• Sabbath Breakers

    “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

    Exodus 20:8-11

    Kristen and I are drawing more and more clear lines around Sunday– the culturally accepted Sabbath day.

    Our new family rule is:

    Church activities on Sunday are limited to the worship service and children’s church only. No meetings. No nothing.

    There have been two general reactions to mentioning this new rule on my Facebook profile.

    1. People who don’t work at a church applaud. They feel the same pressure to get involved with everything at church and want to reclaim Sunday morning as a time of worship-only as well.
    2. People who work at churches don’t appreciate my sentiment quite the same. (Staff at my church get it.) The over all impression I’ve gotten from church staff is that they wish they could make Sunday a Sabbath for themselves, but they have too much work to do and try to turn either Saturday or Monday as a Sabbath.

    Now… let me be fundamentalist for a second.

    Under what circumstances is it OK to willfully break the 4th commandment?

    None. The principle of Sabbath is just as clear and relevant today as all of the other commandments. It’s not OK to covet my neighbors wife if it grows the congregation, is it? It’s not OK to steal if I do good, is it? It’s not OK to create an idol for the sake of expanding a ministry, is it?

    So why is it OK to willfully break the Sabbath by doing a million things on Sunday morning in the name of church?

    I don’t think it is. Hence, we’ve drawn a line. (Here is a good time to mention we’re not asking anyone else to do this, it’s our personal conviction.)

    This is where the grey area comes in

    The command of Sabbath is a trust issue. You work the fields six days a week and you trust God to provide for you and your family on the 7th. Generations of God followers have taken that literally. But we’ve entered into an age where that is seen as a figurative command.

    Jesus talked about the Sabbath a few times and he seemed to have a non-legalist perspective on the Sabbath. (See Mark 3:1-6)

    In fact, Jesus gave 11 examples of when it was lawful to break the Sabbath. (source)

    1. Pulling an ox out of a ditch on the Sabbath was permitted.
    2. Circumcision is permitted on the Sabbath.
    3. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
    4. The precedent of David and his men eating the shewbread.
    5. Priests work on the Sabbath and are blameless.
    6. The ministry of the Messiah is greater than the ministry of the Temple.
    7. God desires mercy from His people and not sacrifice.
    8. The son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.
    9. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
    10. It is lawful to lead animals to water on the Sabbath.
    11. The Father works on the Sabbath.

    Back to my house, bring this home

    The principle of Sabbath is abundantly clear. All throughout the Old Testament we see that God’s people struggled to maintain the Sabbath (trust issue) and God punished His people as a result. (Numbers 15 is the most extreme example for habitual individual Sabbath breakers, for an en masse examples, just look at the exiles.)

    I’m audacious enough to believe that God still cares about the Sabbath. I can’t lead my family to sin by working seven days a week and in turn expect God to bless my family. (Just like I couldn’t expect God to bless me financially if I didn’t manage my money well. Or other areas of clear trust/sin issues. You can’t expect God to bless areas of your life in which you exhibit willful sin.)

    As I talk with church leaders– we all treat Sunday morning as our big day. It’s the day we try to cram as much as we possibly could into the service as well as the opportunity people’s attention and presence afforded us. Sunday morning is anything but Sabbath.

    And for people in the pews its inborn hypocrisy. We say, “Put God and His ways above the ways of the world.” And yet, by our actions as leaders, we put the ways of the world ahead of the 4th commandment. By our desire to cram as much into Sunday as possible, we exhibit willful disobedience.

    Our words say, “Run to the Lord of the Sabbath and He will give you rest.”

    Our actions say, “Flee these crazy church people who want to make your Sunday even crazier!”

    As I think of the hundreds of staff meetings I’ve attended, planning hundreds of worship services, I want to go back and ask myself this simple question: “Instead of trying to maximize what we can do on Sunday morning, why don’t we talk about how little we can do? What would happen if we modeled Sabbath on Sunday’s by doing the maximum 6 days a week and called our people to a minimalist experience of worship?”

    There is another way

    This is where our family is headed. We want to trust God with our church life. We trust Him with our money. We trust Him with our children. We trust Him with our marriage. We trust Him for safety, security, and most importantly… our salvation.

    So now we’re going to trust Him with our church. We trust that as we turn Sunday into a Sabbath day for our family and willfully skip the busyness our church provides… that God will bless our church.

  • Inverse Relationship Between Church Attendance and Business Models

    Yesterday Tim Schmoyer was kind enough to mention a recent blog post in his weekly round-up video.

    I thought some of the questions that the original post raised warranted a video response to Tim.

    What do you think?

    Is there anything to this inverse relationship between churches acting like businesses and a decline in attendance nationwide?

  • Freedom to Doubt

    There is great integrity in a leader who fosters doubt in his congregation

    Humans possess curious natural instincts. Of all of creation, no creature is more curious than humans.

    God created us with this natural instinct. It’s as evident in the Garden as it is in your heart today.

    Great faith is produced within an ecosystem where question is a free fulcrum between doubting God and having great trust.

    Doubt is not the enemy of faith.

    Indoctrination is.

    Doubt is normal, it lives in a persons heart from his first breath to his last.

    Fear of questioning inhibits faith development.

    Doubt is not the enemy of the church.

    Fear of doubt is.

    Great faith does not come through eliminating doubt.

    Great faith comes when a person has measured doubt’s full weight and chosen faith.

    Consider Thomas

    Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

    A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

    Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

    Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

    John 20:24-29

    What’s the point?

    Often times, the biggest doubter among you– given the freedom to doubt, will develop the deepest faith.

    We are not called to eliminate doubt.

    How did Jesus deal with Thomas’ doubt? He chastised him a little, but allowed Thomas to express his doubt. Jesus didn’t look down on Thomas because of his doubt. Instead he knew that by allowing Thomas the freedom to doubt, a faith weighed and tested, would generate great faith.

    And as a result Jesus knew Thomas would become a rock solid believer and took the Gospel to India.

  • Late Fall Planting

    The eggplant harvest continues

    Admittedly, we’ve fizzled in both our zeal for gardening and our zeal for blogging about our garden in the last couple of months. Life got incredibly busy and we kind of went on cruise control in the backyard.

    Truth be told there hasn’t been a lot to report. As early Fall rains came, the weeds grew fast and furious. Likewise, the bugs came and ate our bok choy and broccoli.

    Today, I spent a couple hours weeding and planting two types of lettuce. One, a red, is called “Incredible.” Who wouldn’t want to eat incredible lettuce? The other, a green, is just your standard bread and butter meat-n-potatoes lettuce.

    There are three surprises in the garden right now.

    1. Apparently jalapeño plants don’t die in San Diego. We have two very strong plants that have continued to grow and get stronger after their initial harvest. I was surprised to discover a plethora of little white flowers yesterday. The first batch was super hot… it’ll be interesting to see how batch two produces.
    2. The same is true with our eggplant. As I picked five good-sized, deep purple eggplants today I saw several more blossoms. I’m looking forward to more eggplant all winter long.
    3. The last surprise is that our cucumber plants have regenerated! I was just about to pull these baby plants out of the ground as weeds when I recognized the long tentacles and a distinctive yellow flower. I’ll give them a few weeks to see if they will mature.

  • San Diego State Aztecs Go to 7-2

    Who would have thought that the college team in town would be the best team to play at Qualcomm Stadium this year? I know I didn’t.

    I took Megan and Paul to the Aztecs game last night and had a blast. We didn’t get home until about 11:00 PM, but I think we’re slowly making Aztec fans out of them.

    • They begged me to go early for the game so they could play in Aztec Village. (Bounce house, live music, food we didn’t buy, etc.)
    • When I told them it’d be easier to just drive to the game… Megan put her foot down. “No daddy, the best way to go to the game is on the trolley. It’s faster and kids ride free.“
    • The stadium is starting to fill with actual fans. Having 40,000+ for the fireworks show is one thing, but to attract 34,000+ for a game against a lesser opponent– we’re now getting somewhere.
    • The football team now controls their destiny. If they win out they will win the Mountain West. But if they beat either TCU or Utah they will likely finish 9-3 and enjoy some respect going into the off-season. But 8-4 is now very likely. (I can’t see them beating either TCU or Utah.)
    • I’m totally bummed that I’ll miss the Utah game. (I’ll be at NYWC in Nashville)
    • I’ve officially decided to increase my season ticket order for 2011. Two tickets per game is now not enough. Anyone want to join me?
    • Speaking of 2011. Rumor has it that we’re adding Boise State and dropping BYU. Toss in a game at Michigan with the fact that they are recruiting local talent like crazy (100+ local high school players on the field to watch warm-ups) and I think Coach Hoke is starting to capture lightning in a bottle.
    • We all got a kick out of the streakers. The first one made it about 100 yards. The second one was a kid, he didn’t make it very far.

  • Daddy Days

    This weekend, Kristen is off to Chicago with Erin for a girls getaway. Since I’m traveling a little over 1/5th of 2010, she certainly earned some time to herself.

    Kristen’s definition of a girls weekend is Thursday afternoon to midnight on Monday. I like her style.

    As we compared notes leading up to this trip we determined that this is the first time Kristen has ever done anything like this. It’s been fun to hear her talk about the trip for the last month or so, all the places she wants to visit, and of course– all of our favorite food places she wants to enjoy. (We lived there for 8 years. She is busy satisfying cravings for Johnnie’s Italian beef and Oatmeal shakes from Irazu. I’m totally jealous.)

    The flipside is that I’ve earned some solo time with Megan and Paul!

    So far, so good.

    I’m not going to lie. I love that I get this time to be with them like this.

    Last night, over a healthy dinner of tacos, rice and beans, and chips… we talked about all sorts of drama at school. Apparently, Foursquare provides endless playground theater that I was previously unaware of. There are some kids who like to steal the ball and throw it over the fence. Yeah, straight thugging.

    We don’t have overly adventurous plans for the rest of the weekend. Which leaves plenty of time to do what they love to do most. Relax and be kids.

    • Thursday night I was impressed that I could make a healthy, well-balanced meal that they actually ate. Roasted fish, roasted apples, and whole grain rice.
    • Friday was a marathon of driving as we went from school to the San Diego State ticket office back to the YS offices to the house then to dinner at Rubios. I felt like a soccer mom with all of that carting!
    • Today we plan on going to the nursery so we can start seedlings of our winter garden, doing some weeding and cutting of grass, relaxing in the afternoon, then going to the Aztec game a bit early to enjoy some of the tailgate festivities before SDSU plays Colorado State tonight.
    • Sunday, I hope to keep it simple. Church in the morning and then finish painting the dining room while the NFL games are on. At some point, Paul needs to do his homework.
    • Monday, I’m just happy to get them to school. We will spend some time in the early evening making sure the kids rooms are clean(ish) before mom gets home.

    Goals:

    1. Quantity time.
    2. No trips to the ER.
    3. Keep the house clean.
    4. Convince the animals to sleep in tomorrow for daylight savings time.
    5. Create some memories.

  • Two quick axioms about money

    Photo by Alan Cleaver via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    1. If the average American spends 3-5% more than they make in a month– making more money is not the solution to financial woes. If you made $1 million and spent $1.05 million a year, you’d be the same fool with money you are today.
    2. If the financial institutions of our country were as diligent about collecting information from customers as the average retail clerk, we wouldn’t have had as many bad loans in the housing market. “Do you want to open a credit card and save 5%? Would you like to make a donation? Would you like to buy the extra insurance?“

    Got any observations about money lately? Share them in the comments.

  • Cool book for small groups

    Earlier this year I posted a review of Tony’s Jones book about the Didache.

    I’m still thinking about this book and its effects on community life.

    So take this as a random recommendation. If you’re in an adult small group and you are looking for a book to get your group talking about what it means to be an authentic community– The Teaching of the Twelve is what you are looking for. It’s only about 120 pages, I read it in two sittings.

    I know, I know, I know. A lot of people see or hear the name “Tony Jones” and that makes them think of all the controversy. Read my review from February as I hit that head on.

    After you read the book you may need to re-think what you think about Mr. Jones. I know I did.

  • I’m a walking contradiction

    My life in a Bible verse:

    “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.” Romans 7:15-17

    I’m a walking contradiction.

    Outside of the sin world– and boy am I a sinner– this verse speaks into a lot of other areas of my life.

    And in the gray areas of life, things where it isn’t abundantly clear it’s a sin issue, I’m literally a contradiction.

    • I love my kids, but boy do I love to spend time alone with Kristen.
    • I love spending time with the students in the youth group, but every Tuesday night I struggle to make time to go to youth group and hang with them.
    • I love my church, but I’m quick to wonder if we’re going to the right church.
    • I love the people of Haiti, but to live there? Not in this lifetime.
    • I hate big box stores, but when I need something in a pinch you’ll find me at Target, Home Depot, or Costco.
    • I hate disappointing my children, but I also know that if I give them whatever they want they won’t become the people we hope they become.
    • I hate discrimination against people, but if I’m honest I do it without thinking all the time.
    • I hate people who talk on their phones while driving… even with a headset on, but I do it all the time.

    This is the problem I face every day. I want to be a person of integrity. I want to be a person who makes the right choice for the right reason every time. But life is full of so many contradictions that I’m often left feeling like a hypocrite. I intend to do everything based on my convictions… but I fail a whole lot.

    I do the things I don’t want to do and I can’t stop myself. I even do the things I don’t want to do without thinking about if I want to do them or not. People say I’m a good person and I’m quick to say thank you. But when someone points out my faults I’m just as quick to try to justify myself.

    What’s the moral of the story?

    I’m no better than anyone else. I’m just as much a mess as the guy next door. I need to remind myself constantly that the Gospel is just as much for me as it is for my neighbor.

    To take a stance that I’m somehow better or less a sinner only validates a position that I’m a hypocrite.

    “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

    Through Christ, I’m a walking contradiction, forgiven purely by grace.