Transitions

Much of what follows is from the text of the sermon I finished preaching 2 hours ago to 50 or 60 college students that we have come to love and treasure. It was a room filled with all kinds of emotion, but overwhelmingly a trust and hope that only comes from our Savior.

I was teaching through parts of Mark 12, and as I prepared this week the story of the poor widow just grabbed a hold of me. Here was this little old lady, who had next to nothing, who chose to give everything she had to her God. Her story, while only taking up a few verses in Scriptures, speaks volumes about what God desires for us.

Our family has strived, especially in the last 4 or 5 years, to live like that widow, to put everything at the feet of Jesus and trust Him to direct our paths and take care of us all along the way. I shared as much with the students tonight…

“My family has been on a long journey over the last 4 years or so, and we’ve seen God ask us to be faithful in small things and faithful in big things, and we are constantly trying to be responsive to His requests, but it hasn’t been easy. 2 and a half years ago or so, I had stepped away from the CPA profession and was working full-time as a youth pastor, and my wife and I and Lydia, who was 3 at the time, were down in Costa Rica visiting my aunt and uncle who are missionaries there. I’ll be honest, we didn’t do any mission work and we didn’t help any poor little kids, we were purely on vacation, but on our last night there I just couldn’t go to sleep. I just laid there and began praying and feeling like God was asking me very directly, would you go to the mission field if I asked you to? I said no. I told Him that wouldn’t be good for my kids who were 3 and 1 and I was in a ministry that I loved with people that I loved, and so I told Him no and tried to go to sleep, but it just wasn’t happening. Literally for 2 or 3 hours that night we went back and forth until finally I submitted and said OK, fine, if that’s what you ask of us then we’ll do it. Within the next few weeks and months we very clearly felt God say I’m not asking you to go to the overseas mission field but I just wanted to make sure you would follow me wherever I asked you to do go, a little bit annoying honestly but an incredibly fruitful process to go through.

In a few more months God did make it clear that He wanted us to move on from that ministry, and because of the process we went through in making that decision to put a blank check on the table saying God you can have my two pennies, you can have everything that we have and everything that we live on, God you can have all of us, because we went through that process when he asked us to move on we did. It was difficult and it was emotional and it was hard, but we knew all of that stuff was worth it.

Then we came here, to New Heights Church and to Salt Company, and all of that wondering and all of that wrestling made sense that this is what God had prepared next for us and our trust in Him was ever so strengthened, and we began the ministry here and have watched God move and change the lives of many of you. From the beginning of New Heights we’ve been talking and planning about what it looks like for us to transition from working part-time with Salt Company to going full-time, and in the meantime we’ve been pushing hard as I’ve continued to work full-time as a CPA and part-time with the church. All of this was unfolding and taking place until these last couple months when a couple truths hit me pretty hard.

One was that my kids needed more of me than they were getting. Working essentially seven days a week and often 10 and 12 and 14 and 16 hour days has resulted in my kids not seeing enough of me, and when that truth pressed on me my wife and I began praying and it didn’t take long for God to let us know that we couldn’t continue to work full-time and part-time, it just wasn’t going to work. The church isn’t in a position to take on another salary and so we have made the decision that we have to step away from Salt Company next year. You wouldn’t believe how hard that decision was, and you can’t even fathom how many hours we have spent praying about it and praying for you guys, but that is what God has made to clear to us. So we were left sort of hanging out there saying God this doesn’t make any sense, God this wasn’t in the plan. God I want to be in full-time ministry again and God I want to watch and be a part of the continued growth and development of the students on Simpson’s campus, God this doesn’t make any sense and He reminded me of Costa Rica. Over and over through this process He has reminded me of that commitment I made to Him to put a blank check on the table and to let Him fill it out, to let Him tell me where to go and what to do, and through that reminder it has brought peace beyond peace, peace that only comes from Him and through Him.

As we were sort of rocked with this seemingly sudden change in plans God began to reveal what He had next for us, and He has made it clear and we’ve responded to follow Him as He has asked us to move to Cedar Rapids to be a part of another church plant in the Cornerstone network, a sister church of New Heights, and we are excited about that transition not because of what and who we are leaving or even for what and who is ahead, but because we love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength and if He says go that’s good enough for us.

The poor widow came and gave everything she had as an offering to God, and God is asking me and He is asking you to do the same thing. That was God’s will for her life, just like it is for you and for me. Pursuing God’s will starts with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and if we can do that God will blow our socks off with what He asks us to do and we won’t even think twice about following Him. That’s my prayer for my kids and for my wife and for my church and for you guys, now and forever.”

So, to all of you who have been praying for us and supporting us, we can’t say thank you enough and we would love for you to continue to pray, for New Heights, for The Salt Company, and for Veritas Church. We are in the beginning stages of working out all the logistical details, we are getting our house ready to sell, and are putting that all in God’s hands to take care of. We aren’t sure what will happen with Ryan’s job situation, but again, we are trusting it will all be taken care of.

We look forward to the next few months and the time we’ll get to spend with friends and family here in Indianola, and aren’t looking forward whatsoever to the good-byes that will come. It will be difficult and sad and hard, but all of it is worth it, we trust in that.

Theology of the Gospel

What is the theology of the gospel? For a long time when I would hear the word theology I would think of deep, complex spiritual issues that required a lot of research, study, and an attempt at coming to a conclusion. Then, when hearing the word gospel I would immediately think of Jesus on the cross, dying for my sin so I could go to Heaven. In my mind, those two words didn’t really need to go together because theology was something complex and deep and the gospel was pretty simple. My how wrong I was as I’ve come to realize how theology doesn’t have to be complex, and the gospel, while simple and easy to accept, has a lot more to it than I had originally thought.

The definition of theology is a religious theory, school of thought, or system of belief. That system of belief can be incredibly simple, such as the system of belief that God is the Creator of the world. For those willing to honestly look at the facts and the science, for those who’ve ever experienced the birth of a child or the inexplicable healing of someone on their deathbed, the theology that God is the Creator of the world is really pretty simple. We all form theologies about various aspects of our faith or lack of faith in God, and I’m coming to realize that my theology of the gospel is radically changing. As I study the Scriptures and spend time with my Savior, as I watch Him completely transform the lives of people, my theology of the gospel is far bigger than what I once thought it was.

So what is the gospel?

The gospel, or good news, is not simply a history lesson or a recounting of facts. We can list out the events and circumstances surrounding the life and death of Jesus, but that’s not the whole picture. The gospel, in its simplest form, is an understanding of who God is, who we are, and how the two are reconciled to one another. God is the Loving Creator (Acts 17:24), Supreme Authority (Acts 17:24-25), and Final Judge (Acts 17:30-31). We are Willfully Ignorant (Romans 1:18-20), Passionately Rebellious (Romans 1:21-23), and Condemned to Death (Romans 2:5). Only through the justification that is received through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus (Romans 3:21-26), the greatest gift ever given to man by God (Romans 6:23), can we have the opportunity to be saved, and that’s the gospel. We can choose to repent, believe, and have life, or not. We can choose to pray for forgiveness and salvation and eternity, or not. The opportunity to choose, given to us by our God through the sacrifice of His Son, is an opportunity that we all have and we all take. Everyone chooses, everyone decides, and that decision literally changes everything, for now and for eternity.

My view of the gospel for a long time was far too long-sighted (I think that’s the opposite of short-sighted), and far less invasive than it really is. For a long time, in my mind, the gospel affected eternity and eternity only. I didn’t need to study it and understand it and apply it because once I accepted it and got my “get out of hell free” card that’s all I needed to know. Where I went wrong was that I didn’t understand what it meant for me now.

God is my Loving Creator: God formed me and made me and physically holds me together and allows me to breathe, right now. He loves me, and only by His love for me can I extend love for others. When I struggle to love, I’m struggling to remember how much I’m loved. That affects me, and those around me, now.

God is the Supreme Authority: This world pushes everyone to believe that there is no supreme authority, that what’s right or wrong is purely dependent on what I want or think is best. A life lived that way leads to pursuing every pleasure, no matter the cost to anyone around us. Understanding that God is my Supreme Authority causes me to seek to please Him, and by pleasing Him I’m doing what’s best for me, my family, and everyone I know, now.

God is the Final Judge: I am not the one in control, I’m not the one that gets to make all the final decisions, and I’m not the one that’s always right. I need that reminder often, and if I can constantly remember my humble position in the grand scheme of this world in light of eternity, that makes a big difference on who I am right now.

We are willfully ignorant: It’s one thing to just not know something; it’s a whole different situation to choose not to know something. God says that He will make himself known to men, and He has made Himself known to me. Knowing there is a God but choosing not to know Him or His Word is being willfully ignorant. When I don’t continue to pursue a relationship with God and grow deeper in my relationship with Him, that hinders my chances at further walking and being the man, dad, and husband that God designed me to be, which affects now.

We are Passionately Rebellious: Yikes. Not only do we rebel against authority – God or otherwise, we go at it with a passion. That rebellion has such devastating effects, in the past, today, and in the future. The understanding of our rebellion, which hopefully leads to repentance and change, is just as important in the light of right now as it is in the light of eternity.

We are Condemned to Death: There is so much talk about how the truth of hell shouldn’t be preached because it’s a fear tactic that plays on people’s emotions. Sometimes we need a wake-up call, and often times for me emotional times have provided that. Good emotions and bad emotions can have a very similar effect – they cause us to do something. Should the fear of hell be our only motivator to pursue Christ, absolutely not. Can the truth of the reality of a place without God cause us to reconsider and re-evaluate our life and our life choices, absolutely. If this world, in its depravity and desolation, has some of God in it, can you imagine a place with none? I can’t, and I don’t want to. The reality that, on my own and by my own power, I am condemned to hell is part of the reason why I’m a saved child of God, and it should help motivate me to share the gospel with my friends and family, now.

A proper understanding of God and a proper understanding of man must bring us to a point of decision. We can’t understand who God is in His perfection, who we are in our imperfection, and not make a choice to either change who we are through the work of the gospel or continue down the path we’re on. And, as I’ve said a million times, putting off a decision is deciding to say no today.

As my theology of the gospel has grown from an eternity-only perspective to an eternity-and-right-now-and-tomorrow-and-the-next-day perspective, it is driving me to change who I am. Now, and ask my wife for confirmation if you don’t believe me, but that transformation is a slow process, and sometimes it even feels like I’m going backwards, but it’s in those times when I rejoice that I don’t have to be perfect because my Savior is.

The gospel isn’t only about eternity, it’s about right now.