"Repent or Burn"

I'm struggling with how to begin this entry. In basic writing classes you learn that effective writing has a "hook." A hook is something that grabs your attention and can happen anytime. REPENT OR BURN!! There, was that quick enough?

Did it get your attention? Probably not, at least not in this culture! We've tuned it out; become numb to it...kind of a whatever. The truth is I mostly cringe whenever I see/hear that phrase used. Not because I fear the burn, but it just makes me sad when I see it used to condemn and intimidate. Hmmm, let me think...where have I typically seen such "evangelistic" methods used? How about in front of abortion clinics or at Gay Pride parades.

How about the street preacher who stands on the corner breathing fire and calling for repentance? I'm not questioning his motive, but I am questioning the connection with his audience. Come to think of it, have you ever seen one with an audience? Have you ever seen one pray publicly for someone to receive Christ? Maybe you have and I just don't get out enough....

I learned a long time ago (still learning) never to paint God into a corner with my "beliefs." He's a lot bigger than I am. He can do anything he wants whenever he wants including using some pretty unconventional methods to reach people...even if it's just one. The fact is God does want people to repent because he doesn't want to see anyone thrown out with the garbage (2 Peter 3:9). We're all wired differently. It stands to reason, then, that if some of us need the hell scared out of us... so be it. If God figures it gets us off a path to destruction and on a path to life, then it's worth it! This would be the exception, however, rather than the rule.

What I have seen is that guilt and fear are poor motivators. Usually when these two are used to get what a person wants, resentment is not far behind. Here's an analogy: consider a married couple where one spouse berates, threatens and intimidates the other on a consistent basis. The bully may get his way, but the relationship is void of the stuff that makes a marriage meaningful: adoration, affection, devotion; in a word, love. It would come as no surprise that the injured spouse harbors significant anger, resentment and even hatred toward the abusive spouse.

Here's the point ("hook" alert!): That analogy shares a lot in common with our approach to evangelism. In the Bible, the church is seen as "the bride of Christ" (Rev. 19:7) and he is the groom. The cross is God's marriage proposal to us. His commitment could be no greater or serious than the sacrifice of his own life! He simply wants us to say "yes" to his proposal. In Jesus' day, there was a "betrothal period" which really amounts to a formal engagement where both parties were busy preparing themselves for their marriage and life together. We Christians are betrothed to him... making ourselves ready to be his forever. Until then, "making ourselves ready" means being like him, loving like he loves. The Apostle John says it like this, "whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

Well, guess what? Jesus took a lot of abuse... but it was from the religious establishment (Jesus called them hypocrites) who were busy worshipping a god and a system of their own making. Jesus simply loved. His offense was hanging out with "those terrible sinners," lifting a cup of wine with them, touching them, laughing with them... communicating in a dangerous way God's overwhelming love and acceptance for them. It helped get him executed.

Let me ask this question: are we, by our lives and our conversation, communicating a heartfelt marriage proposal to those "on the outside?" I got married to my wife, Joy, when I was 27. I had vowed not to marry until I was firmly convinced, without a doubt, that she was "the one." I didn't marry because I was afraid of ending up alone, or just for the sake of being married. The concept of marriage was not an end in itself, it was simply the vehicle to an enormously fulfilling union of two individuals becoming one.

There was an attraction to my wife. When I was introduced to her I found her to be bright, funny, interesting, exciting and beautiful. My heart was smitten and no matter what, I knew I had to be with her.

Are we in love with Jesus? When we introduce him to others, are they drawn by something that's alluring and beautiful? Or, do they see an angry god who hates sinners and can't wait to see them roasting in hell?

Are we so focused on keeping them from hell that we skip the beauty of Christ and focus on wrath because the "decision" is the important thing? If so, what we end up with is the equivalent of getting married just to avoid being alone. That marriage, my friends, is doomed to failure, if not in legal terms, at least in essence... and that's what counts.

I've got one word for you... REPENT!

Where Do You Belong?

We all need to "get our arms around this" while you evaluate what I "bring to the table." I'm going to attempt to tackle the divisive "piece"...or is it the unifying "piece"? I just recently learned that when I hear the word "ping" I shouldn't necessarily expect to hear "pong" shortly thereafter.

When I played pro ball we had a jargon all our own as well, most of which is not suitable for publication on this or any other venue. We wore out phrases like, "don't be afraid to ________," and "that's what she said." Something was always "brutal." I came into that gig fresh out of high school and shared a common thread with all the newbies: we were eager to learn from "the pros," guys who had been there and knew what was going on. Soon we were imitating them and, alas, behaving badly.

What about the church culture? Yep, you guessed it; they're (we're?) what you call a certified subset of society. Depending on what subset of the Subset you're trying to blend in with, it is all about the right labels and descriptives. There's a language that's spoken and you'd better learn it (or at least pretend you have) or you're going to feel like, well, an outsider. Stuff like "holy" (resist the temptation toward the mental picture of The Boy Wonder saying, "Holy _______, Batman"; or Tommy Boy breaking off a "Holy Schniekes!"), "grace" (girl's name?), "redemption" (it's the game winning play that makes up for the gaffe early in the game?) lets the uninitiated know quickly that there's a learning curve involved here.

These groups, clubs, subcultures... whatever you (or they) want to call them(selves) don't just share jargon. They typically outfit themselves accordingly as well. There are clothing styles for Skaters, Gangstas, Goths, Nerds, Country Club types, Cowboys, and the list goes on and on (sorry if your group wasn't included).

It's not the point of this little ditty to criticize, but simply to make an observation: At the risk of waxing John Madden-like (stating the obvious), we ALL strive to belong. And where we strive to belong, we long to be affirmed. Remember the SNL Stuart Smalley skits with Al Franken? Stuart was constantly giving himself props, usually in front of a mirror and would always end the skit with the punch line, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it...people like me!" I don't know about you, but while Franken was very funny laying down the Stuart bit, there was always an element to it that made me somewhat uncomfortable. I hurt for the guy. I felt sorry for him. Same thing with Napoleon Dynamite. The movie was hilarious but in a very disquieting way; disquieting because it hurt to see human beings categorized and marginalized because they didn't "fit."

The truth is we're punished for not fitting in. There's no flying under the radar when it comes to making the grade socially. Ever notice the universal law of the Haves and Have Nots? This law permeates human existence so deeply that it practically governs who we are and what we do. This law finds its life in lack. Lack means simply you don't have "it", whatever "it" is. Well, if you don't have it, then you need to get it. That's the message; that's the point. You're not attractive, strong, fast, smart, wealthy...enough. You're too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, too bald. Your ethnicity is a problem. You talk funny. This law is extremely effective in driving the Have Nots to compensate for their lack. It's the primary law of sales..."you are a loser until you get _____." It's new, it's improved and you haven't arrived until you get it. Funny thing is we never seem to arrive. Guess that would make us all Have Nots, eh?

One of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories is "The Sneeches." Sneeches were strange looking dudes who looked exactly alike with one exception: half of them had stars on their bellys and the other half did not. The starred ones were the Haves and the plain ones were the Have Nots. The starred ones were arrogant and snooty and very exclusionary in the way they highlighted their obvious superiority over the starless ones. One day a guy named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (the fix-it-up chappie) came and built a machine which put stars on the starless, making them all the same. This infuriated the starred ones, so McBean developed another machine which would remove the stars, restoring a distinction just in reverse. McBean, seizing the opportunity afforded him, charged each sneech as they would go through his machines until both groups were broke!

The Seuss story is a metaphor with a satisfying outcome. In the Sneeches' enthusiastic determination to maintain the difference between themselves, they went through the on again/off again machines so fast and furiously that they lost track of who was who and what was what. But, thankfully, they came to their senses. After all, it is a children's story and kids deserve a happy ending, right?

"Then, when every last cent of their money was spent, the Fix-It-Up-Chappie packed up and he went. And he laughed as he drove in his car up the beach, 'They never will learn; no, you can't teach a Sneetch!' But McBean was quite wrong, I'm quite happy to say, the Sneetches got quite a bit smarter that day. That day, they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches, and no kind of Sneetch is the BEST on the beaches. That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars, and whether they had one or not upon thars."

Wouldn't it be convenient if the only remarkable difference between us all was a star? In all the chaos they lost track of who belonged to what group and were forced to conclude that it didn't matter all that much anyway. Hmmm. The fuel which fired the judgments toward each other had dissipated leaving them with no frame of reference with which to exalt themselves over their counterparts.

If you're wondering where I'm going with this, here's the point: we were created for commUNITY by a communal God who, according to Scripture, is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Biblical picture of this God is one of perfect unity within himself as each member gives to one another ultimate worth and loves each other like no other. God created mankind in his image. We were created to be in perfect unity with God and with each other; to give each other ultimate worth and love each other like no other. Here's another thing to chew on: Jesus said we ought to love God with everything in us and love our neighbor as ourselves.

The reason we laugh at Stuart Smalley is because we see through his sad attempt at self-love and we don't really believe his self-affirmation at all. Healthy self-love is commanded by God himself. I think if we loved ourselves like we should, we wouldn't have a problem loving others the way we should either. The problem is that we're fractured and we have a very difficult time loving ourselves the way we should...the way God created us to.

The source of our fracture is that we bought into a lie about God and ourselves, peddled by an evil "fix-it-up chappie," the devil, way back when (Genesis 3). The cost of our rebellion amounted to a loss of unity with our Creator, with creation, with humanity and within ourselves. We became self-absorbed judgers who are deluded into thinking we've found "life" in our subcultures of distinction. These are 'fraidy holes that we've jumped into which give us some cover so we can point our fingers, turn up our noses and point out the ever so apparent faults of others while ignoring our own.

Our biggest fault is being oblivious to the reality that we are ALL broken...every single one of us. The good news, though, is that a God who by every right should find us repugnant, became one of us so he could restore us back to what he really wanted for us in the first place...Unity. When we are restored to unity with him, then and only then, are we really able to give him ultimate worth and love him like no other...and love everyone else...and ourselves...the same way! God loves you, me and everyone on this spinning ball as much as he loves Jesus. If you've read the Book, then you know that he can't love anyone any more than he loves Jesus! How do I know this? Because we all were worth Jesus dying for.

Jesus freaked people out when he walked this dust because he loved everyone the same and didn't care what others thought about it. He welcomed the outcasts and marginalized. In fact, the only ones he really busted were the ones who made differences between others who were seemingly (by their standard) "different" than themselves...these were the judgers, the hypocrites. So remember "in this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:11-14

Peace