Starbucks, Church, Jesus, and Leading Disciple-Making

I’m a coffee drinker. I have been since my Grandfather and I sat down to have a conversation at a family reunion when I was 14. The coffee we drank was terrible, but I didn’t know any better. And it was fun to learn from my Grandpa who loved drinking coffee as well. (He has since switched to decaf, but still swears by McDonald’s coffee as the best coffee in the country!)

When I was old enough to drive, my love for coffee took me to about every coffee shop I came across. I enjoyed spending hours there reading, studying the Bible, observing people, and sampling different kinds of coffees. Eventually, this passion took me to visit area Starbucks.

In seminary, I had a friend who worked for Starbucks to help him through school. I learned that though he was only part-time, he was receiving full benefits–health insurance, retirement and stock in the company. Wow, sign me up! This fascination with Starbucks and how they treated their employees intrigued me. Whenever I visited Starbucks, wherever it was, the experience was usually the same. Energetic staff who appeared to love their jobs and were very involved in the lives of their customers–even the ones I knew they had only just met that visit.

Now that I am leading a church through a difficult culture change, my experience at Starbucks has started to peak my attention. What is it in the culture of their company that drives their success? It’s not about the coffee (I’ve had better coffee elsewhere). It’s about the experience, the interaction with the staff, and the atmosphere they provide.

So recently, I’ve begun a personal study of the Starbucks business concept. Without actually becoming an employee and attending their training sessions, I’ve gathered several resources to begin a thorough study of their leadership concepts. My goal is to translate these leadership trends, compare them to ones I’ve already come across in the church leadership world, and then apply them to helping the average church-attender to become a stronger follower of Jesus.

My blogs over the next few weeks (at least that’s my intent) will serve as reflections during this study. I welcome your comments and interaction as I unpack some of the techniques we can learn from the leaders as Starbucks and apply them to life in our churches. Hopefully we’ll all end up with some valuable insight into leading others in more effective disciple-making and church culture change.

First books for study: The Green Apron Book (my most prized possession right now), and “It’s not about the coffee” by Howard Behar (2009 version).

Reflection: The Fruits of the Spirit

How is it “fruit” of the spirit? What does that mean? Is it my fruit because I have the Spirit? Is it the Spirit’s fruit because I have the Spirit?

Is the fruit automatic?

Is it something I must learn to do and integrate into my life?

Is fruit something that can be learned? Is the fruit of the Spirit natural fruit or artificial, then, if I can learn to produce it?

Is Paul’s list of Spiritual fruits general or specific?

First thought: Fruit is already there, producing (automatic). But sin has prevented it from fully producing. Our work is to uncover it. To allow the Spirit to work more and to prevent it less.

Question: I’ve already let God remove all the sin in my life by that same Spirit, so why is the Spirit not uncovered if it was what uncovered itself to begin with? Why is the fruit not more free to produce?

Perhaps then fruit can be learned? What role, then, does God play if it seems I can learn this fruit on my own? Do I then need God to produce this fruit “of the Spirit”? This seems less probable and more dangerous of a consideration than I want to dabble into.

So then, we are back to the struggle of uncovering fruit from the sin that so easily covers.

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” –Galatians 5:16, NIV

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” –Galatians 5:24, NIV

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” –Galatians 5:25, NIV

The fruit of the Spirit are for others. They are not for personal gain. They are simply personal characteristics used for the love of our neighbor. They should then be defined in reference to their efforts on others.

“…The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” –Galatians 5:6b

Keeping in step with the spirit… it is not something we do entirely on our own. For we must know the Spirit to walk with it. We must know the rhythm of its steps to step with them in perfect meter. This knowledge cannot be created on our own apart from the Spirit. We can’t “manufacture” it as artificial fruit. This fruit creation is both made by us but only under the influence of the presence of the Spirit.  Because without the presence of the Spirit, there is no model to create such fruit. The work of having spiritual fruit is to know Christ better and to walk with Him in time (as with a marching band).

“You, my brothers were called to be free. Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather serve one another in love. The entire Law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” –Galatians 5:13-14

“To truly be redeemed by Christ is, therefore, to impose on oneself the task of imitating him; As man Jesus is my model because as God he is my Redeemer; Christianity can be defined as a faith together with a corresponding way of life, imitation of Christ.” –Soren Kierkegaard

“Unlike the admirer who stands simply aloof, the follower of Christ strives to be what he admires. Without this essential condition all attempts to be a Christian are fruitless.” –Soren Kierkegaard

If I am to gain self-control, which is a fruit of the Spirit, then my task is not to sin less and to spend my time focusing on what I am not to do, but to spend more time understanding the life-rhythm of Jesus Christ, to consume myself, my mind, my heart, my desires, my passion, into understanding what made Jesus bounce, to understand his groove, his soundtrack. Then, I replace the personal soundtrack of my own life, the noise of the world, with the melodies that Jesus plays in my heart—the love I show for others in all respect of my Redeemer. And as my Redeemer, the Spirit will naturally free me from the sin that covers the fruit I should be showing. In turn, fruit will automatically produce, not by something I have done directly to produce it, but as a by-product of the nutrition I give myself as I feed on Christ and his love for my neighbor and I. Without doing so, my Christian walk is fruitless, empty, and mere religion, boring and dead.

Happy Anniversary!

Ok, this isn’t mine, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Just HAD to share it!

A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Tazer for their anniversary submitted this:

Last weekend I saw something at Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse- sized tazer. The effects of the tazer were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety….??

WAY TOO COOL!

Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I’d get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs.

AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave. Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised.. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and tazer in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I’m looking at this little device measuring about 5″ long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, ‘no possible way!’
What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best.. .?

I’m sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, ‘don’t do it dip,’ reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn’t hurt all that bad. I decided to
give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . . . .HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WHAT THE HELL!!!

I’m pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs? The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace,
obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to ‘mug’ yourself with a tazer, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor.. A three second burst would be considered conservative?

IT HURT LIKE HELL!!!

A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the
fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I’m still looking for my nuts and I’m offering a significant reward for their safe return!

P.S. My wife, can’t stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it! If you think education is difficult, try being stupid !!!

Modern Piety, Grace, The Christian Label

I have run in to a lot of people who don’t like to be told how to live. They want to continue living their form of Christianity because it’s easy and because it feels good to them. Watching them from an outsider’s point of view, someone who’s not completely connected with their lives, they fit the profile of a sinner more than they do a saint.

Common rebuttal to all this? … “we’re all sinners saved by grace.”

Just because we’re saved by grace doesn’t mean we can continue live however we choose–continuing sinful lifestyle and damaging habits.

The Bible tells us a lot about how we should live if we call ourselves Christians. These passages are difficult for those who stress grace more than piety in their lives. To the grace-lovers, it sounds like a bunch of rules–that very thing Christ set us free from. What are we then left to do with this dilemma?

I think it’s important to remember that we don’t strive to live by the rules, by the commands of the Bible, solely because it tells us to. That is empty religion. Instead, we choose to live pious lives, lives that follow the commandments of the Bible, not because we’re told to, but because that’s who God is.

The Bible tells us to “be holy as [God is] holy.” It tells us to love our neighbors, to seek justice, to refrain from adultery and idolatry. It tells us to welcome the sinner no matter who they are. It tells us to let God avenge those who do wrong against us. Instead, we’re to spread God’s love around, bringing peace to the world–namely, God’s version of peace! The Bible tells us to pray, to spend our time living as examples and imitators of Christ.

Why?

Because that’s who God is.

If we call ourselves “Chrsitians”, we label ourselves “followers of Christ.” It’s the designation we give ourselves. To follow Christ means to get to know him so well in every aspect of our life that we start to become like him.

Why become like Jesus?

Jesus is our example of one who is free from sin. The whole point of God sending his son is so that we can be freed from the sin that tangles us and keeps us from accessing a full relationship with God. You and I know very well that everybody sins and has sinned. We’re all guilty of it. But when we become like Jesus, it puts us further from the sin that keeps us from God, and naturally, closer to God. When we’re close to God, we experience the abundant life that he promised long ago.

In this light, to strive for piety is not a rote following of the rules, but the method in which we allow God to draw us nearer to him. The point of following Jesus is to be freed from sin and experience that new life in closer relationship with our Father in Heaven. To continue damaging lifestyles that we justify by this cold version of “grace” is nearly to reject the very grace that God provides by allowing us to access God no matter the sin that entangles us.

What now?

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.[Eph. 5]

How, in your life now, are you like Jesus? How does being like Jesus shape the way you live out your life? Are you a “little” Jesus roaming this earth as an example and light for the world?

Technology, Relationships, and the [Perceived] Resistance of the Merge in the Church

I am sitting in the local coffee shop this morning and overheard a conversation between two women in their 50′s discussing an unresolved computer issue one of them was having. To me, it seemed like a simple fix, but to them, they didn’t know how to resolve it. Their conclusion was that they needed to have one of their friends (assumingly younger by the way they talked) come over to her house to work out the issue in person.

That got me thinking…

It wasn’t much more than 5 years ago when Facebook was starting to take off. The discussion in church circles I was in revolved around the animosity toward social media and the wedge technology was putting in the ability for people to develop genuine relationships with each other. The fear was that computer time was taking away from holistic relational time. Perhaps some day we would have superficial relationships all because our involvement with computers has pulled us away from actually investing proper time with each other.

Fast forward to today.

I find it interesting that the conversation about technology actually concluded with the action step to bring two people together. This would have been absurd years ago. Today, conversations still involve pointless discussions about the weather, but many more are talking about experiences on Facebook, a website they visited, or something they learned on the internet. Feelings, deep thoughts and opinions, and even encouragement are shared as a result of those technologically shared experiences. You can’t tell me that pointless conversations about changes in the weather have ever really encouraged that level of relating.

Which all leads me to think about this: If technology is starting to actually bring us closer together with each other and the church is starting to warm up to the idea that the newest advances in technology are permissible (iPads, smart phones, video chat, text messaging and the utilization of Facebook and Twitter), how might we capitalize on its availability? If we are commanded to “go into all the world” with the message that Jesus is alive and with us, how might we use this new platform to our advantage?

Will it be resisted? Will it be embraced? Will our churches be able to fully utilize the capacities for evangelism we have freely accessible to us?

What are your experiences?

Being a Christian is full of ups and downs: Hang in there.

It’s an odd coincidence that the recent events in my personal life have paralleled quite closely to the subject matter I’ve been preaching on in church lately.

We’ve been talking about the ups and downs you might face as Christians and how there’s no guarantee that things will ever work out for good. Sometimes things are just not fair, we don’t always understand what God is doing, and sometimes when God answers our cries for help, his answers are not what we would expect.

The study we’re going through is a personalized version of Craig Groeschel’s series on the OT book of Habakkuk. I think the questions Craig asks and the manner in which he approaches the subjects found within this little gem in the minor prophets is excellent.

He starts it out talking about the tough questions we have in life. Why isn’t life fair? How can the kiss-up slacker at work get the raise when I’m the one doing all the hard honest work? Why is it that the 16-year old girl who sleeps around and has no family support can get pregnant and have all these abortions while the young married couple with a good family network and a loving marriage can’t conceive? Why does the man who has smoked and drank and done all sorts of other nasty things all his life live to be 97 and the loving father who didn’t do all that stuff dies of cancer at 37? Where are you God?

The series then looks at Seth Godin’s work in his book, The Dip, and uses Seth’s illustration but in a different manner to discuss how sometimes the Christian life goes up and down and traces some of the realities in our life along that journey. At the top of the hill, things are great. What we believe about God lines up with the things we see. But over a period of time, we start to experience a downhill slope. During that time, the things we believe about God don’t always line up with what we see. This is what springs the questions above. “God I thought you were supposed to be [like this] or [this way].”

At that point we’re faced with a decision: do we deny reality and continue living back at the top of the hill where what we believed lined up with everything we saw? or do we ditch God altogether because evidently somebody lied.

For Nicole and I, things were going well before last week. We were at the top of the hill. Though nursing school was busy for Nicole, she was getting her best grades so far, doing very well in her new classes, and enjoying the adventurous commute with a new classmate. And then we started down the dip…

Last Thursday night, the person driving in front of Nicole, while she and our three little girls were headed to her sister’s house, was cut off abruptly in traffic, causing everyone to slam their brakes and swerve. Nicole ended up crashing our mini van into the person in front of her, while the cutter-offer drove away untouched. Nicole got the ticket and all the car repairs. We don’t have collision insurance on the mini van since it’s older.

Thankfully, no one was hurt.

All this summer we’ve been spending $400-500 at a time repairing both our high mileage vehicles. We were out of money and waiting for our next paycheck to buy shampoo, dishwasher detergent, and oatmeal. Now, an accident, and there’s no money to pay for the damage, nor the ticket.

Questions for God… We’ve been faithful, serving you and trusting you to make ends meet. We’ve been doing our best. We’re teaching our little girls to pray and we’re teaching them about Jesus. Why, after 5 years of this, do we still have no money? Should Nicole drop out of Nursing school after working at it for the past 7-8 years? Should I pick up a second job to help pay the bills? … and a slew of other questions and worries.

At that point, we left it in God’s hands, because our hands couldn’t do anything more than what they were doing to change the situation. We were helpless. All we had was prayer and trust.

Continuing on down the dip…

Monday afternoon, Nicole called me at work. It was her day to drive to school. The battery in my vehicle (since I was driving the banged up mini van to spare her further shame) was dead. They couldn’t start the truck. “What do I do? I called campus security” she said helplessly. Great. Last thing I needed was a dead battery. Those are usually always about $100 and our bank accounts were already drained.

I counted the bills up in my head. $100 for a battery… $175 for the ticket… hundreds for the van repairs… a few more hundred for the brakes in the van that haven’t been working well since before the accident… and a partridge in a pear tree. We just don’t have it God!

Well, we continued to about how when we’re in the dip, Habakkuk reminds us by the very translation of his name, that we’re to embrace God as we wrestle with life. (Hab’s name means “to embrace or to wrestle.”) People finding their way down into the dip often choose one of two options: deny reality or ditch God altogether. But Habakkuk suggests a third option: hold on for all you’ve got. Even though what we believe about God in our head doesn’t always line up with the things we see, God is still in His temple. In other words, God can still be trusted, Got is still in charge. Just hang on, he’ll get us out of this mess.

Habakkuk also reminds us that things don’t always get better when you trust God and ask him to move in our situations. Sometimes they get worse. And for us, we trusted God completely, we were hanging on for dear life, and things got WORSE!

We hung on.

Monday night was a rotten night with more questions for God. I won’t sugar coat it. It was rough. I had a heart-to-heart with God that night. I told him how I felt. But at the end of it, I relented to His mercy and waited. …and unplugged the battery in my truck because the brake lights wouldn’t shut off and that was what was killing the battery.

Tuesday morning, I called a friend at the Ford garage. Turned out my battery was fine, it was the electronic sensor attached to the brake pedal that was causing the lights to stay on and kill the battery. We jiggled it a bit and got the lights to cooperate for the time being. Replacing it costs $95 for the part alone. That bought me some time with that expense and a little relief.

Went to work that day and that afternoon Nicole calls me. “What else now?” was my first thought. Someone stopped by the house with a large check for “Pastor Appreciation.” Though it doesn’t start until next month, they heard about our troubles and wanted to help. It was enough to cover the body parts on the van and cover the brake part on the mountaineer with a little left over to buy gas, get an oil change and buy the shampoo, dish soap, and oatmeal we had been saving up to buy. Instant relief and almost surreal. God showed up.

To me, it was confirmation that God was telling us, “Thank you for hanging in there with me. I’m true to my promises: I’ll continue to take care of you as I always do.” It feels good to be blessed.

The story hasn’t ended there. Wednesday morning I got a phone call that our 8 month old daughter was FINALLY added to our insurance policy. This was good news that ended a 6 1/2 month battle with our insurance company and collection companies. We can now reprocess a few thousand dollars of medical bills and have them all covered because we met our deductible when she was born. It felt good to be blessed again and that wasn’t even on the list from Monday night!

The story didn’t end there either. Wednesday afternoon, I received another check from our church for several hundred dollars to fix the brakes on our mini van. It was enough that, combined with the other check, we can now repair a couple of the other vehicle problems we had been putting off and can now confidently make it through the winter with both of our vehicles. The brakes were on Monday’s list, but that’s all I had expected from God. He went over the top on that one.

The last message in the Habakkuk series is about life when you’re climbing out of the dip. Nicole and our girls and I are climbing out of the dip. It’s still messy with a few things right now, but some of our biggest worries have been wiped away in just a few short days–and we know it came from no where else but straight from God.

The Christian life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes the dip lasts a lot longer than just a couple weeks. Sometimes it lasts years. But this episode of the longer dip Nicole and I have been in these past 6-7 years confirms for me that as long as you hang on to God, you’ll have reason to praise him and keep your joy. Things will not always be easy. Sometimes they’ll get worse. But there will be occasions in the midst of it, while you sit in the fiery furnace with God, that like David in the psalms or Job in the book of Job, you’ll have reason to praise God in the midst of the mess.

While there is still sin in this world, we’ll have thorns with our roses. There won’t always be a promise for the perfect life while you follow God, but you’ll have the hope that the One you cling to, is still seated on the throne, is still in his temple, is still in charge, and still has more power and authority than anything else in this universe or outside it. Therefore, let everything be silent before the Lord! (Habakkuk 2:20)

New Blog: Can God resurrect dead things?

Exciting things are happening at our church right now. In pockets, I’m beginning to see God bringing out new life. It reminded me of the passage in Ezekiel 37 about the valley of dry bones.

The story goes basically like this: God takes Ezekiel out in the middle of a valley that is filled with dead people. Their bones are all that is left and their bones are scattered everywhere–no bodies in tact. They’re so dead and dry and scattered that it’s hard to make out what these people looked like when they were alive. God then asks Ezekiel a faith and trust question: “Ezekiel, can these dry bones have life again?” Ezekiel responds, “God only knows.”

It wasn’t a full belief, but enough for God to say, “prophesy to the dry bones.” In other words, tell them of their future, send them hope of a Sovereign promise. So Ezekiel did and as he started telling the story (prophesying) the dry bones started to rattle in places and started joining back together. Soon, as the skeletons assembled, flesh started to appear on them until they looked like people, but they were still dead, lifeless.

Then God said, “Ezekiel, prophesy to the dead that they will have breath and come alive.” So Ezekiel did and they stood up as a vast army. Then, in this vision, God told Ezekiel that this was what he was about to do to Israel and that he needed to respond to what God was about to do appropriately.

Sometimes, when you’ve been part of your church for such a long time, it’s hard to imagine all the dry bones coming together. People often go about their own thing, working on what they think is best in the church, in that valley. Yet, even though some activities show potential for life, they still lie dead. They’re just skeletons with flesh on them.

What God wants us to believe is that if we trust in His Power, these people we are used to, these ministries we’re part of, CAN stand up as a vast army for the Lord, ready to go out and transform the world, if we would only prophesy, tell of the hope that God is about to do amazing things–things we cannot do on our own power and strength.

Sometimes it’s difficult to engage in the work of turning our churches around because all we see are the dead bones. We fail to hear the prophesies. We fail to grasp the hope and breath that is stirring around us, ready to stand us up as a great army for the Lord, ready to do battle.

Each of us who are in churches in those valleys (opposite of churches on mountain tops) are challenged to believe in the God who can resurrect dead things and allow him to do the work of bringing life. Our only work in the valley is to trust and to tell of the hope that God brings. Let’s let God take care of the rest and watch the incredible happen!

Your church CAN be transformed into a vast army if you would only believe that God can make it happen. Remember, God didn’t ask Ezekiel to create an army out of scattered dry bones. God only asked him to speak to the bones to tell of the promises God was about to bring about.

In the New Testament, Jesus speaks the same words: “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

New Blog: Do we have power over demons?

Question 1:

Sam, Got a question on the diagram you had on the screen

This order is based on work done by cultural anthropologists, Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey.

I wasn’t clear on this order. Was this the order of dominion in this world that is set up? If it is, when Christ was sacrificed on the cross, for any Christian shouldn’t the order be changed to…

God

Archangels
Angels
Christian human beings
Animals, satan, & demons

It appears to me that in scripture, that if we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we have authority over Satan and his demons because of what Christ did for us on the cross. Mark 16:17 states that these signs will follow those who believe. “In My name they will cast out demons.” James 4:7 states that “when we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee.” Paul in Acts 16:18 & Acts 19:12 cast out evil spirits. In Luke 10:1-20, seventy were sent out to minister. In verse 17 when they return, they state that “even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” Jesus answers in the following verses “I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

In reading Hebrews chapter 1 & 2, Hebrews 1:7 states that we were made a little lower than the angels. Where in the Bible does it say that we are lower the Satan or his demons?

Thanks to the person who submitted this by email. Here’s my response…

I think I can clear up the whole order thing quite easily. You see, outside of knowing Christ, we are powerless against spiritual forces. We can only influence other people and animals. That was the shock in the Bible–how can Jesus affect things “upwards”? In Mark 3, they accuse him of using Satan because nobody would dare use God that way, let alone claim to be God.

When we call on the name of Christ, it’s actually HIS power that we use to overcome spiritual forces, not our own power. There’s nothing in us that is capable of that other than “resisting the Devil” (i.e., there’s always a choice to be made). So when Jesus is in our life, when his Holy Spirit is upon us, we call on the Name of Jesus to overcome those things. You see THAT happening all over the New Testament and even in the Old Testament. Does that make better sense?

In the examples that you shared from the Bible, all of those cases referred to individuals casting out demons “in Jesus Name.” Jesus is the one that gives authority over the demons. With that, we are then able to overcome them. Without it, we are inferior. This naturally gives us the edge in spiritual warfare.

As to having authority over the angels (per your reference from Hebrews 1:7), archangels, everything else, I would say that it’s not due to anything in us, but how God sees us and the angels respectfully stepping aside to the authority of Christ. The angels are always serving God, not us. We cannot command the angels, but they are around in response to what Christ is doing in our life. This would also be part of the reason many of us don’t pray to the saints. Why would we need to pray to them if we can pray directly to Christ and he then responds directly to our needs as he sees fit?

Now, to reflect a little bit upon all of this… Philippians 2 talks about Jesus humbling himself. If you look at the diagram again, that scripture becomes a REALLY BIG DEAL when you talk about what Jesus gave up and how the demons thought they could overcome him in the Gospels. Even Satan took a crack at him in the wilderness. I don’t believe that would ever have happened before if there wasn’t some vulnerability and a bit of power on Satan’s side giving him the edge to approach God that way. But because Jesus, fully human, was also God (I admit, I still dont’ fully understand it even after the suggestions in The Shack), Satan and the demons were no match for him–even after they killed him.

New Sermon Series: Miracles of Jesus

New Blog: Limits of Community

In high school I gained my independence early. I was forced by circumstances to grow up fast and learn to survive on my own. In college, for about 3 years, I lived intentionally without community. My peers in the dorm and as I moved into a house that third year with a minimum of 7 guys, I was called a “hermit.” I didn’t mind. It was safer, easier.

For years I’ve been able to sustain myself without the need for others.

My last year in college, I had a long conversation with God. You see, I had done everything I could not to date anyone either. On this side of things, I was lonely. So I agreed to let God to slowly allow me to enter the world of relationships again. For fear that I would get hurt, I did so timidly.

I dated two girls for a each long period of time. I took it slow and according to them, nobody had ever “dated” them that way before. To me, it wasn’t really dating, it was exploring for a wife. I didn’t care for all the social customs of dating (still don’t). Both of these ladies were convinced after a few months that we were going to get married. I wasn’t.

To be brief, I ended up breaking those relationships and eventually met my wife, Nicole, whom I felt an instant connection and soon married in a relatively short time. My relationship with Nicole has been good. We’ve grown together and I’ve learned how to depend on her more, increasing my vulnerability along the way. Still, there have been ways for me to retreat by myself.

I have been able to provide pretty well for my family, for Nicole and I, and eek out a pretty comfortable life together. Nicole and I have been able to make it through some pretty difficult times, leaning on each other along the way. My three daughters have also helped us weather some rather difficult situations.

Today, however, I’m frustrated. We’re in a situation where our future is locked in, fenced in, chained down, so to say. We do not have the ability to affect our future without making significant changes. This is because people other than us have control where we do not. But we need to.

I’m learning a difficult lesson right now. One that I’ve avoided for about 15 years! My family’s life is in the hands of other people. They determine our future. We can only work within that. It’s very limiting! It’s also very scary.

These people are not fully vested in our lives. They haven’t done the planning, the preparation, the praying, that we have. They don’t know our hearts and dreams, the things we’d like to accomplish. They hold the control.

It’s a very frustrating, stressful, painful lesson to learn for me.

Can I trust community?

Can I rely on others to care for me when it seems as though they don’t know what’s best for us like Nicole and I do?

Will they treat us like their own family, or treat us like anyone else?

Will they pause to hear our side of things or continue on with us like a cold business deal?

It’s frustrating having to rely on others. Community is hard. For me, it’s always been much easier and safer to go at it alone without other people.

So the lovely bit of stress continues. Sometimes being in community prevents activity from happening. Sometimes community prevents the best welfare of individuals.