Obedience > Sacrifice

I've never been one to diet. I guess I just always felt I had better things to do than think about what I'm putting into my body, which is admittedly a terrible mentality to have. Just because I didn't think about it didn't mean I wasn't eating the consequences... see what I did there. And I ate terribly in my bachelor days; the Pre-Ellen Era if you will (P.E.E.? ... bathroom humor this early in a blog can't be a good sign). 

Have you ever heard of a delightful entrée called the Rib-R-Que? This exquisite dish comes to us from the distant aisles of Kwik Trip, sealed in a lovely plastic bag for your microwaving enjoyment. Reminded me of middle school cafeteria lunch. I don't think it qualifies for any of the food groups though. It may be more closely related in chemical make-up to that of plastic. Perhaps better suited for the table of elements than the table of dining. The lovely Rib-R-Que. Yeah, that was my go-to meal at around midnight those days, which was when I would normally realize "hey, I didn't eat supper".

I'm pretty sure I would have turned into a Rib-R-Que if I had kept that up any longer. It is easier to manage your eating habits up front than to try to work it off later when it's a problem, am i right? I hear people say all the time "Man, I'm going to pay for this later" as they chomp into a big ole double-fudge brownie or "This is going to go straight to my thighs". A little self-control up front could save us some effort in the long run.

I should note that I am a fairly healthy guy thanks to my wife who is smart about these things. I am still really not the most qualified to be talking about dieting though so I'm going to take a sharp turn into something I do know about.

"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice"

1 Samuel 15:22

This verse comes to us from the great old testament prophet Samuel in a hard-hitting message delivered to Saul, the reigning King of Israel in that day. Earlier in the chapter Samuel had relayed some very specific instructions from God to Saul on how he was supposed to "utterly destroy" the Amalekites, a group of people who had ambushed Israel during the Exodus from Egypt. Well, Saul took some liberties when it came time for the attack and spared the Amalekite King and some of his livestock. In other words, not-so-utter destruction. Saul then began sacrificing some of those livestock, thus why Samuel's message carried such a punch.

The sacrifice in itself was not a bad thing. In fact, it was a requirement God laid out in the old testament to atone for sin, but it wasn't what God was asking for in this situation. He wanted obedience more than he wanted a sacrifice. It's better to obey now, than to sacrifice later. Just like eating. And especially like traffic laws.

I get this concept as a dad. I'm asking my kids to do stuff all the time. "Pick up your toys.", "Stop slapping your sister.", "Put on some pants." Do they always listen? [insert crazed parent look] No. No they don't. But they sure wish they had when I up the ante. "Okay we'll trade jobs. I'll pick up your toys and you can change Asher's dirty diaper. Remember it was taco night last night."

I think the fact that this principle is in the Old Testament is so cool. Because the Old Testament is all about the rules - the Ten Commandments, Leviticus, all kinds of rituals, a bunch of judges, and so on - but it's like God was giving us a preview of the New Covenant Jesus would bring. Jesus does away with the law of sacrifices altogether and becomes the ultimate and final sacrifice in exchange for our obedient, repentant hearts.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled."

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

God can do amazing things with a little obedience. In the verse above Paul talks about obedience in the context of the imagery of weaponry and warfare. When you make the right choice in line with God's will, you're literally advancing the Kingdom of God in your area of influence. Your taking ground for the good guys and squashing the lies and darkness in the process. Your seemingly small act of obedience can turn into blessings upon blessings for generations to come.

Area of Influence

Greetings my beloved blog readers!

Many moons have passed since my last entry in the bloggosphere. Some of you may have grown a formidable beard by now or mastered a new trade. I have personally been fine-tuning my metaphoric circus act of juggling while spinning plates. That is to say my life as I know it has become one big multitask. Included on the Kyle Hopson to-do list in no particular order is "maintain a budding career", "happy wife, happy life", "sell house", "co-lead Freedom Church", "change diapers", and "pray to God for help with all of the above". With that said though - and as I take a step back - the phrase "living the dream" has never felt more applicable. Sure, the smorgasbord of responsibilities gets a bit much at times but there is nothing on that list I don't want to be doing right now. As my wife regularly reminds me, "There is enough grace to get done what you need to today". Five years ago I would have never imagined I would be where I am now, and that's pretty cool.

I still haven't quite wrapped my head around what an honor it is to be able to preach consistently at Freedom Church. To have the opportunity to impart that which has been imparted to me is quite possibly one of the most fulfilling feelings I have ever experienced. Along with that though, a lot of my creative energy has been directed at developing messages and, in turn, not at writing blogs as often as I would like. Nonetheless, my brilliant, ravishing, and endlessly wise wife suggested "why don't you blog about your messages?"... Endlessly wise I tell you! Blog about my messages I shall!

For about the past month or so we've been doing a series on our Mission, Strategy, and Values (found here) as a church, which are:

MISSION
Training a community of transformed disciples who impact their area of influence for the Kingdom of God.


STRATEGY
Encountering God. Empowering People.


WE VALUE...

• An authentic relationship with an alive God
• Prayer and worship as central to spiritual growth and breakthrough
• Exercising spiritual gifts for the purpose of building up
• Healthy community and families with balanced life priorities

Each week we've broken down a portion of the Mission statement thus far and two weeks ago I spoke about “Area of Influence”.  If you look at the Mission statement, we could have just as easily replaced that phrase with the word “world” and it would have been just as, if not more, bold than it is but we didn't. Why? Because we just happen to know the secret to taking over changing the world.

Humor me for a moment and read through this excerpt from Malcom Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point (p. 176).

“Take a minute, for example, to make a list of all the people you know whose death would leave you truly devastated.  Chances are you will come up with around 12 names.  That, at least, is the average answer that most people give to that question.  Those names make up what psychologists call our sympathy group.  Why aren’t groups any larger?  Partly it’s a question of time.  If you look at the names on your sympathy list, they are probably the people whom you devote the most attention to – either on the telephone, in person, or thinking and worrying about.  If your list was twice as long, if it had 30 names on it, and, as a result, you spent only half as much time with everyone on it, would you still be as close to everyone?  Probably not.  To be someone’s best friend requires a minimum investment of time.  More than that, though, it takes emotional energy.  Caring about someone deeply is exhausting.  At a certain point, at somewhere between 10 and 15 people, we begin to overload, just as we begin to overload when we have to distinguish between too many tones. It’s a function of the way humans are constructed.”

When I first read that, my mind started racing. Something about that number 12 stuck out to me. Then it clicked. Jesus had 12 disciples.

Then more gears started turning. Jesus didn't change the world by establishing a local church, gradually gathering more and more people, executing a global missionary strategy, fund raising, and shaking hands on Sunday mornings… no, those things are all fine and good but they weren't the reason we read His very words today, why we bear the name of Christian, and why the church even exists in the first place. No, those things happened because of the disciples. Jesus changed the world through 12 disciples. They were Jesus’s sympathy group. His area of influence.

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” ~John 17:9

This is a passage from Jesus’s last interaction with the full group of 12 right before he is arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane. Two things stand out to me.

The first is the fact that He specifies who His prayer was for, “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me”. He wasn't praying some broad-stroked prayer that covered every man, woman, and child on the planet. No, he intentionally narrowed His prayer target down to the 12 disciples. I think He knew the road that was ahead of them and the cross they would have to take up in order walk it and chose to pray and prayer specifically to prepare them for the task.

The second thing that stands out to me is the phrase “those whom You have given Me”. Who has God given you? Who has God put in your path and entrusted you with?

I find it humbling, and at the same time invigorating, that someone’s breakthrough might depend on my prayer. What if your prayer is the one that dispatches the angel that delivers the miracle? Think about it the other way around too. What if your breakthrough depends on someone else’s prayer? Are you willing enough to cast aside your pride and ask for help?

If you have any desire within you to see the world around you improve and the people closest to you prosper, then steward your area of influence with great care. Maybe it’s time for your 12 to change because they are negatively influencing you.  Maybe you need to bring 3 of them even closer like Jesus did with Peter, James, and John. Whatever your unique situation is, those people are being impacted by who you are one way or another so know that you hold the potential to create meaningful, lasting change.

Dress for the Life you want

Perhaps you've heard the adage "dress for the job you want, not the job you have". The underlying concept at work here is faith. Faith that someday you won't be working the same job, but a better one, and by dressing for that job you don't yet have you're going public with the potential you see in yourself to get there. The bible says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) You're hoping for that promotion and planting the evidence that it's attainable.

But even more valuable than dressing differently on the outside, is the outfit you're wearing on the inside. If you're dressing like you're going to a black tie event on the outside but grubbing it up on the inside with a toxic attitude that sends even the most friendly people running, then that suit isn't getting you anywhere. The condition of your heart impacts the people around you a whole lot more than your outward appearance.

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ~Colossians 3:12

Those are the attributes of someone who is in control of their internal attire: mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. For some of us these might be last year's fashion, buried in the back of the closet, and it would take some deliberate digging to find them again. Or maybe these are garments that have never really been in your wardrobe. Either way, every morning we all decide to put on one outfit or another.

"But life isn't all ponies and daisies, Kyle."

You're totally right. Life isn't always fair and definitely has it's ups and downs. We're not in the Garden of Eden anymore, Toto, and sin makes this a treacherous landscape to navigate. But fret not and focus on controlling what you can control: you. You don’t need your situation to change in order to be happy; you need to be happy in order for your situation to change.

Too often we get the formula out of order. "If I only got this job, things would be easier.” or "I can't wait for that special someone to walk through my door". Why don’t you take steps now so that you're ready for then? Make tomorrow's "if only" today's "to do". Don’t justify your current actions as a byproduct of your temporary situation. That's textbook victim mentality. Stop waiting around for that dream job or perfect person to fall into your lap and start acting like that future version of yourself that seems so happy.

If I was writing a self-help blog I would stop there, but there are some internal hurdles that we simply can't get past solely on our own will power. There are times when we become so blinded by our own emotion and struggle that our only hope for tomorrow rests in the hands of God. He has the ability to carry us to places our mind wasn't able to go.

He reached down from heaven and rescued me; 
     He drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
     from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
     but the Lord supported me.
He led me to a place of safety;
     He rescued me because he delights in me.
~Psalm 18:16-19

God engineered us to be conquerors just like Jesus but part of that design was a dependence on Him. Our strength to persevere comes from the fact that we belong to Him.  We can be of good cheer knowing that Jesus overcame the world (John 16:33) and his Father's plans for us are for peace and hope, not demise (Jeremiah 29:11). And we can be certain, that if the good Lord has plans for you, following them will take you beyond your wildest dreams. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart ~Psalm 37:4

So let your attitude be one of confidence, faith, and thankfulness knowing that God is giver of the best gifts. He knows you better than you think He does and wants to bless His children just like a dad who shows favor to his good-natured kids. Dress your heart today in faith and expectation for the life God has for you.

Pray Attention

I've noticed something kind of humorous about us humans - at least the humans I've observed. Some of us are so decidedly and outwardly opposed to any sort of higher power having influence on our lives - whether it comes from some deep-rooted hurt from our upbringing, or we were burned by the church, or God failed us one too many times, or whatever the source of our spiritual apathy - and yet, when faced with a moment of sheer terror, loss, tragedy, life and death consequences, or even just being startled, the name that naturally comes out of our mouths is "Jesus".

In those moments, when we find ourselves completely helpless to change the cards we've suddenly been dealt and lost somewhere in the psychological stages grief, we instinctively resort to calling out to the heavens for aid. As if we've rifled through all the pages of our logic and reason built up over the years, found nothing of use, retreated to our subconscious attic in desperation and dusted off that last glimmer of faith that once rested on our nightstand. All of the sudden we're making bargains with God - pledging to change our ways, offering to give up some addiction or forgive that life-long grudge - if just this once He would come through.

I think we've grown so accustomed to having all the power to control our destinies that when the security blanket is yanked out from under us and everything we're clinging to is crumbling like dead leaves we have to come face to face with our utter inadequacy to deliver ourselves from the hands of fate. It is then that we finally decide to grasp for the Savior's hand that's been extended all along.

That's what I find humorous about humans. Underneath all of personalities and opinions - at the core of a person's being - is someone crying out for a savior just as much as me. It's just a matter of what it takes for that desire to come out. This helps me make so much more sense of verses like this...

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. ~Romans 1:20

The question I pose then is: what if prayer switched from being our last resort to our first resort?  What if prayer became our natural reaction to any kind of conflict or problem?

I'll tell you one thing, we would have a lot better perspective. Prayer gets you out of just thinking about yourself and gets you to see things through heaven's eyes, which is a pretty amazing vantage point from which to view life. Even when you're stuck in the valley, that perspective can help you see things for what they are and suddenly the light at the end of the tunnel becomes the light in the tunnel.

I also think our breakthrough would come sooner. A healthy routine of prayer could help us avoid these situations getting to code red status or even prevent them altogether. Kind of like vehicle maintenance; keep up on your oil changes your vehicle will run more smoothly.

When Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land they wandered the desert for 40 years when that trek should have only taken days to get where they needed to go. 40 years for a trip that should have taken days!! I'm convinced they could have avoided those four decades of trials and tribulations had they prayed attention to what God was trying to teach them from the get-go. The frailty of their faith was holding them back from their promised land. I think that is the same for some of us.

See God is jealous for our hearts when we are placing our faith in anything but him. Like a good father, he will allow his kids to learn their lessons the hard way if the posture of their heart is bent on themselves. Just like grades and classes in school, you'll repeat the same life lesson over and over until you pass and only then will you be able to proceed into your future.

Pray attention to what God is trying to tell you today. Lean not on your own understanding, which is bound to lead you astray, but trust in Him with all your heart and allow him to set the course to your destiny.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
~Proverbs 3:5-6