The Greek word for mercy is eleos and the meaning is really a pretty easy thing to understand. Mercy is the altruistic attitude of a Christian, empathizing with the unbeliever, doing everything possible to help them understand God's grace. Ok, maybe I just muddied up an easy to understand word. How about this - mercy is loving people into heaven.
Why do missionaries give up the "comforts of home" to go to an unknown place, maybe risking everything? Because their are people who need to hear that Jesus loves them. That is mercy.
Why do pastors work ridiculously long hours, often sacrificing time with their own family to study, preach, visit, counsel, comfort, challenge, plan, and more? Because their are people who need to hear that Jesus loves them. That is mercy.
Will you risk a little? Are you willing to work kinda hard? Do you know anyone who needs to hear that Jesus loves them? Show mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
hunger and thirst for righteousness
Be-attitude #4 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
When I think of hunger, I think of the moment just before I decide that I want to go to the Pizza Ranch buffet. Because in that moment, I am hungry. Hungry enough to eat a dozen slices of pizza, a huge piece of fried chicken, salad, one more piece of pizza, and then desert pizza with ice cream on top. And so I do. And then I am not hungry any more, in fact I am beyond uncomfortable and close to sick.
This is not the kind of hunger that Jesus is talking about. He is trying to create a picture of constantly wanting more. Unsatisfiable hunger. Have you ever twirled a little kid around in your arms? What do they say? "Do it again!" So you do it again and they say, "do it again!" So you do it again and they say, "do it again!" So do you get the point or do I have to do it again?
The Greek "hoi" means to be satisfied yet want more. What Jesus is teaching us is to desire His righteousness, experience it, and want more of it. The closer I am to Him, the closer it makes me want to be. I am satisfied, but I want more.
And I want a piece of desert pizza.
When I think of hunger, I think of the moment just before I decide that I want to go to the Pizza Ranch buffet. Because in that moment, I am hungry. Hungry enough to eat a dozen slices of pizza, a huge piece of fried chicken, salad, one more piece of pizza, and then desert pizza with ice cream on top. And so I do. And then I am not hungry any more, in fact I am beyond uncomfortable and close to sick.
This is not the kind of hunger that Jesus is talking about. He is trying to create a picture of constantly wanting more. Unsatisfiable hunger. Have you ever twirled a little kid around in your arms? What do they say? "Do it again!" So you do it again and they say, "do it again!" So you do it again and they say, "do it again!" So do you get the point or do I have to do it again?
The Greek "hoi" means to be satisfied yet want more. What Jesus is teaching us is to desire His righteousness, experience it, and want more of it. The closer I am to Him, the closer it makes me want to be. I am satisfied, but I want more.
And I want a piece of desert pizza.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Be-attitude #3
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Meek is not the same as weak. Jesus gives the best example of "power under control" when He interacted with the Jewish religious leaders. He very strongly confronted their pompous religiosity but without sinning. So even in conflict, Jesus loved the individual with appropriate words and actions. Proverbs teaches that "a gentle word turns away wrath."
This third beatitude is another striking example of the backwards and upside down nature of God's economy compared to man's. It would seem logical that the bold and ferocious would inherit the earth. But God says that the inheritance belongs to the mild mannered. Speaking of mild mannered, how about Superman. There is a picture of power under control. I'm not sure I am ready to make a theological parallel here, not just yet.
Next step - hunger. Is it time for lunch?
This third beatitude is another striking example of the backwards and upside down nature of God's economy compared to man's. It would seem logical that the bold and ferocious would inherit the earth. But God says that the inheritance belongs to the mild mannered. Speaking of mild mannered, how about Superman. There is a picture of power under control. I'm not sure I am ready to make a theological parallel here, not just yet.
Next step - hunger. Is it time for lunch?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Be-attitude #2
If we use the word picture of a ladder, then the beatitudes or be-attitudes, would work like this. The top of the ladder, the goal, is to be "characterized by the attitudes of God." In other words, people should look at our lives and think, "wow, they are the spitting image of their (heavenly) Daddy." So that is the top. The bottom rung on the ladder is "blessed are the poor in spirit" because the first step is admitting "I am a sinner and I have nothing to offer a Holy God that makes me worthy of forgiveness."
The second rung from the floor is "blessed are those who mourn." The issue that we are to be mourning over is our sinful condition. This is the attitude that causes us to be increasingly grief stricken and intolerant of our sinful nature. As we become more and more like Christ, we become more and more aware of how bad our flesh is. I want to attend the funeral of my selfish sinful ways, mourn that I ever thought that way, acted that way, believed those lies. I love righteousness and I really really don't like sinfulness. It makes me cry.
God, please forgive me for my sin. I justify and rationalize all sorts of things that I know are wrong. I don't want that to be true of me any longer. I want the darkness of my sinfulness to be drown out by Your brilliance.
Next step - humility.
The second rung from the floor is "blessed are those who mourn." The issue that we are to be mourning over is our sinful condition. This is the attitude that causes us to be increasingly grief stricken and intolerant of our sinful nature. As we become more and more like Christ, we become more and more aware of how bad our flesh is. I want to attend the funeral of my selfish sinful ways, mourn that I ever thought that way, acted that way, believed those lies. I love righteousness and I really really don't like sinfulness. It makes me cry.
God, please forgive me for my sin. I justify and rationalize all sorts of things that I know are wrong. I don't want that to be true of me any longer. I want the darkness of my sinfulness to be drown out by Your brilliance.
Next step - humility.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
be-attitudes
This morning I had the privilege of sharing everything I know about Matthew 5:2-12. It obviously is not much, because I threw in a couple jokes and stories and still finished in about 20 minutes. I did get some nice compliments though, so I thought it might be worth putting onto paper.
I like to refer to these statements as "be-attitudes" because they describe the attitudes that should be evident in my life.
The passage is taken from the "sermon on the mount" which ends with these words at the end of chapter 7, "...the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority and not like their teachers of the law." Not only was the content of the "speech" solid, but He clearly understood how spirituality works. The "teachers" at that time, and maybe now too, give their best advice based on their limited understanding, but the God-man, Jesus, spoke with authority. So the "blessed are those who" statements are not just good ideas, they really fall more into the category of the 10 Commandments.
The goal - to have the attributes of God evident in my life
"Blessed are the poor in spirit" is not talking about those who mope around feeling sorry for themselves. There are two Greek words for poor. One means "I ain't got much." But the word used in this verse means "I got nothin.'" It is important to understand that the first step towards spiritual maturity is admitting that when it comes to the relationship between me and God - I have nothing to offer. He offers me the free gift of salvation. I can't earn it. I can't be good enough. I can only admit that I have nothing to appease the almighty God and beg for mercy. Now God is full of mercy and eager to forgive, but I have to admit I am really, really poor when it comes to spiritual things.
Step one - confess that I am a sinner in need of God's mercy
I like to refer to these statements as "be-attitudes" because they describe the attitudes that should be evident in my life.
The passage is taken from the "sermon on the mount" which ends with these words at the end of chapter 7, "...the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority and not like their teachers of the law." Not only was the content of the "speech" solid, but He clearly understood how spirituality works. The "teachers" at that time, and maybe now too, give their best advice based on their limited understanding, but the God-man, Jesus, spoke with authority. So the "blessed are those who" statements are not just good ideas, they really fall more into the category of the 10 Commandments.
The goal - to have the attributes of God evident in my life
"Blessed are the poor in spirit" is not talking about those who mope around feeling sorry for themselves. There are two Greek words for poor. One means "I ain't got much." But the word used in this verse means "I got nothin.'" It is important to understand that the first step towards spiritual maturity is admitting that when it comes to the relationship between me and God - I have nothing to offer. He offers me the free gift of salvation. I can't earn it. I can't be good enough. I can only admit that I have nothing to appease the almighty God and beg for mercy. Now God is full of mercy and eager to forgive, but I have to admit I am really, really poor when it comes to spiritual things.
Step one - confess that I am a sinner in need of God's mercy
Thursday, February 18, 2010
New Website!!
Our new website just launched today! Horray, Horray! Today! oh, yeah!
www.twinlakescc.com
www.twinlakescc.com
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
New Website
We have been working on updating our website for weeks, but it feels like years! I had no idea that it would be such a gruelling task. The concept is simple - provide an outlet for information, easily accessible, intuitive... But the amount of time put into editing information, researching other websites and trying to grab the best ideas, and working out the bugs - unbelievable. Can you tell that I am tired of the process? Anyway, enough whining - the site is almost done and will likely post in the next day or two. And it is sweet. The look is totally new and fresh. We are working on some branding around the "fun place to get serious" tag line. So the site has some fun elements, but still provides easy access to information. Check it out. www.twinlakescc.com
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