Tony Wheeler dot Net

Whew!  Am I glad that is over.  The election, that is.  Since sometime in 2006, we have been bombarded with political junk and most of us have been sick of it since then.  So now what?  What does the future of this great nation hold?  I’m not entirely certain, but I do know that God still reigns, no matter who holds the highest office in the land. 

In the circles in which I travel, there has been much talk about our (”our” being Christians, Ministers, etc) response to Barack Obama becoming the President-elect.  Most everyone agrees that following BIblical mandates regarding submitting to authority and also praying diligently for our soon-to-be president are good things. I’m with them.  (The conspiracy theory nut in me has some other ideas, but luckily my wife keeps me grounded.)  With that being said, I’d like to talk a bit about why I think people overwhelmingly, especially inside of Christian circles, voted for Obama and what I think that means. 

It is no secret that Obama is for social justice.  A look at his policies including health care reform, tax policies, and even closing the Guantanamo Bay Naval installment speak very loudly to the fact that he is very interested in social reform.  In the Christian world, we’ve become enamored with social justice, which I think is funny because isn’t that what we’re supposed to be about anyway? So here is a guy who says he is going to do a lot of stuff for the people that we want to help.  Cool!  He is also not the president that almost all of us voted for in the last two elections, but since he is so unpopular we no longer want to associate with him.  The only problem is that Obama’s social policies are not social justice in Biblical terms, they are social policies in governmental terms.  I’m all for government.  Small government that protects freedom and liberty among it’s people.  

The problem I see is that we’ve become enamored with the idea of social justice but don’t actually want to do the work of social justice.  We’d love for poor people to have more money.  We’d love to pay less taxes (which under Obama (or McCain), you probably won’t…The Fair Tax would be the way to go).  We’d love for everyone to have equal access to healthcare and education.  But somewhere along the line we’ve bought into the lie that these things are better left to the government.  Ask the good people in Africa how that is working for them.  Ask the people in Haiti how that is working for them.  Ask the people in Honduras how that is working for them. If it works so well, why do we use a lot of resources sending missionaries equipped with mobile clinics to heal these people?  Why isn’t their government taking care of them? 

The bottom line is that we need to be THE CHURCH.  We need to stop building church buildings and programs and put our money where our mouth is.  We need to be Gospel Incarnate and actually live out the things that we preach about.  We need to respond when Jesus tells us that we are to care for the sick, widows, and orphans.  We need to be sensitive to the needs around us and take action on them when we are able.  If we aren’t able, I guarantee that we know someone who is able.  

I might be preaching to the choir, but if that is so, then why do we still have Welfare, Food Stamps, and homeless people sleeping in the woods?  

Just something to think about.

The internet is a funny place.  Many moons ago, before Al Gore invented the internet, people used really neat technology to call other computers or servers.  Basically these computers would talk to each other and the owners could transmit 1s and 0s to each other in nifty green screen or if you were lucky orange screen.  They would also dial into a central computer and use something called BBS.  BBS was the early form of online community.

Now, I’m not that geeky and most of what I know about these old technologies I’ve learned from Hollywood or books such as “The Computer that Wore Sneakers”.  My foray into the wonderful world of the information superhighway came sometime in the mid-Nineties when I would use my grandparent’s home computer to dial up (probably a 9600 or 14.4 modem I don’t remember) to America Online to research and occasionally chat.  Surely you remember those days?  During college I utilized AOL Instant Messenger exclusively and services like Yahoo and MSN were loathed by yours truly.  I used to chat a ton and always had IM active when I was online.  Then I would meet one person who used Yahoo or one person who used MSN Messenger.  Then cool services like Trillian and now the web based Meebo came out where you could have one central location to manage all of your contacts.  Today, Social Networking, which is pretty much what the early BBS and IM were, has exploded into tons of networks and services.

So what?  I was thinking today as I was reading a new blog that I stumbled upon by a guy named Paul Watson about the social nature of the internet. It seems that we’ve come full circle in terms of what we use the internet for.  Sure we can get the latest news, stock quotes, pay bills, buy stuff that we don’t even need, and conduct endless amounts of research.  But by and large the internet is still used for networking of the social and professional variety. Blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Forums, LinkedIn, and a whole bunch of other places are simply ways to connect with other people.

Paul’s blog has a ton of interesting info about reaching the online generation.  If you are a staff member or volunteer at a church, it is worth your time to take a minute to check his blog out.

I’ll be talking more about the online community and what I’ve done and what I would like to do to have a great impact more as the days go by.  The real eye opener behind all of this is that people are searching out connections and community in any way that they can get it.  What can we do to help fill this real need in people’s lives?

A little more than 17 years has passed since I decided there was something missing from my life.  I remember clearly being at Pine Haven, the camp I went to and worked at for a good portion of my life, and responding to an altar call.  I spoke with my Cabin Dad about my decision and then when I returned home I spoke with my minister as well.  Later that week I was baptized.  Why am I thinking about this?

This past week a dear friend and minister of the Gospel passed away.  A man that has had and will continue to have a great impact on the Kingdom of God, David Kester.  A man that is dearly loved by many.  I was reading a transcript of the Eulogy that was delivered at his funeral by another friend and was deeply moved.  Not really by the words (although they were moving as well), but by the man whom the words were spoken about.  It dawned on me that one of the differences between David and myself is that David truly lead a Gospel Centered Life.  He understood that the Gospel isn’t something that we simply preach, it is something that we are.  The Gospel isn’t something that we read and write about, it is something that we embody.  Do we need to use words?  Sometimes.  Is the Kingdom impact even greater when we’re able to be the incarnation of the Gospel that we preach?  Indeed.

How is this done?  One of the things that struck me in reading my friend’s tribute to David was my memory of this man.  He was one of the wisest people I’ve ever met.  On the other hand, one of the funniest and most sarcastic people I’ve ever met.  His embodiment of the Gospel was simply by being him.  Sure, he was a pastor, a board member, a committee person, an author, but he was mostly just David.  I think that I often try to compartmentalize my personalities.  No, I’m not in need of medication.  I’m in need of repentance and repair, however.  It isn’t that I try to be someone I’m not.  It isn’t even that I’m dramatically different in the different sectors of my life.  I simply want to live a Gospel Centered Life.  I want my life to make even half the impact that David’s had.  I want my relationship with Jesus to be as personal as David’s.  I think that, more than anything, is what I’ve just now realized.  How can I invite people into a relationship that isn’t even that personal.  Oh sure, I have a lot of personal closeness with Jesus.  But thinking of the life of my friend David reminds me that I can be closer.  it isn’t a challenge to see who can be closer.  At the end of the day, David’s life was simply about helping people become closer to Jesus.  Thank You, Dave.  You’ll be missed until we meet again.

Today I dug out my copy of Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon.  I was reminded of this little book when I was reading my friend Chris Elrod’s blog a few days ago.

I was sitting at our kitchen table drinking an iced coffee and eating leftover pizza (the bachelor lifestyle!) reading what I thought was today’s entry.  Turns out it was actually yesterday’s, but since I slept until 4pm yesterday I guess I’m a day behind.  The verse for the entry is from Ezekiel and it says,

“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
–Exodus 14:13

Spurgeon says, ” These words contain God’s command to the believer when he is reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is shut up on the right hand and on the left; what is he now to do? The Master’s word to him is, “Stand still.” …–keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, “Go forward.”

I’m in an interesting season of life right now.  We’ve recently relocated to another state, changed jobs (including a halving of salary), and feel a tremendous force upon us to ‘do’ something.  I’m encouraged by the words of C.H. Spurgeon.  I’m here, standing still, waiting.

How many times have you chosen to serve or bow down to something or someone other than God?  How many times have you traded the good things of God for the garbage of this world?  I’ve gotta tell you, I’ve done it thousands, probably millions of times.

I’ve had this thought in my head for the last couple of months.  I’ve been playing back this one sentence from Romans 1 over and over.  When I’m thinking about all of the stresses of this life that are weighing on me like a ton of bricks, I think about the lies that are behind that stress.  I miss the beauty of the truth of God in the mess of life, when fact of the matter is that the truth of God is the beauty of the mess.  Often I talk with people who wonder why bad things happen to good people or why if God called them to do something then why are they struggling financially or physically or emotionally?  God never said it would be easy.  He never said it would be without trials.  In fact, he guarantees that there will be.  The truth of the matter is that in the face of those trials is where the beauty of God’s Kingdom is found.  I think about our own situation, our own mess.  I go back and forth in my mind with God about what He wants us to do here.  I struggle with trading the truth of God in the beauty of the mess for the lies that the world and those around me are telling me.  We knew coming in that it would be hard and I’m stepping it up big time.  I’m pressing on, I’m living in the beauty of the mess.  I reflected on this beauty the other day when I was on break at work.  I was sitting in a break room with a guy in a wheelchair who is from Haiti, a Chinese girl and a Puerto Rican girl and we were all talking to each other.  I glimpsed the Kingdom in that moment.

Exchanging the truth of God for a lie can look different for everyone.  It could be the porn addict exchanging the truth of God for the lie that the woman/man on the computer screen wants them.  It could be the work-a-holic that trades his family for cash.  It could be the school kid who cheats on the exam.

For me, it is the things of my past that I exchange for the truth of God.  I’m letting go.  I’m trading in the lies for the Truth.  Going back into the beauty of the Truth.

If you’ve been around the blogosphere lately you’ve probably seen several bloggers hashing out the ideas of discipleship/small groups/organic church vs. ‘traditional’ church.  I’ve had some opportunity to read some of the stuff that these guys are writing and also had some great conversations with some of them.

Perry Noble wrote a post that basically outlined the things that he is struggling with in terms of discipleship.  He mentioned a person wrote to others wondering what their churches were doing to make discipleship.  The caveat was that this could not be on Sunday mornings.  Being a pastor, Perry obviously didn’t agree with that point.  My thought is that discipleship must happen during gatherings such as Sunday worship.  Many churches have Bible teaching times outside of the worship setting as well.  I’ve seen this done tremendously well in a church plant I was on staff at in the Minneapolis area.  I was always impressed that we could gather 50 plus people for an hour each week and they engaged and implemented what we taught.  Amazing!  Should discipleship extend beyond Sunday mornings?  Certainly, but to say that it cannot and does not happen is simply insane.

Perry defined discipleship as teaching someone to walk with Jesus, picking them up when they fall down and teaching them to feed themselves.  Pretty straightforward definition if you ask me.  Perry did mention that it is difficult to make disciples without first having converts…not sure I agree totally there, but could be a matter of semantics and when the point of conversion actually happens.

Anyway..thoughts? Comments? Smart remarks?

Check out these guys for some more reading in this vein.

Chris Elrod

Brian Jones — He has a great series of posts on the idea of small groups….Loved it. Thanks, Brian.

“…if we restrict our discipleship to special religious times, the majority of our waking hours will be isolated from the manifest presence of the kingdom in our lives”.  Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy