Salt and Light

Well happy Wednesday everyone. As I was out on my morning 20 mile bike ride this morning. (And for those of you who think I am lying about the 20 miles you can join me any day at my house at 7am for what I call the ride to glory) However, now that I am off of that hobby horse I was listening to a fellow pastor speak a sermon on the passage in Matthew 5 about salt and light and all I can say is that it rocked my world. Here are some thoughts that I had during my ride with God this morning.

• the people that Jesus was addressing were living in the middle of financial, political, and religious unrest.

• they were desiring something different and were hoping Jesus was going to provide it. I mean if he was the Messiah wasn't that kind of in his job description. You know come to earth, save the world, rescue the down cast, heal the sick, fix all of our problems.

• They were shocked at his answers.
  

All of this unrest, and all of this oppression, and all of these problems, the people needed something different. Quite frankly our country has been in this state for years now. We have a financial system that has been based on fabrication, a political system that is limping along and quite frankly the worst thing of all is a religious system that is completely anemic. The third system is the one that I want to talk about because I think it is the one that Jesus addresses in him communication to the people in the book of Matthew. Here is his declaration.

• You are the salt of the earth.

Notice that the very first word out of his mouth is not I am the salt of the earth but He put the ownership on them. He said "You are the salt". I think that this is interesting because salt back in those days was not used just to make things taste better. Salt in those days was made to keep things from rotting. It was a preservative. I think what we have done in our culture today is we have made the story of Jesus something that if people would just add a little dash of it their lives would be better. When the major problem is that our world is rotting away around us and people's lives are rotting away around them and they do not need a little dash of salt to make things taste better they need some radical, preservative, transformation that can only come from the salt of the earth and Jesus said you (the ones who call yourselves Followers of Jesus) are the preservative agents you and I are the ones who can offer that preservative that comes from Jesus and many of us simply satisfied with just giving out a dash.

Jesus goes on to say that when we loss our effectiveness in being the preservative agents in our culture then we are good for nothing and should be thrown out. The reason that the church has been so ineffective in the past decade or so is because it has lost its saltiness. And I believe that there is a new generation of leaders in our churches today that are saying "by what ever means necessary I am going to stand up and proclaim the name of Jesus, I am going to be a preservative no matter the cost" I am so glad I a part of this revolution.

• "you are the light of the world"

The second point Jesus makes is that "you are the light of the world". I think that this is interesting because in our culture light is taken for granted so many times but in the culture that Jesus was talking to they understood the importance of light. Light was used to give direction on a journey. (God used this in the old testament with the children of Israel. Exodus 13) Light was used for protection. I don't know if the power has ever gone out in your neighborhood and there are no street light and no other house lights on for as far as you can see but in those time you feel the most vulnerable to invasion. Light was used to protect. Light was also used to provide. It provided heat for cold nights, provided fire for cooking meals. So here is what Jesus is saying here. He says you are complaining about what is going on around you, however, you have light that someone else needs and you are keeping it to yourself. You have something that can provide for someone else and yet you are hiding it or better yet hording it. He tells them that this is not way to live as a Follower of Him.

I am more excited than ever before about the opportunities that we have to share Jesus with people and be the true preservative agents and light for our culture. I believe that change is coming to our culture and I believe that it is going to start with the change that God wants to begin in us. Let's go change the world for Jesus sake.

Just Say It Already

So I stated last week that Monday was going to be leadership day for my blog. Well let me just preface this first one by saying that Mondays for me are not my big mercy days. Not that I have a lot on any other days either but Mondays are: let's just say shoot straight days. So here goes on my first leadership bullets for this blog.

• "Just say it already"

I have been in so many conversations with people over the years where there was so much said that had nothing to do with what needed to be said that it kills me. Quite frankly I have been the one initiating those types of conversations many times. When I think about why I choose to engage in conversation like that rather that get straight to the point I really had to unpack my reasoning behind it and this is what I came up with so here goes.

1. We don't just say it because we are afraid of what may happen if we do. But I think sometimes the better question is what happens if we don't. What will we sacrifice in our ministry or leadership or life if we choose not to engage in those Fierce Conversation. (this web site is part of Susan Scott's material from her book with the same title. Great stuff)
   
2. We don't just say it because we think it will work itself out. Quite frankly it does sometimes and maybe we have gained a small victory, but in the process lost some desire to communicate with the other person. When this happens distance is created in the relationship.
3. We don't just say it because we avoid a fight that way. I can tell you that for me this is true. When people come to me with issues about me that I disagree with I typically get angry first and get rational second. I am not saying that this is good, it is just the way I am and because of that I think that people who know me best may not even "just say it" to me. (side note this is not an call to everyone who has ever wanted to tell me something to come out of the wood works. I did not say I had a handle on it yet) HA HA

Maybe we need to take a que from the master confronter Jesus about just saying it. I was studying last week for my message and I was using the passage in John 4 about the woman at the well and Jesus engages her in conversation and the communication does not go very long until Jesus "Just says it" He lays out in front of her just who she is and what her life is like and in that moment she has to respond. There is no small talk, Jesus gets straight to the point because He know that if the woman deals with that issue many of the other things will fall in line.

Maybe this week you need to have some of those "Just Say It Already" conversations and see what happens. hey at least you will not have to spend 3 hours talking about nothing and get nothing resolved. Just know that in these types of conversations there is someone else involved and they may not respond the way that you want them to immediately. Give them time to process everything and consider coming back for a follow-up conversation.

Talk to you all Wednesday

relevant update halloween

It's Been A While

Well I was shocked to see how long it has been since I last blogged. And quite frankly I guess I just got out of the swing of things. I have since turned to Twittering because they are short bits of thoughts and I can then move on. I guess some would call this laziness while other may just assume that I have nothing really to say. Both of which could be true on any given day. So what I have decided to do is at least post something new three times per week. One will be spiritual in nature, one will be personal, and one will be leadership oriented. I think this will help me be accountable to actually do it and I will have implemented a system. So we will try it and see how things go. Here will be the schedule:

Monday- Sunday reflections/ leadership "careful I am sometimes grumpy on Monday

Wednesday- Spiritual

Friday- Personal/ update This will probably be via video so we will see how that goes.

Since today is Wednesday and we are launching this thing today I guess I need to talk about something spiritual. Well this morning I was able to visit a dear friend who was recently involved in what should have been a fatal motorcycle accident, however my friend Fred Stubbs is now in a rehab facility doing amazing. I know that this does not sound extremely spiritual but when I was with him this morning he was sharing how he has so much more to do for God and BTW he is 70 years young. I could not help but think of all of the people in the Bible who when they were old they we still doing great things for God. Moses, Abraham, Noah, David and many many more. When I looked at Fred and the adversity he has endured through the past few months and then compared it to the men of the Bible who were up there in years I was struck with something. I meet a ton of young church planters and pastors who get mad and even run at the first sign of adversity and yet this man I was with today was saying I want to endure through this adversity so that I can have more opprotunities to share Jesus with people. WOW!! I think Fred has once again taught me something. Adversity does not prevent you from ministering, it can actually enable you to minister on a whole new level. Thanks Fred!! you have taught me something one again. I think I understand Paul's passage a little better now.

Phillipians 4:11-13 (NLT)
11Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. 12I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.

I will choose to live in the moment that God has given me now and realize I will never have this opportunity again. So I will make the most of it. People around all of us today need to know that they can make it and it is our responsibility to let them know that they can through the power of Jesus. Thanks for modeling that Fred.