In order to see our prayers answered, we want to put some effort into achieving some new goals in the new year.  Although New Year’s Resolutions are often scoffed for being useless, we view them in a more positive light, knowing that we all need fresh starts from time to time.  We will be considering the book of Philippians, hoping to learn a more ‘muscular Christianity’ that matters, a faith that is willing to be poured out.

Paul says that the key to that kind of life is the JOY that comes with living a life sacrificed for the sake of God.  May you experience his joy in the New Year!

As we dig into the Scriptures, we are making our first attempt at creating a Live Event on You Version for smart phones and computers.  As soon as we make this successful, we will add more and more info to the event, including sermon scripture references and notes.

Try clicking on the link below, OR download the YouVersion bible to your smart phone and click on ‘Live’.

Athens Vineyard Live Event

In the spirit of watchfulness, I submit to you some ‘lightly modernized’ words of Jonathan Edwards, who ministered in the midst of some profound revival.  Here’s a warning he offered to those who catch the kind of evangelistic fervor I have been praying for and teaching about :

Spiritual pride is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christianity.

It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.

It is the main source of all the mischief the devil introduces, to clog and hinder a work of God.

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt.  But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity.

Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself.

He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart.

The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies.

But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts.

He is apt to esteem others better than himself.

—Jonathan Edwards, “Thoughts on the Revival,” Works (Edinburgh, 1979), I:398-400.

If you can, be at the Athens Vineyard March 28.  It would be really great if some of you who have moved away could be here that day.  We’ll celebrate in church, and then have a party for Lunch at Last.

And if you bring dessert, make sure it’s a birthday cake!!

As I drove on to work, the incident made me stop and think seriously about my death.  Don’t think me too morbid.  I had a NT professor once who confessed that he lay awake at night thinking of his death on a regular basis.  He was 38 at the time.

I listened to the song over and over as I drove, imagining the band at the Vineyard, with all the electric guitar players stepping up to play various solos.  The song tells the story of a friend who had died too young, but whose work would live on.  Here’s the pertinent line in the song:  “Ascend may you find no resistance, Know that you made such a difference, All you leave behind will live to the end.”

What on earth am I doing that is really making a difference?  And especially, what am I leaving behind that will live to the end?!?  Now I understand the sentimentality that accompanies the experience of telling your friend goodbye, and the emotion of wanting to say to them that they mattered.  I’ll let you say those words without protest.

I spoke on the parable of the talents this past weekend.  That story will get you thinking about your life, and meeting Jesus when you die.

It does you (us all) a world of good to pause on a regular basis, and ask whether you’re living the life you were created to live.  And when your master returns and meets with you to settle up, will he refer to you as ‘good and trustworthy’ or ‘evil and lazy/irksome’?

For one thing, it will be pretty hard to answer that if you don’t know what you’re for.  Spend time thinking about what you’re made for.  What’s your life mission?  Or, what’s the fire that burns in your core?  If you could really be known for something, what would it be?  What do you want to be remembered for?  What if you really could make a difference?  What would you want that to look like?

A friend once told me that he wanted to live such a life that when he died, no church in town would be able to hold the crowd.  His intention wasn’t to be famous, but to be that well loved, which required him to live well.  That’s a noble goal.

I’m not sure that’s quite what I’m digging for here, though. I’m not talking about simply being a quality person (which IS worthy) but what are you called to DO?

As I imagined that band playing my funeral, I wanted to think that what I had started in my short days was so important that someone would think, “We can’t let this work stop.”  Frankly, I don’t want to waste my life.  I have no need to be famous, but thinking about my funeral has been a real motivator to know what I’m for, and not to waste my life.

But in case I’m near the end, we’ve got to get Blackbird covered.  Let’s see,

Derek and Taylor should do the vocals
On electric guitar, I want Ryan, Matt, Jonathon, and Chris
Ian and Tim can carry all the percussion
Matt and Josh can carry the bass . . .

Thus the season of Lent begins.

A lot of Christians, on the other hand, don’t observe lent at all.  But they’ll hear others talk about what they’re giving up for lent.  Usually, people give up something like meat, chocolate, alcohol, or some other type of food.  Others give up things like complaining, movies, or maybe Facebook.  I even read from a few people who were giving up giving up, or giving up religion.  Whatever.

But, what’s the point?

Giving up things for Lent (40 days before Easter, excluding Sundays) is a way of imitating Jesus who withdrew into the wilderness for 40 days, fasting and praying before his ministry began.  In denying ourselves some pleasure or good thing, we’re also remembering the sacrifices Jesus made for us, joining him in that self denial.  The scriptures teach that Jesus endured the cross ‘for the joy set before him‘ and I think about that whenever I fast, or deny myself something for the sake of Jesus.  Whatever I’m giving up can result in a joyous end.

As a matter of fact, Paul talked about how losing all his earthly gains and credentials were worth it as long as they resulted in him gaining Christ.  Compared to knowing Jesus, all this stuff we think is important, is rubbish.

So, why don’t you join me this Lenten season, and intentionally deny yourself something, especially something that distracts you from Jesus.  All that business about being mortal and all, that’s pretty true.  The clock is ticking, and time is passing by.  All those opportunities to gain Christ . . . well why not use this Lenten season to give something up that will work to your advantage?

Fletcher is a licensed marriage counselor and brings knowledge and a passion for this extremely important area of our church.  He will be letting you know the vision and mission of this Life Team, as well as some of our ideas and plans.

Our first event will be Saturday, February  6th, from 10 AM to noon.  It will be a round table discussion of the topic Communicating with the Opposite Sex.  Singles and Marrieds are welcome.  Childcare will be available (RSVP Robin Wise 706-310-1736).

Be looking forward to monthly events, along with retreats, workshops, support groups, and more.

Lots of my friends have tattoos.  Sometimes they ask me if I’m ever going to get one.  I always say that it would need to be something that has significant meaning to me.  Storms are one of those things, but I can’t imagine being satisfied with a little storm on my bicep.  It would have to be huge and intimidating to fit the image I have of a decent storm.

Life has been stormy around here lately. When you’re in the middle of it, you wonder if it’s going to destroy you, don’t you? I was water skiing one time as a boy and my mom was driving the boat.  A storm blew in, and we were hustling back to our dock/lodging.  I was huddled down on my seat under a towel when lightning struck the water somewhere  nearby. I remember it being the loudest sound I had ever heard.  I was fully expecting electricity to light us up and throw us onto the shore. Maybe that’s when I really learned to pray! But we made it back safely, and soon the storm blew over.

During Push (our pre-service prayer time) on Sunday, one of the men reported something he saw. He explained that storms around here (GA) usually hug the ground, and all you can see in the midst of the storm is more storm.  But he had been places (Texas) where he would see the storm rise up, and when you looked toward the horizon, you could see light on the other side. That’s what he saw; a dark storm, but  when you looked toward the horizon, you could see light on the other side of the storm. (click on picture above). As a former farmer from West Texas, I know that picture.  We always knew that a storm wasn’t terribly intense when you could see daylight on the other side.

What he saw has been a great source of encouragement to me. The longer I walk this life out, the more confidence I have in our God who loves to rescue, grow, discipline, teach, stretch and shape.  And he regularly uses storms to do it. Learning his ways builds trust in him – read faith. Maybe even more than when he makes life easy, storms followed by rescue/deliverance build faith. Storms blow in, and you start looking around for how he’s going to rescue you this time. For him to give us a picture of hope and light on the other side of this storm is quite comforting.

Embrace?

This article got me thinking about happiness and our unquenchable thirst for it.  The article is about online dating, and how it can be risky, esp. since it feeds our insatiable need to follow unrealistic feelings which are built upon scary foundations. Here’s a quote from the article:

We are living in a “Have it your way” culture. When we want it we got it, from on-line shopping with next day delivery, to bootleg movies being sent to our cell phones before coming to theatres. We have created a culture in which we expect to get what we want when we want it, and in the way we like it. It is no wonder then that on-line dating has exploded as a means for finding that special someone. Just log on to the site and search through a menu-list for your perfect soul mate.

What we do, however, is find this perfect soul mate, and a few years later, dump them for a more perfect soul mate.  After all, I haven’t been happy for a long time!

But such we are.  We have been trained in our world that we deserve happiness and have the right to pursue such happiness, regardless the cost to others around us.  J.P. Moreland does an outstanding job of pointing out, in several places, that our definition of happiness is  a pleasurable feeling, specifically, a sense of pleasurable satisfaction.  He goes on to demonstrate that due to its fragile and volatile core, we can never keep this feeling going.  We’re left with longings, tied in with a disconcerting feeling that we’ve been cheated, and we go on our journey in the pursuit of happiness, which we can never ultimately find – at least not the way we understand it.  We actually end up depressed in the midst of abundance.  I cannot recommend highly enough the two books linked above.  You see, people of old (like those who first wrote about the pursuit of happiness during our country’s founding) defined happiness as a life well lived, a life of virtue and character, a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness.

The implications of our current pursuit of happiness are at least 2 fold.  1) we’ve been duped.  Our goal is impossible to attain.  2) it makes us self-centered and selfish.   If we had grown up with the classic definition of happiness stated above, we wouldn’t be living selfish lives pursuing feelings of happiness, but we might have a shot at living the kind of life that yields a deeper sense of a life well lived (and feelings of well being, satisfaction, and – happiness?)

Honestly, look at your life, and think of how many decisions you make based on what will give you those pleasurable feelings we call happiness.  How often do you feel cheated by life because you don’t have those feelings more often.

Working in the field I do, I am constantly torn by this dilemma.  You see, I have a really merciful disposition, so when someone is in my office telling me how unhappy she is with her husband, or he’s explaining why he doesn’t like to sacrifice for people who have less than he, because . . ., well, I feel their pain.  I find myself identifying with them and their pain.  It’s how I’m gifted.  But if I give in to it, I cheat them out of redemptive truth.

Someone close to me recently left her husband for a wealthy man.  She’s “happier than she’s ever been.”  It’s those fragile pleasurable feelings that make us do whatever it takes to find happiness.  She’s being duped.  She has left a lot of hurt people in her wake.  She doesn’t understand why I’m not happy for her.  After all, we’ve been trained to believe that someone’s happiness is what we should wish for them above all else (A major talk radio host has interviewed hundreds of people over the last few years by asking the question, “What did your parents want most for you – success, wealth, to be a good person, or happiness?”  85% said “happiness”)

Would it surprise you to find out that I believe the pursuit of happiness is wired into our very being, and that God passionately wants us to devote our lives to finding it?  John Piper explains it well in Desiring God.  The difference between our current pursuit of happiness and the biblical call to pursuing happiness is that the scriptures direct us to finding our happiness in and through a relationship with Jesus.  In that relationship, Jesus will direct us to lose our life to find it, and take up our cross (die!) and follow him.  In studying Jesus’ call to life and happiness, we find out that the ancients got it right.  Their understanding of a good life was one lived well, not one lived selfishly.

Jesus designed the world such that in pursuing happiness through him and living like he insists, we find that well spring of life and satisfaction, AND we don’t leave a scattering of hurt people and shattered lives in our path.  Instead, we GIVE life, and FIND life.  And happiness.

Go get it.