Jesus Was a Carpenter, Not a Rock Star.

     Recently I have seen a trend in churches. Some churches are starting to treat Jesus as if He were a rock star. What I mean by this is , they are getting so caught up in making the building look nice, or adding things to the service that they believe would really "wow" an attender into coming to faith. The more I think about it, the more I realize that this is not what Christ was about. After all, he came as the son of a carpenter, instead of a high profile celebrity. I came to this conclusion by asking myself the questions, "what does a rock star look like?", and, "what did Jesus look like when he was here on Earth?". Once I answered these questions, it became clear that Jesus was no rock star.

What does a rock star look like? 

      There are several common traits that I found in rock stars. This is simply a general profile, not all of them match 100% with what I am about to write.

• Rock stars are rich, and have large, expensive houses (sometimes more than one)
• Rock stars spend most of their time with the "in" crowd. When they travel, they stay in fancy hotels where the "cool" people hang out.
• Rock stars always want the best of everything. (For example, the best cars, clothes, and electronic devices)
• Rock stars tend to make themselves seem better than they really are.
• Rock stars are typically loved mainly for their money

     All in all, rock stars tend to be self centered people, mainly concerned with gathering riches and fame for themselves.

What did Jesus look like?  

The Bible gives us a very clear picture of the kind of man that Jesus was.

• Jesus had no place to call His own. Luke 9:58 tells us "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" He relied on the generosity of others to provide somewhere to stay. Which leads to my next point.
• Jesus spent His time with the outcasts of His society. They were the ones who He would most often stay with when He went from place to place. The most famous example of this is Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to their own people, nobody "cool" would be seen spending time with them, much less staying in their house.
• Jesus didn't need the best of everything. He used what people had. An example of this is the entry into Jerusalem. He rode a donkey, when He really deserved to ride a mustang (the horse, not the car) into town. 
• Jesus left the glory that He deserved and became NOTHING. He did this by doing everything that I mentioned above, in addition to bearing the cross, which was a punishment reserved for the worst criminals around.
• Jesus was loved for His love and His works. Jesus was popular with the people for two main reasons (There are more, but I feel that these are the two major ones) His love and His works (which he did BECAUSE of His love). All through His ministry, Jesus was performing acts of love. He healed people, raised the dead to life, told people about the love of God, and ultimately died in our place.

     Jesus was others oriented. His main focus in life was meeting the needs of the outcasts. He left the glory that He deserved, and dwelt among us to perform acts of love and kindness that would draw us to Him.

Was Jesus a rock star? 

Based off the "profiles" of a rock star and Jesus, it is easy to see that they are nothing alike. In fact, they are polar opposites. Rock stars are self oriented, Jesus was others oriented. Rock stars make themselves look good using any means necessary, while Jesus removed glory from Himself in order to become nothing. Jesus had every right to be a rock star type person, but He decided not to, in order to draw us to Himself.

So what?

What does this mean for churches today? It says that we should stop trying to draw people to Jesus by wasting time, effort, and money to spruce up our building, or adding an extra flare to our services, and use those same resources to do what Jesus did.....love and serve others. Doing this in the name of Christ will draw more people to Him than the best rock concert ever could.

The Hero

     What is a hero? A person with powers who runs around in tights and colored underwear? A man or woman in the military? A police officer or fire fighter? A volunteer at a homeless shelter? All of these people are heroes , but what makes somebody a hero? Having some kind of power? Serving others? Facing death so somebody else can live? Yes. Any of these things could make a person a hero, but THE HERO, Jesus Christ, did all of them.

Having Some Kind of Power:
     In all of the gospels, we have examples of Jesus' power. He gave blind men their sight (Matthew 9:27-31), walked on water (Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:15-21), raised people from the dead (John 11:1-44), and MUCH MUCH MORE! If He had the power to do all of that, He had to power to do anything.

Serving Others:
     Jesus was a servant. The most well known example of this is when He washed His disciples' feet. John 13 tells us:

     "Jesus got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

     This was an amazing example of service. In that time, it was the duty of the lowest ranking servant of the house to was the feet of the guests,  but  Jesus, humbled himself, and served His friends. The Son of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, made Himself the lowest of the low, and served others.

Facing Death So Others May Live:
     We have all heard the story of how Jesus died for our sins. We all sin, and to pay for sin, somebody has to die. Jesus (being a servant) went to the cross, and died in our place. It's plain and simple. He died, so we could have life in Heaven forever. He died SO WE COULD HAVE LIFE!!! Do you get this? Jesus, who had never done anything wrong, choose to die for the people who DID deserve to die! There is no way that I can explain how amazing that is! If I was in His place, I would have just let the people pay the price for their sins, but because He loved us so much, He choose to die an excruciating death on a cross, one of the most painful ways to die. Now THAT, is what I call a hero.

Final Thoughts:
     So this Easter, remember the hero, Jesus Christ, and what He did for you.

Looking for Angels

     Hey everybody. Today's post is going to be a fairly short one. Recently, I have had a song by my favorite band (Skillet) stuck in my head. The song is called "Looking for Angels". Have a listen:

     The song talks about how people in this world are looking for somebody to be an "angel". Now, an angel, in simple terms, is a messenger from God. As Christians, I think that it is our job to be the angel to these people. One way we can be an angel to the hurting, is through service. Jesus give us a great example of service in the parable of the Good Samaritan:

      "Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouting oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend when I return I will repay you."
     -Luke 10:30-35

     This story is a beautiful example of service. The Samaritan saw this guy on the side of the rode, sacrificed  his time, energy, and money to make sure that this man got better. He was being an angel to this man.

     So, as Skillet puts it:
    "What will you do to make a difference, to make a change? What will you do to help someone along the way?"

     How will you be an angel?

Faith

"And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."
     -Matthew 17:20 (NASV)

     That is such a powerful verse. Jesus tells us that even if our faith is very small, we can MOVE A MOUNTAIN! How cool would it be to walk up to a mountain and say "mountain, move to this other place" and have it move?
 
     Now, as cool as moving a mountain would be, it is not the only thing that God can and will do if we have faith in Him. The Bible gives us lots of examples of what can happen when somebody has faith. One example, is found in Matthew 8:1-3:

     "When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said  "Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean" Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him saying "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed"

     This man is a great example of what faith looks like. He had faith that Jesus had the ability to heal him, so he was not afraid to ask.

     A second example of a miracle that occurred because somebody had faith is found in Matthew 9: 20-22:

     "And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak; for she was saying to herself "If I only touch his garment, I will get well." But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well."

     Much like the man in the first story, this woman had faith that Jesus had the power to make her well. So she reached out and touched his cloak, and the power that was within Him healed her.

     A third example (my favorite of the 3) is a little bit different than the other 2. It is found in Luke 5: 17-25:

     "One day He was teaching and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you" The scribes and Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you' or to say 'Get up and walk'? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins."-He said to the paralytic-"I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home." Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.; and they were all filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today."

     What I find most interesting about this passage is the phrase "their faith". This part of the passage, in my mind, is not referring to the paralytic, but to his friends. His friends had enough faith that Jesus could heal their friend, that they were willing to do whatever it took to get him to Jesus. Through the faith of friends, the paralytic was healed.

     So what can we learn from these three passages? Well....the short answer is that if we have faith, God can (and will) do amazing things! Not just for us (like in the first two examples) but through us (like in the third example). The amazing thing is, it doesn't even take very much faith for these things to happen! Like it says in the verse at the beginning, it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed (which for those of you who don't know, is very very small). So the question is, how big is your faith?  

Sorry!

     Hey guys, sorry that I didn't have a post up by Friday, life is crazy right now and I kind of forgot to plan one :-P I will have on up by next Friday though! I have been praying that God will give me things to write about, and He has come through. Some topics that you can expect to see in the coming weeks include faith and being a light to the world. Stay tuned.

Boldness

"And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness"
     -Acts 4:31

     When Christians are bold, great things can happen for the kingdom of God. But more often than not, modern Christians choose NOT to be bold, and stay within their comfort zones. I think that this is a huge part of why the church is so idle these days. If we decided to be bold and act on what God calls us to do, amazing things would happen.

     The Bible has lots of examples of what can happen when people decide to be bold for God. One of my favorites is Simon-Peter. He, like many modern Christians, loved Jesus and claimed that he would not fall away, even if everybody else did (Matthew 26:31-33), but when hard times came, he ran away and tried to blend with the crowd (Luke 22:54-55). But after Jesus was raised from the dead, something happened to Peter, HE BECAME BOLD! He began to do amazing things, such as bringing 3,000 people to Christ with ONE sermon (Acts 2:14-41) and giving a lame man the ability to walk (Acts 3:1-10). This time around when the hard times came, our friend Peter stuck with Jesus. He preached the message of Jesus even though he knew he would suffer for it (Acts 5:21-41)!

     God can use you to do amazing things, just like He did with Peter, if you will be bold enough to act on what He is telling yo to do. Will you be bold?

Idol Worship

"You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third an the fourth generations of those who hate Me"
     -Exodus 20:3-5

     When you hear the word "idol", what comes to your mind? Bad singers? An English guy who never has anything nice to say? A statue made of gold, silver, or stone? 

     Webster defines an idol as "a representation or symbol of an object of worship" (www.merriam-webster.com). Since early Bible times, people all over the world have created "gods" out of wood, stone, and other materials, and would bow down in worship. As strange as this concept may seem to us today, we in some ways do the exact same thing every day. I think that most of us have something in our lives that we "bow down" to and "worship". This looks different for everybody. For some, it could be a boyfriend or a girlfriend. For others, it could be money, celebrities, our even themselves! Sometimes we take something of this world, and put it where only God should be.

     This is a HUGE problem! The Bible says very clearly that we are supposed to worship God, and serve Him only (Matthew 4:10)! Why in the world would we put anything before God? Is that really something that we want to do? I can tell you that it's not something that I want to do, because the Bible also says that people who commit idolatry WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Galatians 5:19-21)! In fact, it says in Revelation 21:8 that idolaters belong in "the lake the burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death"! If that doesn't scare you, then I don't know what will. 

     In the end, each of us has a choice to make; God, or our "idol". We must pick one or the other, because we cannot have both.