Author: Fred Shope

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Weekend Wanderings

Spring is on its ways here in the sunny South. March came in like a lamb, the daffodils are blooming, and the trees are getting ready to leaf out. Softball has started, and even though the team I coach is not the most talented, it should be a enjoyable season.

I like each by itself, but together? I don’t know. Who knew you could use your smartphone to beat a speeding ticket? Speaking of smartphones, here are some rather strange ways to use one. Jim Martin knows 10 things he doesn’t have time for. I don’t either (HT: Scot McKnight). Matt wants to be a universalist in his heart.
Do you consider yourself typical? Russ Masterson has written a theology of tears. Matthew Paul Turner puts Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 in his own words. Dan Edelen is rethinking evangelicalism’s tropes. Donald Miller says the biggest temptation is self righteousness. Here is a question about form and function.
Jon Acuff tells a secret. Us-them theological battles. This is a pitiful display. The iMonk classics keep on coming. What the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. Mark Galli tries to make sense out of the Rob Bell controversy (HT: iMonk). Why doubt isn’t a dirty word.
Please pray for the folks who are still getting slammed by winter storms, and for those that will face flooding when all the snow melts. I hope what’s left of your weekend is great.
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World Vision Wednesday

Recently, the House of Representatives voted to cut spending in a number of areas. While I am normally in favor of less government and lower spending, I believe that some of the cuts should not have been made. According to World Vision president Richard Stearns, the budget “shrinks global AIDS, malaria, and hunger programs by 41 percent. It slashes funding for humanitarian emergencies by 67 percent. By comparison, other budget accounts are reduced by an average of just 8 percent. To put this in perspective, the existing U.S. budget for international humanitarian programs is only about one-half of 1 percent of the total federal budget.”

There are undoubtedly many things that should be cut out of a bloated budget. Humanitarian aid should not be one of them. While I believe that the church should be the primary agent of humanitarian giving, there are some places where the need is so great that government aid is needed along with private aid.

If you agree that this spending should not be cut, please contact your senators and ask them to vote to restore the funds for this needed humanitarian aid. The vote is on Friday, so time is of the essence.

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You Are More

In our gathering Sunday, we were discussing who we were in Christ. We were talking about how we often react to certain situations and people according to old scripts that tell us we are this or we are that. We listen to lies that people have told us, saying that we are worthless, that we are stupid, that we are unloved. Because we believe those scripts, we have a hard time believing that God really loves us, and we are not free to love ourselves or to love others as Jesus has loved us. One of our brothers played a song by the group Tenth Avenue North titled “You Are More.”

Here are the lyrics:

There’s a girl in the corner
With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she’s wandered
And the shame she can’t hide

She says, “How did I get here?
I’m not who I once was.
And I’m crippled by the fear
That I’ve fallen too far to love”

But don’t you know who you are,
What’s been done for you?
Yeah don’t you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

Well she tries to believe it
That she’s been given new life
But she can’t shake the feeling
That it’s not true tonight

She knows all the answers
And she’s rehearsed all the lines
And so she’ll try to do better
But then she’s too weak to try

But don’t you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,

You’ve been remade.

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

‘Cause this is not about what you’ve done,
But what’s been done for you.
This is not about where you’ve been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

You’ve been remade
You’ve been remade.
You’ve been remade.
You’ve been remade.

You are more. More than what you have done, more than what has happened to you. You are more than what the old scripts tell you. You are a beloved child of the Creator, a co-heir with Christ. You are made in God’s image, more than simply a “sinner saved by grace.” You are free! Let me repeat. You. Are. Free! Free to love your Father with reckless abandon, knowing that he loves you the same way.

You are more. So much more.

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Weekend Wanderings

The last full week of February is about over. March will begin on Tuesday, and the promise of warmer days is ahead, for everyone. It’s been nice here in the sunny South, but I know that some other parts of the country are still dealing with Old Man Winter. It even snowed in Los Angeles today! It turns out that my problems from last week are digestive issues. Nothing major, but something I need to keep on top of.

On to the links:
Dr. Terry Dorsett writes another lesson from the Holy Land. This may be the best lesson yet.
Jeff Dunn on grace and freedom.
Jared Wilson on discontentment.
Alan Knox writes about theological sources.
Joshua Graves has an e-mail exchange with St. Matthew (HT: Scot McKnight)
Have a fantastic week.
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Free!

I read a couple of posts this morning that started the wheels turning in my head (that’s what the squeaking noise was). The first post was by Dan Edelen here, and the second was by Jeff Dunn and is found here.

As one who grew up and served in conservative Christian circles, I have constantly bumped against walls that were put up to keep us from engaging in certain behaviors, or to make us do other things. I’ve always been anti-legalism, and over the years cultivated an image as a bit of a rebel. Unfortunately, the image was many times driven by a desire to do what I wanted rather than what God wanted. I was more anti-legalism than pro grace.
I am learning that a reliance on God’s grace and love is what should define my life. The posts mentioned above are part of that learning. I am learning that Romans 7:5-6, Galatians 2:19-21, and Colossians 2:20-23 are good passages to live by. I am learning that my Father loves me no matter what I do or don’t do. I am learning that Jesus took away all my sins: past, present, and future. Not only that, but the power of sin has been broken by Christ.
Sin is no longer the defining force in my life. I still sin, but I also have a Savior that has freed me. When I do sin, it’s not because sin is controlling me. It’s life. It’s part of being a man who is still learning how to follow Jesus and live in God’s grace. Fortunately, my Father doesn’t condemn me, he is not disappointed with me. He sees me as his beloved son. He teaches me and leads me, and continues to fill me with his love.
I’m learning that I am not in control of my life, God is. No matter hard I try, I can’t please God more. I can’t do things that are going to influence God to bless me. It’s not up to me.
I’m learning that I am a dead man. I have died to sin and its power. I have died to this world. I am dying to the opinions of other people, because the only opinion that counts is that of the One who calls me child. That last one will take some time.
I want to be as Jesus, who only did what the Father told him to do. Jeff Dunn says that folks accuse him of being “all grace.” I’ll gladly accept that label. Dan Edelen writes, “Anymore, the only rules I impose on myself on this walk of faith are, am I loving the Lord, and am I loving other people.” That sounds good to me. Jesus himself said that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others, and that everything else hangs on that.
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World Vision Wednesday

“An offer to good to refuse leads to a nightmare.” This is true of what happens to a number of children around the world. World Vision is working to help those who have been trapped in a life of slavery. To find out more read this.

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Church the Way It Used to Be?

The other day I was traveling down the interstate here in the sunny South, and I saw a billboard that advertised a certain church that also had a Christian school. The sign proclaimed that this particular ministry was “Church and school the way it used to be.” I got to thinking about this sign, and wondering what they meant.

Did they mean church the way it used to be when the American culture gave lip service to Christianity with blue laws and other vestiges of Christendom? Maybe they longed for the days when some churches in the South defended racism with Scripture proof-texts. How about going back to the days when the differences between churches were enough to start a war? Or perhaps, the folks in this church wanted to go all the way back to the first century, when churches argued over which teacher to follow, or treated the poor in their congregation with disrespect.
It doesn’t really matter what they meant by “church the way it used to be.” We are not living in any point of time during the last 2000 years. We are living today, in the 21st Century. While human nature is still basically the same, there are so many things that have changed. While some of us would like to be able to gather daily with the church as they did in the early church, that may be impossible today. Attitudes toward the church in America have changed in the last 50 or 60 years, so a different approach is necessary. In other parts of the world, the church faces an entirely different set of challenges. Their “good old days” may be a time when there was no church in that land. Should they long to go back to that?
Instead of looking back to an imagined time when “things were better,” and striving to get those days back, we should be looking for ways to be followers of Jesus in the time and place we are in. Although I can think of one way we can do things the way they used to be done, or at least should have been done all along. The first command that Jesus gave his church was to love one another as he loved us. That command has never changed.
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Weekend Wanderings

The sun is shining and the temperatures are rising here in the sunny South. Winter’s icy grip has loosened, although there’s still a good chance that we’ll have one more go-round with the cold. I had a bit of a scare yesterday, and spent the afternoon at the hospital getting checked out. I was having severe pains in my upper side, and they wanted to makes sure my heart was not the problem. The old ticker is in good shape (whew), so I have to go to my family doctor Monday to see if we can figure out what is going on. I’m thinking it might be stress,because there’s a lot of stuff going on right now. We’ll see.

So, anyway, here’s the stuff you’re really waiting for:
Alan Knox has a good post on messy meetings.
Becky Garrison on Roger William’s legacy.
Jake Belder on the perfect church.
Kansas Bob on The Gospel of Wealth.
Jon Acuff on going solo.
Dr. Terry Dorsett continues his series on his Holy Land pilgrimage.
Scot McKnight asks if the weight has shifted.
Chaplain Mike has some strong words to say.
Pam Hogeweide writes about black dog Shame.
Last, but not least, here is a classic for the start of spring training (HT: iMonk).
Have a fantastic weekend!
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World Vision Wednesday

John Fischer has written an excellent article concerning lessons learned working among Muslims. I’ve quoted it below.

This morning I had the opportunity of hearing Dave Robinson speak at a Women of Vision Orange County Partnership Breakfast. Dave is the Senior Advisor for Operations for World Vision International. He has also lived most of his life as a Christian amongst Muslim people, and this is what I have to say about that: Why don’t we let this man inform our thinking and our activity towards Muslim people in this country and around the world instead of listening to a man who has lived in suburban America all his life and whose only claim to understanding Muslims is the fact that he is a popular radio talk show host? Why were 75 people listening to what the qualified man said and hundreds of thousands listening to the other? Why is fear more popular than reason?

Among a number of stories Mr. Anderson imparted was this one. In the wake of initial U.S. successes in Iraq, a moderate Muslim man said to Dave, “America is great.” To which he responded, “No. God is great,” which is actually a very common Muslim phrase of worship not unlike our Christian, “Praise the Lord.”

“Are you Muslim?” asked the man excitedly when he heard that.

After some thought, Dave replied, “I am a student of Jesus Christ.”

Notice he didn’t say, “I am a Christian,” which would have put him at odds with the Muslim man. Actually, Muslims are students of Jesus Christ too.

“Initiate open ended conversations that will eventually lead to Jesus,” Anderson said over and over. “Seek common ground even though the core of the message is missing.”

How often do we do that?

Last September, we had as global crisis on our hands because a pastor in Florida wanted to burn a copy of the Koran in retaliation for the memory of 9/11/2001. Anderson said that had he succeeded, it would have ended World Vision’s presence in any and all Muslim countries of the world.

Seek common ground. Initiate open-ended conversations that will eventually lead to Jesus. Not a bad way to operate with everyone. Cast aside fear and get smart.

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Community: All For One, One For All

“All for one, one for all” was the motto of the Three Musketeers. It could very easily be the motto of the church. As a people who follow Jesus Christ, you could say that we are all for One, and that One is for all of us. At least, that’s the way it should be. Sometimes though, it seems that the church has become more “all for us.”

I think that Jesus had the same idea as Alexandre Dumas when he established his Church, his Body. Scripture records Jesus teaching the importance of our relationships within a community of his followers. In Matthew 5:21-22, he says that treating others with anger or contempt puts us in danger of judgement. In verses 23-24 of the same chapter, Jesus tells us to get our relationships put right before we come to worship him (Hmmm, I wonder how many places would be empty on Sunday mornings if we really believed that). I think it is interesting that in those verses Jesus tells us to go and be reconciled with our brother or sister if they have anything against us. He doesn’t put that responsibility on the one who has been offended, and he doesn’t tell us to go if we think we are responsible for offending someone. In Matthew 18, Jesus does direct us to go to those who sin, but again, the goal is reconciliation. And, let’s face it, almost all of our problems within a community are due to things other than direct sin (although sin can result because of those things).
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the church as a body. To me, this chapter contains a perfect picture of what a community of faith is. It’s a body. Think about your body. Does your hand deliberately form a fist and hit your nose with it? Of course not! If your hand accidentally moves in a way that causes it to strike your nose and cause it to bleed, does your hand say, “Oh, well. I didn’t mean it, so I don’t need to do anything.” No, your hand is involved in getting tissues and holding them to your nose and trying to stop the bleeding. Every part of the body is important, no matter how small or weak. If any part of the body is hurt, the rest of the body feels that pain. A bad headache can cause the stomach to feel sick. An imbalance in the feet can cause damage to the knees, or a misalignment of the spine. The body is designed by the Creator to function as one, and when it does we see the glory of a great athlete or a prima ballerina.
Christ’s body is also designed to function as one. In John 17:11, Jesus asks the Father to make us one, just as he and the Father are one. When the body of Jesus functions as one, we see the glory of grace, the beauty of love, and the Kingdom of God is built up. When that body stubs it’s toe, or when a hand accidentally flies up and causes hurt to another part, that damage must be repaired. If it is not, the result is a deformed caricature of a body that is ugly and repulsive. The result is a body that does not bring glory to its Creator.
All for one, one for all. What would things be like if Christ’s body on this earth lived by that motto?