Tomorrow at Village Church we are continuing our series on Ephesians with 6:10-18.  As I’ve been studying and writing, I’ve been thinking about how wrong we have had it for so long. There are many things within the current construct of American Christianity that I struggle with, but how many are applying this passage to everyday life is so discouraging.

This passage does not exist to encourage us or to simply keep us from discouragement in our daily life.  It exists to be a battle cry at the end of possibly the most Christ, mission, and church centered book of the entire New Testament.  We often read a passage like this and find ourselves looking for spaces in our lives that we need to apply the message to, and that is exactly where we go wrong.  If you find yourself doing that, then the reality is that this message does NOT apply ANYWHERE in your life.

Years ago, I heard David Nassar and he began the series of meetings with the sentence, “God wants to ruin your life.”  This is an offensive statement to most of us because of how we view God, and His blessings.  If you stand back though, and view all of Scripture, that statement could not be truer.  God does want to ruin your life, because your life is sinful, worthless, meaningless, vein, and completely unworthy in comparison to His life.

God desires to deconstruct everything about your life and how you are setting it up.  The fact is that if you take Ephesians 6:10-18 by itself, you are not at all getting what Paul is talking about.  For the real message you must return to Ephesians 1:1 and read through to the end.  This is a book about God’s plan for His people in His church.  It is about what God wants to build and how He has set up a plan to accomplish His mission.  God wants to take our death and turn it into His life, but that can only happen when we stop looking for where He fits in our lives.  It can only happen when we are willing to lose absolutely everything that we are and replace it with what He wants to give us.  Because then we aren’t looking to where things fit, but rather living it out in who we are.

Is it possible that dogs can be possessed by demons?

Last week I came home to a troubling revelation.  My 7 month old puppy had attacked my ESV thinline Bible This isn’t the specific thing that troubled me though. What troubled me was just which part of the Bible she had shredded.

My launch team and I have been making our way through the book of Ephesians. Minerva, which is my dog’s name, shredded the book of Ephesians. Nothing else had been touched at all. The Bible had been left on the kitchen table, and in what I can only guess was an amazing acrobatic and life risking jump, she had pulled a place mat and the Bible off of the table while my wife was in the other room.

You may ask: “was the ribbon marker in Ephesians?” The answer to that is, “no.” It was actually in the book of 2 Timothy. Now, I’m sure there is a study in physics that can be done to show how the Bible simply opened to the book of Ephesians because of page density or wear from my constantly turning there, but trust me, I’m going to sleep with one eye open for a while as I don’t trust my dog’s spiritual condition at this point.

An article from CNN shows that America is becoming less and less Christian. Many people, especially those within the church, may read this and think that this is a commentary on the US and the decline of American Values.

I think though, that we should take a step back for a moment and ask instead, what this says about those of us who are followers of Christ. What is causing our numbers to decline across the board? Many may chalk it up to a “sign of the times” and say that the world is just going to continue to get worse until Christ returns, but I’m not convinced that should be our mindset. It just doesn’t seem to mesh well with Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8.

What is so unattractive about the church? I don’t think it’s a commentary on those outside of the church as it is on those inside the church. You may think that it is the offense of the cross that is so unattractive to the masses, and that may be. The question that troubles me though is that of whether or not the Jesus is becoming offensive for all the wrong reasons. Maybe we aren’t representing Him well, and that is the problem. I’m just going to think about this one for a few moments, and taking some personal inventory.

While perusing Ben Arment’s blog, I found this quote.  What do you think?

“A big idea will change you. Your friends may love you, but they don’t want you to change. If you change, then their dynamic with you also changes. They like things the way they are; that’s how they love you - the way you are, not the way you become… Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That is why good ideas are always initially resisted.” ~ Hugh Macleod

Yesterday, I found myself staring at my bookcase.  For starters, since I moved, I have not yet put them back into alphabetical order.  This simply drives me nuts.  I keep them in order by genre and by the last name of the author.  It helps me to find whatever book I’m looking for faster if I do this.  As I was looking at the books, I decided to make myself a reading list for the next few months.  I then decided to share the list with whoever reads this.  I think it could be helpful for everyone to make a reading list.  It’s good to have goals, and it’s also good to be intentional in reaching goals.  I have found that if I put order to certain aspects of my life, it helps me to reach my goals.  Therefore, I made a reading list.

Maybe you would like to join me in reading a few of these.  I’m not suggesting any of them, because I haven’t read any of them yet.  But here is my list of 13 books that I will be reading in the near future (I may not do it in exactly this order):

-  Hearing God by Dallas Willard
- Outliers: the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Sway
- Death by Love by Mark Driscoll
- Mortification of Sin by John Owen
- When People are Big and God is Small by Edward Welch
- The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells
- They Like Jesus but Not the Church by Dan Kimball
- Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley
- What Jesus Demands from the World by John Piper
- Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
- The Sacred Way by Tony Jones
- The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever

This is what my coming future looks like in book form.  What does yours look like?

Well, it’s Christmas Eve.  This is my second favorite day of the year.  My favorite being tomorrow, of course.  I will soon make my way out to the mall, as I do every Christmas Eve.  For some reason, I enjoy experiencing the “hustle and the bustle” of the day.  I tend to save one gift to purchase on this day so that I at least have an excuse to go out.  I simply love going into the crowd and watching the crowds of people go through all of the emotions that waiting until the last minute causes.

I am under the impression that this holiday has a great deal to do with people.   Don’t get me wrong though.  I definitely believe and cherish the fact that this is the day that we have set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God made flesh.  If you really look at the story of the incarnation though, there is no divorcing the celebration of the birth of God the Son without also realizing that the incarnation has a great deal to do with people as well.  The people that are going to be out shopping today are the very people that Jesus came to save, and that should redefine how many of us that call ourselves Christians look at this holiday.

I leave you with this quote, which I am stealing from the resurgence

“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in [crap] and straw . . . a child . . . I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry . . . Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.”

- Bono

“Nothing puts life into men like a dying Savior. All other topics in Holy Scripture are important, and none of them are to be cast into the shade. But the death of the Son of God is the central sun of all these other minor luminaries. May this house be utterly consumed with fire before the day should come here when there should be given an uncertain sound about the atonement. This is not merely a doctrine of the church; it is the doctrine of the church. Leave this out, and you have no truth, you have no Savior, and you have no church.”–Charles Spurgeon

Josh Harris posted that quote on his blog today, and I have had it running through my mind all day.  With the realization that you may not read his blog, I thought I would post it on mine for your mutual edification.  Enjoy!

To begin this entry, I must first give a bit of background information.  For the last few years, I have lived in Lynchburg, VA.  For years, this was a town that existed with the void of any quality burrito establishments.  For a great deal of time, one would drive to Charlottesville for the sweet satisfaction of a Chipotle burrito.  Then, almost suddenly, a new establishment appeared in Lynchburg.  This burrito restaurant was one that I had never heard of or seen before.  It is now commonly known as Moe’s Southwest Grill.  My friends and I had not been to Chipotle in quite some time and were salivating over the mere notion of a quality burrito.

As we sat there, taking our first bites into our meal our eyes lit up with such glee that we barely said one word until every bite was consumed.  As a bonus, Moe’s includes chips and one of five varieties of salsa for consumption.  It was not long after this that one of our friends made a comment that made me question the greatness of the meal I had eaten.  “Sure, we have a Moe’s, but what we really need is a Chipotle.”  For a moment I saw his point.  My mind wandered back to all of the wonderful meals I had shared with friends at Chipotle.  We enjoyed many and the food was so good.  For the time, I accepted that there was a possibility that Chipotle was superior.  There were arguments, but I sat them out, as I hadn’t actually had the opportunity to compare the two.

Then, it happened.  I moved to Richmond, VA.  This fair city is the home of both Chipotle and Moe’s.  As a matter of fact, I literally live within walking distance of a Chipotle.   I live so close that upon moving in to our current apartment, my wife and I were given coupons to enjoy free burritos from this wonderful eatery.  The decision was quickly made to go enjoy a couple of burritos on the house.

So we went, and we ate.  During that meal, I finally understood that there was definitely a HUGE difference between Chipotle and Moe’s.  It may disappoint some loyal devotees, but I have to say that Moe’s is WAY better than Chipotle.  I also feel that Chipotle needs to take drastic steps in order to stay on top of this game.  Now, when people try to convince me that Chipotle is better, I simply brush it off to either stupidity or ignorance.

There are a few reasons for my strong culinary opinions in this matter.

1.    The taste of the burrito – I find it quite interesting that both have very similar ingredients, but Moe’s seems to have a distinctively better taste in their burritos.  Chipotle offers a much drier burrito, whereas the burritos at Moe’s are the perfect combination of moistness (forgive me, for I couldn’t think of another word to use).

2.    Chipotle Ranch Sauce – Believe it or not, this sauce is only found at MOE’S!  Are you kidding me?  Chipotle doesn’t even have chipotle sauce?  That’s right folks.  Let me just tell you, that this sauce adds so much zest and tanginess to your meal that you will not regret telling the clerk to put extra sauce on the burrito.

3.    Chips and Salsa – Let’s be honest here.  I’m simply offended that Chipotle wants to charge me for this stuff.  Moe’s offers chips and five different flavors of salsa for you to indulge in at no extra charge.  This adds a ton of value to my meal.  To make the test even more interesting though, I went ahead and purchased the chips and salsa at chipotle, and what I got was stale and dry.  The salsa had lost all its freshness and it was just bland at best.  If I have to buy it, it should definitely be better than what I get for free at Moe’s.  The fact is though, that on this point, Moe’s more than dominates in value and definitely in taste.

4.    Customer Service – Every time I have been to Moe’s, I have been greeted with glee.  I realize that they are paid to do this, but it is actually really nice and adds to the experience.  When I go in Chipotle though, I’m greeted by a crew of people that act as if they are only making about 7 dollars an hour.  While I realize that is, most likely, their salary, I also realize that the folks over at Moe’s can’t be making much more than that themselves.

Feel free to argue or test these yourselves, but for my money, and my burrito desires… “WELCOME TO MOE’S!!!”

If you have a few minutes and you’re in the mood for a good laugh, please check out Nate Schlomann’s blog.

What is risk?  I ask this in the context of a life lived for the mission of Jesus (this being defined by the Great Commission).  I realize that with God there is no real risk.  All takes place under the banner of His sovereignty, and if we are obeying Him then we can trust in his provision in our lives.

What I’m writing about is what should we be willing to risk? Better yet even, what should we be risking for the mission.  If we look at the book of Acts, we see the apostles and first century believers taking unbelievable risks for the sake of Jesus.  We specifically see Paul constantly risking life and limb to spread the message of the Gospel throughout the world.  He had to trust in God providing odd jobs (he made tents) and donations from faithful churches to feed and clothe him.

So how should we live?  How “responsible” should we be?  Are we trusting God enough?