Monthly Archives: August 2010

I have never really understood the attraction to hamburgers.  Without melted cheese, a burger just sounds so dry, dull, and un-delicious.  I know some people pass on the cheese for health reasons, but what is the point of being healthy if you can’t have cheese on your burger?

Ok, maybe that was a little bit of an overstatement, but I do not think I could ever overstate the importance of getting the essential elements of the gospel right.  If you leave cheese off of a burger, someone will be disappointed for a few minutes.  If you leave a vital element out of the gospel, someone could be disappointed for an eternity.

Some people preach a dry, dull, and un-delicious gospel.  They attempt to preach the good news without the essential ingredient of freedom from the power of sin.  Sometimes they call it “free grace.”  You can accept Jesus as your Savior without accepting his as Lord, they say.  I’m sorry, but these people have left a lot of “good” out of the good news.

The gospel is not merely a “Get –out-of-jail-free” card that spares you from hell in the future.  The gospel is a jailbreak that frees you from the power of your sin in the here and now.  Check out how Paul describes it in

,

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

If you are a Christian, you are not still dead in your sins! To say that someone can be saved from sin’s punishment without being saved from its power is to say that grace is cheap and powerless.

The apostle Paul also makes it clear that God’s saving grace will also sanctify us in

, which say,

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

Maybe you have never heard of the theological debates about free grace, and maybe you cannot define the term “lordship salvation.”  But you see this issue all the time.  You see it in your high schools in people who claim Christ as their Savior but are clearly not living for him.  You see it in people who feel hopelessly caught up in sin; they think God can forgive them, but they do not believe he can change them.

God’s saving grace should not cause you to be lazy in resisting; it should motivate you to fight the sin from which you have been set free.  And if you ever feel like your fight against sin as a Christian is hopeless, that is a lie!  God has raised you up to live a new life.

So as this blog series finishes, this is what I want you to do.  Go eat a cheeseburger.  Double it up!  As you are enjoying the beauty of meat and cheese together in your mouth, think about the Gospel.  Do not forget either essential ingredient.  God has saved you from both the penalty of your sins and the power of sin.  He has forgiven you and freed you.

No cheeseburger could ever be as tasty as that.

I used to clock in and out.

When I was in college, I worked in the cafeteria.  Every night as my shift began I would slide my timecard into a clock.  I would hit a button on top and it would stamp my time.  I was now clocked in.

I’ll never forget working in that cafeteria because it’s where I met my wife Christa.  We worked in the dishroom.  We sorted all of the trays, plates, cups and silverware before it went into our industrial size washing machine.  We called her Big Bertha.  She used powdered soap and scalding hot water to clean everything in no time.

The dishroom was hot.  It was steamy.  It was the perfect place for romance.

Actually, for the year we worked there Christa and I were just friends.  She was the kind of girl that guys would come in to the dishroom and ask out.  I was the kind of guy who had to run out of the dishroom because it was so hot my glasses were fogging up!  Yet as we got to know each other we found out the thing we had in common was a commitment to Jesus Christ.

Even though I will always love working in the dishroom, I could only take so much of it at one time.  The leftover food on all of the trays that we sorted was disgusting.  As I organized the silverware and cups chocolate milk would splash all over my face.  The amount of trash we scraped off would turn into stinky piles of grossness.  After dinner every night I was eager to punch my time card and clock out.

Unfortunately, I think this is what a lot of Christians do.  They clock in for Jesus when they come to church or do a good work like reading their Bible.  But as soon as it is over they go back to whatever they want.  Everything in their life is not for Jesus. They are not here to serve him 24/7.  Christianity is a part-time job.

1 Corinthians 15 is one of the greatest chapters of the Bible because it is all about Jesus.  It tells us the gospel, how he died and rose again.  It tells us the importance and power of his resurrection that brings new life.  It even tells us how someday we will have a resurrection body and get to be with our Lord!  After 57 verses focusing on what we have in Christ, it tells us how we should respond.

– Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Life is a lot different for Christa and me now that we are married.  We’ve got a house and two kids.  After we eat dinner every night there is no clocking out.  Can you imagine what it would be like if I walked out and said, “See you tomorrow!”  That wouldn’t make sense because being a husband isn’t a job.  It’s a relationship.

It’s the same with being in Christ.  If all we are doing is clocking in for some good works then we are treating Christianity like a job or a religion.  We are missing the point of a relationship with Jesus!

Usually when I talk about this, people look at me like I am a crazy pastor.  Like I drink little bottles of 5 Hour Energy before I talk about Jesus so I will be over-the-top excited.  But this is clearly what a Christian is commanded to do.  We should be “always abounding” in our work for the Lord.  This doesn’t mean we have to be in a position of full-time ministry like a pastor.  It means that whatever we are doing in our lives, it’s all for Jesus.

Before I came to Compass Bible Church, I worked at another church doing full-time high school ministry.  As I look back now, I must admit I was 9 to 5 in my commitment.  I would do my work at the church during the day and then come home and do whatever I wanted at night. I was only happy if there was some time set-aside for me.  It was verses like

that helped me realized this was a sinful attitude.  Since then I have learned the joy and reward of giving all of my time away.  I look forward to weeks like Revival or a Missions Trip when I know there will be no time leftover for myself.

I used to clock in and out.  But now I’m full-time.

Are you full-time for Jesus?

I was reminded how much I like cheeseburgers the other day when I had a 3×3 plain at In-N-Out.  That’s right.  Three patties of quality beef, three slices of melted cheese, and one greasy bun all having a party in my mouth.  Common grace wins again.

Eating the 3×3 also reminded me that I have two more parts to write in this blog series called “Essential Ingredients.” Last time we started by talking about the two essential ingredients of a cheeseburger: meat and cheese.  It is an unfortunate reality that not everyone shares my affection for these two components of cheeseburger goodness; I have even seen people order a grilled cheese at In-N-Out!   However, cheeseburgers will never be as important as the gospel, which also has two essential ingredients: forgiveness from sin’s penalty and freedom from sin’s power.

It is only mildly disappointing to see someone order a grilled cheese at In-N-Out, but it is an absolutely travesty to hear someone preach a gospel that does not focus on the forgiveness of sins. Many make the gospel about social change.  The good news is that we can live a life free from poverty and corruption.  Others believe the moral teachings of Jesus to be the gospel.

Any “gospel” that leaves out forgiveness falls tragically short of the truth.  The good news of Jesus Christ has always proclaimed a message of forgiveness loud and clear.  Do you remember John the Baptist?  He introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  In a Jewish culture the image of a lamb was unmistakable.  The lamb was slaughtered so that sins could be passed over, atoned for, and forgiven.

Jesus himself made the message of forgiveness pretty clear, too.  In

, Jesus shows that forgiving the sins of a paralyzed man was more important than healing him.  In fact, he healed the lame man just so he could prove he had the power to forgive sins.

None of this talk about forgiveness would have been news to any Jews who knew their Old Testament.  Isaiah writes, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (53:5-6) The promised Messiah would take the punishment for the sins of others so they didn’t have to.

If John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Old Testament are not enough to convince you that forgiveness from the penalty of sin is not an important element of the gospel, you could try reading the rest of the New Testament and see verses like

, where Paul says, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”  Or you could check out the book of Hebrews, which states clearly, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sins.” (9:22)

The Bible is not confused about the essential ingredients of the gospel.  You should not be either.   If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, don’t ever forget that as far as the east is from the west, so far has your transgression been removed from you.  Your sin has been nailed to the cross and done away with forever.  And that’s just one of the many reasons why the gospel is way better than a cheeseburger could ever be.

Last week I got to go on vacation.  Life. Slowed. Down. And when life slows down you start to notice the little things…

On vacation I spent a day at Disneyland with my wife Christa. It had been a long time since we had been there just the two of us.  And you know what was my favorite part of our day: the lines.  I enjoyed standing in the long lines.  Seriously, it was time to be with my wife.  Each ride was a chance to have another conversation.  And we had so much time we started talking about things we normally wouldn’t.  We stopped, to use a phrase, to smell the roses.

Literally, have you ever noticed how many flowers there are at Disneyland?  Many of them are in places that people would never see, unless you stopped to look for them.  We noticed waterfalls hidden behind bushes.  We noticed windows with nothing to see and doors that went nowhere.  At Disneyland there are so many little details and every single one of them is done with excellence.

After a while, I started wondering why?  Why are Disneyland employees obviously working hard on out of the way details that most people will never notice?  It was like they were trying to tell me something.  They were saying Disneyland is an awesome place you can even see it in the little things.

It made me think about my life.  It made me think about the way we do things at church.  I say all the time that God is more glorious than anything else!  He makes me happier than any place on earth! So, am I doing the little things for his glory?  Are all of the small details in my life done with excellence for him?

– So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

This is a well-known verse from today’s SOTD.  But let’s put it in context.  Paul is saying that in some cases it is wise to eat something and some it is not.  And this is determined by what other people are going to think about it.  He’s saying that in the little things, like what we choose to eat or drink, we make decisions to put God on display.  We want to show people, anyone who would stop to look, that even the little things in our life are done for him.  He is that awesome.

If people stopped to smell your life, what would it smell like?  If they really took a moment to look at all of the little things: how you talk to your parents, how you clean your room, how you consider others more important than yourself… If they noticed the little things about you, would they see Gods’ glory?

On vacation, I stood in line at Disneyland.  I stopped to look in my wife’s eyes.  And they were so blue!  And I saw again that God is so glorious, you can see his beauty in the little things.  I want my life to let other people see this.

- You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Here we are 2,000 years later at the end of the earth in Orange County.  We are letting as many high schoolers as we can know about Jesus.  Please pray with us for many to come to our church Thursday at 6:30 to hear about him from

!  Free In-N-Out for all who come!

Invite your friends on Facebook!

Who will pray with us?

One of the greatest privileges of my life has been the opportunity to lead worship at both Revival ’09 and Revival X!  God has clearly worked through our times of singing at both of these events to bring glory to himself.

The good news is that great worship does not have to end when Revival does.  One way I see this happen is when people continue to sing out like they never have before even long after Revival.  Another way students do this is by listening to more worship music on their own.

I have had many people ask me for a list of the songs that we did at Revival X, so here it is!  I hope these songs continue to bless you all and inspire you to worship our great God and Savior!

Sunday Night

Surely Goodness and Mercy (don’t know of a good recording)
Cannons (Phil Wickham)
Hosanna (Hillsong)
In Your City (Phil Wickham)
Whole Heart (True North Original) http://www.churchforhighschoolers.com/blog/whole-heart/

Monday Morning

Praise to Jesus Christ (great recording by Chasing Cadence)

(don’t know of a good recording)

Monday Night

We Will Sing (True North original)
In Your City
Glorious (Paul Baloche)
Out of the Darkness (Tim Hughes)
Jesus Paid It All (Kristian Stanfill)

Tuesday Morning

I Give Thanks
Lord of Lords (Hillsong)

Tuesday Night

Let Creation Sing (Hillsong)

Sing to the King

In Christ Alone

The One We Have Pierced (True North Original) http://www.churchforhighschoolers.com/blog/the-one-we-have-pierced/

Lead Me to the Cross (Hillsong)

Wednesday Morning

Cannons
Hosanna

Wednesday Night

Hallelujah to My King (Paul Baloche)
We Will Sing
The One We Have Pierced
His Glory Appears (Hillsong)
Glorious

Thursday Morning

Sing to the King

Thursday Night

Whole Heart
In Your City
Be Thou My Vision
Soon (Hillsong)
You Alone Can Rescue (Matt Redman)

Worship Night

We Will Sing
Surely Goodness and Mercy
Glorious
In Christ Alone
Out of the Darkness
Jesus Paid It All
His Glory Appears
Lead Me to the Cross
In Your City
The One We Have Pierced

Welcome to the last of the Minor Prophets and the final book of the Old Testament!  Malachi is the last book before 400 years between the Old and New Testaments!

The book is written from God’s perspective, like he is the one speaking.  It is great to hear from God how he loves his people or how he is going to judge in the first person perspective.  You can read how he takes it personally that his people do not love him back or fear the power of his judgment.

This book is also written in a question and answer style.  God’s rebukes to his people are often met by a cynical response.  They are defensive in their hearts and not willing to admit that they are doing anything wrong. Apparently, returning from exile and being back in Jerusalem has made God’s people apathetic.

In chapter 1, God rebukes that they are not giving their best to him in their sacrifices.  Clearly, God takes personally how we obey his commands.  He ask them if they would treat their governor the same way, or in our case, the Governator!  The idea is if there was someone right there they wouldn’t show that much disrespect.  But God is trying to tell them he is right there and he is not pleased!

In chapter 2, God rebukes divorce and says the he hates it.  (In the ESV they have made this a footnote of 2:16 as one of the possible translations.)  Clearly God is greatly concerned with the way we treat others, especially the one we have married in a covenant of love.

In chapter 3, there is a prophecy that clearly refers to John the Baptist.  He would be the next person to prophesy for God 400 years in the future.  It is awesome to see how God already had that planned out perfectly.

Chapter 4 is a prophecy of the Day of the Lord, the judgment that is still yet to come in the future, even for us.  Clearly God wants to be feared.  He wants the thought of his coming judgment to motivate us towards obedience to his commands and to have a profound sense of respect for him.

After reading the book, I was left with the thought that God is going to be glorified.  There is nothing that can stop it!  If he has said it, then it is going to happen!  As he says several times in the book:

– For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think about Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.  And let us know what you learned from reading through the Minor Prophets as a whole!

A cheeseburger is a wonderful thing.

A cheeseburger is a wonderful thing for two main reasons: meat and cheese.

If you remove either of these essential ingredients from the equation, you no longer have a cheeseburger.  If you remove the meat, you are guilty of attempting to remove the wonder from wonderful.  You have turned a meal for men into a snack for boys.  While there may be nothing egregious about a grilled cheese in and of itself, it would be criminal to try and sell one as a cheeseburger.

If you remove the cheese, you have transformed the delectable into the detestable.  The oasis that your taste buds would have experienced as the meat and cheese melted together in your mouth has been replaced by a dry desert.  A burger without cheese is as disappointing as a cloud without rain.  Please, do not ever invite people over for burgers and not offer cheese.

Why make such a big deal about a cheeseburger?  Good question.  If you stop and think for a moment, you will quickly realize that there are countless things in life that are more important than cheeseburgers, like the gospel.

The gospel is a wonderful thing.

The gospel is a wonderful thing for two main reasons: forgiveness from sin’s penalty and freedom from sin’s power.

If you remove either of these key ingredients from the equation, you no longer have the gospel.  If you remove freedom from sin’s power, you are guilty of trying to steal the amazing from God’s grace.  You have turned a life-changing message into a yawn.  What some would call “Free Grace” offers no freedom at all.

If you remove the forgiveness from sin’s penalty, you have traded in the masterpiece of God’s design for a stick-figure drawing of man.  If you remove forgiveness from the gospel, you have stolen the headline from the good news.

Why make such a big deal about the gospel?  Good question.  If you stop and think for a moment, you will quickly realize that NOTHING in life is more important than the gospel.

That is why we are going to do a blog on each of these two essential ingredients.  So be checking back for Part Two on Forgiveness from Sin’s Penalty.