Uncle-hood

I am, at this very moment, awaiting an exciting phone call that my beautiful new niece has just entered the world. While I am here in Raleigh working and waiting for the phone call (and emailed pics) my family is waiting anxiously at Cobb General Hospital in Ga for the newest arrival to our family. Although I can't be there in person (how I wish I could be) I will have to settle for a long drive on Friday to see her, with an all too soon return trip to Raleigh on Sunday morning.

I am so excited about becoming an uncle. Words can't express how happy I am and how much fun it will be. I just wanted to share this with you all, and simply say to my sweet beautiful niece Ava,...welcome to the world!! You are a beautiful gift from God and you are so dearly loved.

P.S. We are going to drive your parents crazy!!

Love,
Uncle Adam

The Wedding Planner and being Missional

Lately I've been reading a great book called "Breaking the Missional Code" by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. The point the authors are trying to make is that we here in America need to live in our communities as missionaries do overseas. No, you don't have to build a grass hut in suburbia and go without running water or toiletries. (That's not how most missionaries live either). The point is to live with intentionality. When missionaries go overseas they are placed into a whole new context of living, a whole new culture. They learn the customs, language, and culture of the people they are trying to reach with the Gospel. They build purposeful relationships with those in that culture and find ways to present the Gospel to them within their context. They make connections that draw them to Christ.

When I left my little town in GA to move to seminary I contemplated the questions that Stetzer and Putman raise in their book. Why don't I live like missionaries do? Why is there a difference between the way they live for Christ and the way I live for Christ? Simply put, I think it is because we are in our comfort zones. We live in the same town we grew up in (or something similar to it), know most of the people around us, only associate with those who go to our church, it is all about ME. Most do not live outside of their comfort zone. Missionaries have no choices. If they don't like the food, they starve. If they don't connect with people, they don't spread the Gospel. They live mostly out of their comfort familiarities for the sake of the Gospel. If we don't like the food, we don't go to that restaurant. If we don't connect with our city, we seclude ourselves to our "church friends".

I was watching The Wedding Planner recently(yes, I'm a guy, yes, I watched it, and yes, I liked it) and was convicted by a part of the movie. Can you believe it?! I was convicted by a secular movie!! Jennifer Lopez's character loves to play scrabble. She is even apart of a scrabble club. Later in the movie she reveals that she loves scrabble because her parents moved to America and didn't know how to speak English and so they joined a scrabble club to learn the language. This convicted me for two reasons. 1. There are social avenues to meet the lost and connect with the culture around me that I don't even know exist because I'm too caught up in my own little world and comfort zone to even seek them out. 2. I have a friend from India that has been in America for a little over a year. He is involved in many social networks and events to try to make friends. I've been in Raleigh for almost 4 years and probably don't know half of the places and people he does only being in Raleigh for 6 months.

This is the reason I named my blog Engage the Culture. No, we don't live in a 3rd world nation, but our culture in America is vast and ever changing and we need to realize that in order to reach our cities for the Gospel we need to quit living for ourselves and begin living for Christ and engaging the culture so that many might come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

I definitely do not do things right but this is where my heart burns. I desperately want to see people come to Christ. The way I've been living has not been the most fruitful way. It might be time for a change. Time to begin living as a missionary among my own country. This is being Missional, this is engaging the culture.

Are you up for a change too?!

Disciple or Follower?

Recently I've been reading and studying on discipleship and what it means to be a disciple. I've been working through the two terms. Often times within our Christian culture we use the terms as synonyms when talking about our faith in Jesus Christ. One will say, "I am a follower of Christ." While another will say "I am a disciple of Christ." Most times, within our Christian sub-culture we know what others are meaning when they use these phrases, but I wonder if the world understands them as we do.

I have come to a personal conclusion that, although it is not wrong, to call oneself a "follower of Christ" it is more descriptive, meaningful, and more common within Biblical usage to say that one is a "disciple of Christ." To merely say that one is a follower of another in our day in time is more thought of as one who simply follows another around. It describes more of a physical relation to something or someone. It is not vivid or convey, with in my opinion, the depth of the commitment to Jesus Christ. There were many within the crowds that followed Jesus as He preached and healed and journeyed, but there were fewer who were within the crowds that were disciples of Christ. Those who heard the cost of discipleship decided it was too much and walked away.

A disciple, a word not often used in today's terminology of the world, gives a more vivid picture of one who sits under the teaching and doctrines of a Teacher, agrees and adheres to those teachings and doctrines, accepts them, submits to them, dedicates their life to them, and promotes those teachings and doctrines to those who do not yet subscribe to them so that they might spread.

To me the term disciple gives us a much clearer understanding of the depth of our commitment to Christ is to be when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Galatians 2.20 says that our life is not our own anymore, it is utterly and completely His. It is the life that He now lives in us. When we proclaim Christ as such we fully agree with, accept, adhere to, submit, and dedicate our lives to Jesus Christ and the Gospel message found in the Bible. To this end we fully surrender our whole lives to this Truth and make it our full aim in life, our full purpose to spread the Gospel message of salvation and redemption through the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, alone.

I do not mean to pick at straws but I am a bit of a stickler for using the best words to describe things of importance. To call yourself a follower of Christ is not wrong, but I ask "is it the best word or most beneficial word to describe your relationship with Jesus Christ?"

A People for His Praise

From the beginning of Creation and throughout time God has sought people set apart for His praise. When God created man in the garden He completed His work of creation by looking upon it all and saying it was good. Think about those words. God, who is perfectly perfect and has no wrong in Him proclaimed upon all that He had created as GOOD. There is great power and worth in that simple statement. By rightly understanding the character and attributes of God it is almost beyond me to begin to comprehend the breadth of this simple statement, God calling all creation good. He looked upon man and it pleased Him. It brought joy to God that man was good and pleased Him. Man acted and did just as he was created to do, praise God.

Then entered in the crucial decision of man to decide other than obedience to God and choose to disobey God's decree. Sin entered the world and corruption began to plague all creation. Yet, in God's mercy He allowed man to continue to live but with penalty of death and no longer living in the garden.

God called out Abram and made a covenant with him. God was setting out to make a people for His own praise. Man was fallen and separated from God but God would call a people for Himself to worship Him and proclaim His glories to the nations. Thus, from Abraham the nation of Israel would come. He call out a people separate and distinct, His own people.

The children of Israel rebelled against God and found themselves as slaves in Egypt. The Lord God called out a man, Moses, to lead His people out of bondage. And He did. But as Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai to receive the laws of God and hear from God that He was going to make a nation of priests for Himself, the children of Israel were worshiping another, an idol made of a golden calf. Moses as he descended down the mountain saw the children of Israel doing this and broke the tablets of stone. God then gave them not only the 10 Commandments but also other laws, acceptable living and worshiping of God, and set aside a line of priests, the Levites. No longer was there a nation of priests but a line of priests within the nation. Through all this God is seeking a people set apart for His praise and glory to demonstrate His glory to the nations.

The Old Testament is rittled with the failures of Israel to walk close to God and follow Him, to praise Him, to worship Him alone, to demonstrate to the nations the power and glory of the One True God.

But God in His infinite mercy and grace, still making His plans to come to pass, sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fully God fully man to walk among men, being fully tempted as we are but yet without sin, to willing endure the Cross for rebels such as we, and become the punishment for our sins. Jesus Christ made a New Covenant to create a people for God's praise, those set apart for His glory. Jesus Christ, by faith in Him as Lord and Savior, made a way for all men, Gentiles and Jews, to enter into the Kingdom of God as His children. God desires a people for His praise. By the death and resurrection of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer God has made those who believe in Jesus Christ "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2.9)

We are a people set apart for the glories of God. This is the priesthood of all believers. We are all priests who are called out by God for His own possession. The minister or pastor might serve God vocationally to "equip the saints for the work of the ministry" but every man who has called on the name of the Lord has been called and given the role of priest. We are set apart to be a holy people to demonstrate the glory and power of God to the world. It is our duty, yea privilege and honor, to live to our utmost for the praise of our God. You are called to live holy and blameless, to walk rightly before your God.

Sadly to say, I see a very lethargic and complacent people of God. I do not see Christians, in America, living their lives in view of God's plan but for their own selfish gain or pleasure. How do we demonstrate the power and glory of the God who can change lives to a world when we don't live differently? We live for the same goals, the same desires, the same pleasures, the same acknowledgments as the world does. What is different? If you don't believe me, check your bank statements. Where is the majority of your money spent? Check your day planner. What is the majority of your time devoted to? Check your heart. When was the last time you spent your day intentionally seeking to live for Christ in all you said and did? When was the last day that you lived intentionally for the advancement of the Kingdom of God and not for self? If we all could with a clear conscience say that we do these things, things that Romans 12 calls our "reasonable" or "spiritual worship", then our churches would look completely different, our worship services would be different, our communities would be impacted for Christ and function different, our lives would look and be totally different than what we see or have seen. Our lives would be full of joy inexpressible and would be a true beacon of light, life, and hope to a lost and dying world.

I plead with you, and am including myself, let us repent of our sins and draw close to the Lord. May we begin to live lives of purpose, intent, and devotion to the kingdom, glory, and praise of God. It is only asking to live as we are designed and redeemed to do. To live for Christ with the totality of our being. May we be found faithful servants of the Lord, doing His will with joy, at His returning. Live with eternity in view.