Organic

Natural.  Whole. Unrefined. Unprocessed. Pure.  Raw.  All of these are adjectives similar to “organic.”

When we use the word “organic” most of us think about foods.  There are so many unnatural, processed, man-made chemicals that are added to the foods we ingest on a daily basis.  My wife even claims she can taste the chemicals in some foods.  Given the choice between chemically enhanced, processed, refined foods that our bodies were never meant to digest and all-natural, unprocessed, pure foods; out of concern for our health and well-being I would like to believe that we would choose the latter and not the former.

What happens though is the organic foods are sometimes difficult to find, often cost us more, and require time and effort on our part to prepare.  Whereas the processed foods are readily available, quickly and easily prepared (often prepared for us) and are very, very convenient.  So we tend to sacrifice what is better for our health to save time and money.  We sacrifice what we are meant to have for what is most convenient.

I believe this is true for us when it comes to our relationship with God and His church.  We were created to have an intimate relationship with our Creator and fellowship with other believers.  This can take on various forms and may not look the same everywhere you go, but I believe that it should be natural, pure, unrefined and raw.  This means it can get messy.  It can be difficult.  Our hands – and our knees – should get dirty.  Repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, prayer – alone and with one another – giving to each other as we have need, getting rid of what we don’t need – both physically and spiritually – denying ourselves, gathering in each other’s homes;  I believe all of this is what God intended for our relationship with Him and fellowship with one another to look like.  Keep in mind that Jesus allowed himself to be murdered to make this relationship and fellowship possible and for those who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, this is what is supposed to happen naturally when we gather together.  But, like organic foods, this organic church fellowship and relationship with Christ is sometimes difficult to find, often costs us more, and requires time and effort on our part to prepare.

So, what’s the opposite of “organic” look like?  Neat, easy, comfortable, and convenient.  Our faith and relationship with Jesus should cause growth to take place and growth is never, ever comfortable, convenient, or easy.  Our relationship with other believers requires forgiveness to take place; to work through problems together; to help encourage growth and to call each other out when one of us are wrong.  Our faith walk is not limited to an hour and a half service on Sunday.  I just don’t believe that Jesus suffered and died so we could gather one day a week, hear four songs, some announcements, and a 30-minute pep talk, then leave. That cannot be all there is to Christian fellowship and following Jesus. That’s something we’ve made.  That’s something we’ve created. That’s something we want because it’s cozy, comfortable, and convenient; and we can still call ourselves Christians and still believe we’re going to heaven with little to no regard for the life we live now. Don’t mistake convenience and comfort for being what is best for us.

Nothing worth having has come from convenience, but rather sacrifice. The sacrifice our Savior made was not comfortable, convenient, or easy.  But, He did it anyway.  He did it because he was being obedient to what His father knew was best.  He knew the sacrifice would be worth the pain.  We have to believe He is worth it.  We must be obedient to The Father and sometimes obedience means the sacrifice of convenience and our own desires for our life now, so we can have the life HE wants for us; not just for our life today, but for eternity.

I Need A Doctor

So, here goes my first blog since my family and I have planted Remedy Church, a missional community focused on gathering together, growing together, and serving together in Collinsville, IL. in an effort to see peoples’ lives changed by the power of the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  

There's plenty I could write about because we have had a lot going on: new jobs, new house, new school, and activities. Instead, I want to share something with you though that EVERYONE can relate to … PAIN.

I am a bi-vocational pastor.  What this means is that I have a regular job in addition to my pastoral duties.  I am a laborer in construction, which means I do labor-intensive work at construction sites.  Well, I recently had an accident while on the job that landed me on light-duty and in physical therapy three times a week.  I won’t go into the details of the injury because that’s not what’s important.  What I am going to talk about though, is what I’ve learned through this rehabilitation process.

For the past four weeks I’ve been going to physical therapy to do stretches, exercises, and ice and heat treatments.  So far, my experience has taught me that physical therapy is not easy.  For me and the other patients in the office, healing requires us to do things that are uncomfortable, things that may cause us even more pain, and things that we don’t necessarily want to do.  All of the actions that are required of us seem to go against everything we think we should be doing; but I know I’ve heard the doctor say to more than one person that if we don’t do these treatments, we will stay in the same condition we are currently in, or end up even worse.

This leads me to something else I’ve noticed since doing physical therapy – the other patients.  I tend to keep the same schedule each week, so I’ve been there each time, with some of the same people.  We’ve gotten to know each other by asking questions about our injuries, how they happened, and how each of us has been doing.  You get to know one another in a way, and there is this encouragement and camaraderie that begins to take shape among the patients.  We celebrate each other’s victories, and encourage each other when we’re not doing very well.

Here’s the point.  There isn’t a single soul on this earth who isn’t broken.  The darkest parts of human beings’ hearts need to be healed from the wrong we’ve done and the wrong that has been done to us.  Often, those things we need to do so we can be healed are uncomfortable things - things that will probably cause more pain in the process.  I’m talking about things like admitting our wrong and asking for forgiveness, forgiving others for what they have done, and setting aside our wants for others’ needs. 

The truth is, we cannot fix ourselves.  Like all of the patients that have gone to see Doctor Ben for physical therapy, without him guiding us in the right direction we would end up staying in the same condition or even worse.  We all need a Dr. Ben. Instead of trying to heal ourselves by doing good deeds or finding our identity in people, possessions, talents, our jobs and such, that are nothing more than crutches,  we need to realize that we cannot heal ourselves.  We cannot save ourselves.  We all need a savior.  We all need Jesus.

In this physical therapy office, nobody is pretending to be okay.  What a picture of what the church should be!  We all know that we are there because we are injured and not one person is trying to hide it.  Instead we talk to each other about what we have done or what has happened to us.  We are all taking steps toward healing and encouraging one another along the way.  We are all trusting that what the Doctor is telling us to do is for our good.  This is how I envision the church.  A group of broken people, being put back together by the great physician, Jesus Christ, and encouraging each other through the uncomfortable, sometimes painful journey of becoming more and more like Jesus, and inviting other broken people to put their trust in Him too.

If you recognize your own brokenness, if you know you’re not being who you were created to be and doing what you were created to do, if you’re tired of trying to “make it” in your own power, there is hope.  Jesus said, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest”.  He’s inviting us to lay down the burdens we were never meant to carry and rely on Him.  Jesus still calls people out of darkness and into the light for our good and His glory.  Put your trust in Him.