Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:10

The hardest thing about a church family is you don’t get to choose who shows up. You chose your spouse and you raised your kids but your church family is a little out of your control. Sure you can leave a church when you find there are people you don’t get along with or simply stop going altogether. Some have done this but what if there was a simpler more Christ led solution?

What if we showed honor to everyone, especially the people that perhaps rub us the wrong way? What if instead of cursing them under our breath we blessed them out load for all to hear? I think if we can learn to do this an amazing transformation may take place.

That person that got on your nerves might just start to look different to you. They may respond in a more positive manner. You might just find that what was really irritating you was simply your own negative attitudes and feelings.

Showing honor is an amazing practice that has the power to transform the giver as well as the receiver. Give it a try.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount will guide you but only his Suffering on the Mount will save you.
Rick Warren

If you look at the modern church many have stopped using the term “tithe” because of the whole New Testament debate. In order to not have to face that question we started to simply call it the offering. Say what you will about the idea of giving regularly to your local church but calling it an offering still feels a little like I’m trying to pay for something I did or didn’t do. Maybe I’m not worthy by Christ alone…I better bring an offering to make sure me and the Big Guy are square. It seems like many times we are still trying to earn something.

Perhaps it’s not even the terminology but the mindset and application that bother me. I strongly believe that followers of Christ should be generous people and even support their local church financially but the why is very important to me. Here are three things that I never want to control why people give at the Exchange.

Convenience – The tithe is an easy out and that’s why I don’t teach it. It’s too convenient. No prayer or thought, just deposit your 10% into your spiritual 401k and trust that God matches well over 100%.

Compulsion – The basket gets passed every Sunday morning and sometimes it feels like a robbery. You place some money in it with very little thought of why. You just know you’re supposed too or something bad might happen.

Circumstance – This is the main reason people give less than they should (TBD) or none at all. They know the bills that they have and so they adjust their giving based on what’s happening at the moment. Seems reasonable to me but it still isn’t God’s ideal.

So what am I proposing? I’m calling for a Psalm 40:6 focus on all of our giving. Here’s what it says in the Amplified Bible.

⁶Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.

Did you get that? No more offerings or sacrifices. Why? Because God has given us the capacity to hear and obey.

Christ was the ultimate sacrifice and offering on our behalf. There are no more to be made. Instead we have been given the ability to hear the voice of God on these matters and obey Him.

So the next time your church takes up an “offering” or you’re at the Exchange for our time of giving, don’t just give 10% because it’s easy. Don’t give because you feel the compulsive need too. And definitely don’t let your current circumstances get in the way.

Ask, hear, obey…

“He who has ears, let him hear.” ~ Matthew 13:9

It is no surprise to anyone who spends any time at all with me that I seem to have a hearing problem. My wife would probably say that it’s her most loathed quality about me. She isn’t being cruel about a physical disability because the hearing problem I have has more to do with my attention than my ability.

A perfect example of how this plays out is on the ride home from work each day. My wife and I will be in a conversation and it will come to a lull. At this point I start thinking about what I need to get done, listening to something on the radio, or just starring aimlessly out the window. That’s when it happens.

I’m not exactly sure at what point it happens and that’s the problem. She has already spoken a few sentences to me and I’m just tuning in. What did I miss? I have no context and so I have to ask her to repeat herself. This never goes over well. Especially since I seem to do it almost daily.

I wonder if I do that with God. Am I so preoccupied with my own stuff that I miss entire conversations with Him? Am I so distracted by the busyness of my own life that when I finally tune in I’ve already missed half of what He said? Perhaps the problem is not my ability to hear but what I allow to so wholly capture my attention.

I tried to play devil’s advocate and see things from both sides, I have thus created my top reasons why a Qur’an book burning might not be as bad as some of us thought.

1. It’s Good for Book Burning Christians Because It Shows Progress - For a period of almost two hundred years (only eight hundred short years ago), Christians throughout Western Europe were involved in what we know as the Crusades, in which many Christians burnt living Muslims. At least now it’s only their Holy Book. It’s nice to see we’ve grown up some.
2. It’s Good for Muslims Because It Exposes a Simple Truth - Muslims aren’t the only ones with wacko factions that do things that embarrass and shame those trying to prove we aren’t all crazy. To my Muslim friends, you and I aren’t that different; let’s grab a bite to eat and lament the silliness of others in our faith.
3. It’s Good for NON Book Burning Christians Because It Takes Focus Off of Our Own Shortcomings - Let’s be honest: as long as there are crazy Christians burning books and banning everything, no one will notice whether or not I’m a gossip, a liar, a cheat, or just a plain pain in the you-know-what. When stacked next to these people, we all look like saints, even if we are in total disobedience to God.
4. It’s Good for Church Seekers Because it Narrows the Focus – If a church hosts a book burning, then its obvious they aren’t the church for you. Thank you book burning churches, you’ve made the decision for countless seekers just a little bit easier.
5. It’s Good for Humanity Because it Reveals the Mercy of God - If someone was going around using my name to do crazy things like burning books, there is no telling what I would do. But God hasn’t destroyed them yet, so that’s good for all of us who do crazy things both in and not in his name.
6. It’s Good for the Economy Because it Increases Cash Flow - All these people who think burning the Qur’an is such a good idea probably don’t have a stockpile in their closets for just such an occasion. That means they have to go buy them. The bookstore that was struggling to stay in business just got a surge of patronage. Which brings up another point…
7. It’s Good for the Qur’an Because it Probably will Fund it’s Next Printing - With bookstores everywhere selling out of the Quran publishers will see a need to increase production. Soon there will be dozens of Qur’an’s in every bookstore and maybe one in every home. Can someone say “Best Sellers List”?

So, as you can see, although the idea of a Qur’an book burning seems like one of the most ridiculous things someone could do, it’s not without its merits.

Now it’s been back and forth as to whether any Qur’an burnings will take place or not but if they do I hope this list makes you feel a little better about it. And if it doesn’t I invite you to print one hundred copies of this and have a blog post burning in protest because that is a completely logical thing to do.

ChurchRater.com opens the door for anyone to share their real life experience when visiting a particular church. It basically offers 1 to 5 stars and a place to leave your comments. The site launched about 3 weeks ago but was actually active as far back as three years ago until the owners shut it down and relaunched.

This is a very funny idea to me. What would you use to determine your rating. Friendliness, food, children’s ministry, music, sermon, use of multi-media? I think this is amusing to me because I don’t know that you can really get a good enough feel for many churches by just one visit to a “worship service”. First impression, sure, but a real understanding of the people and their hearts and mission, probably not. Granted, all it takes is a first impression to determine if someone ever wants to grace a particular church again.

LifePoint is one that suffers from first impressions. We are friendly and extremely grace filled but let me be honest, we don’t put on a show. Our music is currently non-existent, we always start late, and we regularly do things that one might not expect to see in church. I guess we might not fair well in a service like this.

What do you think? Do you love or hate the idea and why? Are you running off to place a rating on your church even before this post has ended? Share your thoughts.