restored to grace

Why water?

It’s the most basic substance necessary to sustain life. And so many—1.1 billion, actually—are trying to survive without enough of it.

One out of every six.

The only water these people have access to is teeming with parasites and disease. Their water is lethal. They’re drinking it. And it’s killing them.

What can we do? There are a number of things. First, this Saturday, Liquid Church will be hosting a huge party on the Morristown Green (map here). Simply by showing up, you’re doing something. At the center of the party is a WaterWalk. For each person who walks, Liquid Church will donate $20 towards building wells in sub-Saharan Africa.

Second, you can partner with Liquid Church by using our secure donation site. Place the word “GLOCAL” in the comments section to ensure that your donation is going towards the water crisis relief effort.

This verse tells it all:

“This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.”
~Matthew 10.42 (The Message)

I know our individual attempts are small. But each person can do so much more when working together with others who are looking for the same thing. Check out the First-Century Church.

Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
~Acts 2.43-45 (The Message)

They got together and decided to wipe out poverty. Why can’t we do the same thing?
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Last week I wrote a note that generated a lot of discussion from some of my Facebook friends. So I thought I’d share it with the rest of the blogosphere. Enjoy!

Perhaps what I really meant was that I’m rethinking the face of the Christian faith. But those who know me well know that what I say often has deeper meaning than its face value implies.

The sources are most notably a three-year study done by the Barna Group that culminated in the book unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons and the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.

First of all, “Christianity has an image problem.” So goes the assertion made on the first page of the first chapter of Kinnaman & Lyon’s book. As the research is presented and their findings disclosed, it’s frightening to see what this generation thinks of Christianity. And much of their frustration, skepticism, and suspicion doesn’t actually have anything to do with the values of the faith itself. In fact, most of their issues with Christianity have to do with the way Christians react toward issues in life. I won’t go into detail, but I believe that much of this generation’s anger toward Christianity can be relieved if Christians were to live true Christianity based completely on the Word of God and not on traditions, church standards, or what they were taught in Bible school their whole lives.

Second, the whole of the Christian faith never hinges on any one doctrine or belief. Let me cite an example. In Velvet Elvis, Bell cites an incident where he watched a video of a Creation scientist who travels around preaching the so-called truth of a literal six-day, 144-hour Creation event. I think I know who this guy is, and I’ve probably heard him speak before. Regardless, I won’t agree or disagree with his assertion that God created in six literal days. That’s not the point.

The problem came when the man said that a denial of a literal six-day creation of the universe is equivalent to a denial that Christ died on the cross.

For those of you who’ve read Velvet Elvis, my question is this: Is faith in Christ more like a trampoline or a wall of bricks? Is each doctrine or belief so crucial that to take one out and examine it would be akin to removing a brick from a wall, thus compromising the integrity of the wall and introducing the risk that the wall of faith may come crashing down?

Or can faith stand up under the removal and scrutiny of any one doctrine? If we were to examine one of the springs of a trampoline, would the trampoline still function?

Faith as a wall leads to defense. Christians are so quick to defend. They argue, they debate, they grow frustrated. No brick must be removed lest the wall fall down.

Faith as a trampoline leads to invitation. “Come jump with me!” Maybe if we viewed the Christian faith this way instead of as a brick wall, non-Christians would be more open to checking it out and won’t be so quick to say, “I already know what you’re all like.” Besides, jumping on a trampoline is a whole lot more fun than defending a brick wall.

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No, I’m not knocking off a SoBe product. I’m talking about something completely different.

I decided to switch out of my normal Scripture reading routine thanks to something Pastor Tim said on Sunday. He pointed to a passage in Revelation 22:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

There’s an amazing image here. Did you catch it? Let’s backtrack to John 3.5. Here Christ makes the statement that one must be born of water and of the Spirit.

Without water, we’re dead physically. Without the Spirit, we’re dead spiritually.

Water is the giver of life. Water refreshes and cleanses. It revitalizes and renews. It restores and heals.

So is it any wonder that a river of life water flows down the middle of “Main Street in Heaven”? (Thanks for the imagery, Tim.)

Let’s jump to John 7.37. Here Christ paints an interesting picture. It’s almost as if He’s claiming to be life-giving water. Or, at least, that He is able to offer this life water.

So far we’ve established this much: living water is an essential part of spiritual life just like water is an essential part of physical life.

Let’s bring this home.

Knowing how important the concept of water is to Christ and His Kingdom, what do you think we should do about it?

“This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.”
~Matthew 10.42 (The Message)

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this world is suffering a water crisis. More than one billion people—that’s one out of every six—have no access to clean drinking water. Children are dying everyday from water-borne diseases. How will you help?

If you’re near Morristown, NJ, you can show up at the Green in the center of Morristown on Saturday, August 2, and take part in the WaterWalk. For every person who walks 30 feet carrying two Gerry cans, Liquid Church will donate $20 to charity: water, who will use 100% of the donations to build wells for villages in Africa. Villages where people are dying for lack of water. (For more info on Liquid’s WaterWalk and the Party on the Green, head over to this page.)

If you can’t make it to Morristown that weekend, you can partner with Liquid Church and donate to charity: water through Liquid Church’s secure donation site. Be sure to make reference to “GLOCAL” (“GLOCAL” is the name of our summer outreach partnership with charity: water) in the comments section.

And pray. Don’t just give on a whim. Consider what’s important to you and ask God to lead you in the right direction.

Maybe this whole water thing is a way of bringing glimpses of heaven down to earth. A way of “bringing up there down here.” We are, after all, Christ-followers. What better way to follow Him than to do what He said? So do you think you could “give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty”?

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The association between love and chocolate is fairly ubiquitous. You don’t have to look very far to find someone expressing love through chocolate. Admittedly a bit cliché, but when February 14 rolls around every year, there isn’t a girl alive who would turn down an offer of rich, creamy, sugary, cocoa love. Now, do you think there’s anyone who wouldn’t feel loved somehow if you were to offer some chocolate?

So let’s get creative. What kind of signal do you think it would send if Christ followers gave out some chocolate to people?

Okay, so it’s not exactly a profound metaphor, but the association is still there. And who in his right mind would interpret a chocolate gift as a symbol of judgment?

The post was certainly a bit contrived. But the point here is to challenge you to think outside the box. Could it be possible for us to share God’s love without proselytizing? Could it be possible to tell people about God’s wondrous gift of salvation by genuinely caring about them instead of looking to convert them to this Christian religion?

So I guess this post isn’t about the chocolate. Like Rob Bell, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, often says: “This is really about that.” The chocolate is really about . . . .

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I’m going to refrain from any sort of thought-provoking entry and simply post a story from this weekend.

This weekend has been extremely taxing. I won’t go into all the gory details, but suffice it to say that I was going into church this morning with an awful lot of baggage from Saturday.

As you probably already know, I love my church. I love being there, I love learning from God’s word through Tim’s preaching, I love the worship band, and I crazily love all the peeps there! But I was feeling especially worn out today by the time the third service came around. I’d spent two morning services working with the Liquid Kids program, had run to lunch down the street (in the blazing summer heat) and back to church for my Life Class. After class, it was off to serve with the Greeting Team for the next two services.

I normally wouldn’t feel the weight of the day, but the previous day had been so draining, and my rest the night before was almost nonexistent. So naturally, I began feeling the weariness set in both physically and emotionally.

But as the weariness began to settle in heavily, I had a couple energy boosters. Two very encouraging chats with some buddies of mine really helped get me through some of the trials of the weekend. It’s great having friends who are willing to sit down, listen to what’s on your heart, and actually care about what’s going on in your life.

But the most amazing and energizing moment came from a very unexpected source. A girl I’d never met face-to-face before gave me a hug.

Now, I’m not normally a hug-crazy guy, but I don’t care who you are; when you get to the point where physical exhaustion is beginning to damage you emotionally, a hug is always welcome.

And what made this special was the moment where “Do I know you?” turned into “You’re him!” and the look of “I’m so glad I found you!” spread across her face.

Could something like that be awkward? Of course. But for some reason it’s exactly what I needed. It’s connecting with that bond, the one that says, “You’re my brother in Christ. I have nothing to give you but love!”

And in that moment I thought, “I’ve never met this girl, but she’s my sister somehow. She’s family. And I love her.”

Maybe it’s a little weird. Maybe that’s just the weariness of the day talking. Regardless, I’m so thankful for God’s embrace in that moment. It was a small, yet eternally meaningful gift and a moment I won’t soon forget.

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Love’s demands are insane. When someone is in love, he is completely sold on the good of the object loved; nothing he can do can break him from that love.

I think that’s why God is love. God demands that we love Him with all that we are. That can sometimes be a difficult thing to do. Especially if we view God other than what He is to us: Love personified. What else would prompt Him to lay down His life for us? Everything God has done, is doing, and will do is motivated by the most passionate love in existence.

When we realize that God is love, it’s a little bit easier to give ourselves to Him wholeheartedly. We stop telling God, “I’ll give you this area of my life, but you can’t have the other area.”

I mean, think about it. Who among you, when completely in love with someone, has the capacity to withhold some of that love? Could you imagine? “Honey, I love you so much, but I don’t want my love for you to get in the way of my relationship with my ex-girlfriend.”

True love doesn’t allow for that! And God won’t allow for that either. His love manifests itself in so many ways, and one of those ways is His demands. He doesn’t demand that we give anything up, He demands that we love Him. When we do that, and when we learn how powerful His love is, giving things up starts to happen naturally.

Just like in a new relationship. Sure, it’s tough giving up some of the freedoms of single life. But as the relationship progresses, none of those freedoms matter anymore. As your love deepens, you forget what it was like to love being single. All you can think about is your newfound love.

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I sometimes wonder what it would look like if we gave our best to God simply because we love Him. If we didn’t do it for any personal gain. If we didn’t worship because we sound good on stage.

What would it look like if we gave to God out of what he’s blessed us with? What would it look like if we stopped caring about what other people think of us?

Would we be more willing to close our eyes during worship? Would we feel the urge to raise our hands toward heaven? Would we sing beautifully because the person in the pew in front of us can hear us, or would we sing beautifully because God is listening?

What would true worship look like?

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Love hurts. It’s a complicated thing. It makes life complicated and confounds the strongest, the wisest, the bravest.

And it complicates God’s life.

God’s all-powerful. Why complicate matters by creating love? Why make life so difficult by being love?

Because overcoming the most complicated obstacle reveals something about this God. His power is overwhelming. He’s relentless in His pursuit. And He’ll prove it by going to His death.

Ironically enough, the object of His love would be the very thing that kills Him.

When a man falls in love, he places his heart in the hands of the woman he loves. It certainly complicates life. But I figure that’s another way we’re made in the image of God. A man’s love is relentless. He’ll pursue the woman he loves with everything inside him. He places his heart in her hands, and the choice is now hers. She can stab his heart or she can accept it.

God’s love is relentless. He’s chosen us for His Bride. He placed His Son in our hands, and the choice is now ours. We can kill Him or accept Him.

So it seems God understands my pain. Better than I could possibly fathom. He placed His Heart in the hands of humanity, and we pierced His Heart not once or twice, but three times. Right hand. Left hand. Feet. We shamed Him and placed His Heart on display atop of a hill called “The Skull.”

Not to diminish the intensity of the story of God, but I think that every time our love is rejected, we get a tiny glimpse of what that pain must have been like.

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Pastor Tim’s friend, Scott Harrison, has an amazing story. After his own encounter with the risen Christ, Scott discovered he could devote his life to something bigger than promoting nightclubs and livin’ large in New York City. He chose to follow in his Savior’s footsteps, and here’s what he found. . .
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