "the middle of a rugged mountain".
     At "Mediocris", food and drinks were made available to hikers as they prepared for the rest of the journey.  Many times though, the nourishment and beautiful views below would mesmerize hikers to the point that they would not finish their hike to the top.
     I was just thinkin'.......how many churches (and Christians)...have settled for "hanging out" at the "Mediocris Mountain Chalet"?
     The refreshments and views are great!  And the air hasn't gotten too thin, so it's still easy to breath.
     If you look up the definition of the English equivalent, mediocre, most dictionaries have one of the definitions that say:: "half way up a mountain".
     I wonder--how many of our churches (and members) are living....half way up the mountain?
     I think God kind of likes the mountains!  
          (1) in the Old Testament....He gave the Ten Commandments...on a mountain.
          (2) He spoke to His prophets.....on a mountain.
          (3) in the Gospels, Jesus went many times to pray....on a mountain.
          (4) He commissioned His apostles...on a mountain.
          (5) He appeared to 500 after the resurrection....on a mountain.
     The apostle Paul talks in Philippians about our "HIGH" calling....not our "half way up" calling!
     I can't help but think about Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount....about going the second mile.  He was saying: "don't just go half way....go all the way to the top!
     Let's not settle for the ease and comfort of the "Mediocris Chalet".  Let's go to the TOP!

Tommy