Pastor Chuck's Blog

One of the most unique byproducts of God’s kindness to us is repentance.  You might typically think of God’s judgment or wrath as what motivates us to repent and at times it certainly does; however, ultimately it is the gentle, undeserved, completely unexplainable kindness of God that fuels us to turn from sin and turn to God.

Repentance refers to the changing of your mind.  Basically it means that you change your mind over something you’ve been doing you now see must stop or something you’ve not been doing you now see must start.  Sin is both offensive to God and harmful to us.  Sin is what blocks us from seeing Jesus for who He really is and enjoying Him beyond our wildest dreams.

Sin is the problem, repentance is the answer.

A strange phenomenon has come over many Christians and many churches today.  For some reason many people think repentance is for “those people.”  It’s for the really bad people, not us.  It’s for the sinner who is praying the sinner’s prayer, but after that…after he or she becomes a Christian, repentance isn’t needed much.  And mature believers certainly have little to repent of.  Friends, to be totally frank, that’s just stupid.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The deeper you get in your Christian walk – the closer you get to Jesus – the more you should see you need to repent.  Compared to a murderer or rapest you probably seem like a pretty good person, but compared to Jesus none of us can stand.

Would you thank God for His kindness today by asking Him to reveal sin in your life, repenting of it, and then gathering some fellow brothers and sisters in Christ around you to help keep you from falling into the same sin again?  This will bless you beyond measure and bring glory to God.

In Need of Repentance,

Chuck

Last Sunday we began a very important journey at Church on Mill.  After nearly a year of study and prayer, your Leadership Team felt it was time to release a new vision for the church family.  I had the privilege of beginning that process just two days ago.  The dream that will be painted for you over the next few weeks will include who we are, why we exist, and what we do.  Frankly, I believe it’s the kind of vision that you will want to get behind and help accomplish, no matter what the sacrifice.  God has a terrific plan for his church.

As I mentioned last Sunday, ultimately all of us – both as individuals and as a church – exist to glorify God.  To glorify God is ultimately to give him the recognition and #1 standing he so richly deserves.  We give him right standing through living lifestyles of worship and obeying everything he directs us to do.  That’s why we exist. Period.  In the words of the Apostle Paul, “All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col 1:16).

Does it blow your mind that our church and your life have the opportunity to glorify God?  It sure blows my mind!   What a gift and honor we have: not living for ourselves but living for God.

All too often church becomes about us and somehow God gets lost in the process.  We settle for routine and comfort instead of being radical glory-givers.  I know I am tempted that way at times.  Let’s be a church with a Godward vision: Glorifying God through lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The New York Times put out a fascinating article this week called “Our Fix-It Faith and the Oil Spill” (read it at www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/weekinreview/30rosenthal.html).  Although the news coverage of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be pouring out as quickly as the oil itself, this story deserves your consideration nonetheless.  Basically the article is about our tendency to put our faith in technology and how this great spill affects that faith.  At one point the author states, “Americans have long had an unswerving belief that technology will save us – it is the cavalry coming over the hill, just as we are about to lose the battle.  And yet, as Americans watched scientists struggle to plug the undersea well over the past month, it became apparent that our great belief in technology was perhaps misplaced.”  Telling words…

Technology is amazing.  We encounter endless forms of it every day, making our lives easier and more productive.  I’m personally grateful for the medical technology that allowed doctors to repair my 2 yr old’s ill-performing kidney, for example.  And a lot of it is just plain cool.  But believing that technology will save us is just plain silly.

On Sunday mornings we’ve been in a discussion about a man who claims to be God.  We’ve been exploring the story of his early years (http://www.churchonmill.com/news_blog/?p=323) through the eyes of a medical doctor and expert historian named Luke.  As we continue this journey, Luke will recount many ways in which Jesus makes the ultimate claim – that he and he alone can save.

I wonder, where are you placing your trust?  Technology, education, looks, money, a job, a person…the list is endless.  But if Jesus is really who He claims to be and if He really did all Luke tells us He did, then Jesus and Jesus alone is the one who saves.

Technology is cool.  I’m grateful for it.  It saved my son’s kidney, but it certainly can’t save his soul.  Jill and I are praying Jesus will do that.

See you soon,
Chuck

As we discussed last Sunday morning at Church on Mill, Mary provides us with a great example of what it means to trust God and live for him no matter what the cost.  As a mere 12-14 year old girl, God gave her a monumental task — to be the mother of the Messiah.  This was a course-reversing, life-altering moment for Mary.  Her response?  ”I am the Lord’s servant; may it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Wow!

We face many of those crisis moments, though probably on a smaller scale, every day.  Will we be obedient to God, trust him, and obey, or will we do our own thing?  It’s sounds simplistic but in many ways it really is.  How we respond in the small everyday things has a compounding effect on every aspect of life.  Will we be people of simple faith or disobedience and disbelief?

I’m grateful that God is bigger than our disobedience and disbelief – I’ve certainly exhibited more than my fair share of it.  Just as God’s grace covered Zachariah, it covers all his kids.  But, like you I’m confident, I sure would rather go the way of faith.

As Sunday is quickly approaching, I’d ask you a few questions to help you prepare your heart for worship on Sunday:

1. What are you trusting God for that only he can deliver?

2. In what ways are you exhibiting the kind of faith-laden obedience Mary exhibits?

3. Where are you acting more like Zachariah?

4. How can we, as a church, serve one another on the journey of moving from disobedience/disbelief to utter trust/obedience?

I’m loving hearing God speak through Luke to all of us!

Chuck

P.S. – Go Suns!

As most of you know, we started an epic journey last Sunday morning.  Lord willing, we’ll spend quite a few Sundays going through the Gospel of Luke: Investigating the Man Who is God.  We started a new series we are calling The Early Years.  It should be a lot of fun.

To maximize your growth through this compelling journey, I’d encourage you to do a couple of things.

1.  Read Luke during the week.  You’ll come much better prepared to worship and you’ll get more out of the sermons if you are familiar with the material being covered.  For the next six weeks all you need to do is familiarize yourself with Luke 1-2.  Everyone can give 10 minutes a day to this.

2.  Take the time to pray through the implications of what we talk about.  As someone who devotes hours a week in sermon preparation, I know most of what I say you’ll forget; however, look for that diamond in the rough each week…that special message from God to you personally.  As we explore Jesus Christ, make it your personal quest to come in contact with him through what we study.  You’ll be changed in the process!

3.  Consider getting together with a few other COM folks to discuss questions you have, ideas you are chewing on, and even things you may disagree with.  Part of being the church is entering into dialogue on important things.  What could be more important than sharing Luke’s discovery with some friends?  You could do this at breakfast, over lunch, in the evening in a coffee shop or somewhere on Mill Ave., or gather in a home and really fellowship. For this week (Lk 1:1-4), here are a few questions to consider:

a. What implications and applications exist for the manner in which Luke went about getting his information and writing his Gospel?

b. What does it mean to have certainty about Jesus Christ and the Truth?

c. Like Theophilus, in what areas are you lacking certainty when it comes to spiritual things?

d. If you are not yet a follower of Jesus or you are but are having significant doubts, what questions do you hope Luke will answer?

e. What compels you to share Jesus with others?

I can’t encourage you enough to get together & explore what we talk about.  You’ll be so encouraged if you do so.

Looking forward to this journey with you,

Chuck

Yesterday morning we heard from 4 terrific people about how God used churches and individuals to bring them to salvation.  I was thrilled to hear the accounts of all the varied ways God worked in peoples’ lives.  If you are like me, much of your spiritual journey is owed to someone else.  We also heard a great challenge from another Church on Mill member about the importance of living out our faith and sharing Jesus in the context of a real relationship.

I hope God’s Word and the stories of real people touched your hearts.  I hope Jesus’ compassion for the lost reminded you of when he reached down and brought you out of the mess you’d made of your life.  And oh how I hope you were compelled, as I was by God’s grace, to be someone who both lives and shares the Gospel.

But that was Sunday. Today is Monday. How do we live it on Monday?  Let me make two broad suggestions:

1.  Build missional living into your daily life.

If living like Jesus and talking about him doesn’t just become part of daily life, evangelism will always be some unmarked task on the back of your to do list.  It might provoke guilt sometimes, but nothing more.  Instead, let me challenge you to consider how you can adjust your life today (or how you can just think differently about what you are already doing).  How can you live in such a way that people will see Jesus today?  What can you do to be around people who need Jesus?  Here are some great suggestions I saw on another blog.

• Eat with non-Christians
• Walk and actually stop to talk with some of the people you pass
• Be a regular (at the same grocery store, gas station, coffee shop, gym, etc)
• Hobby with non-Christians
• Talk to your co-workers and classmates
• Participate in city activities
• Serve your neighbors – notice what they are doing and offer to help
• Get on board with Church on Mill mission events that come along
• Pray for those you know who are not Christians

Of course my point isn’t to do all of this today!  Just look for ways to build these kinds of things into your lifestyle and you’ll find opportunities abound.

2.  Be prepared to verbally share the Gospel.

People are hard-wired to enjoy stories.  You have a story – the story of how God has changed your life. Be prepared to share it!  I’m not talking about a canned speech, but a heart-felt recounting of what God did and is doing for you.  As you share, sprinkle in one of the two classic approaches to sharing the Gospel.

• God, People, Christ, Response – God is perfect and made everything, People are made in his image but rebelled and now live in sin, Christ came to deliver us and be the sacrifice for us, We can know God if we’ll respond with faith and repentance.

• Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation – God made the world perfect, People rebelled and there has been pain and chaos ever since, Jesus came as the redeemer and he’ll change your life if you turn to him, God is going to put everything together just exactly how he wants it — his children, his world, his universe.

I can’t wait to hear the stories of how God uses you!

Chuck

One thing I’ve already grown to love about Arizona is the plethora of things to do outside.  There’s no shortage of activities to pass the time and keep the body fit.  So many people are conscientious about their health here.  Even today in the rain I saw multiple people riding their bikes. Needless to say, this is a change from where I used to live.  The only sports in Oklahoma are eating and watching football…but don’t tell anyone I said that please.

Everywhere we turn, people tell us how to keep our bodies healthy.  From going to the gym, to eating the right kinds of foods, to supplements, to avoiding stress, there’s lots of advice on how to keep the body going strong.  Physical fitness is certainly important and I’m glad to be raising my kids in a place that cares about it.  But there are other things that need to be healthy too.  In the words of the Apostle Paul, “…bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim 4:8).

Church health is certainly an issue we ought to have on our radar.  Just like our bodies can get sick, injured, and die or can be pushed to grow strong and healthy, churches face similar plights.  On Sundays we are exploring what it means to be the church Jesus intends for us to be…a place of vibrant health where God is glorified, followers of Jesus are growing, and the world is being impacted with the truth of the Gospel.  Last Sunday we looked at a terrific story Jesus told about a man who was forgiven a huge debt but who wouldn’t forgive the small debt of a peer.  In a powerful way it teaches us that the insurmountable grace given to us by God comes with the responsibility to extend love, mercy, and grace to others.  The local church is to be a display of the Gospel.  I believe we are growing in this way at Church on Mill and I’m terribly excited about it!  No church is perfect, but God seems to be doing some great things among us right now.

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind as we walk through this series of messages on the church.  You can post comments here on the blog, email me directly, or look me up on Facebook.  Also, if you’d like to do some reading on this topic, a short but very helpful book on what it means to be a biblical church is Mark Dever’s What is a Healthy Church?  

Praying Jesus makes us more and more healthy!

-Chuck

We’ve spent the last five Sundays talking about the cross in our worship services.  Our LifeGroups are doing a study on the cross.  We’ve said that one of our priorities as a church is to be cross-centered.  Are we talking about the cross too much?

I remember thinking early in my Christian walk that I had heard the story of the cross and was ready to move on to ‘deeper things.’  Oh man was I wrong!  I now believe, if done correctly, we can never talk too much about the cross.  All of existence is about Jesus and it’s at the cross that we see the blazing center of who Jesus is, what he came to do, and what was accomplished.  Chris Tomlinson posted something about this very thing recently.  I thought you would be blessed by it:

At the cross…

…We see God’s sovereignty—reigning with absolute control over humanity’s greatest sin.

…We see God’s purpose—making known the mystery of His will prepared before time.

…We see God’s plan—to unite all things, on heaven and on earth, in Him.

…We see God’s judgment—requiring recompense for guilt.

…We see God’s holiness—demanding the perfect sacrifice.

…We see God’s power—crushing the Son of God according to the purpose of His will.

…We see God’s wrath—punishing the wretchedness of sin.

…We see God’s sorrow—wailing as only a forsaken son can.

…We see God’s mystery—the Son, as God, separated from the Father, committing His Spirit to God.

…We see God’s compassion—pleading to the Father to forgive the ignorant.

…We see God’s gift—His one and only Son, bruised and broken on our behalf.

…We see God’s mercy—making unrighteous sinners righteous.

…We see God’s love—Christ dying for sinners.

…We see God’s rescue operation—delivering us from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of His Son.

…We see God’s proposal—pledging Himself to His bride forever.

…We see God’s revelation—the Word of God speaking His last so He might speak on behalf of many.

…We see God’s victory—disarming His enemies, putting them to shame, and triumphing over them.

…We see God’s glory—the name of the Father being magnified for the sake of all peoples.

Friends, the aim of life is to make much of God.  To do that, we must constantly be grateful for the cross and all the ramifications of Jesus’ sacrifice there.  I hope you are appreciating him more and more as we walk this journey together.  This coming Sunday, we will be exploring how bitterness and unforgiveness pull us away from the cross.  It’s a message you won’t want to miss.  I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Also, if you would like more information on how to get involved at Church on Mill, how to join the church, what our priorities are as a communinty of Jesus-followers, and what opportunities exist for you to make a difference, please join me at 9:30am this Sunday in the worship center.  We’ll spend 1 hour walking through some material that could be very beneficial.  Hope you can make it!

Thankful for the cross,

Chuck

On Sunday we explored yet another tendency that pulls people away from living the wonderful life where Jesus is at the very center of life: legalism.  Legalism is when we slip into thinking what we do makes us or keeps us right with God.  The legalist views God as someone who expects us to earn right-standing before him.  If we are just “good-enough” then he’ll quit being mad at us and instead will shower kindness.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Our best actions can’t change the reality of our inward sinfulness that must be removed by accepting Jesus’ death in our place.

Basically this whole issue of legalism is an attitude towards sin.  The attitude views sin as something that can be overcome with correct behavior.  But there’s another side to this coin.  There’s another attitude towards sin that is equally destructive: license.  Some followers of Jesus are not legalists at all; instead, they see sin as essentially no big deal.  We might put it this way: If I can’t earn my salvation – it is just given to me by God – and if it is a permanent gift irrespective of my actions, then it doesn’t matter what I do…I’ll pray the sinner’s prayer, get my ’skip hell, go straight to heaven’ card, and then go on living however I want.  Of course we don’t verbalize it this way, but if you look at your life, do your actions show you approach life like this?

This problem is not new.  It happened in ancient Rome.  Paul wrote Romans, in part, to address this very issue.  Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin continue to live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2). In other words, how in the world could a Christian keep on living like they used to live when she’s been set free from it?

Friends, if you want to live the abundant life Jesus promised you, you must not fall into the terrible traps of legalism or license.  Instead, tow the middle line.  Take your on-going battle with sin seriously.  When you sin, repent quickly.  Thank Jesus for dying to pay the penalty for that sin.  Allow yourself to grieve for that.  If the situation fits, get accountability from a fellow Christian.  Correct the wrong if possible.  Seek forgiveness from others.  Put boundaries in place to so your chances of falling again lessen.  And then move on.  Don’t dwell in it.  Confession of sin is a door to walk through, not a room to live in.  God’s forgiveness is supernatural.  Enjoy it!

Grateful,

Chuck

Yesterday we explored one of my favorite topics – what happens when someone becomes a Christian.  We analyzed specifically what God does with the guilt and condemnation hanging over our necks.  If you were there, you’ll recall that God takes our guilt, sin, and condemnation and puts it on Christ; therefore, Christ’s death satisfies God’s justice.  This means believers are wrath-free and condemnation free!  Praise God.  He takes off our enslavement.

But what does he put on us?  What are we wearing?  Unfortunately we did not have time to go into that.  If you want to sound really smart, go tell a fellow believer he or she is wearing ‘imputed righteousness.’  No, that’s not a new line of clothing.  It’s something far greater.  When God takes off the filth, guilt, and condemnation covering us as non-believers, he doesn’t leave us naked (praise God!).  He clothes us in the most brilliant outfit there is — Jesus Christ.  The right standing, the perfection, the glory of Jesus Christ is put on us.  Just like Adam’s sin is passed on to us as babies, Christ’s lack of anything unholy is placed on us when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

This is precisely why when you and I sin as believers we are not declared condemned and bound for hell again.  When God looks at you, friend, he sees the right standing and perfection of his Son.  He loves you and accepts you as He does His Son.

What are you wearing?  If you are a Jesus-follower, you are wearing the right-standing and moral perfection of Jesus.  You might not feel like it today, but that’s the truth.  You might not be acting like it today, but that’s the truth.  You might doubt it today, but that’s the truth.  So let your knees hit the floor, praise God for this gift, and then – by relying on the Holy Spirit – enjoy it and live like it!

Thanking God,

Chuck