What I Won’t Be Saying In Chapel
I’m speaking in chapel on Wednesday. Here is what I won’t be saying, though it was on my heart to say it, and would fit in with the message:
Everyone is NOT here because God wants them to be here.
Some of these people are outside of God’s will and that is why they are here.
Yes, God may want you to be here, it may be in His plans for you to do, learn and share great things, but you have free will. You chose to send in an application. You chose to accept and send in a deposit. You chose to enroll. You have free will. Others are running from what God has for you and that is why you are here.
Do you really believe that God forced you to come here? Is all of your life happenings completely by divine fiat? Does that include your sin? Are you where you aren’t supposed to be because God made you go there as well? Or is it only the good places wherein God supersedes your freedom of choice?
You can be on the wrong path and be in a “good” place. Churches are filled with people who are in the wrong seats: maybe that’s why “you’re not being fed.” So are some marriages: who said that God brought you together in the first place?
So take stock of your location as it stands before God. Don’t assume that being surrounded by Christians in a godly place means that you’re in the center of God’s will for your life.
I went to ENC years ago, and was in Gospel Choir, with a girl who stated that she knew she wasn’t supposed to be at ENC; this was her third school, and nothing was going right, because she was avoiding what it was that God wanted from her. Three schools, a lot of time, money and wasted energy avoiding what God wanted, but if she kept going to Christian schools in the area He might change His mind in regards to her life.
I call that stupid. Don’t be stupid.
That’s the end of my rant about that.
You can only imagine why I’m not going to go down this road in the middle of chapel.
Three Wrong Doors
Some thoughts from Chapel today.
There are three wrong doorways to Jesus: fear, need, and tradition.
Fear: You did the math and figured out that Hell doesn’t sound like fun. So you bought fire insurance. You prayed the magic prayer, and asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins. So you could avoid Hell, not so you could follow Jesus. ? You came to Him to avoid Hell and, as far as you know, you’ve obtained that golden ticket. Why would you continue to follow Him more closely, live the life He wants you to have, when your need has already been met
Need: You were cleansed of your addiction, terrible situation, depression, anxiety, guilt, loneliness, or any other host of things that held you back. There was something that you were missing, or something that you had, that you needed to get or lose. Jesus took care of that. So why would you follow after Him further if you got exactly what you signed on for?
Tradition: You were raised in the church. You’ve lived the life. You’ve done the steps, in time to the divine music you were taught, perfectly, or close enough. You’ve avoided the “big sins” as a lifestyle choice, because that’s what you’ve always done. You don’t know any better, or any worse. Sin is something to be avoided or pitied, and Jesus will reward you for keeping your family happy, keeping His laws, and not committing all the fun forms of debauchery that those other people do, with your eternal pleasure in heaven. So why would you follow after Jesus, when you already know everything, and your reward is secure?
I was caught with how closely this tied with conversations in classroom management in terms of motivation – do we only reward or punish students into learning the material or behaving in certain ways? Should extrinsic motivations determine our actions over intrinsic ones?
Do we follow Jesus based on a quid pro quo system or because we want Him?
Are we astonished by who Jesus is, or just content with the present/future tangible and social benefits we receive and pain we avoid?
Scattered Thought
. . .“taste and see” implies my love must be earned . . .
“take Heed” (sermon)
Back speaking at Bethany Gospel Chapel in Swansea Ma on 11-8-09.
Taking Heed to Your Ministry (Click for Sermon)
Main texts:
Colossians 4:17 & Revelation 3:14-22
Main ideas:
The idea of service/ministry; How we can listen to what God will have us do, and how we can serve Him without letting our self perceptions, our wealth, our status, our short comings, or anything else, get in the way.
Repeated Sound Byte:
“The things that we take the most pride, security and comfort in are the very things holding us back from following after God.”
The Golden Rule Is Crap (a Facebook Debate)
My former co-worker posted a note about the Golden Rule. I replied. What follows is the debate/discussion which ensued.
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“Treat others like you want to be treated” has been espoused by parents, schools, and churches for centuries, if not millenia, as the moral ground to which we must aspire in order to be kind and caring human beings. While this platitude is almost universally accepted as the path to personal fulfillment and world peace, I tell you here and now, in front of God Almighty and anybody else who cares to read my occasional Facebook rant , that it is, in fact, a steaming pile of crap. And here is why…
Exactly what kind of monster egomaniac would I have to be in order to believe that every other human on this planet wants to be treated the same way I do? Have I actually attained God’s ideal state of human perfection to such a degree that all of humanity should imitate my particular wants and needs?
I, like most teachers, see 120 to 150 kids a day. Some of them need a warm, fuzzy hug, and we should give them that when appropriate. Some of them need a swift kick in the ass, and we should give them that, too. Some need someone to listen to them, and some need to be told to shut the hell up and sit down and listen to us. Some need a friend, some need a parent, and some just need a little space and to be left alone for ten minutes of peace and quiet away from everything and everyone who thinks they’re trying to “help” them through a difficult time. But whatever they need, I absolutely freakin’ guarantee that it’s not the same for every one of them, and nine times out of ten, it’s not the same thing I would need in a similar situation.
Now, the very fact that I’ve got the stones to post something so contrary to that which has been accepted as self-evident for hundreds of years indicates that I am, in fact, an egomaniac of legendary proportions (this is not news to anyone who has spoken to me for over ten minutes). But even my mania has not yet aspired to such heights as to make me believe that how I want to be treated in a given situation is how everyone else should/would want to be treated. And yet, it seems to be commonly accepted “wisdom” that this is the case among almost everyone else I know. I just don’t get it. How is it, that in the name of empathy for fellow man, we are admonished to ignore his needs and substitute our own?
Here’s a better version: “Treat others as they want to be treated.”
Here endeth my two cents’….(Subsequent replies in comments)