Barabbas

So today I was reading in Luke and came across an old, somewhat familiar story but saw something I’d never noticed before. Kind of. Chapter 23 tells of Jesus’ visit with the governor that was... well we’ll say it was eventful. Verse 15 is one of those underline/circle/highlight verses. Pilate says, “Look, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.” Jesus is innocent and Pilate knows it. But the crowd, heavily influenced by the Pharisees, has a much different view of Jesus. The same crowd that days earlier was “praising God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen” (19:37) is now crying out, “away with this man” (23:18). Talk about a quick turnaround. Jesus’ fans wanted him dead faster than Americans wanted freedom from Obama’s presidency. Oh, c’mon, THAT was funny. BUT the crowd wasn’t just crying out, “Crucify him!” They wanted another man released, a man named Barabbas. Now, a little back story on this dude: verse 19 says he was a “man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.” So you have a robbing, murdering, insurrectionist who gets off for free at the request of the crowd. Huh? I just don’t see this being possible. I’m not asking you to let any murders off the hook even if I do hate the guy on trial. That’s a crappy trade. Another fun fact: Barabbas literally means son of the father. How’s that for God’s providential sense of humor? Give us the son of the father! Well... you got him alright. And by him I mean Jesus, the real Son of the Father. And you got him good. You got Him right where He volunteered to be: the Cross. The man that the governor spoke of as innocent, saying, “Why? What evil has He done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death” (22), is innocent indeed. And that’s the beauty of the story. Barabbas has his place taken by Jesus. Jesus is the substitute, the replacement, the payment, for Barabbas. The Son of the Father took the son of the father’s place to make us sons of the Father. In the words of Propaganda, let that bake your noodle. But there’s something else I see here that is even more practically applicable for us. I never read any other stories of Barabbas. Not one. Now, this does not mean he did not have his life radically transformed by God’s grace, but it doesn’t mean he did either. What I see is a man who was given life by the governor by means of Jesus’ sacrifice. Beautiful, right? For us maybe. But what if many of us are living lives that mirror that of Barabbas? What if the murdering, coveting, rebellious person writing and people reading this blog have the same mindset and worldview of the one the text describes? What if we view Jesus as the one who gave us life? Now that sounds right, but I’ve always been a lover of semantics. It’s the philosopher in me that loves diction and definitions. Here’s what I mean by that sentence. Barabbas was enabled to live life; however, he was free to live however he chose. He could go out and commit the same crimes as before. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, that’s true of us, too. Grace, bro.” But according to Titus 2, grace trains us to renounce sinful pursuits and to live righteous and godly lives in the PRESENT age as we wait for Jesus to come back to/for us (11-14). I’m not being a legalist; I’m defining terms and thoughts. What if we are living as if Jesus let us off the hook, gave us a get out of hell free card AND the golden ticket to heaven, the key to a mansion, and a pat on the behind as he said, “Eat, drink, and be merry! YOLO!” I’m being very satirical, but I could not be more serious. We have a radical misunderstanding of the gospel and God’s grace when we say we follow Jesus but continue to pursue worldly things and desires. What if that was true of Barabbas and what if that’s true of you? The beauty of Jesus taking your place isn’t that he gives you life but that he becomes your life. Jesus is all you have. He’s everything. It’s not a second chance. It’s not living for him. It’s living in him. It’s living through him. It’s Jesus plus nothing. I’m not going to quote all of Paul’s letters but feel free to read through Galatians, Philippians, and Colossians and find it for yourself. This long post has one central message.

You’re Barabbas. Jesus took your place.

Jesus didn’t enable you to live.

Jesus became your life.

Jesus is your life.

The charge?

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above (Christ), where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above (Christ), not on things that are on earth. For you have died (did you catch that?), and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ WHO IS YOUR LIFE appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4

The charge? In the words of Rihanna and T.I., live your life.

Just know this:

Jesus is your life and apart from him you have nothing and are nothing.

Galatians 2:20. Do your thing, peeps. Love you guys.

What if I Told You..?

Here's the poem from the Engage Missions Conference 2012!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_okmKqeu2E&feature=plcp

What if I Told You..?

What if I told you.. You’re a missionary? Would you believe me? Would you belittle me and disagree? Or would you belittle you and give an excuse as to why it’s not true?

What if I told you.. You’re a missionary?

Would you shout, “Amen!” and agree or just shake your head at me? Can I ask why not? Can I ask why the blood bought believers in Christ Jesus are living contrary to what God’s Word teaches? Or maybe I missed the memo that Christ died so the Christian can live however he pleases? Isn’t that what some are preaching? That God’s just up in the clouds hanging around until our families get diseases? And we can simply pull Him out when we need Him, but this view makes it seem like God needs us. You’re trying to tell me the God who fashioned Venus, and tuned Jeff Johnson Will Raies’ ear to hear the chord Gsus, and master minded the greatest college meal in the world, grilled cheeses, needs s? The God who cleans us and redeems us needs us? Are you noticing a theme, cous? Let’s mythbust.

God is self-sufficient, omniscient, omnipotent, His glory is so intense that wretched sinners like us behold Him and get bent. Depraved brains that were once hostile are rent as the Spirit reveals the glory of Christ in the gospel and we repent. And He pulls us into fellowship. Now we’re the Church, kid! We’re the ones who are sent, carrying out God’s mission. We’re the marketing scheme of His salvific business.

 

What if I told you.. You’re a missionary?

Would anything about you change or would your life still look the same? Sitting up in your dorm room playing video games or having a nice car, looking dope as you’re switching lanes, or having the most retweets or the prettiest dame. I’m not trying to invoke shame, but I feel like there’s more to why Jesus came than living lives of luxury and laziness tagged with His name. You can call this a rebuke or even a Jesus juke but what I see in the book of Luke chapter 9 verse 23 is a call to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily. In other words, die every day. A comfortable life is no longer the aim but a passionate pursuit of spreading His fame.

So we schedule trips and board our airships to fly across the oceanic abyss with the intent of letting the gospel pour forth from our lips. We pray so diligently for hearts to be gripped then come right back home to the same self-centered, egocentric agendas. I’m saying we’re extremely selfish. I think there’s a point to missions we’ve missed, and that is exactly the point of this conference! Missions: It’s Not What You Think! You see, we’re all concerned we’re on the brink of watching a generation get washed down the sink, flushed out the pipes like someone used Drano because the Church shows no mercy like Captain Insano. We’re always looking for someone or something else to place the blame on. Is anyone else tired of the same old, same old story? We claim to be the peeps in Plato’s allegory who saw the light pouring in saving us from the shadows we were adoring. Yet we leave people trapped in the darkness of the cave because we think sharing the gospel’s only important when we’re Dora exploring the globe. We’re too scared to start conversations at Starbucks because people might think we’re trying to probe; we really don’t want to impose. We say we’re unashamed, but we’re really Gospel-phobes! Why are we so afraid? I really have to know.

I thought the gospel was God’s power to save, bro? And the message isn’t written in ink; the page is blood soaked. There’s no need to worry because God is the messenger and you’re just the envelope. We’ve been stamped and with the Spirit we’ve been sealed. We’re the ambassadors for Christ through which God is making His appeal to international students, every restaurant on Carrier, and every coffee shop in the area: this is your mission field. I’m not saying don’t go; I’m saying don’t miss the people God has put in your path to do life with. This is the pot God has planted you in. Take root, branch out and bear fruit, or shriveled and withered is how you’ll end. Hebrews 12:1, get rid of all distractions because America is the fourth largest lost nation. “Either you are a missionary or you are an imposter,” that was Charles Spurgeon. This all adds up the words of Amy Quinn (couldn’t name drop, sorry girl!), “Christians just need to be Christian.” Listen: you may never go overseas or visit other countries, but I am begging you, please. Believe me when I tell you I’m staring at a room full of missionaries.

Soul Searching.

It’s been awhile, eh? Over the past few days I’ve really been praying Psalm 139:23-24, and I’m seeing it’s a lot more painful than I expected. Why? I am continually finding new pieces of my heart that need to be uprooted. I’m not talking pulling weeds, either. I’m tearing down a rainforest. This probably isn’t news for you because most of us already know this to be true of ourselves; our hearts naturally suck, right? We’re just born that way. I mean, Jeremiah 17:9 isn’t exactly anyone’s favorite Bible verse: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” That’s a hard text. Essentially it’s saying we hate God and love sin. Yikes. But that’s the beauty of the gospel of God’s grace. God takes our spitting in his face and selfish stealing of his glory and puts it on Christ’s back on the cross and we get off without a scratch. Justified. Our sin and the ensuing shame are no longer ours to bear because Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Healed. Our rebellion has been redeemed! I guess you could say that’s pretty good news, huh?

Anyway, Psalm 139 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David is pleading that the Lord would reveal his heart to him. Now, this is a scary thing. Why? Well... if David was anything like me, what God showed him wasn’t very pretty. I mean I’m seeing some hideous stuff. This isn’t high school Halloween party junk… this stuff is raw. I’m talking south Dallas coming out of me. This isn’t exactly what we want to put on display for the world to see, right? Confession is becoming more popular in my neck of the woods, but this is the stuff you don’t tell people because you’re afraid of what they’ll say or think. It’s like letting people see into our closets. We’re down to let people chill in our houses and play with our stuff, but only a select few get to see in our closets where we hide all our struggles, fears, and regrets. But I’m seeing into the shoebox that’s been hiding in the top corner of my closet. The worst areas of my heart are coming out, and it hurts. I hate seeing such disgusting areas of myself, and I’m sure David wasn’t too fond of his either. 

BUT, and this is a big but (please keep all jokes to a minimum, Sir Mix-A-Lot), BUT, David also knew an even more terrifying truth (but this one’s beautiful, too). Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” The only people to ascend the hill, to receive blessing and righteousness, to see God (Mt. 5:8) are the pure in heart. Ultimately, these are the people who respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, in repentance and faith and are transformed by the grace of God through the Spirit of God. That’s the whole “receiving blessing, righteousness, and salvation” thing. God removes hearts of stone and gives us new hearts and new spirits (Ezekiel 36). And this has radical implications. Our rebellion is still being redeemed. If I surrender to the supremacy of Christ, I lost the “liberty” to hide my secret sinful desires in the shoebox of my heart’s figurative closet. Everything comes out, and I should want it to! I moved out and the Holy Spirit moved in. My heart isn’t mine; it’s His. Completely. This home has a new owner and He gets to decorate and remodel however He sees fit. I’m just a vessel. In the words of Grant Skeldon, “God put precious gold in a trash can.”

Purity is a natural outworking of this new surrender. You cannot love God and sin; it just can’t happen, and THAT is the big BUT David knew. He longed to understand the “grievous ways” his heart was following so he could “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Mt. 3:8), and, instead, be led in “the way everlasting.” He just longed for God. He understood that nothing on earth would satisfy him. So he wanted to be cleansed. He wanted to want God. Loving God is the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37) and the greatest satisfaction. He’s most glorified in us when we’re most satisfied in Him, right? Well how can we be making much of him, how can we love him, if we’re holding onto the grievous ways buried deep in the depths of our hearts? David knew that in order to love God he had to rip out the deep hurts, shame, regrets, fears, and passions that pulled him away from the Lover of his soul and not toward Him: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

Again, our rebellion is still being redeemed. We should be on a constant hunt to bring the areas of our hearts that pull us from God to extinction. Why? Because “the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil” (Proverbs 8:13). We are seeking to ascend the hill of the Lord or we are lifting our souls up to what is false. If we stop killing sin, sin starts killing us. Kevin Boyd said it well when he said, “Coasting is just stopping slowly.” There is no cruise control in following Jesus. Chase Christ relentlessly and kill sin constantly along the way.

But I think we forget we can’t do this on our own. Jeremiah DID say, “who can understand it?” I can’t know my heart. God knows my heart. Sometimes I find myself thinking rightly but my heart isn’t pursuing God. I’m noticing subtle self-seeking in my everyday tasks and the manipulation to have my cravings fulfilled. How? “Search me, O God, and know my heart … lead me in the way everlasting.” Verse 23 says thoughts, but it can also mean cares. David was saying, 

“Test the desires of my heart and if any of them aren’t ultimately rooted in You and a burning desire to (in our terms) conform to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), then rip them out and replace them with the everlasting desires of Your heart. I want to want You, but I need You to make that happen.” 

Paul wrote to the Galatians that they were saved by the Spirit of God revealing their sin and Jesus’s glory to them. He then asked, “How in the world are you going to continue pursuing Christ by yourselves if you couldn’t even see, want, or submit to Him on your own?” (3:3, RRV: Ryan’s Remixed Version) 

And God’s been asking me the same thing.

“Ryan, how are you ever going to acknowledge the sinful pursuits of your heart if you aren’t allowing me to show them to you? You’re just going to follow them, crash and burn, and I’ll clean up your messes. Again. Because I love you enough to chase you down time after time after time.”

So I’ve been praying those verses. And even now I’m asking, “Why am I posting this? Is it because God’s been teaching me to love Him and I want to share that or because I want people to love me?” If you’re reading this, I hope you’ll finish somewhere close to the former and nowhere close the latter.. well, you know what I mean. I just want us to grow in our passion for God and our hatred of sin. My prayer for you is simply Paul’s for the Philippians (1:9-11):

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

The desires of this world are waging war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). Let’s flee from what’s false and flock toward the Author and Perfecter of our faith. I love you guys.

P.S. it’s summerrrrr!! neat.

HUGE shout out to Kevin Boyd for shedding some light on this for me Monday. Dude's a stud.

"I thirst."

“I thirst.” The two words uttered by Jesus near the conclusion of his suffering. Are you kidding? I don’t want to be sacrilegious, but doesn’t this just seem … strange? These words have somewhat of a “why is this in the Bible?” feel to them, at least for me they do. In chapter 19 of his gospel account, John writes of Jesus’s desire to have something to drink. Two verses before “it is finished,” Jesus wants a Sprite. Well... not quite. Two words I have always overlooked until earlier unlocked the crucifixion in a new, fresh way. I mean, I’ve known Jesus endured God’s wrath and for a short time exited the sweet intimacy they had shared for… forever… in eternity past. But this was new. You might be asking why in the world I’m getting this from, “I thirst,” but bear with me for a minute. Think back to a familiar story when Jesus spent some time at a well. Ready? Rewind.

15 chapters back, Jesus takes the disciples through Samaria. FUNNY JOKE. Good Jewish boys don’t go through Samaria, Jesus; you missed that memo? Usually you travel around Samaria, but Jesus chose to go through it. Not only that, “he had to pass through Samaria” (4:4). Why did Jesus have to do that? Another verse I just read over. It’s noon and Jesus decides to go to a well to quench his thirst (catch a theme here?). It’s hot. I mean, it’s hoooooooooottt. Nobody goes to the well at noon. Nobody. Maybe that’s why Jesus had to go then, because a nobody would be there. John 4:7 tells us that Jesus meets a Samaritan woman there and tells her to give him a drink. Now, all you guys who think this gives you justice to tell your girlfriend to fix you a glass of tea, refer back to the whole Jesus being God thing and think again (that justification is in chapter 2 when he calls his mom “woman”). psych. Anyway, Jesus is standing alone with the woman at the well; a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman are conversing. This is kind of a big deal. Look at verse 9! Homegirl even knows something’s going on: “‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)” Pause. 

Jews were God’s chosen people. Samaritans were a half breed of disobedient Jews who had babies with Gentiles. They were kicked out into Samaria because they were considered less than human and dirty and stuff. Sad, huh? Now you see the weight of the story and why the woman is so surprised he takes the time to talk to her. Note the intention and love in his response. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Bam. That’ll preach. Jesus is over here preaching the gospel, trying to quench the thirst the woman isn’t even aware she has, and she says, “Um, how are you going to give me water if you can’t draw from the well?” Baby girl… He just told you the answer before you even asked the question: “if you knew … who is talking to you (paraphrased, duh), you’d have asked me for water, living water.” He is offering her himself. Pause.

If you are offering everyone love, and grace, and forgiveness, and peace, and life, and joy, and heaven, and no hell, and no wrath, and no pain, and no death… but you never point them to the glory of Christ and the living water that GIVES all those glorious things.. I’m not sure you’re preaching the gospel. What good is giving someone wrapping paper without the GIFT that’s supposed to be wrapped in the paper? Right? So remember that offering someone all the good of Jesus without telling them of the costs of discipleship is just as much prosperity gospel as money and fame, it just looks a bit different.

He reveals her problem, “you don’t know me,” and her solution, drinking the living water (aka knowing him), to her in one beautiful, tight nit package of a sentence, laced with love. That’s my Jesus. 

She goes on to ask, “Where are you getting this living water? You’re just a man and this is just normal water.” To which he responds, “Silly girl, let me explain,” lovingly of course. “I give water that satisfies your thirst forever. The water I give will become a river of life IN you. I give life, living water, to those who are thirsty, and they will never thirst again. Ever.” 

Whoa. Sign me up for that. I’ll drink to that! Yes, it’s a pun, but in all seriousness. Jesus, thank you!

I’m not the only one who desires it; the Samaritan woman does, too! And because she desired it, Jesus used “her testimony,” her broken past, marriages, relationships, and worship, to bring “many Samaritans from that town to believe in him.” Maybe that’s why he had to go there. People were thirsty and he is the living water. He says in chapter 6, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (35). This is incredible news. This is the gospel.

This, the second member of the trinity, the eternal Word and Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ: Jesus became thirsty that we might never thirst again. Let me say that again.

Jesus thirsted so we might never thirst again. 

For those who are his, those whom he calls, Jesus thirsted so we would never thirst again.

Wow. This is the beauty of the gospel. He desired to become for us satisfaction and fulfillment, so much so that he stepped out of communion with the Father to bear our sin and shame and God’s holy, righteous wrath towards it. He took all of that on so that we would never thirst again. He took our thirst for him, our lack of belief in him, our not knowing him, so that we might never thirst again.. so that we could know him. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 63:1, "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Hallelujah, Jesus is the living water.

He became thirsty to quench your thirst.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, and we all know it, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” He became thirsty, he became sin, he took on all of our iniquities and transgressions when he had never even known what it was like to commit sin; he COULDN’T commit a sin. SO THAT in him, by his sacrifice and offering of his body and blood for us, we might become the righteousness of God. SO THAT we might become spotless, blameless, perfect, beautiful, HIS. He wanted us! He wanted to quench our thirst! He wanted us to know him! God is the gift and He is giving Himself fully, forever, for all who believe, for all who are thirsty. 

"Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Rev. 21:17).

If you are in Christ, if you’ve trusted in him and his atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins and by his wounds you see him and desire him and love him and follow him, your thirst is quenched and you’ve been made alive. Hallelujah, to say the least. Welcome to the family. 

As we celebrate the resurrection tomorrow, every day for sure but traditionally tomorrow, keep this in mind. Because he became thirsty, we find life and satisfaction, we never thirst again. So stay thirsty for Him and point others to the fountain. Hallelujah, he is risen and in his life I find my all. I absolutely love you guys.

struggle.

I'm currently somewhere in Virginia, Blacksburg I think?.. Blogging on my phone. Neat, huh? I thought so. Virginia Tech is a beautiful campus, ps. Lately I've been learning a lot about a holiday. Well, at least that's what I feel like it's been reduced to. Thanksgiving. Hooray! Food and football! Too bad it's no longer the horns smashing the dumb ags on the gridiron. I'll miss that. So will they when they're getting destroyed every week in the sec. Anyway... Thanksgiving.

Apparently it's a hotly debated topic where and when the first Thanksgiving actually came about.. But who even cares? The original Thanksgiving appears to have been an offshoot of the harvest festivals in England. During these ceremonies, people would set aside days specifically for the purpose of thanking God for their plentiful harvest.

Thanksgiving is traditionally associated with the arrival of the Pilgrims. During the early 17th century, all religion in England was strictly dictated by the government, and everyone was required to conform to severe religious restrictions. Individual beliefs and independent ways to worship were forbidden, punishable by jailing, torture and even execution. Crazy, huh? More blessed than I know (which is part of this whole thanksgiving post thing). Wanting to escape the religious suppression, the Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower.

They arrived at Plymouth Rock in southeastern Massachusetts in December 1620, but the natives were apparently hostile, so they moseyed on down the coast to Cape Cod, where they received a much more cordial welcome. These Indians helped them survive by showing the colonists how to plant corn, how to catch this certain type of herring to use as a fertilizer when growing pumpkins, beans, and such. About a year later, they celebrated the harvest and their new freedom with a huge feast - and just like that, Thanksgiving was born! Can you sing happy birthday to a holiday? The colonists invited the Wampanoag people to express their gratitude.

It is believed that the first "Day of Thanksgiving" actually occurred before the arrival of the Pilgrims. This festival was completely religious in nature, and did not involve any feasting. This group of peeps dedicated this day of their arrival as a Day of Thanksgiving to God. Soooo, while the US celebrates Thanksgiving based on the Pilgrim festival, towns or countries called days of thanksgiving several years before that event. Those days were usually called to celebrate a specific event, rather than an ongoing celebration. In 1863 Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday by President Lincoln.
It was officially changed to the fourth Thursday in November when FDR was president.

I talked about aaaaaaaaalll of that ..and this blog really would have survived without it. But I like historical junk. So sue me. But that's why I say our culture views thanksgiving as a day.. Yet God calls us to a disposition, a state of living, a heart condition.

Proof?
"The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me." psalm 50:23

We can't glorify God, we can't make much of Him in our lives, if we aren't thankful for who He is
or what He's done
or given
or said
or promised.

But what IS thanksgiving? How do we give thanks? What does that even look like?

It definitely isn't just telling God you're thankful, but truly living in a constant disposition of joyful response to Him. Thanksgiving is more than lip service; it's a heartfelt response to grace. If you're thankful for the house He has given you, you'll look for ways to please Him with it. Yes, you will pray and thank Him, but you'll give it back to Him, too.

What about your heart?

Are you thankful for the new creation you've become, for the circumcision you've received, for the renewal you've experienced? Are you thankful for freedom, for God's captivating of your heart? Are you thankful for grace? Are you thankful for the accomplishment of the cross's work in your life and the lives of those around you? Are you genuinely thankful?

Where's your proof? This isn't God saying you need proof; this is me addressing sin in my life.. And extending the same address to you. Maybe you don't need it, but I do. I don't say, "thank You," enough to God in word or deed.

Philippians 4:6 says, "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God." Thank God for changing you and allowing you to be His child, granting you life and sonship. Ask Him for things, talk to Him, BE THANKFUL. It isn't a request from God, "hey, if you feel like it, talk to me. Oh, and be thankful if you'd like." NO, God demands it. He's worthy of it!

..okay. I needed this, that's for sure.

The greatest commandment is loving God with all we are: heart, mind, and soul. We won't, we can't, be obedient and joyful in our obedience if we aren't thankful. The overflow spills onto others. Here's an application. Ready?

Remember the gospel. Think of this: the ultimate, supreme, almighty God of all that is, in His infinite grace, sought you out in the depths of your sin and trespasses, while you were dead, hopeless, condemned.. And He saved you.

God.. Saved.. You.

You didn't deserve it, you didn't earn it.. He opened your eyes, showed you His heart, showed you your sin, your need of Him, and faith was birthed in your soul with an overwhelming desire to cling to Him. Now.. You've been made new. Welcome to the family!

How did He do all this? He came to earth, Jesus, God in the flesh, was born under and lived by the law
to save us from the sin the law was given to reveal to us
to forgive us of that sin
to appease God's wrath toward us and those sins we had committed and would commit.

God did that in Christ on the cross.. And we say we are too busy to pray? Or we are too ashamed of the gospel to share it?
Or we're afraid people will be offended?
Jesus promised people would be offended! He said they will hate us.. So be hated. It's God's job to save, not yours. Rejoice in that. Rejoice in Him!

But first we must be thankful.

So remember the gospel, and respond accordingly in humble, thankful adoration and praise.
Run to Him.
Find joy in Him.
He delights in you, so delight in Him.

Be thankful.

I love you guys!

matthew party.

This past week was spring break. Most people go to the beach, right? Well at MERGE (the student ministry I intern at/for/whatever) we did the exact opposite. We went to the center of the country.. and i loved it. God used this past week in some huge ways and we all came back changed. The high school crew took 3 vans full of 31 people, 24 of which were students, to Kansas City, Missouri to serve at Hopefaith Ministries. It's a homeless shelter that feeds and clothes the less fortunate of Kansas City. It was incredible for sure. In one of the van rides around the city, I asked what it would take to be the party van out of the three. A student said something about parties and I said something to the extent of how believers should be throwing the best parties. Most people think hell is just going to be a massive party... but Scripture teaches something so opposite it's disgusting. It breaks my heart that the salt has lost its saltiness so much so that people view heaven as boring. are you kidding? The problem isn't that heaven will be an eternity of boring church services, but we have allowed ourselves to become boring people. Nonbelievers think we're boring.. and I'm afraid they're probably right. Sad, huh?

Braison then asked what our parties would look like.. I said ask me about matthew 10 later. Later came and I told him I was wrong, it was matthew 9. But when we fiiiiinally found it, we read verses 9- 13, which goes something like this:

"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

..to which they all responded.. "WUT 0___________0."

I explained how Matthew started following Jesus. THEN, they go to Matthew's house and all his tax collecting friends and sinners join in. I just reiterated, "This is what our parties should look like." We should be hanging out with nonbelievers and believers alike with people coming to know Christ. The dynamic is fun.. why in the world would nonbelievers go hang out with Jesus if He was some kind of stick in the mud? I bet He was the life of the party. If you don't think you can be righteous, wise, and fun all at the same time, your view of Jesus might be a little skewed. Don't be so uptight about how Jesus acted around people. He loved them. He fed them. He healed them. He prayed for them. He wept for them. He was a person, too. He smiled, He laughed, He slept, He cried. Be a human! Go laugh with someone who doesn't know Jesus. They'll hang around you much longer that way.

Later in the week, one of the students came and talked to me about not being sure if he knew God or not. We went outside and talked for a bit, I shared the gospel with him, and left him to cry out to God like the tax collector from Jesus' parable. He came and found me 15 minutes or so later with a whole new demeanor. He was a new person. He told me he had finally met Jesus ...and we threw a freaking party. God showed up and showed off. God taught us all what it means to throw a party like Jesus did.. kinda. But it was just so cool. Both trips, high school and junior high, had one student a piece meet Jesus. Talk about incredible. Yesterday, after our MERGE recap service another student who was on the high school trip decided to follow Jesus as well. Lives were changed and I'm excited to see what happens as a result of it. Neat.

mercy.

I just watched Beware of Christians with my parents. My heart is so crushed. Yes, the movie was great. Yes, the guys were changed. Yes, Jesus changed them and used them. My heart is broken for two reasons. First, because I need movies and people and stuff to remind me of the gospel of God's GRACE for us. These things turn into motivation and it makes me wonder if I even love the Man who gave it all to continue giving it all for all eternity. to me. and hopefully you, too, but He did it for me. Yes, God's glory. Yes, obedience, Yes, "God so loved the world." ..but to think the Almighty Creator of petrified wood and snotty toddlers, snobby golfers (not all of them) and sweet, little, old ladies loved me enough to endure my sin against Him to reconcile me through the Cross. Are you kidding? I need a movie to remind me of this? In the words of Isaiah, "Woe is me! I am ruined!" Holy God, have MERCY on me, a sinner!

Second, and this isn't in judgment but in brokenness, my father responds with... "I enjoyed that movie." My parents leave the room and literally everything I just wrote is pulsing through my brain. You know those times when you have a headache you just can't shake and everything else just kind of fades? That is literally nothing like what I went through... but it gives you a pretty good picture of my thoughts weighing down on me. I began to fight tears as I wondered how we could claim, "we just don't get it," after reading Crazy Love or Radical or any John Piper book, blog, or article ever written, and we swear up and down we're changing... and nothing. ever. happens. This is me. Hi, I'm Ryan Sears, and I'm a suckaholic. I take the cake in being the foremost of SUCKY Christians. But I'm not okay with staying that way. at all. I really DON'T get it, and I am really NOT okay with it.

So what's going to change?

My new morning routine. Well, part of it. When I look in the mirror, I will then ask this guy, "Why are you a Christian?"

...

and then I'll respond, "Jesus opened my blind eyes, and I have never been the same."

That's it? Ryan, all you're going to do is ask a dumb question in the mirror? You're a creep AND an idiot.

Not quite. Well, you're right, but there's more to it. I am a Christian for one reason and one reason only. JESUS, and only Jesus, granted me sight, opened my eyes, removed the veil covering my face, HE saved ME. BY grace THROUGH faith. Salvation is NOT by faith. I'm not down for hot debates and all that, but my heart was set ablaze by grace and my only available response was to believe. I had been changed and there was no denying it. So now, because of Jesus' cross and gracious invitation to follow Him, I follow Him.. again, by grace alone. If my day doesn't line up with my answer, am I REALLY a Christian?

If our lives are more about us than they are Jesus, are we really following Him?
Seriously..

do you REALLY follow Him?

If you aren't committed to knowing Him, to looking like Him, to conforming to His image, to shaping your heart and life to resemble His, are you really a Christian?

Do you just go to church, do Christian things, read Christian books, hang out with Christians, listen to Christian music, or do you legitimately WANT, long for, desire, crave, need, faint without Jesus?

Our lives are about Him and Him alone.. not us.

so what now? We pray. You know your heart and I hope you have seen a small glimpse of mine at least.
Pray that God would radically stir our affections for Him and that He'd rip us out of this easy-believism we've fallen into. He gives grace to the humble. James 4:5 or 6 or 7? Humble yourself before God and pray that I would do the same. Let's hold fast to His mercy and extend His grace as if it has really, truly changed us.

I love you. I really, really do. I'm praying for whoever you are. I pray you'll do the same. God, please grant us understanding and faith to trust that You are faithful. Here am I; send me.

preach what you practice.

As humans, I think it's natural to have a disdain for hypocrisy. False advertising, betraying friendships, faulty leadership.. We are surrounded by it and I doubt anyone enjoys that. The only problem this poses is we're all hypocrites. When was the last time you said something but didn't do it. Think of how ridiculous this is: what if a cowboys fan never went to or watched any games, didn't own any cowboys attire, or didn't tell anyone they were a fan. Or what if somebody bought a cowboys jersey and said they played for the team. wait... whatttt? that wouldn't make any sense! I know what you might be thinking. Ryan, why are you bringing up the cowboys? psych.. it's probably a question of why I'm talking about hypocrisy and such. Well.. we have coined this nice little phrase that I would like to repair and hope to help us all walk away with a new perspective that spurs us on to walk a little taller and look a little more like Jesus.

Practice what you preach.

We have probably all said it or been mad at someone who didn't manage to accomplish it. I'm here to redeem it.. hopefully. But we'll have to deconstruct it a little before we can rebuild a better, more applicable saying. The problem with practice what you preach is its emphasis on talk. Paul said God's kingdom isn't about empty talk, but power and action (1 Cor. 4:20). Our culture is one of saying and doing completely different things. Politics, hollywood, the church.. hypocrisy is the way of the world, but there's a reason for it and we all know what it is. Sin. No, not acts of rebellion against God but the force that draws us to commit those acts. We're spiritually dead aside from Christ and we will always commit acts against the Character of God until we submit to Him.

So what does that mean for our beloved statement? We flip it. Preach what you practice. This statement is far more realistic and far more practical. Want proof? here we go.

Back to Paul, the apostle and slave of Christ. In his letter to the Galatians, he is rebuking the churches of Galatia who had Judaizers come and turn them away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were people who were persuading believers they had to follow the Jewish Law to be a follower of Christ. Paul writes in verse ten of the first chapter, "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 slave of Christ." The Gospel he preached to them was the gospel he practiced. It was what he lived every single day; it was everything to him.

What's the gospel? The gospel is literally the "good news" of Jesus Christ. He came and lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, but didn't stay dead. He came back to life and secured for all peoples the ability to be returned back to communion with God. Remember the sin thing we talked about earlier? That's what separates us from Him. The solution? We turn away from living independently, apart from God, and believe Christ's sacrifice was enough to restore what we destroyed; that's salvation. Good news, huh? You probably already knew that, and if you didn't, comment or find me on facebook or twitter or whatever and we'll grab coffee, yeah? sweet, moving on.

So Paul is saying in this verse, "I'm not compromising the work Christ did on the cross or what He's done in me. I don't care what men say, I'm going to give Christ everything and preach the truth that He gave everything for us and it was enough." The theme of this verse is identity. Paul knew who he was which determined what he did. He was a slave of Christ and so he gave everything to follow Him. He preached the truth because He practiced the truth. Who you are determines what you practice; what you practice is what you'll preach. What does that mean?

Preach who you are.

Paul was all about preaching his identity. He did it to intro all the letters he wrote to churches. His name had been Saul and eeeeeeeeveryone knew Him because He was killing Christians. Then, the road to Damascus happened and He became one. Him opening all of his epistles with "Paul" is a testament of grace, a proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. He preached who He was.

Preach who you are. Plain and simple. Preach the good news of Christ to yourself daily and revel in what He's done for you. When you constantly have an understanding of who you are, it will change what you practice. When you're constantly practicing the gospel, you'll be preaching the gospel. You'll radiate it.

Hallelujah, praise the Lamb. The cross was enough. I love you guys.

shattered.

tonight i learned reeeeeeally quick what Jesus experienced for people. Matthew 9: 36 says Jesus saw the crowds He was healing and preaching to, and He felt compassion for them. Think about that. The God of all love, the very source of love, comes and puts on flesh.. then, as He is expressing that love, He feels compassion. Can we not feel the weight of this? Jesus was overcome with an extra dosage of longing for these people. He felt for them. Empathy overtook the Messiah and it birthed a desire in Him to see them loved. Why did He feel this way? "They were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus saw a people trapped and in desperate need of help. He was moved deeply within His soul to call the disciples to action.

Here's the catch.

We are those disciples. Jesus has called us to pray for God to send workers into the harvest field. The problem here is, once you start praying, He stirs you to become what you're praying for. I said problem for a reason. We aren't any different from the crowds Jesus felt compassion for. There is one thing that separates us.

We are harassed as they are. Our harassment, however, is our own comfort. We find it entirely too hard to step out of our well-being, our contentment, our complacency. The problem of remaining comfortable is losing the commission of the One who showed us compassion in the first place. He called us to feeeeeeel what He felt and to be vessels of His love and redemption to others; we're too comfortable to heed His command? Have we come so far to believe that God is for our convenience instead of His own glory and bringing freedom to the captives?

The difference between "us" and "them" is helplessness. We are not helpless; we just refuse to help ourselves. The God of all existence has called us to be His hands and feet, scratch that, He's called us to GO.. simple. He said, "Go." Romans 10 says, "beautiful are the feet that bring the good news." feet.. all He said was go and He'll do the rest for you. He's with us ALWAYS. What is there to fear?! We are not helpless; We have overcome our harassment.

We have overcome our comfort.

Jesus stepped out of Heaven; the least we can do is get off the couch and step out our front door with the intention of sharing what means most to us.

Tonight, I was reading at starbucks and this mother and her daughter walked in. I took a quick glance and went back to reading. The mother seemed detached and the daughter, somewhere around 14 years old, looked like she walked out of Hot Topic and right into Starbucks. Don't get me wrong, I used to go there for band shirts, but I think I helped you grasp a mental picture. They sat down on the couch across from me, so OF COURSE I'm going to eavesdrop. Jesus did it to the disciples; don't judge me. They immediately pull out their phones and there is no connection between them. Finally, they interact and what followed was heartbreaking. The mother nags and nags because she feels her daughter is "too far gone" (my assumption, but it's spot on, i'll betcha). The daughter has never known what love looks like.. which explains her desperate cry for attention by her outfit. She just. wants. love. Don't we all? Can you blame her? Can you see how she is harassed and helpless, in desperate need of the One, True Shepherd. It got worse. The mother inquired about the scabs on her daughter's arms. She had been cutting herself. The conversation became heated quickly and the daughter stood up and said they were leaving.. and they did. Broken. Shattered. I cried out to God for breakthrough. God is faithful. If you ask Him to break your heart for what breaks His, He'll come through.

God is not looking for swarms of people, He's looking for a few good men who will carry the torch of love to the nations. The fire follows, but He's looking for a few good men (and women) to cry out to Him to send workers and to then become those workers. You will have to leave your comfort, but I prefer to find my rest and refuge in the Lord and not myself. I refuse to let a rock cry out in my place. Choose you this day whom you will serve, right, Joshua? Well.. as for me, I'll serve the Lord.

There's room at the Cross for everyone. Act like it.

God, move in us and through us. Break us and move us to usher in brokenness. Bring breakthrough. Come to us, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, come to us. Let it be so.