What Motivates You To Do What You Do?

I'm here at home tonight.

My wife Jenny is out - she has a hair appointment.
That makes sense for her.  For me, not something I need...ever.

But as I sit here and fold laundry for the family, I am listening to a message from Dr. David Platt.  He is speaking on video from a conference in 2013 and his title is "Why The Great Commission Is Great" (click HERE to listen to the the actual message).

The Great Commission comes to us in Matthew 28:18-20 where we read this:

"And Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Platt is making the case for why we need to bring the Gospel message to the ends of the earth.
This got me thinking about a passage in 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul says these words:

"Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died."

   
Note the words Paul uses here.  In verse 11 he says we persuade others.
In verse 14 he notes that the love of Christ controls us.  Some translations use the word 'compels' - the love of Christ compels us.

And so let me ask you a question:
What is your motivation in life?  What controls you?   

Some will answer that motivations are complex, and that motivations are often mixed.
That's fair -life can be complicated.

But I want to give an image here of something Paul seems quite clear on.  His motivation - which leads him to work on persuading others - is the love of Christ.
The love of Christ leads him to try to persuade others.  Naturally the question arises: persuade them into what?  Persuade them to believe what?

The answer is to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We live in a confused world.
On one level, the message we constantly hear the chorus that we are not to ever - at any time, nor for any reason - try to change a person's perspective, opinion, or approach to life.  This is a cardinal sin in our day.  Interestingly though, the entire narrative we see in American politics and media is that one side is completely in the right and the other side is completely wrong.
One message is don't ever change people, the other message is you must change people.

Paul would agree with the latter - we must work to change the perspectives of people.

But Paul's motivation - rather than being identity politics (an identity that will always fail to fulfill)
is love.  Love motivated Paul to travel to distant lands and to suffer at the hands of the people with whom he wanted to share the Gospel (see a list of Paul's sufferings HERE).

And so I ask again:
What is your motivation in life?  What controls you? 

While we have examined just one image of Christ and the Gospel and the love of God as the motivating factor for Paul, this is the theme of the evangelistic and missional drive of the church.

The love of Christ controls us and sends us to share that message with others.

Has that love captivated you?  If it has, praise God for the clarity He has given you.
If that love has not yet controlled and compelled you, pray that your heart would be blown open to see the love Christ has shown for you, and in turn the loving message of the Gospel that He wants you to share with the world.

- tC

Asking The Most Important Questions: A New Series - "What IF.."

Over the next several weeks, I want to walk on a journey of thought together.  Let me share how this idea came to mind.

I spend a good deal of time in the woods, often alone.  In these moments of silence and solitude, I get to thinking about various topics but one that comes to mind a great deal is those who don't believe in or who have rejected the idea of God and - ultimately - those who have rejected the reality of Jesus Christ.  

As I've been thinking about this eternally-important topic, I began to look back at my own journey of faith and I had came to some conclusions.  I saw that while I might love apologetics (the rational defense of Christianity), I do think that the mix of reason and faith is what led me to my conclusions and putting my trust in Christ.  I think the Christian faith is reason-filled and rational, but it is not just that.  It is an act of faith to trust in the unseen God and to have a relationship that is different than any other relationship I will ever have.  To be a human or to be a Christian, we are always making the best choices we can based on what information we have in the moment of decision.

A phrase came to mind as I have been pondering this concept of faith-and-reason.  The phrase was (as you'd probably guess from the title of this post), "What if...".  I imagined sitting in a coffee shop (probably at the Starbucks inside Target on Rte. 33 in Greenland) across the table from a skeptic friend and instead of making the case for some biblical doctrine, I saw myself asking, "What if..." - and then fill in the blank.  What if there is more than just this life?  What if the physical world is not the end of all things?  What if the Bible is actually God's Word communicated to humanity?  And the list goes on.  

The beauty of questions is they place the emphasis on discussion and ask the person with doubts to engage.  It isn't a 'take it or leave it' kind of approach.  Instead it says (in my mind at least), "I get the doubts, I get the uncertainty - but let's just ask together 'What if...' and in turn, what might the implications be.   

This approach also allows us to consider the skeptic's perspective.  For example, if I ask, "What if there is more to life than just the physical or natural world", then we might also reasonably ask, "What if there is ONLY the natural and physical world?  What are the implications to your worldview and life?"

And so over the next few weeks I want to ask us a variety of 'what if' questions and we will ponder the implications together.  Thanks for walking with me on this road.

- tC 

Reflections on the Passing of Nabeel Qureshi

(Credit: NabeelQuershi.com)

On Saturday, September 16th Nabeel Qureshi - author and Christian apologist - passed into the loving presence of Jesus Christ after a year-long battle with stomach cancer.  Qureshi was best known for his book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus which told his story of converting from Islam to Christianity.  

I have been following the YouTube updates (you can see them here) that Nabeel posted over the last year (43 video posts in total).  It was a long, tough, heart-rending journey that he shared with his viewers, and I am sure some will now go back to learn more about his life and this final journey.

My personal interest in Nabbel's ministry is rooted in the fact that he is part of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, a ministry that helped me grow immensely as a young Christian and throughout the years.  If you'd like to read Ravi Zacharias' final tribute to Nabeel in the Washington Post, click here. 

   

(Credit: Ravi Zacharias - Facebook)

I never knew Nabeel, and I am certainly no Ravi, but I'd like to offer a few personal reflections on the life and passing of Nabeel Quershi and why his passing has struck me deeply.

First, I am struck because I am 7 years older than Nabeel and yet he has already left this mortal life.  There is something about not just a young person dying, but someone who gives you that sense of 'that could have been me'.  Nabeel was a student of Ravi, an apologist, and someone who was passionate about bringing the Gospel to the world.  In some small way, I can resonate with all three of those characteristics, and so his passing seems to hit home for me in a different way than I had expected it to.

Secondly, Nabeel's passing reminds me of a message I gave years ago while I was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  The talk was entitled, "A Healthy Obsession With Death."  While no one likes to think about death, our Western world today has risen to an expert level of avoiding the topic.  Part of it is because of the 24-hour news cycle such that even when a famous movie star dies, we mourn for a few hours before we are often on to the next topic that is flashed across the screen.  Another part of it is that we have such excellent medicine compared to even just 100 years ago that we almost expect for every sickness to be cured with little fan fare.  These two realities (as well as other factors) shape us so that we avoid thinking much about the grave.  

Nabeel's passing reminds me that we should all be thinking about death a great deal - it is one of the few 'knowns' in our lives.  We will all die, and we do well to consider this fact on a regular basis.  The Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that it is good to go to a house of mourning.  Why?  Because it puts all of life into perspective.  I find myself thinking about Nabeel's wife and his daughter now and what their life will be like without this man.  It forces me to think about my own wife and children, and not on the level of 'will they be o.k. without me if I die', but instead the eternal question: when I die, will I see them again?  That - in the end - is TRULY the only question that matters when it comes to my family.  Success, careers, future marriages, providing via a life insurance policy - all these are fine to consider, but they are passing realities.  Eternity with those who I love in the presence of my Savior - that last forever.  

Thirdly, Nabeel's passing forces me to think about how I am using my time.  Not everyone will invest his or her life in apologetics and writing, in speaking and lecturing.  But what I do know is that I want my life to matter and Paul reminds us in Galatians 5 that in the end the ONLY thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.  And so Nabeel's death forces me to ask myself: because of my faith in Christ, am I loving others well?   

Lastly, the death of Nabeel Quershi forces me to face the hard reality that God is God and I am not.  Only by faith in the character of God can I trust that the passing of this young man, this passionate apologist - only by faith can I trust that this makes sense.  On a human level, on a ministry level, on an 'advancing the Gospel in the nations' level, this does not compute.  But I am forced to trust God's providential wisdom in this situation.  The alternative is to raise my fist to the heavens which is foolhardy.  God knows what He is doing even when it doesn't seem to add up in my paradigm.  

In closing, I celebrate the fact that because of the Resurrection of Jesus and my future resurrection, I will one day be able to speak with and celebrate the life of Nabeel Quershi with Nabeel Quershi himself.  Until that day, may my life be faith-filled like this man's life.

- tC

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: A Top 5 Book For Me - Here's Why

(Photo Credit: The Gospel Coalition)

It probably seems strange that a book about avowed atheist Christopher Hitchens is now in the "Top 5 Books I've Ever Read" List.  I found this book remarkable, inspiring, and faith-strengthening.  Let me tell you why.

One of the ways I work to redeem the time is by listening to podcasts, sermons, lectures, and debates when I am involved in some mundane task such as mowing the lawn or - in the worst case scenario - painting.  In recent months, I've been listening to a good number of debates between atheists and Christians.  When you search YouTube for "Debate Does God Exist", Christopher Hitchens often appears at the top of the list, and for good reason. Hitchens' book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything was a New York Times best-seller, and reached #2 on Amazon, falling behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Hitchens also wrote a wide variety of other essays, articles, and books such as The Portable Atheist, Mortality, and his autobiography Hitch-22, addressing topics as broad as politics. literature, and American history.  Hitchens was sometimes known as one of the "4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse", along with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett.  These men represent a new version of atheism, an aggressive version that is not merely content with taking a stance, but they are instead atheists who are actively working at converting others to their atheistic worldview.   

To say it lightly, Christopher Hitchens had strong opinions, and not just on God, but on - it seems - almost everything.  Hitchens was actively involved in debate while in college, and then throughout his career he made a point to take a strong stance against all things God-honoring and 

Christ-centered. 

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens by necessity offers the reader some background on Hitchens (his childhood, his relationship with his parents, his political involvement) but the main focus is on a friendship that Hitchens struck up with Larry Alex Taunton, an evangelical Christian writer and thinker.  Taunton is also the founder and executive director of Fixed Point Foundation, an organization that aims to "defend and proclaim the Gospel in the secular marketplace, and to equip others to do the same."  Through organizing debates, Taunton and Hitchens struck up a friendship that lasted all the way up to Hitchens' passing in 2011.

If you look at the cover of the book, the sub-title reads "The Restless Soul of the World's Most Notorious Atheist", and as you read this engaging and beautifully written book, you sense the unsettling nature of Hitchens' friendship with Taunton.  Taunton is intelligent, measured, kind, and a genuinely nice person - and Hitchens had a hard time figuring out what to do with this.  Taunton and Hitchens struck up a true friendship, one where Hitchens defended Taunton from some of Hitchens' own groupies, and when news of cancer came, Taunton was one of the first people to whom Hitchens reached out.

So why did I love this book so much?  Here are 3 reasons.

1. In a world where so many seem to be oblivious and disinterested in God, this book shows the truth that God has indeed set eternity into the hearts of all mankind (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  If Hitchens - despite his public persona and atheistic bravado - was truly a restless soul looking for "a higher love" (his own words), then I take great comfort in knowing that God is certainly working in the lives of those who appear to have no interest in God.  There are days and even weeks when I walk around wondering if anyone I see out-and-about (at the gas station, at Target, at the grocery store) is thinking about God.  This book lays out the truth that so often the external shell of callousness or aloofness toward the things of God actually hides a longing that exists in all people, even if it remains in large part hidden from the public eye.    

2. This book affirms the truth that true love and friendship, combined with a clear and bold declaration of the Gospel, are powerful, Spirit-used tools.  Taunton was bold and loving, direct and consistent, and perhaps most of all sacrificial in his love toward Hitchens.  Though it would have been much easier to keep the discussion academic, Taunton took time to share his life with Hitchens, and this made a significant impact.  At one point, Taunton shares with Hitchens that he (Taunton) and his wife have adopted a child.  This throws Hitchens for a loop - he cannot grasp the selflessness of such an act.  You can imagine the shock when Hitchens learns that this child is also HIV-positive.  This makes no sense to Hitchens, but he knows there is something beautiful about this kind of love.

If you run toward brash preaching of the Bible, this book will temper you.  If you run away from speaking about God and instead think that 'a kind life is enough', this book will press you.

3. This book reminds us that there is a power in the Word of God.  While Hitchens is dying of cancer, he and Taunton take two trips - one down south to Taunton's home and then later on, they travel out west for a debate and some sight seeing.  In various forms and at various time on these trips, Hitchens and Taunton read and discuss portions of the Bible, the Gospels in particular.  Hitchens, as much as he speaks in harsh terms, cannot run from the image of Jesus he reads in the Bible.  It is clear that the Gospels are impacting him, and while he may never admit it publicly, the questions he asks and the answers he gives to Taunton show a Jacob-like experience is ensuing.                            

I recommend this book for these three reasons and many more.  When I completed this book, I felt sad because I wanted to know more of the two main characters and where they had been in their journey of friendship.  That sadness - to me - is the sign of a well-written work.

          

- tC

After The Election: 2 Questions To Ask Ourselves

The election has come and gone.
How are you doing?

For some, this is a time of great hope and expectation.  As a man said to me the other day, "This is a great time for America."  It was one of those 'I'm sure you agree with me so I'm just walking by, smiling, and saying it' kind-of comments, but needless to say, he was excited to see Trump win.

For others, this is a time of great trepidation.  What will become of the America they knew, or at least that they thought they knew?  Will there be radical impacts on either their lives or the lives of people they know and love.

Let me skip out on digging into those questions for now and take the discussion to a different place.  Let me ask us all 2 questions that dig into the heart and soul of the presidential election for us as individuals.  I think these questions take us to a place where Jesus might go (see Luke 6:45 for one of many glimpses from Jesus into how central the heart is).

Question 1: How happy or upset were you about the election results?

When I ask this question, I am not asking it in the 'what is the right answer' kind-of way.  I am asking us to consider what our response was when we heard the Donald J. Trump was going to become the 45th President of the United States of America.  Was it joy? Was it deep joy?  Was it fear?  Deep grief?  Our visceral response to this question tells us something about where we place our trust.

Proverbs 21:1 tells us that, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it where ever He will."  This verses speaks to the sovereignty of God.  You don't have to be a hardcore Calvinist to believe and trust in the power of God, and this verse tells us that God is not going to be overpowered by the next president, or the next dictator from the other side of the globe for that matter.  This verse doesn't give a picture of a battle between the heart of the person in power and God.  It instead gives a picture of God moving history where He pleases.  For a biblical image of God's reign over the world, just consider that famous verse Jeremiah 29:11.  God doesn't say, "I have good plans and we will see if I can work it out."  He tells His covenant people He has plans, and we see that God's efficacious plans are always successful.

Now I've got to press pause here for the churchy-folk (I'm a pastor so I can be one of those as well), and point out that in my first question here I am not asking if we have a knowledge of the facts about the power of God in all things.  That is good to know, but the Bible says that the demons believe that God is one (James 2:19).  Knowing the facts isn't the question.  The question is about our gut-level response.  This should give us pause to ask if any of us are trusting in leaders to be our savior.  Again, most people would say no, but I lovingly again press us to look deep inside ourselves and see if - while we know that we should say no - there is part of us that is trusting in the power of man instead of the grace and power of God.

At this point, one can be dismissive of the real fears some people have about the president elect.  It is worth noting that there were some of these same fears on the political right after Obama won both his first and second elections.  All that to say that we should listen, care, and engage with those who are feeling scared now.  At the same time we have to examine our place of deepest trust.  Psalm 9:10 reads, "And those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, Oh LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You."

Question 2: Are you loving people?

My second question is about both words and actions.  Are you loving people - in what you say and what you do - now that the election is done?  Were you loving people before the election was over?  Were you and are you loving people who don't see the world in the same way that you do politically?  Will you love them now?  I've said this so many times but I often wonder if people would LIKE, SHARE, and POST some of the things they do if Jesus was one of their friends on various social media outlets.

It has been a hard campaign, and while I am happy that many politicians on both sides of the aisle are asking people to 'come together', that should not be something new for the follower of Christ.  In a world that is so often built on identity politics and loving my group while demonizing the other group, the follower of Christ is called to love all people - people who are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).  We love because the call of Christ is to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:36-40).

Now that the election is over, some things are truly different.
But some things are not different and should never be different regardless of who is in the White House.

- tC

The Gospel Isn't Good News...

Photo by Janaka Dharmasena - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When you ask someone what 'the Gospel' is, some will tell you that it's a book in the Bible - maybe Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  But while these are 'the Gospels', the Gospel is the good news (literally it means that - "good news") that Jesus Christ has died for sinner to offer us a way to restore our relationship with God in Heaven.

But here's the catch.
The Gospel isn't good news...unless there is bad news first.

If you came to me and gave me a handful of malaria pills and said, "You can thank me later", I probably wouldn't take them nor would I thank you.  I don't have any need for malaria pills.  I am not headed to a place in the world where malaria is a danger, and I don't live in a state in the U.S. where malaria is dangerous.

But if I was headed to a country in South America where malaria was a real danger, suddenly your gift takes on new meaning.

And so it it with the Gospel.

The Gospel - the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins - is not good news to a person who has no sin or who doesn't believe in sin in the first place.  So giving the Gospel to a person who sees no need for it will yield little response - maybe a "Thanks...I guess...".

Sin is necessary for the Gospel to be helpful, beautiful, and rescuing.  But the notion of sin is often alien to us today.  The idea that there is a holy and perfect God who has been offended by not just 'some people' but who has been offended BY ME AND BY YOU - that is something many people just don't believe.

This presses back to many questions but one falls on the desk and pulpit of the preacher.  Do people see a need for the Gospel in your preaching?  If they think they are doing quite well and just need a tweak here-and-there, that is exactly what they will look for in your preaching.  But if the full-counsel of God is communicated this will not be the case.  The full counsel of God will communicate not just stories of the Good Shepherd, but of the one who will return looking like this:

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Revelation 19:11-16

   

The Gospel isn't good news if there is no such thing as sin or no such thing as a righteous and holy judge.

But the Gospel is good news for the world, because sin is real and if we are willing to be semi-objective we know that to be true.

The Gospel is good news indeed because sin is indeed real.

- tC

My Sabbath Day Experince: No Smart Phone and How It Felt

( Photo by Stuart Miles - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Today was my sabbath...sort of.  When I say sabbath, I mean it was my day of rest, of stopping, of ceasing.  Sabbath actually doesn't mean 'rest' but instead it was the final day of the week in the Hebrew world.  But rather than get into that discussion, I wanted to tell you about my day of rest in hopes that it might encourage you to think about rest and ceasing and restoration.

Why take a sabbath?
Paul tells us that we are no longer under law but instead are under grace (Romans 6:14).  So that means we are not saved and loved by God because we follow all the commands perfectly (over 600 in the Old Testament alone).  We are loved by God because of the work of Christ on the Cross.  And so if that's the case, why bother thinking about or having a day of rest?  Well here are 3 reasons that strike me.

1. The rhythm of creation  described in Genesis 1-2 ends with God resting. He is God so it's not as if He was tired (see John 5:17), but He rested as a picture to humans of a work-rest rhythm.  God saw it fit to work and to rest, and He even made the natural world have that same rhythm - growing, producing, and then resting.  Since God saw it fit in His creation of the universe to show us and talk about rest, it seems worth considering.

2. Jesus said very clearly in Mark 2:23-27 that man wasn't made for the sabbath but that sabbath was made for man.  By saying this He was telling His hearers that man is not subordinate to the notion of sabbath, but that God gave sabbath to bless.

3. I need sabbath.  It remind me of many thing that I need to recall.
- It reminds me to rest when my tendency is to want to produce
- It reminds me that God is in control of all things
- It reminds me that I have a tendency to make myself too much the center of things
- It reminds me that the world continues to function just fine even when I am not active

My sabbath experience
Because I am a pastor and Sunday is a work day for me, and because we have 2 young children, 'rest' and sabbath look a bit different in this stage of life.  Today Jenny and I split the day and each had about 4 hours to sabbath.  We ended the day together by buying a pizza, eating with the kids, watching a short kids devotional on YouTube, and then getting them ready for bed.  It was good for me to not 'do' so much today.  I drove, I prayed, I had a meal, I went to the gym, I journaled - I did things that would help restore me for work in the week to come.

(Located on Facebook - artist unknown)

I also didn't use my cell phone other than to be in touch with people with whom I wanted to speak.  That meant no e-mail (work or personal), no Facebook, no YouTube - nothing.  And while I wasn't itching to tweet something or scroll through Facebook updates, I did notice one thing I had not noticed before: I enjoy e-mail because I get things done on e-mail.  I reply, I update, I get meetings planned, and more. It was interesting to experience that desire to 'do', and so I had to battle and say with the Psalmist that God is my reward and He is the one that truly satisfies - "LORD, You alone are my portion and my cup" (Psalm 16:5).  

This post isn't to give you all the info you need to Sabbath well.  It's to share part of my experience with you and to ask you a few questions:
- Do you take a day of rest during the week?
- Do you say you 'can't afford to'?  
- What does rest look like for you?  What does ceasing mean for you?
- What is God calling you to as you reflect on this idea of rest?
- Do you need faith to trust Him enough to rest?

Be blessed.  Rest.
- tC