An Article In Today's Atlanta Journal Constitution

I'm in Ontario, Canada right now, about 15 minutes from Niagara Falls where GW Canada Director Mike Zenker and I had dinner earlier. If you've never been to Niagara Falls, make the trip. It's worth it. Be sure to see it from the Canadian side. I've been here with Melanie and for ministry trips several times, but never get used to how beautiful it is. I speak tomorrow morning at Niagara Celebration Church in Niagara, then at Toronto Celebration Church in the afternoon, and back to Niagara to the same church tomorrow night. Pastor Peter Youngren has led his church into an understanding of God's grace in an amazing way. I thank the Lord for pastors like him who are teaching the pure grace of God to the churches and turning them away from the poison of legalism.

While sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting to board the flight here today, I came across an article in today's edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled, "Faithful Abandoning Church." The first line says, "The revolution has begun. Quietly, maybe, but symptoms are bubbling up." The article goes on to describe how many people "feel something is not quite right in the church." Here are a few excerpts from the article:

Every mainline Christian denomination is declining in membership. Though people are leaving church, they are keeping their faith. They include Bible studies in bars, friends starting their own churches in houses, or congregations trying a smattering of everything -- music of the Middle Ages and the latest rock anthems, Saturday morning and Thursday night meetings. Pentecostals are adopting liturgy and Episcopalians are speaking in tongues.

So they are questioning and experimenting, looking for a way to make church meaningful again. This new movement . . . will have as big an impact as the Reformation. That was the 16th century upheaval when religious thinkers split open the feather pillow that had been the monolithic belief system of the Catholic Church. No one was able to put all the feathers back into the bag and it changed the world.

Somebody asked me recently why I've focused so much lately on the grace revolution. The answer is simple -- because it's what I believe God's Spirit is doing in His church. In my Grace Vine article next month, I plan to write about how we can be a part of ushering in revolution without losing the obvious expression of the love of Christ in the process. I love the church of Jesus Christ and I trust that you do too. That's why we must rise up together in that love and carry the banner of grace to the forefront in the legalistic church world of today's culture.

We aren't against anybody. We are for Jesus Christ and for His church. Like or not, the facts are that people are leaving their local congregations in droves. They aren't tired of Jesus. They're just tired of the religious rat-race that they've been told is the Christian life. Thank God, they know better and aren't turning away from the Lord. My prayer is that those who see the legalism and smell its stench of death in the church world will band together to keep the grace revolution going forward. Too much is at stake to give up now.

If you happen to be in a church like the one where I'm preaching tomorrow (Sunday) and your pastor is a grace-filled man, you can thank God for that fact. (It wouldn't hurt to thank your pastor too.) I get mail and meet people constantly who absolutely cannot find a grace filled, gospel preaching church in their area. They are hungry. They want to see a change -- a revolutionary change. I do too and I pray it will continue to gain momentum until Christ Jesus is the only focus of the contemporary church world.

More to come on this ministry time in Canada ...

Sacred Cows

Some time ago I wrote an article in my newsletter about the danger of legalism in local churches. I was plainspoken, giving examples of what it looks like when a congregation is in the throes of legalism. Shortly after the article was published I received an email from a man who was outraged.

“How dare you be so critical of me and my church!” he wrote. He proceeded to move on from that point to give a quite articulate and thorough assessment of his opinion of me and of my ministry. I wasn’t surprised. That kind of thing has happened before and will happen again.

When I wrote him back, I reminded him that I had never met him nor had I ever been to his church. The only thing I had done was to describe what legalism looks like in practical terms. He’s the one who connected the dots. I’m not against anybody and I’m certainly not against God’s church.

Some things have become a part of the doctrine of the modern church by simple osmosis. Particular practices have been so embedded in the culture of the church that it has become almost impossible for many to know what is a legitimate part of the church and what is man made tradition that has been added on along the way. When something is done long enough and has been sanctioned by the religious powers-that-be again and again, those things reach a place of privilege where it almost seems blasphemous to question them, but they must be questioned if the grace revolution is to succeed.

Over time it isn’t unusual for sacred cows to disguise themselves as sacred doctrines and to question them risks accusation and attack from those who find great comfort in the familiar and don’t want the predictable world in which they are well vested to be knocked off kilter by the silly nuisance of truth. Revolutionaries are those who are willing to pull the mask off these sacred cows, exposing their hideous faces to the light of biblical truth. We don’t do it out of malice, but because we love our God, His Word and His church.

There’s been an undercurrent of change that has been rising to the surface in the hearts and minds of many Christians lately. A generation of believers is emerging who believe that the performance based, let’s-just-rededicate-ourselves-and-try-harder, approach to the Christian life has had its day in the sun and its time has ended.

We have embraced the growing grace revolution and are trusting in God’s Spirit at work through us and in the modern church world to turn the focus of the church away from the religious dog-and-pony show that is so prevalent today and back to the centrality of Jesus Christ.

If you join the revolution of grace and boldly proclaim the pure love of God, brace yourself. Sacred cows don't die quietly. The idea of unconditional love stands in stark contrast to the earn-your-own-way variety of performance based "Christianity" many have known. Whatever criticism you may have to take will be worth it though, because as you share the pure love of God with weary, worn-down religionists, many of them will be set free.

Think You Aren't Qualified To Lead A Grace Walk Group?

Beau Kirtner is living proof that the grace of God can transform a man. Beau leads a Grace Walk Group in Schertz, Texas and is being used to impact other lives with the grace walk message. Thank God for people like him who are willing to trust the Lord to empower them to lead a group so that others will find freedom too.

Thanks, Beau. God is using you!

Do you have a story of how God has changed your life through understanding the grace walk? Send it to me so others can be encouraged too.

Fay Came To Tampa Bay And She's Been Gentle With Us

I've watched the weather channel more since we moved to Florida than I ever have in my life. Of course, you understand why. When you live on a 500 acre island, you'd better know what's happening during the hurricane season.

You've probably seen the news about Tropical Storm Fay. They predicted that it might be a hurricane by the time it hit land. As it turned out, that wasn't the case. The storm came aground last night, about 175 miles south of us. It's windy here today, but no worse than many other days.

It's fascinating to watch the weather forecasters talk about things like this. Last night, on the local news, they warned us again and again about what might happen. It's only a storm now, but it could become a hurricane. It is heading east of us now but it could change direction during the night. Melanie and I commented that at times it almost sounded as if some of them would be disappointed if it didn't come here and blow us all away.

Now, in fairness to weather forecasters, I get it . . . to a point. They want to make sure that people take the threat seriously. After all, as Wilma and Katrina and others showed us, hurricanes are nothing to play around with when they're near.

I note, though, that the way the forecasters approach potential hurricanes is the way I've often approached threats in my life. I look into the future and begin to imagine what I'll do if this happens or that happens. At times, I've found growing anxiety about things that might happen. But like the threat from Fay last night, they usually don't happen.

I was on the tiny island of Anegada some years ago. I was talking to a taxi driver and asked her, "Have you been here during a hurricane?" "Yeah, mon" she answered. "Did you think about leaving the island before it came?" "No, mon," she said. "What do you do when you hear a hurricane is coming?" I asked her. "You make your preparations and entrust yourself to God," she said.

That's it. We aren't to be oblivious to future danger. We act wisely by making our preparations. Then we entrust ourselves to God and don't worry about it.

Restoring Ancient Landmarks

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set - Proverbs 22:28

Many years ago, Melanie and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on the island of Aruba. We walked across the natural bridge pictured in the photo here.

It was a beautiful site to see. The bridge was formed by the incoming waves of the ocean, which over time eroded the rock until the water pushed its way through the stone wall, leaving this walkway over the top. The site was such an attraction on the island that few tourists who went there didn't make the drive to see it.

Since we were there, this landmark has disappeared. After thousands of years, one day, early in the morning, the bridge collapsed into the sea. The erosion had worn it down until it caved in under its own weight.

The natural bridge reminds me of what has happened in Christendom. The greatest spiritual landmark that has ever existed is the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the bridge that reconciled sinful man to a righteous, but loving God. There is no greater vantage point from which we can see the panoramic plan that God has for mankind.

Unlike the natural bridge on Aruba, the cross will stand forever as tribute to the eternal love our God has for us. But the perception of the cross as the eternal landmark of the church is threatened by erosion caused by the constant incoming tides of legalism. Don't misunderstand. The cross will stand forever, but if the murky waters of legalism continue to wash into our churches, its beauty will continue to erode. The Apostle Paul said that "Christ has become of no effect" when that happens. (See Galatians 5:4)

As a child, I often heard about the danger of the tides of liberalism in the church. Nowadays, I see the tides of legalism as a greater threat. Christ-loving, Bible-carrying, church-going Christians everywhere are often oblivious to the danger of the incoming current into the church.

When we focus more on what we should do, than what He has done - that's dangerous.
When the focus in a church is on pastors and programs more than Christ, that's dangerous.
When we focus more on "bringing in" than "reaching out," that's dangerous.

If a person who had never been exposed to Christianity visited your church, what would they leave saying was the most important thing among the people there? Christ? Programs? Building plans? Activities?

Don't think I'm suggesting that buildings or plans or activities are inherently wrong. I'm simply saying that when they take preeminence over Christ, those very things have become the waves that will erode our witness for Christ.

It's time to restore the ancient landmark by making sure that Jesus Christ is front in center in everything we do.

We Sorrow Not, As Those Who Have No Hope - The Apostle Paul

Wow, Whod'a Thunk It?

I've never met THAT WOMAN and unlike some politicians, I'm telling the truth :)

Oversaved

I love to laugh and this is a guy who made me laugh. Sometimes I talk about people who are more religious than they are spiritual. If you've ever wondered what that means, Michael Jr. gives the perfect answer . . . they're oversaved! :)

Frenzy And Friends

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

One of the big problems I've had all my adult life is finding a good balance when it comes to work. As a legalistic pastor, I was a workaholic. Some people actually think that being a workaholic is a virtue. I've actually heard some confess it about themselves with pride, but it's not a virtue. It's a flesh pattern. There may be numerous reasons for people being a workaholic, but a big one is an inner need to prove our worth to ourselves by what we accomplish. For years I felt guilty when I couldn't point to something productive I had done at the end of the day.

I have grown beyond the place where I beat myself up for not having accomplished something measurable every day, but I still have a tendency to overextend myself at times when it comes to commitments to doing things. I usually realize that's what I'm doing when I begin to feel frustrated instead of fulfilled by my work. I remember one time, years ago, asking my friend Bill Gillham, "Do you ever look at your schedule and groan?" In his fatherly and folksy way, he answered, "Brother, you have too many things on your plate."

Yep, I tend to do that. Yesterday two things happened that the Lord used to speak to me about this again. The first was when my friend, Dave Lesniak, shared the passage at the top of this blog with me.

In that text, the Apostle Paul says that divine love will cause us to grow in insight so that we are able to discern what is best. The NAS uses the word "excellent" instead of "best." The key here is that our Father wants us to be able to distinguish between good things and God things. Just because something may be a good thing to do doesn't mean it is the best way to spend our time and energy. When we discern which is which, we will live a lifestyle "filled with the fruit of righteousness" instead of filled with the frenzy of religion. Legalistic religion demands, "More! More! More!" while Jesus sometimes says, "Come apart and rest awhile" (see Mark 6:31). To live a life of excellence means that we don't say yes to every "opportunity" that comes along, but instead that we determine what our Father would have us to do and then focus on those and only those things.

As our Father tends to do, later in the day He spoke to me again when Melanie and I were with our friends, Gary and Dianne Tjaden at P.F. Changs. For "some reason" Gary began to question me about the amount of free time I take. To get to the point, I confessed to him that sometimes I'm not good at free time. I thought I'd dodged the bullet when we moved on to other subjects, until right before we left when he asked, "So, can I hold you accountable about this?" God has a way of not letting you off the hook when He wants to get His point across - have you noticed that?

So here I am, deciding again to say no when I need to say no . . . planning to walk out of the office when it's time to do that . . . intending to pace myself ... purposing to focus on the excellent things and forget the extra things that don't matter, and hoping to have the sense to know the difference.

Boy oh boy, I'm a slow learner about some things. Can you relate?

Anyway, thank God for friends who cut through our lives with loving words of truth. I know Jesus isn't frenzied. Never has been, never will be. God is glorified when we learn that fact and live in light of it. But, as they say, "it sure ain't easy sometimes!"

Christian The Lion

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

Charles Spurgeon On Grace

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."—Romans 6:14, 15.

ast Sabbath morning I tried to show that the substance and essence of the true gospel is the doctrine of God's grace—that, in fact, if you take away the grace of God from the gospel you have extracted from it its very life-blood, and there is nothing left worth preaching, worth believing, or worth contending for. Grace is the soul of the gospel: without it the gospel is dead. Grace is the music of the gospel: without it the gospel is silent as to all comfort. I endeavoured also to set forth the doctrine of grace in brief terms, teaching that God deals with sinful men upon the footing of pure mercy: finding them guilty and condemned, he gives free pardons, altogether irrespective of past character, or of any good works which may be foreseen. Moved only by pity he devises a plan for their rescue from sin and its consequences—a plan in which grace is the leading feature. Out of free favour he has provided, in the death of his dear Son, an atonement by means of which his mercy can be justly bestowed. He accepts all those who place their trust in this atonement, selecting faith as the way of salvation, that it may be all of grace. In this he acts, from a motive found within himself, and not because of any reason found in the sinner's conduct, past, present, or future. I tried to show that this grace of God flows towards the sinner from of old, and begins its operations upon him when there is nothing good in him: it works in him that which is good and acceptable, and continues so to work in him till the deed of grace is complete, and the believer is received up into the glory for which he is made meet. Grace commences to save, and it perseveres till all is done. From first to last, from the "A" to the "Z" of the heavenly alphabet, everything in salvation is of grace, and grace alone; all is of free favour, nothing of merit. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God," "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."

During the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon was known as "The Prince of Preachers." He was the Billy Graham of his day. While I don't necessarily agree with all he taught, I think this excerpt from one of his sermons on God's grace is tremendous.

Go To Hell (I Didn't Say It...Paul Did)

I don't think the Apostle Paul would do well in the climate of today's church world. The most popular preachers these days are those who make everybody love them by their winsome personalities and gentle words. That wouldn't fly with Paul. He made it clear that the goal of causing people to like him wasn't on his radar anywhere. (See Galatians 1:10)

He was on a mission to spread a message and his passion sometimes overran a proper protocol of what most would consider good manners. In fact, most church folks today might develop a nervous tick around him. To tell the truth, I would have been nervous about asking him to be a guest speaker in the churches where I served as pastor. He's the kind of guy about whom I used to say, "You have to put out fires after he speaks at your church." The things that man would say took more nerve than I have, that's for sure.

For instance, what would you think if you heard a preacher today say, "If somebody else tells you something different about the gospel than what I've told you, he can go to hell."? I suppose that even the fact that I raise this question may cause you to wince. It sounds wrong even to ask such a thing, doesn't it? That's because you've been conditioned by the politically correct world you live in today. The fact is that the Apostle Paul said exactly that. Where? Galatians 1:8. Here's how various translations put it:

NASV: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

NIV: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

KJV: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Good News Translation: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell!

The translators in this list who had the nerve to give the closest literal meaning was the last one. May he be "condemned to hell" they rightly say.

The word "accursed" is the Greek word anathema. It means to be set aside and doomed for destruction. The commonly understood meaning was to be sentenced to hell. So Paul knew exactly what he was saying.

In fact, to make sure people knew it wasn't a slip of the tongue due to a momentary surge of emotion and lapse in judgment, he repeats in verse nine: "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

Whew, Paul you make me nervous. Go ahead and talk that way if you want to, but don't expect me to follow you on that one.

Whatever you think about his approach, one thing is for sure. He felt so passionate about the subject of grace that he was willing to say that anybody could go to hell who taught something different.

They're hard words, but they are in the Bible, spoken by one that most people might call the greatest Christian who ever lived. I'm not asking you to follow suit with your terminology, but I do think it's time that those of us who love the message of grace step up to the plate and speak boldly about what we know is true.

A grace revolution is underway and it won't be carried forward by people who are too afraid to plainly speak the truth. Be bold. What's at risk in the modern church is too important for us to be tentative about what we're doing.