5 Things I've Learned from Watching the Olympics

1.  The Olympics brings out some amazing things in people- the hard work, the dedication, the singularity of focus that these athletes show is truly inspiring.  These are qualities that Christians must have in their walk with the Lord.  In 1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul states, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."

These athletes go through so much training, discipline, eating the right foods, backbreaking workouts, etc- for a prize that doesn't last.  How much more should Christians labor and endeavor for a crown that lasts forever?


2.  Sprinters have it much easier than distance runners.

Sprinters have to be focused for a few seconds.  Quick burst of energy and they are done.  Distance runners have to stay in the game mentally much longer.  Minutes, even hours, of pushing themselves mentally and physically.

Which is the Christian life more like?  A sprint or a marathon?  All too often, people view faith in Jesus as a sprint.  They start off strong, but fade after the first initial burst.  Around 80% of people who come forward in evangelical rallies leave the church and their faith within a few years of their conversion experience.

What the church needs is distance runners- endurance athletes who stay in the game mentally and physically to the end.  A sprinter is exciting to watch, but a Christian whose faith is a sprint will do nothing to further the kingdom of God.


3.  Pride and arrogance is ugly.

It never fails- someone who has accomplished an amazing feat of athleticism faces the camera and struts, posturing like a peacock before the cameras, proclaiming his or her greatness to the world.  Not all athletes do this, not by a long shot.  However, I've seen my fair share of arrogance strutting around the track or the field or the pool or whatever venue the athlete succeeds in.  And it is ugly.  Very ugly.

I am actually fearful for these athletes, because pride goes before a fall.  These athletes are one pulled hamstring away from disqualification, one knee injury away from never running again, one ankle sprain away from going home.  Their illusion of world domination is just that- an illusion.  When the fall comes, it will not be pretty.

It is much better for an athlete to perform a world-record winning performance and be just as excited as if someone else had done it.  I love watching the interviews with the athletes that are so grateful and excited just to be there that it doesn't matter who wins.  They can't believe the opportunity that is before them, and they are as giddy as a child on Christmas morning just to be on the field of competition.  Those are true athletes.


4.  People are people, no matter what country they are from.

Thousands of miles and cultural difference don't change the basic humanity God has given us all.  All of the athletes have sacrificed, gone the extra mile, and worked for where they are.  All of them have families and friends in the stands cheering them on.  All of them want the same thing- to do their best in representing their countries to bring home the gold.

I love it.  In my travels to other countries, I have found that people are people.  In every country I've been in, people love to laugh.  They all have the same basic needs.  They all need respect.  The Olympics shows the very best that is in humanity, and for that I am very grateful.


5.  Humans are intrinsically drawn to greatness.

Why do we like to watch the best?  Why do people flock to the stands to watch the fastest men and women in the world?  Why do people crowd into stadiums to watch the best tennis players, the best soccer players, the best swimmers, the best gymnasts, etc?

It's because we love to watch the best.  It is human nature to enjoy greatness.  We enjoy great works of art, great feats of athleticism, great stories, and great works of creation.  And that is no accident.

God made us in His image.  We were created in the image of greatness.  However, in the fall in Genesis 3, we tarnished that image by allowing sin to enter the world.  In every one of us, there is a sense of loss and a desire to see that greatness once again.  God uses that desire to see greatness to draw us to Him.  More people have become believers in God after seeing the beauty of the Grand Canyon and the thundering might of Niagara Falls than they have because of carefully crafted theological arguments.

We were created to desire and enjoy greatness.  As great as the Olympic games are, they are nothing compared to the greatness of God.  The same pleasure and satisfaction and enjoyment we get from watching the best athletes in the world compete is what allows us to enjoy God.  Realize today that the reason you enjoy watching the best in the world is that God placed that desire within you so that you might search out His greatness and enjoy Him forever.

The #1 sin destroying the family and the church . . .

As a pastor, I see a lot of different things.  I have seen good families, bad families, terrible accidents, wonderful acts of love, friendship, addictions, addictions that destroy friendships and family relationships, sacrifice, and just about everything else under the sun.

I've also seen the consequences of sin.  A lot.

However, truly terrible sin is rarely evident on the surface.  To be sure, we have terrible outbreaks of sin such as in the Colorado shooting and more recently, the Sikh temple shooting, and those are very evident. 

But for sin to truly do it's best work, it has to go undetected for long periods of time, sort of like cancer that eats away at a human body until the point it causes death.  That's why the #1 sin that is destroying the church and the family is subtle and unseen, and even celebrated by some.

It is the sin of idolatry.  The #1 sin destroying us.

John Piper wrote about this in his book, "A Hunger For God":

"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.  It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world.  It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night.  For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of His love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20).  

The greatest adversary of love to God is not His enemies but His gifts.  And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth.  For when these replace an appetite for God Himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable." p 14

The sin that is destroying the church is simply a hunger for something other than God.  It is destroying the family as well.  The sin of idolatry- it doesn't matter what the idol is, be it a car, a job, money, music, significant other, comfort, a large house, the American Dream- leaves the church full of zombie-like people trying to worship a different God on Sunday than they are used to.  We cannot give our worship to God on Sunday if we've given our worship to an idol the previous six days. Many times I find myself in love more with the gifts that God gives me than God Himself. 

  -Sometimes I find that I am in love with my wife and children than the One who gave them to me.   

  -Sometimes I find myself more in love with His church more than the One who died to save it. 

  -Sometimes I find myself more in love with my health than I am in love with the One who sustains it.

  -Sometimes I find myself more in love with the gift of sex than I am in love with the One who created it and the sanctity of marriage in which to enjoy it.

  -Sometimes I find myself more in love with sitting on the couch drinking in the mediocre drivel called entertainment than I am in love with His word.

Then, almost immediately, my mind goes to the "default defense of the terminally lukewarm" statement, "What's wrong with that?"  Good question.  What IS wrong with loving my wife and children?  What IS wrong with loving His church?  What IS wrong with loving those other good things?

Nothing.  However, just like in Luke 14:18-20, those good things have the potential to keep me away from the banquet feast of the Kingdom of God. 

Here's the bottom line:  the sin of idolatry will make sure that it is good things, not evil things, that will keep me from the love of God.  That is why idolatry is the #1 sin destroying our churches and our families.  We won't spot it until it is too late.  We will even commend the man who has made an idol out of his family, loving them to the detriment of his relationship with God.  We will even commend the servant who has made an idol out of his or her church, serving it relentlessly to the detriment of his or her own love for God.  We will refer to that person as "so dedicated, so servant-hearted, so sold out for the kingdom" when what they truly have is a problem with idolatry.

Meditate today on Luke 14:18-20 and ask yourself, "What would keep me away from the party God has invited me to?"

Then ask yourself, "Is it worth it?"

Getting Fired For the Glory of God

"A good pastor comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.  A bad pastor does just the opposite, and will be much more popular for it."

I was taught the above quote when I was a young seminary student in the late 90's.  Little did I know that following it would get me as close to being fired as I ever would come.

I was in a church that was very comfortable.  I loved it.  I loved the people and I loved the students.  I had never seen a church that loved each other like this church.  They loved me and my family and we loved them. 

But the above quote stuck in my mind and allowed me no sleep.

So I began to afflict the comfortable students that were in my ministry by challenging them to move outside of their upper-middle class, popular, status-quo keeping lifestyle. I challenged them to move from lukewarmness to laying down their lives for the glory of God.  They didn't like it.  Neither did their parents- many of whom were elders.  There were at that time many afflicted kids that were a part of the youth ministry.  Many were from drug-addicted homes, many were into the whole emo/cutting thing, others were simply uncool and unpopular.  I began to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and became pretty unpopular for it.

I was summoned to elders meetings where I was told, "We hired you to reach OUR kids, not THEM" (them referring to the black-clad, smoking, profane, disrespectful kids that I would preach to on Wednesday nights and sit in court with them on Thursday morning). 

I had never been so discouraged in all my life.  I thought to myself, "If I was to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, I would probably be hailed as the greatest pastor that ever lived, at least from these folks.  I would be Mr Popular, Mr Everything." 

But I wouldn't have been a good pastor.  Nor would I have done anything to further the kingdom of God, which is the only thing that really matters.

To the pastors that read this blog, it is very tempting to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted.  You will be much more popular in your church and probably have much smoother sailing.  But that's not our calling.  We are supposed to do the opposite.  We are to challenge complacent and comfortable Christians to sacrifice all for the Kingdom. 

We are also to comfort those people who life has kicked in the teeth.  Comfort them with your presence, with Scripture, with prayer, with love, and with guidance.

And maybe you will get fired for the glory of God.

To the non-pastors who read this blog, realize that your pastor's job is not to keep you comfortable.  Realize that your pastor is doing his job when he challenges you.  Realize that a good pastor has no desire to "make your road to hell as comfortable as possible."  Only a bad pastor wants that.  Your pastor SHOULD be making you uncomfortable.  Instead of resenting him, accept the challenge and thank him for it.   

Or fire him.  Either way, it's to the glory of God.

I ate at Chik-Fil-A today . . . .

And it was good.  That's because Chik-Fil-A food is good.

The reason Chik-Fil-A food is good is that it is a restaurant.  It serves great chicken sandwiches with great service, and it is probably my favorite fast food restaurant.


I don't go there for political reasons.  I don't go there because the CEO has certain beliefs about family.  I go there because the food is good.


The recent outcry over CEO Dan Cathy's remarks in an interview have really hacked me off.  However, I stayed out of the fray until I heard that the mayor of Boston and an Alderman in Chicago have denied Chik-Fil-A the right to open restaurants in their town. 


These are towns with strip clubs, porn shops, music stores that sell rap music that demeans and degrades women, bars, nightclubs, and the rest (I wonder if those stores line up with the values of Bostonians and Chicagoans).  Chik-Fil-A sells chicken sandwiches.  I guess to the Boston and Chicago guys, the opinions of the CEO on traditional marriage is more important than the PRODUCT of the business.


I wonder now if there has been a line added to the application for a business license in Chicago and Boston- "Are you supportive of gay marriage?"  I wonder if Boston's mayor and Chicago's Alderman are going to go door-to-door to businesses and make sure all the business owners support gay marriage . . . . .  or ask them to close their businesses.


I use AT&T as my personal mobile carrier.  Why?  Because I have been a customer for years and like their service.  Now, AT&T provides benefits to its same-sex employees.  This goes against my personal beliefs.  Should I drop them as a carrier? No.

Why not?  Because I believe that a private business, and that's what both AT&T and Chik-Fil-A are, have the right to do whatever they want with their own business.  They are free to have their own opinions on whatever they want to speak on, and they have the right to give benefits to whomever they want to give benefits to.  This is a free country. 

The reason I make such a big deal about this is that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are one and the same.  If Dan Cathy is denied the right to expand his business due to not toeing the line on some politically correct agenda, what will stop the church from being stopped as well?  What will stop the mayor of Boston from halting church planting efforts in his town unless they support the gay marriage agenda?  What will stop Chicago from closing churches that promote a traditional, Biblical view of marriage?

The answer is "nothing."  The church in America may have to adopt a posture of civil disobedience in the very near future if Boston and Chicago are markers of a governmental trend against the support of Biblical marriage.  I wonder how many Christians will be willing to go that far.  I wonder how many Christians will be bullied into silence by these people.

And, by the way, I'll be going to Chik-Fil-A tomorrow as well.  Hope to see you there.

What Penn State and the Colorado Shootings Have in Common

What do the Penn State scandal and the Colorado shootings have in common?

A:  Our only way of dealing with them is after they occurred.

There is no doubt that our nation is a nation in decline.  2/3 of Americans agree on this.  However, as I have stated before in this blog, I believe the decline is spiritual in nature, not economic.  There are economic consequences to spiritual decline, but the root cause of the decline is spiritual in nature.

We are a nation that has turned its back on God.

I was watching the NCAA announcement about the Penn State sanctions, and interestingly enough, the guy on TV said something to the effect of, "These actions by Sandusky and Penn State leadership goes against what we stand for and also against common human standards." Don't quote me on that, but that is the gist of it.

What ARE the common human standards anymore?  Do we even HAVE common standards?  Who decides them?

The two incidents referred to above were both overwhelmingly evil.  Sexual abuse of children and murder of people in a movie theater fall neatly into the category of overwhelming evil.  However, with the spiritual decline of our country and the removal of absolute-truth morals from our lives, we have rid ourselves of the best way to stop these things from happening.

Now that Americans have removed God from our lives, the only way to deal with evil is after it happens.

For example:  For me, the law on the books that tells me that murder is a crime is irrelevant.  I don't need it.  I don't follow it.  It wouldn't matter to me one bit if it were legal or illegal in this country.  I won't do it, because I believe murder is wrong.  My faith dictates to me that murder is wrong, and therefore having a law on the books is irrelevant.

In the same way, if Americans were to live the teachings of Jesus, police officers could go home.  We would have no need for laws or police, because we would be a people that were self-governed and self-policed.  We wouldn't need a law against murder- because no one would do it.

But now, because our moral and spiritual decline is increasing, we will see more and more news stories like these two, where the authorities' only solution is to wait until the next mass shooting happens and respond to it.  We will be a country playing defense, always reacting to what happens.

And teams that only play defense and always react never win a game.

How long will we be in this mode before we wake up and realize our need for spiritual revival in this country?  Throughout American history, great spiritual revivals are always accompanied by huge decreases in crime, drunkenness, divorce, etc as the Holy Spirit invades the lives of criminals and changes them into people who follow Jesus.

We can pray for spiritual revival in America now.

Or we can wait and respond to the next horrific crime given to us by 24/7 media and respond.

The Colorado Shootings and Media Coverage

As many of you were, I was shocked and saddened when I woke up this morning to hear about another mass shooting- this time in a movie theater in Colorado.  The evil that crossed my tv screen this morning cannot be overstated.  This was an act of pure, premeditated evil.

I found myself watching the coverage, and as the day when on, I suddenly stopped and turned off the tv.  Why was I watching this story?  More importantly, why was the media covering it?

Shooters like this James Holmes guy live for media attention.  That's why they do what they do- they know their actions will be broadcast worldwide and they will have their fifteen minutes of fame, even if it is as a despised mass killer.  Or, in a more sick way, ESPECIALLY if it is as a despised mass killer.

I remember the debate over the Virginia Tech shooter- he mailed a "manifesto" to NBC news and they had a debate over whether they should show it.  They decided not to.

Why can't news media outlets make a gentleman's agreement not to cover stories like this?  Any mass killings, whether they are school shootings or movie theater killings, should automatically be buried.  I am calling on news media outlets to announce that an incident happened, not identify the shooter's name, not glamorize his background, not show the "steps that led to his darkness,"- simply to announce that he has been tried and executed, and that his body was unceremoniously buried in an unmarked grave, or better yet, left out for the vultures to eat.

The people that see this as their chance to make a big statement to the world about how powerful they are will stop doing things like this when they realize there is no media coverage.  They will not go down in history as the mass killer.  They will be a John Doe pushing up daisies somewhere off the beaten path.  They will not be able to make a statement with acts like this, and therefore, they will not do them.

The media coverage that I ate up so quickly this morning is probably the reason he did it.  He probably didn't know any of the people he killed this morning.  He didn't hate them or love them.  He just wanted to do a terrible and horrible act that would cause suffering- and put his name on the news.  My fear is that James Holmes has become a hero to some sick punk out there who would love to go down in the same way.

I will be writing to all major news outlets, asking them to make an agreement not to cover stories like this.  I doubt they will take my advice, but I ask you to join me in this.  Thanks.

The stunning news flew like arrows through the halls . . .

of the palace.  The king was dead.  He had been found in his bed, having died a natural death in his sleep.

"Where has he gone?" asked one of the king's shrewdest advisors.

"Why, he's gone to heaven of course," said the others.

"No," said the one gravely.  "I served the king for many years and traveled with him extensively.  He loved to travel, and would talk about his trips extensively beforehand.  Every detail was planned and anticipated.  But I have never heard him say a word about traveling to heaven.  It was a journey for which I saw no preparation.  I am quite sure he has not gone to heaven."

I heard this story a few years ago and the meaning continues to disturb me.  The reason it disturbs me is because it is true.  When I left for my mission trip to Nepal and India back in February, I had planned for 8 months.  I had raised money, gotten visas and passports, travel itinerary, set up housing, food, contacts, and knew day to day what I would be doing while over there.

That was just for an 18-day mission trip.  How about for a trip to the place where I will spend eternity?

I wonder if our closest friends and family, like that king's advisor, will look at our words, our actions, our preparations, and will conclude that we are someplace other than heaven when we die.  The way the Bible describes it, we spend about .00000000001% of our eternity here on earth, and 99.99999999999% in either heaven or hell.  And yet, do we live like it?  Are you more prepared for a week-long vacation here on earth than you are for an eternity in heaven or hell?