Tuesdays with Morris

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-11)

This week, I started reading 2 Peter…Having just finished 1 Peter, it seemed like a pretty logical next step. Anyway, the whole issue of self-control was something that really hit me in reading 1 Peter. So, this morning, as I turned to 2 Peter, I was once again reminded of our call to be self-controlled.

I included the above passage because it has some really important things for us to consider and put into practice in our daily lives. If we have faith, there are things we are to “add” to it. It kind of sounds like Peter is putting together a recipe. I love to cook, so that’s where my mind goes when he talks about adding stuff. Anyway, to our faith, we are to add “goodness”, “knowledge”, “self-control”, “perseverance”, “godliness”, “kindness”, and “love”.

So, I wonder what our lives would look like if we made a consistent conscience effort to add these things (goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love) to our faith? And, I think we have to add all of the ingredients. When you make cookies, if you leave out an ingredient your cookies are incomplete and will probably not taste quite right. That’s how it is with our faith…If were missing one of these ingredients…our faith might just be a bit imbalanced. You know, I’ve met a lot of Christians that have a lot of knowledge, but they totally lack kindness and love. So, it’s sort of like chocolate-chip cookies with out the chocolate-chips…a bit disappointing.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’m going to do all I can to add these things to my faith…It will be a little experiment…I wonder what the results will be?

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

If you had to define what it means to be “self-controlled”, what would your answer be?

I believe this issue of self-control is one that needs to be brought to our attention…especially in these “United States” (I think “united” states is like the “united” methodist church…for things that are supposed to be “united” there seems to be a lot of division…anyway, that’s another post).

As I look around…not just in the media, but even just around me here in little Muncie, IN…I see such a great need for self-control. Many think self-control has to do with sex, drugs, rock n’ roll…all of the apparent evils that dwell among us. I think self-control has a lot to do with our consumeristic mentality…our selfish drive for bigger, better, more expensive. I mean, let’s face it, the average family size in the US is actually declining while the average amount of square feet in homes is increasing. Does a family of three really need a 3-5,000 sq. ft. home? Probably not, but if we’re trying to live out the American dream and keep up with the Joneses the answer may be yes.

I think this comes to mind when I think about self-control because it’s so tricky. It’s not bad to have nice things. Yet, sometimes having nice things and the pursuit of nice things gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus, the church, our family and friends. Some are able to balance this, but many are not.

What do we devote the majority of our time to? Some of us probably have some great answers…but even the “good” things can be bad and in need to self-control if they interfere with our relationship with Christ.

Right now, I’m extremely disappointed in how many families miss church because their kids have a baseball game during church. Is baseball, soccer, volleyball, cheerleading, dance, etc more important than church? Emily and I were talking about how we want to just sort of take a stand if our children are involved in sports. When it comes to Sunday’s…that’s church and family day. Yeah, it may have an effect on our child’s play time. But, at some point someone has to take a stand. Otherwise, these organziations will continue to monopolize our families time.

What draws us away from spending time with Christ, His church, and our families? How can practicing self-control help this situation?

Okay, so I’m going through this process to be licensed as a local pastor in the United Methodist Church. Basically, that means I’ll be able to perform weddings, serve communion, baptize people, and potentially receive an appointment to a local church as “the” pastor. Now, some of you may be saying, “Uh, Jason, you can do all that stuff without getting licensed in the UMC.” Some of you that know me well may be saying, “uh, Jason, you’ve done some of that stuff without being licensed.” While all of that is true, I do feel that God has called me to serve the United Methodist Church. Why? Because I love the church. The UMC has played a major role in shaping who I am as a Christian. And, I believe that I can help bring some relevance and some much needed change to the UMC.

Having said that, I’m struggling with saying just that…It’s odd…I’ve been asked to write out what I think my future usefulness to the UMC will be. It’s sort of a “pat yourself on the back and say amen” kind of thing. I think I’ll be useful because I’m a little more with the times and culture than the majority of UMC pastors. I think I’ll be useful because I see change that needs to take place and believe I can help bring it about. I think I’ll be useful because I have some insights on worship, preaching, and music that are maybe a little more fresh than what’s happening in the typical UM church.

But, how do you say that about yourself to a bunch of pastors that your basically talking about???

Have any of you had to “sell yourself”? It just seems weird. I guess I’d much rather put together a video that has some of the worship experiences I’ve designed, some of my preaching, some of my music, and so on. Oh well, I better get back to writing about why I’ll be such an asset to the UMC.

This morning, I was reading 1 Peter 3. One verse that really stuck out to me was 15. It says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

Why did this verse strike a chord with me? Well, because I’ve realized that people have a tendency to ask the infamous question “why”. And, it doesn’t matter what the subject matter, the “why” question will come up in all circles on a very frequent basis. “Why do you listen to that music”, “Why do you go to Starbucks”, “Why do you eat granola”, “Why are you a dirty hippie”, “Why did you do that”, “Why didn’t you do that”, “Why did you vote for __________”. And the list could go on and on…

But, here in 1 Peter 3:15 were told, as if we’re all Boy Scouts, to be prepared. And the state of preparedness (is that even a word?) is to be a constant thing…not just on Sunday mornings or at Bible study, and so on. But, we are to always be prepared to give an answer to anyone that asks us “why”. And, in addition to being prepared, we’re told to do this with “gentleness and respect.” (on a side note, my guess is that many of the street preachers, funeral protesters, abortion clinic bombers and their buddies like to overlook the whole “gentleness and respect” bit…which, I guess in my little rants about them, I like to ignore those too).

So, this leads me to the question “why”.

- If you’re a Christian, why do you believe?
- If you’re not a Christian, why don’t you believe?
- If you go to church, why do you go to church?
- If you don’t go to church, why not?
- If you pray, why?
- If you don’t pray, why not?

To be honest, I think I’m more interested in the “why not” questions. I’m pretty interested to know why people don’t believe, why they don’t go to church, why they don’t pray.

Anyway, that’s what went through my head while reading 1 Peter 3 this morning (side note- for those of you that attend Center Chapel, 1 Peter 3 was our reading assignment this week).

Well, this morning I came across a video clip from Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes. Now, I’m no fan of Fox News or Hannity & Colmes…But, this interview helps bring light to how some Christians totally misrepresent the message of Christ. As you know, I’m absolutely disgusted by the Kansas church that’s been going around protesting soldiers funerals. I hope that most people that saw this realize that this small cult does not represent Christianity as a whole. This interview totally disturbs me.

As seen on Break.com