Chris Linzey

November 26, 2014November 29, 2015

What’s Love Got to Do With It? – An Advent Devotion

Let’s face it, we live in a love-saturated culture. Everywhere you turn you see television shows, movies, magazines, books, and other products all designed to get us to buy/watch/read by appealing to our desire to tap into love. It’s especially bad in our music. While I don’t have the exact number, the great majority of songs on the radio have to do with some aspect of love. Can you identify these famous love songs from their lyrics

– Bittersweet memories that is all I’m taking with me So good-bye Please don’t cry We both know I’m not what you, you need….

Yup – you guessed it.

How about:

– There’s a calm surrender To the rush of day When the heat of the rolling world Can be turned away An enchanted moment And it sees me through It’s enough for this restless warrior Just to be with you…

Too easy, right?

One last one – and a personal favorite of mine!

– Shot through the heart and you’re to blame, darlin’…

Of course you know this one!

But when it comes to love, this world has the wrong perspective. Most of the “love” in this world comes down to “what you do for me” – it’s about how you make me feel. Because of this erroneous view, the emotional connections we have make it too easy to move on. When I don’t feel love for you I’m gonna walk away.

But real love doesn’t move on in difficult moments – it holds on and fights for the “other.”

If the world’s perspective is wrong, let’s take a look at the Bible’s perspective. One of the most famous chapters in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13. It’s often called “The Love Chapter.” In this section Paul goes on…and on…and on…and, well, you get it – all about LOVE.

Here’s the kicker: he uses verbs, not adjectives, to talk about love. Love is something to be DONE, not something to be felt. Here it is broken down with a bit of explanation about what Paul is trying to get at.

– Love is patient – it performs the positive act of waiting
– Love is kind – it responds to others with a tender heart
– Love does not envy – there are no intense negative feelings over another’s success
– Love is not boastful – not a pompous windbag
– Love is not conceited – not puffed up. Puffing up the self puts others down
– Love does not act improperly – refers to shameful behavior
– Love is not selfish – doesn’t seek personal advantage over the “other”
– Love is not provoked – doesn’t get caught up or riled up, not irritable
– Love does not keep a record of wrongs – don’t get historical!
– Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth – treat each other fairly
– Love bears all things – protects and covers up what is displeasing in others
– Love believes all things, hopes all things – trusting in God’s care and protection
– Love endures all things – love doesn’t bail out when times get tough
– Love never ends – depite trouble, hardship, or affliction, love perseveres

Jesus’ take on love is even more extreme. It’s not just about action – it’s about selfless action.

– John 15:13 – this is the greatest act of love, putting others ahead of yourself to the extreme.
– John 15:17 – Jesus’ direct command: love each other.

As we start the advent season we often focus on the wrong type of love. Love in Advent isn’t about feeling that it’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s recognizing that God loves us through His actions. He cares, so He acts accordingly. Christ coming to the world is the greatest act of love because it is putting our needs as His priority.

The flip-side to this Christmas miracle is that we are commanded to pick up and carry this definition of love! We have the opportunity to create God’s kingdom on earth, and it all starts with love – how we treat and prioritize others.

Not to be trite and cliché, but what the world needs now is love. Not a schmaltzy, Coca-Cola version but a godly, biblical version of love as concrete behavior that puts others first and puts ourselves second.

November 25, 2014

Just One More White Man Commenting on Ferguson

I know, I know. So many people all talking about Ferguson. I even made a joke that today 50 million bloggers would be posting, telling us all how to think about Ferguson (and I would, probably, be one of the 50 million).

I really wrestled with posting on the issue (obviously I caved). But part of me really dislikes being told I can’t do something, and there was an overwhelming feeling on social media today that white commentators should just be quiet and listen rather than speaking.

I understand the sentiment behind that feeling and I agree that we SHOULD be listening to the stories of other people. Still, asking me not to speak because of the color of my skin is ALSO racist. My skin color doesn’t affect my brain or my spirituality. If pastors were not allowed to speak on issues they had no direct involvement in then we could never preach on a lot of topics. Never having been married to more than one woman I could speak on polygamy. Having never been divorced I couldn’t speak to the biblical view on divorce. You get the point? We speak on the biblical perspective on things even when we don’t have direct experience because we don’t preach our experiences – we preach God’s revelation. That means we can speak to any issue when we come at it from a biblical perspective.

Ferguson and race-relations is no different. I won’t speak to the legal and justice issues, because I’m not a lawyer. I will speak to the idea of biblical behavior, since the Bible is what I know.

We’re all getting it wrong. There seems to be (I’m going to use the word overwhelming again for the second time in a single post) OVERWHELMING feeling that the riots are justified behavior. They are not – at least not from a biblical point of view.

The Bible calls us to exemplary behavior, even when we are mistreated by harsh and unfair people. There is no Christian justification for the Ferguson riots. Before you accuse me of being racist, please note that I also feel that white people were not biblically justified in violent revolution against England (a position I know MANY disagree with).

There is never biblical justification for violent and riotous behavior in order to bring social change. The supreme example of this is Jesus, who never participated in such behavior. When Peter was ready to riot and drew his sword, cutting off a man’s ear, Jesus told him to simmer down.

There is no biblical excuse for the riots in Ferguson.

But the rioters aren’t the only ones getting it wrong. Many of us watching and responding are also getting it wrong. Instead of reacting with compassion and trying to understand the anger and the hurt driving the riots, many get defensive and are content simply to point fingers at bad behavior.

But we need to do better. From a biblical point of view, we are called to care for the outsider, the alien, and the disenfranchised (this is actually an Old Testament AND New Testament concept). Pointing fingers at bad behavior without trying to understand what is motivating the behavior is not seeking to care for the disenfranchised. When the disenfranchised try to tell those in power, “This isn’t right!” the correct response is not, “Sit down and behave!” The correct response is, “Let me help you pursue justice and righteousness.”

This does NOT excuse the riotous behavior. It is simply to say we must do better at caring for those who are not feeling justice being done to them.

There is no easy road forward. There is a lot of anger on both sides that prevents the black and white communities from having real conversations with each other. But God calls us to pursue peace – to be peacemakers. A pastor friend of mine once told me, “The peace that Jesus brought was a costly peace. The peace that He calls US to bring is going to have to cost us, too.”

Until we’re willing to pay that cost and REALLY pursue peace and justice, the conflict will never go away.

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Blessings!

November 19, 2014October 17, 2015

This Isn’t the Kind of Wedding Surprise You Want!

It’s not often you get to see a Bible story play out in real life. But one just did!

I just read a story about a wedding in Saudi Arabia that was arranged by the bride and groom’s parents. They had never laid eyes on each other until after the ceremony.

When the bride lifted her veil, the groom said:

You are not the one I had imagined. I am sorry, but I divorce you.

Pretty crazy, right?!?

There’s a story in the Bible that is just like this. It’s the story of Jacob wanting to marry Rachel but being surprised when he was stuck with Leah.

So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.” So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast. That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave. When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

The difference here is that Jacob does the honorable thing to his wife and does not divorce her, even though he was tricked into marrying her. The Saudi husband had no such notions of honor and said, “I’m outta here!”

There is something to be said about people who stick to our word and follow through with our obligations. Our world is more and more becoming a “throw-away” world where we discard the things that displease us no matter what the consequences. Our focus is more on what makes us happy rather than doing the right thing.

I hope you never get tricked into marrying the wrong person. Chances are you’ll never find yourself in this specific situation.

Still – wherever you find yourself – don’t give in to the throw-away culture. Be a person of honor. Do what you say you’re going to do.

Do the right thing, even if it’s not the thing you wanted to do.

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November 18, 2014April 11, 2015

Adolf Hitler Takes On Joel Osteen…and Wins!

In all honesty I’m friends with a lot more people on Social Media than I could ever REALLY keep up with. That being said, I see a lot of comments and quotations flit by the screen as I scroll merrily along. The other day I saw this:

Did you know that the only person keeping you from your best life is you?

I’ll be honest, it sounded a lot like a Joel Osteen quotation (the whole “best life” wording), but the person didn’t attribute it. I also don’t know the entire context of the quotation – I just got the snippet she decided to share with the world. Those caveats aside, let’s progress with the quotation at hand.

It’s ridiculous.

My initial reaction was to imagine Adolf Hitler standing before a boxcar of Jews about to ship out to a death camp telling his prisoners, “Zee only person keeping you from your best life eez you!” – yes you must always read Hitler quotes with a Schultz (from Hogan’s Heroes) accent.

Can you picture it? Ludicrous, right?

Can anyone deny that sometimes garbage happens to us because of other people? Recently having gone through (and still going through) a tough time I had someone say to me, “It blows my mind that you refuse to take any responsibility about…!”

And I still won’t take it.

Don’t misunderstand me – I believe we ought to own up to our choices and consequences. Still, sometimes things happen TO us that go beyond our own behavior. Sometimes bad stuff comes our way without being a consequence of our actions. This is one of the major themes in the story of Job.

When all the horrible things happened to Job (lost his livelihood, his children died, he became very ill…) his friends gathered around him to support him. Eventually they came to the point of telling Job, “Something you did brought this calamity upon you. What was it?”

Job’s answer time and again was: I HAVE DONE NOTHING TO BRING THIS UPON MYSELF!!!

Regardless of what cheery Osteen-ism you want to read and believe, sometimes life sucks no matter what you try to do. You can’t always control things to get a happy and delightful outcome. You don’t always get to have a “best life now.” Just ask the countless Christian martyrs who have died for their beliefs. Ask the countless Christians in developing nations who live in abject poverty. Ask the Christians in our own neighborhoods who struggle and suffer with gut-wrenching problems.

It’s not because they don’t believe. It’s not because they haven’t tried.

Sometimes life just sucks.

Jesus never promises it won’t suck. Sometimes our “best life now” means hanging on by a thread and praying for God to deliver us. Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, “We know that our God CAN deliver us, but even if he doesn’t we will not worship another god.”

Sometimes you’ll go through stuff you didn’t cause or deserve. I feel your pain. Shoot me a message sometime and we’ll commiserate. Sometimes it’s all we can do just to get by. I pray I have the fortitude of men like “Rach, Shach, and Bennie – men like Job – who can hold fast to their faith and say:

“Even in this dark hour I KNOW that my God has not abandoned me.”

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November 17, 2014

Worship Devotional: I’m Broken Inside

The Church Plant

Today I’ve been listening to “Give Me Faith” on repeat.

The chorus is a prayer to God that says:

Give me faith to trust what You say,
That You’re good and Your love is great
I’m broken inside, I give You my life

Sometimes when we’re going through the tough times it’s hard to have the kind of faith that focuses on God’s goodness despite our situation. God never promised an easy life. He never promised to rescue us from disaster. He did promise to walk beside us no matter what we go through.

I’m reminded of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the “Fiery Furnace.” When the king ordered them to worship a pagan idol they refused and said, “Our God can rescue us from your punishment. But, EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, we will not worship the idol.”

These men had no delusions that God would miraculously…

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November 9, 2014

Christians Should Be Fruity, Not Nutty

The Church Plant

At the end of this digital church service there’s a place for comments. We’d love to hear from you. What did you take away from the service? What spoke to you? How can we do better to serve you and your friends and family?

Thx!

Last week we looked at the teen Jesus choosing to be doing what he knew God had called him to be doing, even though it meant leaving family behind.. Today we continue our look at the story of Jesus through the Gospel According to Luke, the third book of the New Testament and we shift scenes and see a wild man named John talking crazy about repentance. Check it out…

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias…

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November 7, 2014April 29, 2015

I’m a Christian and I Hate Gays

Actually, I don’t hate gays. At least I didn’t think so.

Until I watched the news.

They told me that I really do hate gays after all. If you follow the news at all you might have seen that gay marriage bans have been upheld in four states.

Before the decision people took to the streets with signs and banners and flooded social media with the slogan “No H8” (no hate)

It seems that I hate because I differ in my ideas. I hate because I’m trying to “legislate morality.”

Here’s the kicker, though – we ALL try to legislate morality. All legislature is based on someone’s morality. The real question comes down to, “Whose morality is going to rule the day?”

I prefer mine. You prefer yours. It doesn’t mean I hate those who differ any more than those who differ hate me. Are we not allowed to disagree and seek to pursue our morality and to govern according to it without name calling and denigration? One of the wonders of a democratic republic is that we as citizens have a voice in determining the kind of country we want. You want yours. I want mine. So we peacefully work to bring it about. That doesn’t make me a hater.

As a Christian I will vote for the measures and ideas I believe align with my morality and values. I would expect the same from liberal Christians and non-Christians. We cannot label opposition as hate. When the time comes that America moves completely away from my morality and values (and I have no doubt that day will come) I won’t accuse you of hate just because you voted contrary to my beliefs. That’s what being in a democratic republic is all about.

For you readers who are conservative Christians, some of you need to simmer down. It’s okay to vote your beliefs without becoming angry and mean towards those who disagree. Jesus always loved on people who were “sinners.” He called people to change and to live new lives, but he was never rude or hateful towards them.

For you more liberal types, please stop labeling us as haters when we vote our consciences.

We can love and act in loving ways while still seeking to legislate our values. Disagreement does NOT = hate.

And in case you didn’t really hear me – I don’t hate gays.

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I welcome all discussion, just keep it civil and polite. If this post resonates with you in any way, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, or email!

October 27, 2014

Worship Devotional: You’re Not Good Enough for God

The Church Plant

It’s true.

You’re not good enough for God.

In fact, none of us could ever be good enough for God. Fortunately, it’s not about being good enough.

I’ve been on a Crowder kick lately, and I’ve got another good worship song that speaks volumes to my spirit. It’s called “Come As You Are.”

Lay down your burdens, lay down your shame
All who are broken lift up your face
O wanderer come home, you’re not too far
So lay down your hurt, lay down your heart
Come as you are

God accepts us as we are.

God accepts you as you are.

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October 25, 2014

Worship Devotional: In the Middle of the Storm

The Church Plant

David Crowder’s “I Am” has been on my playlist a lot lately. The words are powerful.

I am holding on to you
I am holding on to you
In the middle of the storm
I am holding on – I am

No matter where your life has taken you, you can hold on to a faithful and unmovable God!

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October 22, 2014April 29, 2015

Are Gay Little Monsters Destroying Your Way of Life?

It seems Gizmo is out of the closet and he’s bent on destroying the conservative Christian way of life.

Well, not Gizmo, actually – all homosexuals.

Last week, Congressional Candidate Anthony Culler was railing against same-sex couples and posted a video in which he called such couples “Gremlins” who “want to destroy traditional marriage and our way of life.”

Personally, I believe that God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman. I don’t have a disagreement with that concept. My problem is with this man’s mouth. There is no excuse for derogatory name-calling. In fact, it seems to fly in the face of biblical principles MORE than the behavior Mr. Culler is railing against.

There’s more in the Bible about controlling your tongue and using words than there is about gay marriage. Yet we often find it excusable to engage in put-downs when we disagree with someone’s beliefs or behavior.

Not cool.

But Chris, what about Jesus? He called the Pharisees a “Brood of Vipers.” (an argument I’ve actually heard)

Here’s the thing – Jesus was addressing the people who were supposed to be religious leaders. He wasn’t addressing people who disagreed with him on morality. In many ways, Jesus and the Pharisees came from the same perspective. This isn’t the case with conservative Christians and the LGBT community. In every case Jesus came into contact with someone who he would have considered a sinner or unrighteous person he always used his words to speak grace and love into people’s lives.

I get the Mr. Culler was trying to stoke conservative ire in order to get votes. I get it. But don’t trash the reputation of Christianity for the sake of appealing to your base.

Words can heal.

Words can hurt.

As Christians we have a holy obligation to make sure that we are speaking words of life to this world. That doesn’t mean we agree with everyone or ignore immoral behavior. But we can have conversations in such a way where we make our position crystal clear without ever being derogatory and denigrating.

Speak life.

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I welcome all discussion, just keep it civil and polite. If this post resonates with you in any way, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, or email!

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