flatirons teaching team

I’ve had some people ask where to find the C.S. Lewis quote I shared this past weekend. I would like to share another from the same book. I think you will notice that Lewis was a tremendous help in preparation for that message. Here it is from The Problem of Pain:
” By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness; and in this we may be right. And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness- the desire to see others than the self happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy. What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘what does it matter so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven – a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’, and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’. Not many people, I admit, would formulate a theology in precisely those terms; but a conception not very different lurks at the back of many minds. I do not claim to be an exception: I should very much like to live in a universe which was governed on such lines. But since it is abundantly clear that I don’t, and since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction.”

With all the quoting of C.S. Lewis Jim and I have been doing lately I thought it might be helpful to recommend where to start if you want to start reading some of his stuff.

1) Mere Christianity
2) Surprised by Joy
3) The Four Loves
4) The weight of Glory
5) The Screwtape letters

Of course the narnia novels would also be included if you like reading fiction.
enjoy!

This past weekend Jim taught out of James 2 along with Matthew 7.  In both texts there is criticism delivered to those whose deeds don’t line up with their professed “faith”.  In fact Jesus went so far as to say “I never knew you”.  Jim said clearly that none of this contradicts what we learned the week before which is that we can’t do anything to earn God’s grace.  Grace is a free gift that cannot be earned through doing a bunch of good things.  So what’s the deal?  Well, lets even make this a more difficult problem.  Take a look at Romans 3:27-4:5 which we walked through a couple weeks ago.  Now look at James 2:14-26.  Do you see anything that looks like a contradiction?  How do you reconcile these two teachings with one another?  Is it even possible when one clearly says “a man is justified by works and not faith alone” as James does, and the other says “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” as Paul does? Just to make it even more complex they both reference Abraham as proof of their argument.  How could it be that these are not totally contradictory teachings right in the Bible from Paul and James, the half brother of Jesus Himself?   The short answer is that they were addressing two different problems and two different questions.  Paul was trying to kill the idea that someone could be declared righteous by God by doing good things and James was trying to kill the idea that someone who had been declared righteous by God could have no evidence of that in their life through their good deeds. I could go on, but I’ve read no one explain this better than John Piper, you can read or listen to a sermon he did that answers this very question here.

I often hear people, in so many words say, if you want to reach people you cannot talk about the hard stuff. I would say if you want to reach people you better talk about the hard stuff! Why? because we live in the hard stuff don’t we? Much of what we journey through in our lives is not easy, it is hard. Life doesn’t get lived in simple formula’s and steps. Life is complicated, life is hard and demands truth that addresses these difficulties. For example last weekend I said I wanted to be clear about one thing “you have no hope, apart from Jesus”. There are a couple ways to view that statement. You could call that “hard truth” because of the exclusivity of that statement. I’m sure that many would read John 14:6 and call it “hard” as well. Yet there is another way to view it, beautiful. If it is true that as Jesus says there is no hope outside of HIm, then the fact that He provides us with hope is in fact beautiful! You could call it terribly arrogant and exclusive to say that “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”. Unless of course its true. If its true, that changes everything. Then saying that would in fact be the most loving thing Jesus could ever communicate. Randy Alcorn says this “Come and see what God has done, the psalmist says, ‘how awesome his works in men’s behalf!’ (Psalm 66:5). ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good’ (Psalm 34:8). Scripture gives us many such invitations to come to God and personally experience him. The best way to do this is to open the Bible and learn about Jesus. Ask yourself who He is and whether you could believe in him. If you hold him at a distance, you will never see him for who he is. Phillip simply invited his friend Nathanael to ‘come and see’ Jesus (John 1:45-46). Have you come? Have you seen him? If not, brace yourself. Because once you see Jesus as he really is, your worldview, your goals, your affections, everything – including your view of evil and suffering will change.”

- If God is Good by Randy Alcorn pg. 219

CCU has put the video and audio of my talks on Grace and Truth up on their website. You can find them here

Keep in mind when I’m talking to a crowd of mostly Christians, sometimes my “tone” is a little different than with a crowd that has lots of people who don’t claim to follow Jesus.

This week I’m teaching at Colorado Christian University on Grace and Truth. I’m much indebted to my friend, and former teacher and elder at Flatirons, Sam Williams for the material I’m sharing with those students. Sam developed a document years ago that has shaped our church in a profound way and I wanted to share some of it with you here.
Grace and Truth
A Biblical Model for Reaching the Lost Without Compromising the Truth

Developed by Sam Williams

When John introduced Jesus in his Gospel, he did it with these words, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

John was most of all struck by the fact that Jesus embodied two qualities that he had not seen before in the same person. For most people, grace and truth are an oxymoron, two words that don’t belong together—not in the first century, or in ours.

Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
Pharisees were the party of truth in Jesus’ day. They were sticklers for keeping the law. Yet according to Jesus they “… neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23) Justice, mercy and faithfulness are expressions of grace.

The Sadducees on the other hand, were the party of grace. They were so inclusive; they believed everything and nothing at the same time. Jesus’ indictment of them was, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Mark 12:2) They had abandoned the truth.

This is not unlike the divergent positions of the liberal and evangelical wings of the church today. Liberal churches are full of grace, but have little truth. They have many ministries that reach out to the poor, rejected and underserved of our society. They pride themselves in being accepting and inclusive, but have lost their power because they compromise the truth (Scripture).

Those churches on the evangelical end of the spectrum believe and preach the truth, but it is often a graceless truth, full of condemnation and judgment, lacking compassion. Nor do they often embody truth with ministries that reach out to the marginalized of society. They care for people who are in their church, i.e. those who have accepted the truth. Accepting truth becomes a pre-condition for experiencing grace.

As a result:
o Grace without truth is sentimentalism. It lacks power.
o Truth without grace is legalism. It lacks compassion.
o Grace and truth is the power of God that transforms lives.

Blessing after Blessing
Jesus possessed both qualities, but it was his grace that particularly impressed John. Two verses later he says, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” It seems as though the order of the two words is significant, for as you look at Jesus’ encounters with the lawless (lost) people of his day, he leads with grace, and follows with truth. The blessing after blessing must have come as he watched the way Jesus dealt with people.

The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well was struck by the graciousness of Jesus when she remarked, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9) After disarming her with grace, Jesus shared the good news about a spring of water that wells up into eternal life that causes you to never thirst again. Only then did he bring up the “bad news” of her sinful lifestyle. He could have done it in the reverse order, but he didn’t.

Many present day preachers no doubt would accuse him of being “soft on sin,” not unlike the critics of his day. On the occasion when he was dining at the home of Simon the Pharisee, his law-abiding host criticized him for allowing a sinful woman to anoint his feet. The criticism was that “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:39) The irony is, Jesus did know, and that’s why she felt the freedom to be in his presence. It was the grace of Jesus that welcomed her there, and the truth that brought her to the awareness of her sins and forgiveness (v 50).

Jesus did not compromise the truth by first showing grace that welcomed the sinner into his presence. Grace protected the adulterous woman from the law-abiding Pharisees who dragged her to his feet. Only after they were gone, did Jesus confront her with the truth to “go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)

Upon meeting a crooked tax collector, grace invited itself to lunch with Zaccheus. Truth brought him to the decision to give half his possessions to the poor and return fourfold what he had wrongly taken. (Luke 19:1-9) This pattern of grace preceding truth is repeated throughout Jesus’ ministry.

A Divine Strategy
Changing one’s life was never a pre-condition for coming into the presence of Christ. His straining at gnat enemies thought they could discredit him with the accusation that he ate and drank with sinners. In reality, all they did was to reveal his strategy.

What the Pharisees missed, but Jesus understood, was that the more gracious you are, the more truthful you can be. Grace creates an audience for truth. Truth cannot change the person who is not present to hear it. Churches that lead with grace see more lives changed by truth, than those who lead with truth.

Today, as in Jesus’ day, grace welcomes the seeker, while truth challenges the follower and condemns the hardened heart. The “come unto me” invitations of Jesus were addressed to the weary and heavy-burdened, the hard sayings to his disciples, and the words of condemnation and judgment to his Pharisaical critics.

The question that naturally follows is: When and where does a church lead with grace, and when and where does it follow with truth? The “when” answer is that it leads with grace when there is doubt or skepticism, and follows with truth when there is trust and relationship. The “where” is determined by the strategic purpose of the ministry or service.

This has been an amazing season in the life of our little church. Yes, I said little church. I’ve been to enough sporting events to know that people gather in great number to celebrate what they are passionate about. I grew up in a town where 24,000 of us would fill an arena twice a week to cheer on “Big Blue”. I now live in a town where 75,000 gather regularly to cheer on the Broncos. We topped over 11,000 people a couple weeks ago and had over 10 again this past weekend. Which is significant, but I sure hope we aren’t satisfied. There is work to be done, people to reach out to, and many broken and hurting people that still believe if there is a God, he certainly wouldn’t want to have anything to do with them. Jesus said “open up your eyes and look at the fields! they are ripe for the harvest” John 4:35. So lets not fall into the trap of thinking we’ve somehow arrived. Lets certainly not fall into the religious trap of “circling the wagons” and trying to preserve what we have at the expense of reaching more people. What God is doing here is just that, WHAT GOD IS DOING. We can’t manufacture it, and we can’t do it, we are just along for the ride, called to be faithful with what He has entrusted us with. People’s lives are being transformed, homes are being rebuilt, relief is being delivered to those in need, here and around the world, we are throwing an extravagant party for the marginalized in our community, and God keeps revealing Himself in new and fresh ways to us. So my question is simple: Why? As I read the Bible, its clear that not everyone is granted a gift like this. Not everyone gets to see God move in such extraordinary ways in their local church, or even in their own lives. Jeremiah certainly didn’t experience what we are experiencing. Even Paul’s great successes were born out of tremendous suffering and persecution that is honestly foreign to us. So why has God decided to use our little church to make a big difference? I don’t know what makes God look best? Using a bunch of broken messed up people like us meeting in an old feed store in Lafayette, Colorado or using a bunch of shiny happy people in some big cathedral? I think God using “tools” like us makes the Him “the carpenter” look all the more skilled, all the more amazing, all the more faithful, all the more glorious. So why? I think God is using us because using people like us, makes Him look good! And He is very good.

God is doing an amazing thing in and through us who are a part of Flatirons Community Church. This past weekend we presented the idea of throwing a party that would demonstrate what the heart of God looks like. We said that throwing a party for the most overlooked, marginalized people in our culture would help demonstrate 3 truths.
1) Jesus values ALL people
2) the proud get humbled and the humble get elevated
3) God wants to party with those who’ve never been invited to a party.

So we introduced the concept of throwing a party for those in our community with special needs. People 16 and up who have mental and or physical disabilities. Flatirons community church responded in such a huge way to the idea of shining a light on who God is and what He is like that we’ve now had to add a second night of shine! If you want to volunteer sign up now, if you know someone who should attend as one of our guests, sign them up now! Its going to be an amazing demonstration of Luke 14:12-14 and Matthew 25:34-40.

I’ve been to Haiti twice. Its been 12 years since I’ve been there but I will never forget the poverty. I will never forget how desperate the living conditions were. I will never forget trying to fall asleep every night as the voodoo drums echoed off the exterior walls of the compound we stayed in. In the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti Pat Robertson commented about how this was a curse brought down on the Haitian people because they made a deal with the devil while under French rule. While it is true that in Haiti there is a significant amount of devil worship, occult activity and idolatry, Pat Robertson is wrong. Pat Robertson is wrong if Jesus is right. The fundamental question Robertson was trying to answer is “why did this happen?” and he gave a pretty typical response. Basically saying, bad things happen to you when you do bad things which assumes that good things happen to you if you do good things. Jesus gave a different answer to the question. In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus addresses it in the context of some recent catastrophic events. Pilate had some worshippers slaughtered as they were making their sacrifices and a tower fell on and killed 18 people. Jesus says to his listeners, “do you think those people were worse sinners than you?”. Its a rhetorical question, the answer is no. Pat Robertson was basically saying “those Haitians are worse sinners than us so that’s why this happened”. Jesus says differently. Jesus would say “do you think those Haitians are worse sinners than you American’s? No, I tell you but unless you repent you will all perish”. Catastrophic events like the earthquake in Haiti or Katrina several years ago are not a result of a group of people’s personal sin. Which runs contrary to so many statements made during tragedies, where religious people begin doing what they do best, pointing out the sin in other people’s lives, and blaming them for everything wrong in the world while conveniently ignoring the sin in their own life. Jesus had a lot to say about that didn’t he? Events like the earthquake in Haiti are certainly because of sin, ALL OF OUR SIN. We live in a fallen condemned world, and its like Jim and I have said so many times. If God were interested in condemning us, all He would have to do is nothing. Because all of creation is as Romans 8:20 “subject to decay” and as Romans 8:22 tells us “groaning”. Jesus said in Matthew 24:7-8 that there will be famines and earthquakes. This is all the devastating result of sin. The fallout of sin has massive effects on all of our lives including the ground we walk on. Which is why events like we are witnessing in Haiti should as Jesus said remind all of us to turn our hearts to Him. Why? Because as Jim quoted this past week from John 3:17, Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn us, but to save us. Because “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21). Because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) Because God is close to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in Spirit. (Psalm 34:18). Which is why it would have been more helpful for Pat Robertson to answer the question “why did this happen?” the way Jesus answered it, the way the Bible answers it and strangely enough Jesus’ answer is more helpful. So I’m going with Jesus on this one.

Hey everyone, we have had many people inquire as to how we can help with the disaster in Haiti. We are directing people to Food for the Hungry which has a base of operations in Haiti. So you can check them out here www.fh.org

I recently went to see the movie “invictus”. Invictus is latin for “unconquered”. My opinion on the movie is not important. I hope you will take into account the opinion of the Bible in regards to the poem by William Ernest Henley that the movie took its title from. The poem is quoted a few times throughout the movie. Here it is:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”

Do you see the problem? Am I the “master of my fate”? Am I “the captain of my soul”? I hope not. If I am the master of my fate, if I am the captain of my soul, I am in serious trouble. I cannot get through most days without feeling like I can’t get it all done. I can’t through many hours of each day without feeling inadequate. I can’t get through many minutes of each hour without coming to grips with the fact that I am flawed, deeply. Thankfully God says He is the master of my fate and the captain of my soul all throughout scripture, one of those places being James 4:13-16 I would rather it be that way. Wouldn’t you?