Well if they're not, and they're not...is anyone Righteous?

Read Romans 3

The answer to the title question is a simple one.

No.

From verse 1 of chapter 3 we can see that the Jews believe that they had an advantage over the Gentiles in having righteousness, but Paul turns that around on them and says "No you don't." They were entrusted with a message from God, yet many were unfaithful to God. Now does that make God completely drop us? No, that's the opposite of grace. I'm pretty sure I've said this in my blog before and I'll say it again, grace, if preached properly, sounds like heresy. And this is exactly the case here in the first few verses of chapter 3.

Now I don't really hold stock to once saved always saved, but I do hold stock in God's faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2.13 Paul writes that if we are faithless, God remains faithful. That's exactly what he writes here in verses 3 and 4, if we are faithless God is still faithful to us. This, for me, does not mean once saved always saved, but it instead gives a full look into what grace looks like. Even when we mess up, even when we decide to try and take things into our own hands and lose faith in God, he still remains faithful to us. Though we forsake him he does not forsake us. Instead he lets us try it our way, and we see that we can't save ourselves or properly run our own life. We fall, we get hurt, life gets tough and we can't handle it, but he's still there with us, remaining faithful despite our arrogance and pride. He remains faithful.

As to how this is grace and sounding like heresy, what Paul is truly saying is that we're going to sin. We're going to screw up, we're going to turn our backs on God. But his grace in our lives says, "It's fine. I'm still here. I'm still faithful to you. Though you cheat on me I won't cheat on you."

Verse 5 then speaks about our unrighteousness and God's righteousness. If our unrighteousness shows God's righteousness, or we're the bad example God is the only good example, would it then be unrighteous of God to punish us for being a bad example? No! Would it be unrighteous for a parent to punish their child for doing something wrong? Is it wrong to imprison a convicted murderer? Is it wrong for me to spray my cat when he climbs a lamp shade? No! (Though nowadays the parents issue is being disputed which is why people probably have such a big problem with God and his judgement thinking that he's just as evil as we are.)

But because we are unrighteous God's righteousness is indeed shown. By our lies God's truth is made known. He makes good come out of bad situations. I got screwed over by a church which was a bad situation because of hypocrisy and lies, yet if that didn't happen I wouldn't have been able to meet the people I have back at home, nor come into the new ministry that God has called me to. I wouldn't be placed in a position where my faith is tested and my relationship grows. Out of a bad situation comes a good one and God's glory is shared.

Paul then poses an interesting question in verse 8: Why don't we sin more so that good can happen? He poses a similar question in chapter 6 which we'll look at later. Then right after that he shows that he was being ridiculed by those in the Church with saying heresy, or preaching true grace. Yes, he says, it does sound wrong, it does sound like I'm saying that there's no point to stop sinning, because one we have grace and two by our unrighteousness God's righteousness is shown. But, as he has said before and will say again, this does not mean that we should continue in sin.

So then are the Jews better off because they hold to the Law? Nope, Chuck Testa

(Sorry I think in memes. If you don't know what that means just look up Chuck Testa on Youtube Or Follow this link and enjoy!)

Paul writes that he's already established that both Jew and Gentile (or Christian and non-Christian in our case) are condemned and under sin. He then, with his vast knowledge of the OT from being a Pharisee shows with scripture that the Jews would know that they are indeed under sin.

Then in verses 19 and 20 Paul makes things a bit confusing, which he will increase even more in chapter 7 which will be so much fun! But what he writes is that the Law applies to those who are under it to have them act accordingly and so they will be held accountable to God. But the Jews believed that by following the Law they were saving themselves, but that's not what the Law was for. Much like the Sermon on the Mount the Law was there to instruct them how to live as though they were saved, not to justify them by their actions. This is because that by being under the Law you then come into sin.

This here is confusing. God gave us the Law and by doing so we sin? So we sin because of what God gave us? Well we're under sin either way, it's just by having the Law that we recognize sin and (should) understand that without God's grace in our lives we stand condemned. And because we are condemned and under sin we cannot be justified or righteous by our own works. We're hanging from a cliff and lack the strength to climb ourselves up to safety.

As for the righteousness of God, it is completed even without the Law because, having been the distributor of the Law he then is righteous even without it. And we (unrighteous humans) receive his righteousness as our own by having faith in Jesus.

Verses 23 and 24 blow be away: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Boom.

All of us have sinned! All of us fall short of deserving God's glory daily. Yet we are justified despite our shortcomings because of HIS grace which is a free gift made available to us because of the redemption that can only be found in Jesus! And he is God's grace for us, given to us as a gift to truly show God's righteousness, because only because of Jesus God is able to pass over our previous sins.

This is some great stuff. God knows that we're condemned in our sin and completely unrighteous. Yet he sends his son down out of his own grace and righteousness and because of/in response to our unrighteousness so that we can receive his grace in full, take on his righteousness as our own, be justified despite our sin, and have all our sins forgotten and passed over all by having faith in his son. So much to gain with such little effort. All because God did all the work for us.

So what then, as unrighteous people by our own actions, and only righteous by God's actions and his gifts, do we have to boast about? Nothing but the works of God. God is the God of all, he is the King and Lord of all despite our admitting it or not. But those who do admit it receive his free gifts and claim him as their own King and Savior. And because of our faith in him as our King and Savior, we then uphold the Law, not for our own righteousness, but because of his righteousness that he has given to us.

To God be the glory now and forever. Amen.

Romans 2 continued

Again, sorry for the long wait.

Read Romans 2.12-29

Today we're going to finish up Romans 2. The past 3 posts have been and introduction into Romans along with the power of the gospel, proof that all Gentiles are sinners, and proof that all Jews are also sinners. That pretty much covers everyone. Now today, Paul finishes his thoughts on how Jews are sinners as well.

Verse 12 is Paul telling us that if someone has sinned against the Law without knowing the Law then they will die without the Law as well. But those who sin against the Law while knowing the Law then they will be judged. What he's basically writing is that if we sin and don't know the Law then we can't be judged by it.

I've been in Pittsburgh for a while now, and some traffic laws in PA are different than those in Ohio. How? I don't know. But I wonder if I get pulled over for breaking a strictly PA law without knowing that law even exists would I still get a ticket? Of course the poor guy in me says, "No I shouldn't get a ticket" but wouldn't the officer say, "Well you knew you were moving here, you've been here for 4 months now, you should have taken the time to learn these laws. You had a responsibility to."

Let's tie these two together then. If people who don't know the Law and can die without being judged for breaking it, shouldn't we just keep it to ourselves? No, we have an obligation, a responsibility to spread the Gospel to all the world. We were commanded to by Jesus. In Revelation 10.9 we see the little scroll given to John and he is told to eat it. Keep it in his stomach, his body, it's bitter. Keep it in his mouth, on his tongue and lips and it's sweet. This is the Gospel. We keep it in us and it becomes bitter and nasty, but if we are always worshiping God and having his glorious works on our lips and in our mouth it's sweet, and great.  So we have an obligation to share the Gospel, and it will actually benefit us if we do so.

Verse 13 Paul writes that just by hearing the Law will not make us righteous, but it is the doers that are justified. Later we will see how that works out, but what Paul is not saying is that we can justify ourselves. It doesn't work like that.

There is an idea floating around that God reveals himself to all, and that there is a moral code in all of us that cannot be explained by anything other than being made in the image of God. If you can explain the moral code that all people have strictly by science, I would love to hear it. But Paul writes about this very issue, that the Gentiles knew some of the Law, because it's just a part of being human, and they were a law to themselves. It was not complete, and they had no one to hold them accountable or to properly interpret the Law for them. But when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount he gave the proper interpretation to the Law, and we were able to understand it. And through the message of the Gospel then the Gentiles will be able to understand the Law. And the Jews have a responsibility to share the Gospel with them to keep them from condemnation.

17 to 23 is a wake up call for both Jews and us today. They claim to know the law and boast in God. We do this as well. "I know Jesus! I'm saved! As a matter of fact I'm better than you sinners down there. You shouldn't be doing the things you're doing. Sinners." We preach against adultery, theft, lying, idolatry, and yet we do these very things ourselves. And in verse 24 we can hear Paul's hand slap the Romans Jews right in the face, and we feel the sting ourselves.

The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Slap.

One of the biggest complaints about Christians from non-Christians is that we are hypocrites which means we do what we tell others not to do. And because of it people see no appeal in the Kingdom or in God and his name is blasphemed because of us. We have no integrity anymore in this culture. I'm not saying all Christians are bad, but if you claim to follow Christ and all you do is complain about life, or all you do is party, or cuss, or sleep around, and your actions never match up with what you say and you act like anything but a Christian then you're only dirtying the name of Christ and at which point I beg you to lose the title of which we all are unworthy of but that you constantly and without any true thought slander with your actions. 

IF YOU CLAIM TO BE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST THEN ACTUALLY BE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.

Else the name of God is blasphemed among the unsaved because of you.

I've spoken a lot about actions just now, but Paul here speaks against actions. The Jews believed that their actions, their following the Law would save them. It doesn't. It never has and never will. It is only faith that God has done all the work that will save us. But in response to that we should live that we've been saved. Not revel in sin. Not be depressed because we're still sinners. Not live as the world lives with all its worries and woes. 

Instead we are to live in the light of God, understand how blessed we are. And this should come out in our actions. If you are truly saved, and you really know what that means then you couldn't help but dance from joy and shout it from the roof tops. 

Because we have been circumcised. the useless, the unhealthy has been but away from our hearts by the Spirit and we have life in Christ and are new creations.

This is Romans 2. The Jews are just as bad as the Gentiles. They boast in the Law but miss the point behind it, so much so that those outside of the Law blaspheme the name of God because of them. They boast in their actions, in their circumcision, but miss God's actions and the circumcision from him.

God's "Chosen"

Sorry for the long wait. When I wrote this it was offline on my tablet, then I got busy with school and never grabbed it to publish. But we're back now!

Read Romans 2

So yesterday I wrote about how Gentiles are indeed not righteous. They knew God, but turned their back on him for pieces of wood and stone. Today, in Romans 2, we see something similar about the Jews, God's chosen people.

You can see the Jews in the church sitting there nodding as the first chapter is read. "Yes you Gentiles are nothing but filthy sinners!" This is a major problem that was in the church in Rome, that the Jews, who were kicked out of the city and then were allowed back in, and they began bashing and hating on the Gentiles in the church. But then we flip to chapter 2 and see Paul turn to the Jews to let them have it.

You have NO excuse people. You judge them for their sin which only brings judgment upon you! You condemn yourselves! And you knew that judgment brings condemnation, yet you still did it, doing the very same sin that you have condemned! Do you really think you can escape judgment just because you are God's "chosen?" Do you think God is just going to give you his forgiveness with you not repenting of your sin? Or did you just not know? You too are deserving of God's wrath.

That's just the first five verses. Paul threw down on these guys. He isn't happy with them. But in these verses we see something that answers a question that I've had for a long time: What comes first in the Christian life and salvation? Grace or faith?

Some say that grace is given to us in full and by that grace we have faith that the grace is there.
Others say that there is no grace before faith, but by faith we receive grace in full.

I'm in the middle, and verse 4 is why. "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance." God has shown grace to us, just enough so that we know that it's there in full and enough to have faith and to be led to repentance. And because of that faith that the grace in full is available, we take that step, being action of our faith, and repent. What this comes down to then is

Grace-->Faith-->Action-->Grace

Now this is not saying that we save ourselves, that is the point of the first three chapters, we are not righteous, because if we were then we wouldn't need Jesus. But it's like we're hanging from a cliff, and Jesus tosses down the rope. We can either think we can climb up the cliff and save ourselves, but we can't because we're not strong enough, or we can grab onto the rope, hoping that the person on the other end will pull us to safety. But it takes action to prove our faith that grace is there to be had.

Make sense? Good!

Verses 6-11 then is more of this. Paul is writing to the Jews about reaping what you sow, and warns them in verse 8 especially, "but for those who are self seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." Looking after #1 is what our culture is always telling us to do, that's self seeking, that's not obeying the truth that God is number one, that's thinking that you are doing everything right. That's wrong. To all that do this, they will reap what they sow, there will be distress for them, they will drink but never be satisfied.

But for those of us who listen and obey the truth, and keep our eyes on the only one that matters there will be glory and honor. Both to Jews, and also to Gentiles, because God shows no favoritism.

Again, keep in mind while looking at this that, from the text, we can see that Jews are looking down on the Greeks in the church because they are not descendants of Abraham. Tomorrow we'll finish up chapter 2. GET PUMPED!

God As...

Read Romans 1.18-32

Last year during my final semester at KCU the section I was in went through Romans for devos that semester. They met at about 10 on Tuesdays, during the fall, when Sons of Anarchy, my soap opera as many call it, was on. There aren't many shows I watch religiously, but that is one of them. So needless to say I missed quite a few devos. I know. I'm a sinner.

But I tell that to tell this: The first week we did our dorm devos we went through Romans 1. We read it, and just dove in. A friend of mine, who I didn't know at the time because he was new, said, "I'll just jump in here. I really love how it all says that 'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness for men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.' I think it's awesome how God just shows his wrath to the wicked, the sinners, ungodly and he punishes them in his wrath."

Now being on a Christian campus, you can expect some differences in theology, as you can anywhere else. But this one pushed some people over the edge and a riot was almost had against this guy. "God isn't wrathful like that! He's loving and gives everyone a chance! He saves his judgement until the end, no while they're here!" We then came to the fantastic difference between free will and predestination. Anger, shouting, slandering, hating, all the typical things you find in a major argument between Christians over something they believe is cut and dry.

Now me being the oldest and wisest there, I quietly cut in and get everyone to listen. The first thing I say is this:

You view God how you choose to see him.

What I meant was this. My buddy chose to view God as a wrathful, angry God who punishes the wicked. Yeah. That's sound theology, we find that in scripture. I choose to see a loving God who waits to unleash his wrath to give all a chance because we we'll see throughout Romans, salvation is for all. Over all, I lean towards free will, I learn towards a loving God above all else. I recognize that there will be consequences for those who have not sought refuge in the only one in whom there is refuge. But that's how I view God. That's my theology. As long as your theology is sound in scripture without taking something out of context I'm alright with it. I may not agree with it, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God, and that he was nailed to a cross, dying for our sake, taking on our sin, and that he rose again 3 days later. As long as we can agree on that I'm not entirely worried about our differences.

So, all of that is for the italicized sentence above: You view God how you choose to see him. So looking at the second half of Romans 1, we'll see a different view of God which may or may not be your own view of him.

In the second half of Romans 1 we see a lot of information about God.

• He hates ungodliness
• He hates the truth being suppressed
• What can be known about God has been made plain to all because he has shown it to them
• His power and divine nature has been seen since the creation of the world

It needs to be noted that this particular chapter of Romans is Paul writing about Gentiles, pagans, anyone who isn't Jewish, which we will see later that that particular group makes up a big chunk, if not the majority of the church in Rome.

There is a lot in these three verses. We obviously see God's hatred for ungodliness. That's easy to get. But we also see that What can be known about god has already been main plain to Gentiles. His invisible attributes are seen by all. This is called "general revelation." This is the idea that all have seen and recognized that there is a higher power. Some close their minds to it and say that these invisible qualities of God can be explained by science. While we may have explained some things by science, there is still much much more that cannot be explained. Don't ask me what because I'm horrible at science. 

God reveals himself to us all, in one way or another. I wrote a while back about how we all come to God in different places, be it a basement, a heater in a house, on a hill in the rain, or a chair in a campus house, somewhere in our lives God reveals himself to us. Something unexplainable happens and we just know that it had to be God. And what I mean by unexplainable is the thing happens, we recognize God's hand, and we just can't put into words what happened. Not that we can't explain how it happened, God did it, but we can't explain what happened.

They passed on God, the infinite and immortal God, for carved images of beasts and man, things they understand that truly hold not power at all. Because of this is why God gave them up. He gave them up to their own lusts and sin, allowing them to dishonor their own bodies. The traded the truth of God for lies from their own minds which they attributed to stone and wood.

In verses 26-27 we see that yes, homosexuality is a sin. I'll say it and won't pull any punches. Homosexuality is not natural, it is not what God intended. It is a distortion of what God has given us, much like gluttony. It is worshiping something other than God. And God despises this. But as the text says, he gave them up to their own sin, and they are receiving their due penalty for their sin. It should be noted, I do not condone gay marriage, but neither do I condemn it. This is not a Christian nation, I do not think that what I believe should have laws made about it. If I am free to practice my religion, I feel two men should be able to practice what they wish. But, if there are Christians trying to justify their own homosexuality, it can't be done. If you're a pagan, act like a pagan. If you're a Christian, act like a Christian. If you struggle, that's fine, we all struggle with something. But don't try to justify your sin because they you are nothing more than a person trying to be both. Homosexuality is a sin. And like all sin it's a choice. We love you, and we want to help you, but if you try to justify your sin as I once did you only mar the name of Jesus. So you need to make a choice. Yourself, or Christ. There is no middle ground.

But moving on from that, we see in verse 28 again that God just gave them up. He let pagans act like pagans. They didn't acknowledge him, he so let them go. This does not mean that God gives up on us. That needs to be very clear. GOD DOES NOT GIVE UP ON US. He stays stationary, and let's us walk away. If I decided today that I no longer wanted to be a part of the Church, no longer wanted anything to do with God, and I walked away, he would remain where he is, waiting for me to come back. Hoping for me to come back. He would let me go to live in sin, and be filled with all that we see in verses 29-31. But that doesn't mean that he wouldn't still want me. That doesn't mean that if I truly repented he wouldn't forgive me. Of course this is how I view God and this is what I see in scripture, others may say something else. But this is how I see it.

Verses 29-31 gives us a big list of things not to do, or mindsets not to have, or things to avoid. However you want to look at it, these things deserve death (32). They are:

• unrighteousness
• evil
• covetousness
• malice
• envy
• murder
• strife
• deceit
• maliciousness
• gossips
• slanderers
• haters of God
• insolent
• haughty
• boastful
• inventors of evil
• disobedient to parents
• foolish
• faithless
• heartless
• ruthless

I want you to look at this list. See if there is anything in here that you fall under. Do you gossip? Boast in yourself? Do you disobey your parents? Do you cause unnecessary conflict? Do you covet? Do you envy? Do you bash others? What is it that you do that you deserve death for?

In Romans 1 we see that no, Gentiles are not righteous by a long shot. Tomorrow in chapter 2 we will see that the Jews also are not righteous at all, which will completely blow their mind.

As promised, I will define righteousness. It will be brief, but it will be good. Looking above at the list we see a lot of bad characteristics to have. All of these fall under being unrighteous, or going against what God wants us to do. So if that is the opposite of righteous, then righteous must be doing what God does want us to do. And what does God want us to do? Glorify his name. Worship him only. Not sin. Have you ever sinned? Have you ever put something before God? Maybe a couple extra minutes of sleep so you don't get to spend time in the morning with God. Maybe you set aside your religion to do something to make you happy. "But God wants us to be happy so I should get to do what I want to be happy right?" That is trying to justify your sin. It doesn't work like that. We only, truly find joy in life in Christ (1 Peter 1.8-9; Romans 5.2). Joy is in the Lord, not ourselves. We are not complete. Christ is. When we come into him we come into completion and we find all we need. That is joy. And in Christ we also take on his righteousness. The only one who ever did all that we are commanded to do is the only one who is truly righteous, and when we are in him, we take on his righteousness as our own.

So righteousness is not something we can achieve ourselves, only Christ has. Only Christ has done right by God, because he himself is God. No one can be righteous by their own accord, which is why we need Christ and God's grace.

The Power of the Gospel

A while back I took a class on Romans. How the class was done was we sat around a table, opened up our Bibles, and just got into the Word. By far this has been my favorite class in 5 years of college.

Recently, I've been going through the book of Romans on my own, a chapter at a time. There is some great stuff in there. I think over the next few weeks I'll be going through Romans on this. Hopefully it'll get me to start posting more. That'd be cool.

Go ahead and read Romans 1 for me. As always, take your time. Take notes. Write questions. Underline, highlight, mark up. Actually get into the text. Don't just read it, have a conversation with it. Take 10 minutes, take an hour. Just actually get into the text.

Now I may do a chapter at a time, or maybe a passage at a time, but as I said there is a lot here. So let's dive in.

Chapter 1 as a whole has one theme in it: The Gentiles are sinners. Great start in a letter to a church.

Verses 1-7 are Paul greeting the church as a whole though, Jews and Gentiles alike. In verse 1 he calls himself a servant, which he does in many of his letters. I love seeing this because Paul, the author, is one of the greatest missionaries this world has ever seen. Through him the Church has exploded to exponential proportions and he had endured so much suffering for the Church. He was top dog, widely respected, great at his job, and hand picked by God. Yet he called himself a servant, a lowly being in the grand scheme of things. This is something we should always remember, that we are no more than mere servants of Christ. Verses 2-6 we see the essentials, the aspects of the Gospel.

• Promised beforehand by God through prophets and other scriptures
• Concerning his Son (Jesus)
• Who came from the line of David
• And was declared the Son of God in
• Power
• According the the scriptures
• His resurrection
• Through whom we have received grace
• To bring obedience of faith for his name to all people

What all of that means is that Jesus was promised from the beginning. He was declared the Son of God by the power he had, the scriptures, and his resurrection. By him we have received grace, so that we can take this message to all the people so that they may be obedient by faith. This last bit is a big theological bit, and we'll see it more later in Chapter 8.

This letter then, is to all those in Rome who are a part of the church, loved by God, and called to be saints. Paul passes to them grace and peace which can only come from God.

Paul, a man of great compassion, longs to be with this church. We see later that it kind of just sprung up out of no where, with no apostle directly tied to its founding (according to some scholars whom I agree with). Paul is thankful for this church because they are known throughout the world for their faith.

Think about this: What if today your church was known throughout the world? Not because of your size, or the building, or the preacher, but because of the faith of the congregation. In order for that to be a reality you would have to do something to show your faith (James 2.14-26). Think about how great it would be if you loved on those around you so much that the world, the entire world, would know about this guy named Jesus because of your boldness in the faith.

Paul hears of their faith and longs to visit them to encourage them, strengthen them, and pass on gifts so that they may continue in the work of Christ. But so far Paul has been unable to visit because of his other obligations. I wrote just above that Paul is a man of great compassion. It is seen in these verses here. He longs, doesn't just want, but longs, to come visit the church in Rome. But he is under obligation to minister to Greeks, barbarians, the wise and the foolish. He sets aside his own desires for the spreading of the Gospel. This proves just how much of a servant Paul is, and I believe fully we need to imitate him in this. Always partner with Christ to further his Gospel, putting aside our won selfish desires and needs for those around us.

Why should we do this? Because there is power in the Gospel. Verse 16 tells us that Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel despite the fact that it makes him look crazy. The Gospel that we believe in is the message that God, the only God, put on skin and bone, came down to earth, lived as a servant to all, was even killed on a cross, then rose again three days later only to ascend into heaven 40 days after that. Doesn't that sound crazy? Yet Paul is unashamed of this message, and puts aside his own wants because of it.

Why? Because there is power in the Gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone! And in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith and for faith because the righteous shall live by faith.

The phrase "from faith for faith" is a bit hard to understand. But hopefully God shows me what it actually means so we can understand this a little bit better. As always, I suggest you read what the text actually says. That's what I do and it tends to help understand it. By faith we receive grace (Eph. 2.8). This grace gives us the righteousness of God (Rom. 4.4). So from faith we receive God's righteousness for greater faith in us and so that others may see the righteousness that God has imparted on us for their own faith (John 3.21).

Righteousness itself is a tricky term. It's one of those words those in the Church throws around and everyone nods like they know what it means, but in reality they have no clue. Tomorrow I will get into what righteousness is, and then finish out Romans 1. This will actually be really good because the rest of Romans 1 is the exact opposite of righteousness (for the most part).

So as you go throughout your day, reflect on the power of the Gospel, of God's love for us. Count others higher than yourself. All others. Not just some, but all. And imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, and be a servant.

The church

Be clear with the title. That is church with the small c. Local church, churches that we go to on a regular basis. This may include the Church as well, but that's not what I want to focus on right now.

Today and the past couple of day's I've seen a lot of shared posts about "Bad Christian"s blog. From what I have gathered (I haven't had a chance to read the blog yet because I've been busy today), they speak out against the church.

Grab your pitchforks and torches people, it's time to riot against these heretics.

How DARE they speak against our church. We are absolutely perfect! Our church does nothing wrong! Now maybe some of those other churches out there, they need to listen to what some people have to negatively say about churches, but not us.

That mentality right there my friends is wrong. We live in a broken world, we screw things up every day, and that includes how we do church and live our lives as a church. Ever church has its problems, and all are different.

I read another blog today from a person from my generation about why people from our generation are leaving the churches. His point was mainly that when we were younger and in youth group, we had a say, we could make decisions and it seemed like people cared about us. But once we get to "grown up church" we're back on the bottom rung, we get no respect I tell you, no respect. We no longer have a voice, we no longer are respected or heard. It's the older generations who look down on us as if we're stupid that run the show.

THIS IS WRONG

What's funny is when the generations above me were my age, they had the exact same struggles that millennial's have today. It's like they completely forgot what it was like to be our age. I know dementia and Alzheimer's doesn't start in the 40's people. And even if it does that would be an incredibly rare case. 

But the leadership of the churches need to remember 1 Timothy 4.12: Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young. Instead set an example. 

"But that only applies to you people Mike, to get them to behave properly. Those heathens."

That is not why Paul wrote that. He wrote that to Timothy, a man he brought up in the faith, and told him that the leadership around him is horrible, and he needs to show them what's up. People my age and younger--DO THIS. People older than me--Listen to these guys. They know what they need, they know what they want. They want Jesus, they want meat, and they want to be heard and respected. They are as much a part of the church as you are, just because we are young does not mean that we can be ignored or tossed aside. Times have changed since our parents and grandparents were are age, so they need to understand what that means for us. The way we think even is at it's very core different, and you think we should just come to church, sit on our butts and listen to a message that always ends in an alter call? (Not that I have problems with alter calls, but we should not always be worried about quantity.)

I have a dream of a generation of millennials who were brought up in the church, graduate high school and college, and jump actively into leadership roles in their churches because of their passion for what the church is doing. What I don't want to see though is people who graduate and jump into leadership roles just because a spot needs filled, which I have seen happen.

The church today is broken and run by broken people, and that's okay. But what is not okay is the lack of change in all the churches that I see, and I see a lot. 

Younger people- Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young. Show them you are capable of actually being responsible. (And in order to do that you have to be responsible.)

Older people- Quit being the "back in my day," buttoned down, idea killing, heathen calling, stereotypical old person which all of us younger guys think you are. Instead remember what it was like to be our age, put yourself in our shoes. Did you want to be listened to? Then listen to us. We may surprise you.

I want to end this post today with this: I love you all. I don't know who's going to read this, I don't care. I think we're all broken and need some healing, and we all need to come to terms with the other generations, acknowledging that they may have something worth saying. So please, love, listen to, and respect each other. You'll get a lot further in your ministries. 

The Past as a Tool

It's been well over a month since I last posted. There is reasoning behind this, and I hope to get back on track now.

The reason I haven't posted in a while is because some people got upset over some things that I have posted, and I had to wrestle with the idea of "Is it okay to talk about my past to total strangers?"

Yes.

Acts 5.29: But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than man."
Galatians 1.10: For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 2.4: but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
1 Corinthians 15.10: By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace towards me has not been without effect

There's a lot more verse I could use to make my point, but these will suffice.

The reason I point out these verses is because there are a lot of times where what I preach will probably be offensive to people. The things I talk about people will tell me I should keep to myself. I speak about my past a lot, and I have a rough one. Not that my family was poor, or that I lived in a car for months on end. but there have just been situations, some I was unwillingly put in, and many that I created myself, that many believe I should not talk about. Ever. But why is that? To guard the reputation of a church or minister? Or make sure people don't know that a "man of God" has been to the other side and wasn't always a perfect lil church boy?

I'm in the camp that we all have choices to make, and I've made plenty of choices in my life, most of them bad. But God can take any bad thing and turn it around for his purpose (Rom. 8.28). And because he uses all things for his purpose it is by his grace that I am who I am, that I am redeemed, that I have been liberated from the bondage of slavery to sin, and that I am now alive in Christ, having been brought back from death that is sin.

So if I speak on my past, it is because God has pulled me out of that pit of filth and it has become a part of my witness. And I am called to witness. The difference (for me) between witness and evangelism is that evangelism is presenting the gospel, while witness is presenting the effects of the gospel in my life. And we all are called to witness.

So if I offend you with something I say, good. The gospel is offensive. Christ is offensive. The truth is offensive.

My past no longer effects me. There are still things that I wrestle with, as do we all, but the old me is dead. No longer do I live in my past nor am I tied to it, but it is a part of me and has made me into who I am today. And all of that is by the grace of God, for his glory.

Find what God can use in you and your past for his glory. And don't be scared to be transparent.