The “Good News” that we’ve forgotten:
Here is the gospel of Jesus… as I understand it at this moment… and this is GOOD NEWS…

1. The world is a messed up place… (think zits, hip replacement surgery, Chernobyl, weeds in your lawn, etc…) we are imperfect people living in an imperfect place… However, that’s not how things started out to be… Man was created to be in perfect relationship with God & His creation…
2. Somewhere along the way, something went wrong… That something was Adam’s disobedience to God… The result was imperfect humanity and a break in the relationship of God and man…
3. To be united with God demands perfection - Holiness… This is why God gave his people the Law… and demanded they live by it… If they could not do so, death would be the result…
4. No person could live it out perfectly… Until Jesus came on the scene!!!
5. As the GOD-man – infinite in holiness, completely sinless, & perfectly righteous… Jesus lived perfection on behalf of all humanity… satisfying God’s demand for human perfection… for all people of all time…
6. As the GOD-man - Jesus absorbed all the sin of humanity … died on the cross while bearing it… satisfying the demand of God for death as a result of sin… for all people of all time…
7. As the GOD-man – Jesus overcame the ultimate result of sin – DEATH… He did this by rising from the grave 3 days after his crucifixion… This resurrection is the defining moment of Christianity… Believing this takes faith – since it’s not like people rise from the dead everyday… If the resurrection did not happen then all of Christianity is completely in vain – THE BIGGEST HOAX EVER!!!
8. During Jesus’ time on earth… and even after his ascention into heaven… people have been invited to be a part of His Kingdom… His kingdom on earth – The church… and His future kingdom – Heaven…
9. To be a part of the Kingdom (both present and future), we must acknowledge that our imperfection separates from a perfect God…
10. We must trust that the infinite nature of Jesus’ goodness and holiness was able to absorb the imperfection of all humanity of all time… He did this by dying on the cross…
11. We must repent from sin… and imitate the death of Jesus… How??? By dying to our human nature, fleshly desires, and sinful tendencies…
12. We must commit to living like Jesus…

AND, it’s GOOD NEWS to live like Jesus lived!!!
Don’t you agree??? Isn’t it the best possible way to live???

Jesus is way better than Barney…
Because living like Jesus means no longer being able to act like Barney… We cannot cover our eyes and ignore reality…. The gospel is loving our neighbors… The gospel is loving our enemies… The gospel is helping the sick and the poor… The gospel is sharing the message of the Kingdom…

THEOLOGY MUST BECOME ETHICS!!!
After all, James himself says – “Faith without works is dead”

Getting Very Specific:
Specifically, it got me thinking about Justice… or the lack thereof… For instance:
1. How is it that we can watch a late night infomercial about starving kids in Africa and not really care???
2. Or how can we ignore the hundreds of thousands of orphans in Africa because their parents die early due to AIDS…
3. Or how is it that I can walk by a homeless guy downtown immediately judging him as an alcoholic… meanwhile protecting the $20 in our pockets???
4. Or how is it that there are 4000 babies dying today from abortion and we just accept it as women’s rights???
5. Or how is it that a teenage girl in Uganda can be sold to a man for a few bucks as a sex slave and we just ignore and say we need to “fix things at home” first…
6. Or how is it that groups of young African boys can be abducted around age 12 and be forced to kill their friends… and we don’t even know about it…

The Point:
As Christians, we sometimes act as foolish as Barney… we must admit that we often ignore the reality of the above situations… How??? By simply avoiding them…

- Have you ever changed the channel because you didn’t want to feel guilty?
- Have you walked on the other side of the street to ignore the beggar?
- Have you ever been embarrassed of the protesters?
- Have you felt compelled to give to a mission organization, but then didn’t?
- Have you felt compelled to participate on a mission trip, but then didn’t?

Especially if we live in America, we ignore reality in order to feel OK…

But we’re not OK… I believe American Christianity owes the world a huge apology… Why??? Because we call ourselves Christians, (which means “little Christ”), and then intentionally ignore the basic messages of Jesus…

To be concluded tomorrow…

People Become Barney:
Consider this scenario – You have a baby boy… Like a good parent, you believe in feeding your child, so you do so… Now imagine being that little baby boy… You see mommy/daddy presenting you with your food day after day… The tasty daily delicacies always comes by means of this little shiny object – a spoon… So you grow to love seeing the spoon…

Now we have all watched little kids laugh hilariously when mom or dad do that little thing where they put the spoon in front of their kid’s face, then remove it quickly… Kind of teasing their child in a joking way… Hopefully you know what I’m describing…

The reason a little child laughs so hard is because they really believe that the spoon is appearing and disappearing… Their mental capacity actually makes them think that the spoon exists when they can see it… but when they can’t see it, they no longer believe it exists… Kind of like Barney…

Mental Maturity/Immaturity allows you to discern truth from lies…

Getting a Little more Personal:

In the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the author goes to great lengths to talk about the basics of making money… It’s a great read… very helpful to me while I was in my early 20’s… One thing I’ll always remember is one little section that talked about how people will start to believe HUGE lies in the hopes of making lots of $$$… This is why people often fall for scams and such… because of the HOPE of making lots of $$$…

They start to revert back to mental immaturity in hopes of getting something they really want!!!

Or stated another way – we ignore reality in order to better ourselves…

Tying It All In:All this talk of Barney, spoons, and money scams got me thinking…

It got me thinking that I am Barney…
I am the kid who thought the spoon disappeared…
I am the adult who got suckered into a money scam…

I AM THE ONE WHO HAS IMMATURELY IGNORED REALITY

More to come tomorrow…

Barney Want a Numma???

Facts:
Barney = my friend Tom Jones’ dog… not the purple kiddy dinasaur
Numma = doggy treat

Quick Background:
When I was growing up, my best friend was Tom Jones… He was middle class… loved sports… involved in my church… etc… and we had a lot in common… But one of the coolest things about Tom Jones was his dog named Barney… sometimes we actually called the dog “Barndles” because like all things you grow fond of, you tend to give it a nickname… and since Tom’s family was from the South, we chose the nickname “Barndles” for the dog… Sounds fairly Southern, right???

Barndles was a Beagle… fat and old… and pretty much moved slow all the time… EXCEPT when offered food… So, my best friend Tom coined this little phrase “Barney want a Numma???”… It was like magic… all you needed to do was say those words, and the old dog starting sprinting like Jackie Joyner Kearsey toward whoever was offering him the tasty treat… Perfect for getting the dog to come indoors when nothing else would bring in the rebellious runaway…

We loved Barney!!!

Disclaimer:
The only purpose of the above information was to introduce you to Barney – who’s doggy antics will be used to introduce my real point… and to add a little bit of humor to your day…

Barney Becomes Invisible:
One thing about Barney that always made me laugh was this – whenever he did something bad - like poop on the floor, or puke on the carpet, or chew on the couch end – Tom and his family members would verbally scold him… OK, it wasn’t the scolding that made me laugh… or the chewing, or puking or pooping (although they were slightly funny)… Rather it was Barney’s reaction to the scolding… He would always retreat to his little doggy bed… lie down… and intentionally cover his eyes with his paws… Tom told me that Barney had a reason for habitually doing this – it was because Barney believed that if he couldn’t see you, then you couldn’t see him… and that was his way of avoiding the issue at hand…

More to come tomorrow…