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Shunned!

The Office’s Dwight Schrute enjoyed using the Amish technique of shunning people who were guilty of some kind of infraction.  Although I laugh when I watch this clip, something about it reminds of how people in the church treat others who have messed-up or fallen.

We can wrap with all sorts of holy sounding language, like “holding them accountable,” or “stepping them down,” if we’re honest it’s really just shunning. I once heard a leader use the verse, “godly sorrow produces repentance” to justify being flat-out mean to someone under him who had sinned.

Condemnation, guilt, shame, never produces righteous results. Instead, they push people even further from God.  What’s weird is that there is a sick side to our souls that actually likes condemnation.  We feel like we deserve it, and as the guilt and shame mount within us, we think that it’s all a part of the process of getting back on track, and reinstating our good standing with God.

That’s not the gospel!

I could quote tons of scriptures that point to the fact that those who are in Christ are fully and permanently justified and declared righteous, but the passage I want to go to is the familiar story of Peter walking on the water, falling, and being rescued by Jesus.

So much has been said, preached, written about this story, but one key part of it is hardly ever referenced.  It’s the part when Peter got back in the boat.  There was no browbeating.  No heavy sighs.  No, “You’re all wet!” Here’s all we’re told,


“And when [Jesus and Peter] got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’” (Matthew 14:32–33)

I wish the church was more like that.  Somebody falls, Jesus saves them, they’re soaking wet from their mistakes, but they’re alive and the storm is over!  And as they come on board with us we worship God for how He saved them.  It reminds us of how he saved us, after all, we’ve all been wet at one time or another.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
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Formal Living Room & Lazy-Boys

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When I was in Junior High my folks bought a new home.  It was quite an upgrade from where we had been living.  It was bigger, in a better neighborhood; my brother and I had our own rooms for the first time.  It also had a formal living room.

The formal living room was beautiful.  My mom had all her best furniture in it, and it was spotlessly clean.  Special guests were invited into the living room, but it was basically off-limits to anyone else.  That didn’t bother us, because there was another room where we were totally welcomed.  It was called the den. 

The den had a color TV, a fireplace, a hide-a-bed couch, and an awesome Lazy-Boy recliner.  It had food friendly speckled brown carpeting.  The den was where our family spent all of our time. We ate together there and watched TV together there. We totally enjoyed that room! 

There are many people who believe in God, love God, worship God, serve God, and obey God…but never enjoy Him.  They refer to God in very formal ways, being exact with their doctrinal assessments, however little, if any, enjoyment is associated with him.

The shorter Westminster Catechism states,


The chief aim of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever

John Piper said it might be more accurate to say that: “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”  When we enjoy God, He is glorified through our lives.

David said,


Restore to me the joy of your salvation. (Psalm 51:12)

In other words, there is a joy associated with our salvation that can be lost, but it can also be restored.  There is a refreshing work of God’s Spirit that brings back the enjoyment and delight we have in God.  It removes the off-limits, stuffy formalisms that push everyone away.  It causes the things of God and God himself to be more desirable and more enjoyable.

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So Good We’re Boring

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After watching TV all day, Max von Sydow’s character in Woody Allen’s movie “Hannah and Her Sisters” remarked, “If Jesus came back and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”

I think if he came back he’d fall asleep. So much of what is done in Jesus’ name is unexciting, monotonous, and lackluster. We’ve gotten good at operating in the safe zones. We’ve been lulled into a medium setting. We are invisibly beige.

We question the doctrinal veracity of anyone contending for something different. We are cynical of anything different or outside the norm. We have made a pulpit out of being right and a throne out of being homogenous. 

We’re so good we’re boring!

There have been moments when you’ve pushed against the stream of mediocrity, but real life and those living it quickly set you back in your place. Now a lot of the push in you is gone. You’re growing accustomed to really small things, and have even learned to act impressed with them.


It’s the small things that matter most brother! (heard in foyer)

But deep inside of you there is a sense that you were created for greater things. You sense the huge gap between what you see and what God’s word says. Instinctively you know there should be more.


“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12)

More. Bigger. Greater. Sounds like work, huh? NO! That’s the beauty of what Jesus is saying here. Just believe. That’s it, and that’s everything! You don’t have to do anything (that’s legalism!). You don’t have to prove anything (that’s religion!).

Your dreams, visions, hopes, aspirations are not out there somewhere, they’re right inside you because God lives in you. You don’t have to understand everything, you just have to be willing to make yourself available to the amazing things God has already prepared for you! They’re good, and far from boring.

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Whisper of Hell

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Somebody once said that the moment you step into leadership, a target is drawn on your back.  Any leader can attest to this.  With the position comes attack.  But for those who are in spiritual leadership positions, the target is not so much on their backs as it is in their ears.  And the attack is subtle; in fact, it’s just a whisper. 

Into the ear of every leader in God’s kingdom, the forces of hell quietly, subtlely, and unceasingly whisper…


Quit.

O the lies and distortion that come through this one little word!  It tries to convince the leader that what they are doing is futile, stupid, and that no one cares.  It causes a leader’s heart to swell with insecurity and discouragement.  It will entice the leader’s mind to dwell on past failures and disappointments, and give up on any vision for the future.

This is why Paul prays for us!

“I pray that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceedingly greatness of His power towards us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19)

When the whisper to quit, give up, or throw in the towel, comes from the foul lips of the enemy, having the ability to see three things is essential: 1) the hope of your calling, 2) your great value to God, 3) and the limitless power that is in you. 

“that you may know what is the hope of His calling”  God’s calling gives hope.  It is centered on hope.  God hasn’t chosen you to fail or succumb to attack.  He, who gives life and calls those things which are not as though they were, has called you!  

“what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”  You’re God’s great treasure.  You’re his valuable inheritance.  You’re the apple of his eye.  He chose you and loved you before you ever knew him.  That will never change! 

“what is the exceedingly greatness of His power towards us who believe”  You have God’s limitless power within you. Inside of you is the same spirit that rose Jesus from the grave.  No weapon formed against you can or will prosper. All of heaven is shouting for you to not quit, but press on, continue, and keep going.  Anything or anyone that says otherwise is lying…especially when it’s a whisper.

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Leaving and Arriving

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Dr. Pat Klose is one of the greatest co-laborers I’ve ever worked with!  The list of things she’s accomplished in her time at Escondido Christian School is huge. 

Dr. Klose came onboard as our principal during an extremely difficult time. But with hard work, creativity, and faith, she led our school into some of the brightest times we’ve known.  God was in it!

So, last spring you can imagine my surprise when Dr. Klose told me she would be leaving.  But even more surprising was the fact that the news didn’t bother me.  I knew it was the right timing.  God was in it!

Nobody likes goodbyes. Being separated from people we love is difficult.  Even when we know God is in the change, our hearts ache at the thought of living without, or at a distance from, someone we love.  But one thing that can help ease the pain at times like this is knowing…


God never blesses one person at the expense of another

When God begins to lead someone away from you into a new chapter in their lives, he’s also starting a new chapter in yours.  In other words, God doesn’t take someone out of your life without replacing that void.  As one person leaves, another one arrives.

So in times of transition, change, having to say goodbye to someone you love, as hard as it may be, if you know God’s in it, you can be at rest.  You can be expectant that something good is going to happen to the person leaving, and that something good is arriving for you!

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Find Some Heritage

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As I watched my dad lying in the hospital breathing his last breaths, I had no regrets.

My dad and I had spent every Wednesday together for the last three years. We talked, read, prayed, laughed, ate, and sometimes took naps. It was the highlight of my week. Just sitting with my dad made me stronger. His wisdom and practical understanding of God and His Word is a treasure I am thankful for, and that lives on in me.

Heritage is a missing element in our modern world. Very few people have someone they can look to as model for living, much less someone they would consider a hero. Many of our families are fractured. Much of our relationships are dysfunctional. At times, it seems we’ve no one but ourselves.

The writer of Proverbs said,


“There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother.” (Proverbs 30:10)

It is a sad fact that in many of our lives our fathers and mothers were horrible, perhaps even deserving our cursing. And now we live with a void of any heritage in the natural. But in spiritual terms we can regain a heritage that is better than anything the world has to offer.

You see when you make Jesus Lord of your life, you are now a part of God’s family, and your heritage is founded on God’s Word and His kingdom. Paul says in Romans,


“You were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root” (Romans 11:17)

I loved my dad, but it’s not the heritage of being a “Phillips” that makes things special. It’s that I, and anyone else who knows Jesus Christ, have been grafted into the vine of God’s family tree. We are now brothers and sisters in God’s family.

You may not know who it is right this moment, but there’s actually somebody who wants to spend time with you. They’d love to talk, read, eat, or just hang out together with you. And God will use you to affect them and pass on a spiritual heritage that will live on after you’re gone. And when that day comes, they’ll tell others how they have no regrets for the time spent with you…maybe they’ll even blog about it.

He’s Still Leading Worship

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This weekend we are blessed at The Center Church (https://thecenter.co) to have as our special guests, songwriters and worship leaders Wayne and Elizabeth Goodine, and their daughter Bethany. They have recorded a long list of albums and written many noteworthy songs that other artists have recorded and ones that are sung in most congregations around the world. It is an understatement to say that we will worship in a beautiful and powerful way while they are here.

There is someone else who also knows a lot about worshipping God, in fact, he knows more than anyone else on the earth.  He knows the power of worship to free people.  He knows the way God’s kingdom is established through worship.  He knows that people can actually feel God’s presence when they worship.  He knows how the Holy Spirit loves to minister His gifts when people worship.  The person I’m talking about is Satan. 

Satan knows more about worship than all of us put together.  Prior to his being cast to earth, he was the worship leader in heaven.  If anyone understands the importance and dynamics of worship it’s him, and because of this, he fights very hard to keep us from achieving true worship.

Satan basically has two ploys he uses: perverting worship (to make it something that it isn’t); and subverting worship (to draw attention elsewhere).

A good example of Satan perverting worship is found in his dialogue with Eve:

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’“ (Ge 3:1)

Notice Satan’s subtle suggestion that questions God’s instructions, twisting and perverting the truth.  Satan still does this today. Worship has become whatever you want to be.  The clear instructions and principles of true worship have been compromised into an endless sea of opinions, tastes, styles and traditions.

We get an insight to how Satan subverts worship from the following passage:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” (Is 14:12-14)

When we worship, I doubt anyone is saying or thinking, “Hail Satan!” or, “Praise you O’ Lucifer.” But when we begin to focus on the style of a song, or the person leading it, more than Jesus, our worship has been subverted.  When we are more impressed with talent than we are with grace, our worship has been subverted.  When sounding good is more important than giving God praise, our worship has been subverted. When being “cool” is possible while worshipping, our worship has been subverted. When music becomes the first and only definition of our worship, our worship has been subverted.

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23)