Love One Another

The church gets a bad rap. Too often she gets beat up, not just by non-Christians but by Christians too!

“The church is full of hypocrites. Oh they claim to believe it, but they don’t practice what they preach…”

“Church is out of touch. They don’t have a clue what is going on in the REAL world…”

“Church is boring. They don’t sing the songs I like, the preacher is too long-winded, everyone is off-key. Seriously…”

And often those criticisms are based in fact. All of us can be hypocritical. Sometimes we are out of touch with culture and the world. Sometimes church can be a little boring. Sometimes we sing off-key. Sure, those criticisms are sometimes based in fact.

But here’s my definition of church: Church is the perfect place for imperfect people. We believe in the God who was, is, and is to come, and he is at work on each of us making us what he means for us to be. As Christians, we are under construction. As the church, we are a place where people come to be built up. Sometimes we function as a hospital, working on those who need healing. Sometimes we function as a therapy session, helping those who are hurt and broken. Sometimes we are a family dinner, a place where joys are shared and accomplishments are rejoiced over.

Ultimately, the church makes the biggest impact when we love one another. The Christian community, when it is loving one another, makes a huge impact on the world. Look at Acts 2 and Acts 4: these are people who are making a difference! This is why Jesus tells his disciples to love one another. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). So church, get to loving! Check up on one another. Encourage one another. Say more than hello to someone as you leave. Love can change the world, and it starts here with us

Acts 11-13

This post is copied from the Hawks for Christ blog. Hope you enjoy it!
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Hey guys, sorry it has been so long. I am posting 11-13 here, and 14 and 15 tomorrow, then we will be caught up. Again, sorry about the delay. Hope you are keeping up with your reading.

Acts 11:
I love the story of Barnabas, "The Son of Encouragement." Barnabas seems to have the gift of discernment and encouragement; he always seems to know those who have the best hearts and those who are truly seeking to follow God. Here's what we know about him: "He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord." What an amazing thought! Barnabas was the one who spoke up for Paul before the disciples; he was the one sent to Antioch to encourage the new Christians and to teach them in their faith. And he was the one who brought Paul to Antioch to minister to the people there.

I hope I can be a Barnabas in the lives of other people.

Acts 12:
During this time we begin to see the church being truly persecuted. Herod gets in on the action, having the apostle James killed for his faith and jailing Peter. He surrounded him with soldiers, and yet God STILL managed to pull of a miraculous escape.

One of the things that always sticks out to me about this story is the actions of the church. Luke tells us that the church is gathered together praying for Peter's release. Yet when Peter shows up they are sure that he had died! Rather than believing their prayers worked, they instead think that the worst has happened!

Don't we sometimes pray like that too? I know I do. I pray that God will act, but then I try to explain it away when he actually does. It seems like I could have been an integral part of this church's ministry!

Acts 13:
How do you make decisions in your own life? How did you decide to go to KU? How did you decide what to major in? How do you know what God wants you to do in your life?

These are important questions to consider.

In Acts 13 we find the church in Antioch engaged in worship and fasting. It seems like this is a typical part of their practice. In the midst of their worship the Holy Spirit told them to send Paul and Barnabas out on a trip to spread the Gospel.

It doesn't seem like Paul and Barnabas are looking to leave; it doesn't even seem like the church is looking to send people out as missionaries. However, when the Holy Spirit speaks, they listen!

What do they do next? They continue to do what they were doing before! They continued to fast and pray about the Lord's decision, then they decided to obey. They blessed Paul and Barnabas and then sent them out to do the Lord's work.

I sometimes think that I refuse to listen to God's leading in my life. Sometimes I spend all of my time praying about the future and forget to listen for God to lead me!

Ultimately, however, I think God's guidance comes from a life of worship, fasting, and prayer. These practices don't seem to be new for the church; rather, they seem to be a part of their system of worship. I believe that our hearts become attuned to the heart of God as we worship him and seek to honor and glorify him.

Church: What's the point?

Why does the church exist?

Now, how many of you think I am off my rocker for even posing this question? You can be honest, it won’t hurt my feelings. The question is important, because we live in an age where people are giving up on “organized religion” for personal spirituality or spiritual growth. Many people are simply walking away from the church. Why does this group exist at all? Why did Jesus and his disciples set up a church to continue on his tradition after he had left?

Many people simply write off church as non-essential. It is too hypocritical, too long, too boring. (Important: These are not my feelings, they are the ones statisticians report.) They see church as simply being one more thing to add to their already-too-large list of activities; something’s gotta give, and it often becomes church. So we are left to wonder, Why does the church exist in the first place? Is it even necessary?

I think Luke clues us in to the answer. Acts covers the foundation of the church and its actions for the Kingdom of God. Luke begins the book of Acts with this thought: “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up into heaven…” (Acts 1:1-2). Luke’s choice of words is very important. Listen to them again: “… I wrote about all the Jesus had begun to do and to teach…” The rest of Acts is the continuation of Christ’s ministry on earth.



It’s no wonder that Paul picks up on this idea in his own writings. Paul refers to the church as the Soma Christou, the “Body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 3-5; Col. 3). We are all called to be part of the body of Christ. A hand cannot grasp, an ear cannot hear, and feet cannot walk on their own; these actions are worthless without a body to make them whole. Body parts are just that: parts of the Body. They have no use outside of that function. So too are Christians: we need to be connected to a body of believers in order to grow and live our full potential.

Why is the church important? Because we carry on the work of Jesus in the world. Is being part of a church easy? Rarely. Is it worth it? Usually. Is it what Christ would have us do? Absolutely.

The Bride of Christ

Nothing is more beautiful than a bride on her wedding day! For those of you at Nick and Lindsay’s wedding, you understand what I am talking about. Brides have such a glow as they walk down the aisle, her eyes only on her (soon-to-be) husband. At that moment she is the most beautiful person in the world.

I have always enjoyed turning and watching the groom’s face as his bride walks down the aisle. (And yes, I had the idea before watching “27 Dresses.” Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t have admitted watching that out loud…) His eyes light up, a smile beams across his face, and often tears begin to well up as he sees his beautiful bride coming towards him.

Now, both individuals have their imperfections and their flaws. Neither one of them is perfect. But they have chosen to love one another and dedicate themselves to one another, and at that moment all they see is the perfect person standing right beside them.

God uses this same metaphor to describe his relationship with his church. In Revelation 19, John is invited to the wedding celebration of the Lamb. John describes his vision:

“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear…” Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' " And he added, "These are the true words of God.”

We, as Christians, are the Bride of Christ! We have been chosen by God to be his bride, his chosen one. Yes, we have our fault and flaws. No, we aren’t perfect. But God has chosen us, and because of that we have been made perfect! And at the moment of that wedding celebration God believes that we are the perfect ones to be standing right beside him. Because of his great love for us we have fallen in love with him.

May we always remain faithful to the one who loves us this much!

Service with a Smile (for the Kingdom)

As I talk to a number of non-Christians they are turned off by different aspects our Christianity: our perceived holier-than-thou attitude, our hypocrisy, our intolerance, etc. The world views non-Christians as being intolerant of anyone who doesn’t believe the same things that we believe.

Yet, time and again, non-Christians are amazed at the servant hearts of Christian people. They cannot believe that we would willingly give up our time, our energy, our comfort, to go and work with those who need help. They are amazed when they discover that Christians aren’t out doing service projects because they are made to or because it looks good on a college application, but because we want to. It is our chance to serve God by serving other people. In many ways the world doesn’t get it, but they do respect it!

We all have a tendency to get a little caught up in ourselves. Jesus’ own disciples had this same problem. In Mark 10, the disciples had been discussing who was the most important among them and who would be first in the Kingdom. As Jesus overheard these conversations he spoke to his disciples about the most important things in life, he told them this: “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The goal of the Christian life is not to get ahead or to be self-serving but to be focused on others.

Jesus reminds us that service towards others is service towards God. In his parable of the sheep and the goats, the people are judged based on their service towards those in need. The sheep, those who served those in need, are told that because of their service (even in small ways), they have received an eternal reward, for “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). What an amazing thought: we serve God by serving other people.

We are called to serve other people because Christ came to serve us. If we are his hands and feet, his Body, his ambassadors, and his representatives on earth, than we can do nothing less...