Developing Faith

After the sermon I had a great conversation with someone about the need for church to be a place where one can explore faith so they can move from "affiliative" to "mature" faith. He said that he could recognize himself in each of the stages of faith development described in the sermon. However, when he entered the "searching" stage, church was not a safe place for him to bring his questions. When church wasn't open to exploring his questions he finally just said, "forget it" and his faith development went out the window for a few decades.

One doesn't have to think very much at all to come up with half a dozen or more topics that make people sweat (myself included) when brought up in Bible class. This long term member remarked that we as a congregation have become a safer place for such exploration than perhaps we have been in the past. To me that is evidence that we as a church are still adding rings of maturity to our faith tree! May we continue to grow.

Checking Our Vision

I thought the video we saw at the end of the service today was a good reminder of why we have initiated the project "Checking Our Vision." As we watched images of Clear Lake it occurred to me that God really has placed us in this strategic location on purpose. What are the works that he has "prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10)? As the present body of Christ we are to be about the same things Jesus was committed to doing when he was in his earthly body. But what are those works that God has specifically called us to focus our attention upon? We can't be expected to do every good work possible. Surely he has uniquely gifted and equipped us to accomplish some very specific works. I want to encourage everyone who is a member at Clear Lake Church to give your prayerful input and perspective so that together we can discern God's desire for our church. If you're ready to put your input into words click here. If you would like some more instruction into what we are doing and why, click here.

Motivation for Doing Good Works

Here's the picture that technical difficulties kept me from showing this morning. Now that is a fish who is completely in his element! I was talking with a visitor after the services about "doing good" to others. He made the remark that when he does good things for others it makes him feel good. That is not surprising since, as we saw from Ephesians 2:10, we were made to do good works. When we live the way we were made to live it just feels right. We were made to live a life characterized by doing good.

By the way, someone suggested that the reason we had video problems this morning was bad karma. Hmmmmmm. (To understand the humor behind this comment, please listen to the sermon at clearlakechurch.com)

Do-Gooder vs. Good-Doer

I heard a public service announcement today that was encouraging people to do good to others. They recommended things like working at a soup kitchen. I was glad to hear a radio advertisement that was promoting the concept of doing good deeds. The announcement was encouraging people to be "good-doers" so that they could receive good karma. While it is always proper to do good to others, Jesus offers us much better motivation than the personal good feelings one receives from such service. Jesus said, ". . . let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) You are to "let your light shine" not to "shine your light". The difference is that when a follower of Jesus lives out his or her true identity the light of God shines through their good deeds. Doing good, therefore, is simply a Christian allowing Christ to live his life through them.

Keep Swinging

With today's post this blog has been up for exactly one year. It was last Father's Day that we experimented with doing a service exclusively focused on men. Because of the success of that sermon we decided to do it again. It appears it may become a tradition for us.

"Man church" appears to be a bit hit but I'm not sure of the effectiveness of continuing the blog. It gets around 50 hits a week even if the comments are very sparse. For those of you who read the blog let me know if you think it is worth continuing.

Speaking of this morning's sermon, I know it's hard to believe this cute little scout went .000 one season in little league baseball but it's true. One entire season without a single hit.

The Secret of Being Content

The concept of recognizing desires and setting proper goals has truly been life changing for me personally. When I catch myself becoming angry or depressed I can almost always, upon reflection, trace the source of my frustration back to blocked goals. God has even limited himself to follow the concept of "goals and desires". His Desire is that no one would "perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9). However, since God will not force people to choose his way against their own will, there will be many that do perish. This is not because God does not desire them to be saved -- but because they do not choose Him. However, because his desire to see all saved is so strong His Goal was accomplished in sending his Son, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Contentment comes when we can separate our goals and desires. We work to accomplish our goals and pray for our desires. In this way we can keep perspective on what our true responsibilities are without carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders.

Peace that Transcends all Understanding

I don't know how many people told me that after last week's sermon they rented "Facing the Giants". If you have not watched the movie I highly recommend it. In a couple of weeks we will be returning to the series "Reel Prayer" where I show movie clips with each sermon. However, there are not many movies I can recommend without at least some reservation. "Facing the Giants" is a wonderful family movie where you will never find yourself struggling to quickly fast forward over a scene or hit the mute button.

The Apostle Paul really set the bar high when he calls on us to have the mind of Christ. It is so unnatural that it does not "feel" right; at least initially. Over the long haul however, having the mind of Christ is the only true path to joy, peace, and contentment. Someone spoke to me after the sermon and described some of the persecution they endure on a regular basis. On their job they often suffer humiliation, insults, and unjust criticism. Responding with gentleness instead of retaliation is sure to be noticed. In the end it will be those who are full of hatred and criticism who will be miserable; the one with the mind of Christ will be able to sleep at night with a heart full of peace.