One of my new favorite authors is Mark Buchanan. In his book Your God is too Safe, Buchanan notes the difference between the ethic of Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus lived an ethic of involvement and the Pharisees maintained an ethic of avoidance. The difference is the difference between the question "How can I glorify God?" and the question "How can I avoid being a disgrace to God?"

I am not sure many Christians live with an ethic of involvement. There are many layers here that could be explored but for now, I will simply say that the tendency among most Christians is to base their spirituality on what they avoid and not on how involved they are in the lives of other people. Jesus was far more concerned with reaching sinners than he was with instructing his followers to avoid sinning. Of course I am not suggesting that we should not avoid sin. Obviously there is a lot of NT instructions regarding the avoidance of sin.

What I am suggesting is that Christians need to focus on their involvement in the lives of others as we do on what we are attempting to stay away from. We instinctively define our level of spirituality by what we avoid. And at the end of the day what we avoid is the very ethic that drove Jesus Himself -- the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost, the doctor who came not for the healthy but for the sick. In the end what we avoid is Jesus Himself.

As Jesus we are to be about healing the sick and not avoiding them. Healing the sick can be messy. It involves getting in their lives, touching their wounds, loving them in spite of how sick they might be. It involves involvement! You cannot heal the sick by avoiding them. You cannot heal the sick living within the infirmary. You cannot heal the sick living in the bubble subculture so many Christians have created. We have become so consumed with staying healthy by avoiding the sick that we have failed to realize that our own wholeness depends largely upon our involvement in the world of the sick and dying.

The Great Commission had to do with entering a world where people need to hear the good news. It is about involvement. The command to love others involves getting involved in their lives regardless of how messy that life may be. Can we expect people who have not been transformed by God's grace to behave like people who have experienced his grace and forgiveness? Can we expect the sick to live a healthy lifestyle? Are we so consumed with maintaining our own health that we have neglected the mandate of the Great Physician?

It really comes down to how much we trust and believe in grace. I have a tendency to talk a lot about grace, but do I truly believe God's grace can make spiritually sick people whole? Am I willing to leave behind my own comfort zone of Christianity to enter a world tainted by sin, sickness, disease, addictions, hatred, animosity, hurt, open sin, drugs, cursing, and every other symptom of a sin-sick soul? Am I willing to become obsessed with involvement?

On Easter Sunday, Grace Point Church was 15 weeks old.
On Easter Sunday, 403 people came to Grace Point.
On Easter Sunday, 9 people made spiritual commitments to follow Christ!

To Him be the glory.

Today we celebrate the cornerstone of the Christian faith -- the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the one event that separates Christianity from all other world religions. Other world religions are centered around the teachings of a religious leader whose followers rallied together to keep the teachings alive and promote the philosophy of their leader. Most world religions originated through the propagation of a band of followers who kept the dream alive. In contrast, the followers of Jesus Christ fled and hid after the death of Jesus. They feared for their lives and hid from the crowds. And then they simply returned to their original occupations -- they went fishing.

What was the difference? For one, Jesus just went too far. He claimed too much. He claimed to be equal with God. He claimed to fulfill prophecy. He claimed to be the Promised Messiah, and when he died, the dream died. The disciples did not know what to think or do. Their dream was dead. But everything changed with the Resurrection.

Overnight the disciples were transformed from cowards to prophets. They went from hiding to preaching in the streets. Why? Because they heard a lecture? Because they heard a sermon? Because they took a seminar? No. They were transformed because they saw a dead man walking. They saw a man who was crucified before their eyes now walking, talking, eating, and teaching. They were transformed because of a single event: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You cannot deny what you have seen and heard. And what transformed the disciples into bold proclaimers of the gospel who would eventually be martyred for their faith was the fact they saw and heard Jesus. They knew he was alive and his resurrection validated his claims.

I'm with the disciples. I'm going to put my faith in the one who is now alive. We all have an innate fear of death, of "dying" or "getting dead". But there is one person who died and then conquered death by coming back to life to remain alive. And his name is Jesus. So guess what? I am with him.

There is the story of a man who was raised a Muslim but who became a Christian and when he was asked what made the difference for him, he simply replied: "I had a dream and in my dream I came to a fork in the road. In this fork were two men, one was dead and one was alive. I simply followed the one who is alive." It is not profound theology, but it is the cornerstone of our faith -- at the fork in life's road, only one man is alive who once was dead and his name is Jesus. And guess what? I am with Him!

Happy Easter.

We took our 3 kids (8,6,4) to Disneyland this past week for a one-day visit to Mouseland. Two other families joined us on our California excursion. 6 adults & 7 kids under 10 -- a sure recipe for some serious ill will, snaps, and harsh comments. Can I just say that it blows my mind how much money we pay to stand in line? Spring Break is a busy time around Disneyland. Line waits topped 2 hours in some cases. And then there is the fast pass, which gets you to the front of the line in just a few minutes. But then again, you have to wait until your time frame before you can take advantage of the fast pass. For instance, at 11:00 am we went to get the fast pass for Space Mountain -- Disney's best roller coaster. Our time frame for return was 5:00 pm! A six hour wait. So do you know what we did in those six hours? That's right - stood in line for other rides. It is amazing how long we would stand in line for a couple of minutes of entertainment -- and in some cases less than a minute! Line waiting can challenge your patience!

We spent about 15 hours in Disneyland. And yes we were all borderline homicidal by the end of the night. But somehow it all seemed fun. Do you know why? We laughed for about 12 of those 15 hours. The other 3 we were biting each other's heads off, but those 12 hours are what we remember.

We heard there was some traffic issues on the drive back to Vegas, but little did we know that we would spend 2 1/2 hours driving 11 miles in traffic. That will also try your patience! Some people ran out of patience and began to take it out on other drivers in the same predicament. But again, we just laughed a lot. Was it fun? Not really but when we finally got out of the traffic, it did not seem quite so bad. Why? Because we were laughing and having a good time in spite of our circumstances.

We spend a lot of time in life simply waiting. We spend a lot of time in life in situations that test our patience. From parenting to jobs to ministry to whatever life brings your way, there are so many situations in life that leave you with a choice: make the most of it and laugh a lot or get angry and take it out on other people. Some times we make the right decision and have fond memories of those times and other times we make the wrong decision and have regrets on how we handled ourselves in a particular situation.

Life challenges our Christian walk. We grow within the context of life. We grow within the context of situations. We grow within the context of circumstances. We grow within the context of life between birth and death. We grow within the context of traffic jams, standing in line, eating in restraunts, getting gas or running out of gas, dealing with slow servers, interacting with people a little less impatient than us. Bottom line: Christian growth takes place in the context of life.

Rick Warren suggests that God teaches us life values by placing us in life contexts where we have to exercise those values. For example if I am impatient, God places me around people who will try my patience - in life situations where our patience is stretched, which leads to growth in that area. I tend to agree with Warren, particularly after our Disneyland trip last week.

So at the end of the day, thank God for lines. Thank God for traffic jams. They teach us patience. I just hope I have learned my lesson by the time we travel to San Diego this summer!

Later this morning, I will be talking about why Jesus had to suffer and die. I will be focusing on Rom 3.21-26, where we learn that God's justice demanded a penalty for sin, God's mercy postponed the penalty of sin, and God's grace provided the payment for sin. It is a great text that reminds us of the "righteousness from God, apart from the law" that comes strictly through faith.

If you are like me, you are an earner. You like to try and earn God's favor with good deeds or abstinence from wrong. The reality is that a right standing with God (righteousness) has nothing to do with our morality and everything to do with God's grace. I live life with rose-colored glasses. My tendency is to measure my righteousness by my level of morality in comparison to other people ... I am a better person than him or her. The truth of the matter is we all stand on a level playing field (all have sinned). We are all equally in need of the righteousness that comes only through faith.

God's justice demanded a penalty be paid for our sins (the wages of sin is death) and yet in His grace, God is both just and the Justifier. In other words, he did what was necessary to pay the penalty.

One day God will stand as the Eternal Judge and those who have embraced his righteousness through faith will stand justified - not because of something we have done, but because He is the Justifier. Those who have refused his redemption offered freely will stand condemned (unjustified - is that a word?).

What an honor it is to stand today and talk about the One who is both just and yet became the Justifier for us!

When we ask God for wisdom, we must do so believing and not doubting. Is this instruction a struggle for anyone other than me? Do I really believe that God will give me the wisdom I am seeking? I have to admit that my faith is often tainted by my doubt. I have to admit that I often pray with this same doubt-plagued faith that "believes" God can do something but wonders if He really will.

Starting a church from scratch is one of those endeavors that demands a faith that goes beyond human comprehension. On more than one occasion, I have been overwhelmed by the respond of God in a particular situation. It is almost as if God granted wisdom or answered a prayer in spite of my doubts. Naturally when God moves in this manner, it increases my faith the next time I bring some issue to Him. With answered prayer comes increased faith. I am not sure that is how it is supposed to work, but somehow that is what has happened in my own life.

James 1.6 makes it clear that the doubter is blown around like a ship on a stormy sea. The doubter is tossed about by the winds of life. I think doubt affects our spirits. In other words, if I am a doubter, my disposition is often dictated by what is happening in my life -- wind-driven faith. If I am having a bad day or circumstances are not in my favor, I tend to be grumpy or ill with others. If I am having a good day and things look favorable, I may tend to be more delightful to be around.

What would happen to our countenance and spirit in life if we learned to live in absolute faith? What would happen if we learned to trust without wavering? What would happen if we were not controlled by the winds of life?

When we ask, believe and don't doubt. After all, the God we ask is the God who gives to all men generously with no strings attached.