It Happened (continued)

I will try to get through this post without losing my focus. Although, the two post relate to each other very well.

I met a guy Thursday morning at Starbucks for coffee. While we were there we talked about God and the kingdom. We talked about how to live as kingdom people where we are at the time. We really had a good discussion about God stuff.

He got up to leave and I was going to stay and check my email. As soon as he got up a guy approached. I was wearing a tee-shirt from my trip to Zimbabwe last fall. The front of it says, "Acts 29." He asked me, "What's with the shirt. There's not an Acts 29." Obviously he knew his Bible. Most people who carry the Christian cup (to understand the cup thing, read the previous post) don't realize there is no Acts 29, its a Hezekiah 3 type of thing.

I explained to him that it means the story continues, the Acts of disciples should not have stopped in Acts 28. We still have a purpose in God's kingdom today. He told me he had seen that image before. I explained there was a church planting group called Acts 29. He was familiar with it because he had seen it on the Internet.

Then he asked me if I was familiar with Frances Chan. This guy was obviously someone who did not just carry a cup. So I asked him the obvious question, "Do you go to church?" I know better than to go right for that question but I wanted to know where he got his coffee.

He looked in the air, trying to decide how he wanted to answer the question. He said, "I don't." Then he went on to explain why, "There are a lot of people who call themselves Christians that are going to hell." What he was saying is there are a lot of people who just like to carry the cup.

It happened, in Starbucks I met a person I keep reading about. Someone who is disenfranchised with the church. About 30 minutes later I packed up my stuff and headed out the door. The guy was coming down the sidewalk. He stopped me again and asked me my name. He also asked me what church I was with and wanted to know where it was. He did tell me he was a member of a church but he did not want to talk bad about it because he is good friends with the pastor.

He did end our conversation by telling me "Frances Chan has it right you know." We are only told to do two things: Follow Jesus and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to teach them everything Jesus has taught us (the great commision).

It happened, I met a person who doesn't just carry the cup. I met a guy who knows what it means to be on mission for Jesus. You know where he drinks his coffee? Jesus.

Where do you drink yours?

It Happened

I met someone for coffee yesterday in Starbucks. Yes, I said coffee. For those who don't know I am not much of a coffee drinker, but I always wanted to carry a Starbucks cup like a lot of the trendy world does. It is more of a status symbol or your club card. I am in now because I found something I like or at least can tolerate.

I am not proud of my usual but I have manned up and do get an extra shot of espresso. I am sure you want to know the manly drink I prefer. It is a "Triple Skinny (because I am trying to lose some weight) Carmel Latte." There I said it. I guess I will have to post another manly question on Facebook. But if you want it you will have to take it from me (if getting physical over a latte is even possible). It doesn't matter what I drink, I am in the club, I carry the cup to prove it.

Sounds like our Christian life doesn't it. We can carry a Bible, go to church and even have a Jesus fish on the back of our car but nobody really knows who we are on the inside. We can promote ourselves on the outside and still have a lot of crap on the inside. I mean nobody knows what I am drinking when they see me carry a Starbucks cup unless of course you are one of those ice coffee kind of people. I just never could see John Wayne out on the range or in a fox hole drinking ice coffee. Is ice and coffee really suppose to go together?

So it happened, I am kind of drinking coffee now. But that is not what I really wanted to blog about, but this one is getting to long so . . . I will have to continue tomorrow.

But think about it, if you are a follower of Jesus, are you really following him or are you just carrying the cup?

Costly Grace

I have been wanting to read "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer for a long time. His first chapter is called "Costly Grace." I love reading about God's grace but I have to admit this time it is making me a little uncomfortable. I know it has because I have brought it up in discussions twice in the last two days and I am even going to teach on it Sunday.

His point is that there are two types of grace the church teaches. Cheap grace which is taught mostly he says "is the deadly enemy of the church." Cheap grace requires nothing from the one receiving grace. He says "Cheap Grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner."

I have noticed lately followers of Jesus want to justify their sin without accountability. When held accountable they play the judgement card and say, "you don't understand." They call for grace but they want it at a discount. What I mean is they want the benefits of grace but don't want it to cost them anything.

The problem is that many churches and church leaders today teach this type of grace. The messages are designed to make people feel good about themselves with little or no accountability. This may be the reason so many church leaders are now evaluating the churches they lead and finding out they have done a poor job of discipling followers of Jesus. Bonhoeffer makes the point that "Cheap Grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

This is the grace we like. This is the grace that is a bargain because there is little or no cost.

Costly grace on the other hand is something we don't want think about. The reason is this grace cost us something. It calls for accountability and sacrifice. In some places in the world this grace can even cost people their lives.

Jesus teaches this type of grace. He tells the rich young ruler to sell everything he owns and give it to the poor and then he will have treasures in heaven. He tells those who want to follow him things like, "If you follow me, remember I don't know where I am going to sleep tonight" or "If you follow me you will have to leave your family." He even warns his disciples on the night he was arrested that they should expect persecution and even death.

So the question I want to ask is "How costly is your grace?"

Remember Grace is costly, it should cost us something considering it cost God is one and only Son.