Authenticity in the Church

Anne Jackson has had a fantastic discussion going on FlowerDust.net this morning about authenticity in the Church. Check out her post “scandalous“. This is one of my responses to her post…

This entire discussion is fantastic in that it exposes the fact that so much of today’s Christianity has been reduced to behavioralism and moralism. We have subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) teaching in our Churches today that our sanctification is completely up to us because God did his work at the cross. I even passed a Church sign once that said “God has done His part…the rest is up to you.” How tragic! This view of God and His grace is inaccurate and unbiblical and it leads us into what our flesh is already pretty good at…being legalistic Pharisees.

I lived for 30 years as a behaviorist with a perfect persona and it will flat wear you out. I saw God’s grace as being only for “lost” people. At salvation, God did His work of grace in me as a free gift and I was subtly taught that living the Christian life was my “thank you” to God for saving me. It was as if God crossed His arms after my conversion and spent all of His time watching how I behaved or did not behave. This is a lonely existence.

Because the Gospel is true and because it is true that God loves us as we are, we can be open and honest and transparent about our issues rather than spending so much time and energy trying to cover up our weakness or our struggles. We all are in desperate need of a Savior no matter how long we have been saved. How different our Christian paradigm would be if we saw other believers as fellow strugglers desperate for Christ? It would deepen our community as we connect with each other’s weaknesses and we would not be surprised by what a fellow believer might share with us. The masks we wear and the efforts that we go to in order to hide our flaws and our sin becomes such a tool for the Enemy to further isolate us as believers.

Consider this…the Body of Christ today has a tough time ministering to itself because so many parts of the body are sending the “everything is great and wonderful” signal rather than telling the truth. As a result, those parts of the Body are being isolated which further complicates the issue.

Dear Jesus, forgive us that we struggle so to believe that You love us just as we are and help Your body be truly transparent for each other and the world so that all might see how truly amazing your grace is.

"Airstream Reunion"

“Airstream Reunion”
Originally uploaded by TLovvorn

Was in Clarksdale, MS for meetings today and saw this while pulling through a downtown traffic light. I call it “Airstream Reunion”. I think I will call the Guinness folks because you KNOW that has to be a world record for number of Airstream RVs on one lot. Someone needs to send this to Texaco for a creative ad campaign. Now you know why Alabamians say “Thank God for Mississippi.”

Journal=Perspective

I’m in Memphis, TN tonight and had dinner with some great friends from Samford, Grant and Terri Guffin. For all of you Bama fans, Grant’s company has produced an amazing 5-disc set of The Crimson’s Tide’s Greatest Plays called Defining Moments. (You can order your very own set by clicking HERE.)

I didn’t know if I would be staying overnight tonight or not, and I happened to grab one of my old journals before I left the house. This particular journal contains entries from February 10, 2005 until February 17, 2008. I have been journaling since my Sophomore year of High School and one of the many benefits I get from this exercise is being able to go back and read my life narrative. It is such a faith-building exercise!

My journals give me perspective and allow me to see how God was moving in seemingly unrelated events of my life. Like Joseph. Old Testament Joseph, not carpenter-step-father-of-Messiah Joseph. Anytime I start to have a pity-party, Joseph’s story will usually snap me out of it pretty quickly.

In Genesis 37 Joseph is minding his own business tending his Father’s flocks and his brothers conspire to kill him and relieve him of his multi-colored jacket. Older bro Reuben talks the others out of murder and convinces them to throw Joe into a hole instead. Imagine that scene. Joseph looking up out of dark hole and he sees nothing but the silhouetted faces of his brothers looking down at him with eyes of pure hatred. I think that qualifies as a bad day. But then you flip over just a few pages and get to Genesis 41…just 5 chapters…and discover that things turned out pretty good for young Joe. He was all of a sudden the second most powerful man in the most powerful nation…truly a happy ending.

But wait…was it all of a sudden? Let’s look closer. I am guilty of taking Joseph’s predicament in the pit, slavery, and the dealio with Potiphar’s wife lightly because…as Paul Harvey would say…I know the rest of the story. But when Joseph was in the bottom of the pit looking up at his brothers, he was scared for his life and definitely wasn’t saying, “This is no big deal…This is all part of God’s plan to get me to Egypt’s second-in-command.” Absolutely not. Joe had no idea if he would live to see the next sunrise.

Genesis 41:46 states that Joseph was 30 years old when he began his work for Pharoah, which means he had been in prison for a crime he did not commit for around fourteen years. Fourteen years! Fourteen years thinking about what his brothers had done to him and how he didn’t deserve it. Fourteen years to sulk, seeth, and grow bitter. Fourteen years wondering if he would ever be free again. Fourteen years to complain to God for allowing him to be falsely accused.

But God had a plan for Joseph to be #2 in Egypt. Wouldn’t it be nice if God’s plans always worked out neatly from point A to point B with no struggle? Do you think Joseph would have opted for a different career path if he had been given a choice? One thing that I get from reading this incredible story is that Joseph…in spite of his many negative circumstances…believed that God was good.

Too often I am more like the Children of Israel than Joseph. Just like them, I have seen God show up big-time over and over again, but somehow, I convince myself that THIS time, God isn’t going to show up so I had better have a contingency plan in place.

Which brings me back to my journal…

Re-reading entries from 2005-2008 tonight made me realize that my journal gives me the ability to flip ahead a few pages in my story and get new perspective on what was unfolding during a particular entry. I see how God has connected the dots on seemingly unrelated events and that strengthens and builds my faith.

Here is an example…

As I type these words, God has done an amazing work of grace and has reconciled my relationship with Melody after 6 years of divorce. (We are working on getting our story written out and having it available to download here on the blog.) But for many years, I did not know for sure what God was up to. Consider this journal entry from Saturday, April 7, 2007…

Father, the feelings that I have been feeling for Melody for almost a month now I have to attribute to You. I have not given reconciliation a second thought since the Fall of ’04…until recently. There have been too many coincidences lately to ignore that You are up to something.

On my way to Jasper last Thursday I was talking to Mel…dropped the phone call…looked down at the phone to see if I had lost the call…and when I looked up again I was staring at a church named The Church of the Reconciliation. Some might say coincidence…I do not.

And this one a week later on Saturday, April 14, 2007…

Picked up Tal and Gabe from Melody around lunch today. She mentioned that she had a date tonight and it was almost like I had been hit in the gut with a 2×4. What does this tell me about how I feel about her, Father? Reflecting on how that made me feel, I remember a slight sense of panic because the week before last I was so confident that God was/is bringing us back together. It was almost as if hearing her say she had a date tonight was the equivalent of her getting married. My trust is in God and I have faith that all will work out according to His Sovereign plan. Whatever that is. On my end and in the meantime, my needs must be met in Christ. When I am lonely, I must run to Him. When I am fearful, I must run to Him. When I am wanting to trust in my idols rather than in Him, I must run to Him.

I have to remind myself that the things I am so worried and stressed about right now…things that I just recorded in my journal that have me so worked up…I have to trust that in a few days, weeks, or months that I will be flipping back through my journal and re-read my entry from January 28, 2009 and I will have completely different perspective. God has called me to trust Him because He doesn’t have to wait a few days, weeks, or months to get that perspective…He has it right now.

So I rest confidently tonight knowing that my story is unfolding just as it needs to and that God is good and that He has a plan.

Father, help me to trust You completely moment by moment. AMEN.

Overcoming Orphan Mentality

We sang Matt Redman’s “You Never Let Go” yesterday morning during worship and it was absolutely amazing. So awesome to look around and see smiling faces with arms upraised singing to the Father unashamedly. Oh what heaven will be like!

As I sang, God was speaking powerfully to my heart…reminding me of how He never let me go…even when I was running to various idols and trying to suck life out of them and living like the Prodigal. He not only loved me in spite of my sin, He continued to pursue me because He was and is the Jealous Lover of my Soul.

Listen to these powerful words…

Since worship yesterday, I have listened to the words of this song over and over and have been convicted about how easy it is to mouth the words but how often I live life not fully believing that they are true. Why do I so often live as an orphan, Father? How different my life would be if I lived each day in full assurance that I have a Father whose heart is good and who delights in me. The age-old message of the enemy has not changed since the Garden…

“God is holding out on you…you need to take matters into your own hands and get as much out of life as possible before it is over.”

“You are on your own.“

Wow. Just typing that last phrase was like a dagger into my soul. That is the message that the enemy and my Inner Critic tell me over and over during the circumstances of life.

Peel back all of the layers of Fred Traylor Lovvorn II and there you have it…I’m a wounded little boy packaged in a 6’3, 215 lb. frame who lives each day wrestling with the truth of the Gospel…fighting to believe it…struggling to apply it…attempting to get my arms around the scandalous nature of it. And those wounds hurt so I have to constantly keep an eye on my flesh because it will so quickly run to all kinds of medicine to numb and medicate the pain.

But the words to Matt’s song and the Gospel are true! HE WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER LET US GO! No matter where you have been or what you have done…God loves you intensely and is pursuing your heart. He is good! He delights in you! And guess what? Because this is true it is not all up to us to figure out this thing called Life! Now THAT is good news!

Not Guilty Anymore

Nothing like getting up at 7 AM on a rainy Saturday morning, but that is exactly how my day started today. Melody and I did a garage sale at my Hoover home (which we are still trying to rent or sale, btw…) To top it off, it was a cold and drizzling rain. We left the kids sleeping and it turned out to be a wonderful time for the two of us as we made the 15 minute trip to Hoover (via Starbucks, of course!) We turned on an Eldredge podcast and were challenged by John and Craig to keep the Sabbath. We are very excited as we both sense that great opportunities are just around the corner for us.

After we shared a brief snippet of our story with our church back in November, I got a call from one of the guys who works with the Singles Ministry about sharing at one of the Single’s Life Group meetings sometime in February. Melody will address the single ladies at one house and I will share with the guys at another. We are expecting good discussion as we share our story of miraculous reconciliation.

Reading The Bobosphere this morning, I was introduced to an artist’s name that I had never heard before…Aaron Keyes. I took Bob’s advice and went to iTunes and bought the entire album Not Guilty Anymore. How refreshing as I rest in the truth that I am “not filthy or broken or captive anymore.” All is paid for! The Father loves me just as I am! Mercy is mine!

This Would be MUCH Easier with Dynamite.

Last week I ran across an obscure passage from 1 Kings…

“When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.” 1 Kings 6:7 ESV

Ok so this passage is about Solomon building the temple…something his father David was not allowed to do. It would seem that hammers and axes and “tools of iron” would come in handy when building any building…especially God’s temple. This struck me as a bit odd so I dug deeper. Turns out that God is indeed a God of details and He had already had something to say about stones and tools used in building His house…

“If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.” Exodus 20:25 ESV

“And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of…” Deuteronomy 27:5-6 ESV

So it is around 966 BC and God has given Solomon the task of building His house. This would be a huge architectural undertaking using today’s tools…cranes, earth-movers, jackhammers, dynamite, diamond-tipped saw blades…but with tools available in 966 BC? Come on! I did a quick google search and was reminded that iron dates back to about 1370 BC…about 400 years before Solomon. I can hear Solomon having a pow-wow with Jehovah that went something like this…

God: “Build my house 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.”

Solomon: “60 x 20 x 30…got it.”

God: “The windows should have recessed frames.”

Solomon: “Nice touch.”

God: “Line all of the walls with Lebanon cedar from floor to ceiling.”

Solomon: “Nothing but the best for you, eh?”

God: “And remember not to use any tools.”

Solomon: “You’re joking, right?”

God: “No joke…no tools on the job site.”

Solomon: “A hammer sure would make it easier.”

God: “No tools, Solomon.”

Solomon: “And how in the world am I going to recruit anyone to help build your house when I tell them they have to work with stone with no tools?”

God: “Solomon…no tools.”

Solomon: “That iron stuff that came along a few hundred years ago…you know that really hard stuff? That sure would come in handy on this project. Are you sure?”

God: “I’m sure…no tools.”

So Solomon built God’s house with no tools on the job site. That means that each stone was fabricated miles and miles away from the construction site and each stone fit into place. PERFECTLY! Wow! That would be a difficult engineering feat for 2009, much less 966 BC! But that is exactly what happened.

And how quickly I forget how detail-oriented our God is…not just about building His temple…but with the many details surrounding my life as well. How often do I try to take matters into my own hands and want to force-fit circumstances so that they match my agenda and all the while God is saying “No tools.” I so often slip into unbelief…thinking God is busy in Iraq or someplace else more important and feel the need to take matters into my own hands and start whittling away…chipping off a corner there and a corner here in order to make my circumstances fit my plan.

Lord, forgive my unbelief and help me to live in the “No Tool” zone today.

Strength from the Struggle

Butterfly Metamorphosis
Originally uploaded by TLovvorn

OK…I’ll admit it. I’m a pack-rat. Well ”pack-rat” might be a bit strong. I like to think of myself as one of those “oh-look-this-is-cool-I’ll-put-it-right-here-cuz-you-never-know-when-that-might-come-in-handy-or-valuable” kind of guys. Or I could just be in denial. Melody leans toward the latter.

This morning I discovered one of my more peculiar collections that I had stashed away a few years ago after a weekend at the farm…a Ziploc bag full of spent butterfly cocoons! Now how cool is that? You never know when one of those might come in handy, right? My wife actually had the gall to have put them in a bag that was headed for the trash. Oh the nerve!

I did have a good reason for having put them in that sandwich bag for safekeeping. Finding those cocoons at the farm was very special because just the week before I had read something about butterflies that I had never known before. Turns out that if you happen upon a butterfly that is at the end of its personal metamorphosis and decide that you want to play nice and help it escape its silky confines, and you take your handy-dandy pocket knife and cut a teeny-tiny slit in the cocoon, you have just guaranteed that that particular butterfly will never fly at all.

That’s right, for butterflies, the struggle to get out of the cocoon is what gives them the strength to fly.

This little tid-bit of info had blown me away. As I was reflecting on all of the implications of this in my personal life, I happened to find five empty cocoons over the course of the weekend at the farm. I had never found a cocoon before and have never found a cocoon since. It was obvious that there was a lesson here that Father wanted me to learn. As I stared at each of the holes left by the escaping butterflies, I thought about how tempting it would be to want to help the butterflies escape if you saw it happening before you.

And then I thought about struggles in my own life and how I fight to avoid them at all costs. Could it be that the struggle is just what I need and it might be an example of God loving me well by allowing me to go through it? Maybe our life here on earth is nothing more than one big struggle with our flesh and one glorious day we will break free from the confines of our humanity and we will fly!

How many times have I run to the rescue of someone else who was going through a struggle? Maybe, in some instances, I was actually doing them more harm than good because the struggle that they were going through was the very thing that would have given them the strength to fly.

I have not gotten there yet, but finding the cocoons this morning was a fresh reminder that my prayer needs to be to struggle successfully and not avoid struggles at all costs. Too often I complain about the struggle rather than try to find God in the middle of it. Father, help me praise you in every storm. I am ready to fly.