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In terms of making a difference, we tend to think of going to the power-players for help.

People in high places…

Politicians. Wealthy business owners. Celebrities. You know—important, recognized, respected people.

In the story of Israel crossing over from the desert-side of the Jordan river into the new territory God had for them, a key figure emerged… someone who provided them with crucial information, someone who became an important ally and friend.

Who was this someone?

It was a harlot, a prostitute—a woman named Rahab.

For Israel, this woman of low standing became the key to the city.

I think there is a valuable lesson here for us: we need friends in low places.

Our church won’t make a difference by chasing after politicians, wealthy business owners and celebrities.

We need to reach out to to those with poor reputations.

The Dream Center in Los Angeles, led by Pastor Matthew Barnett, is a shining example of this principle.

They reach out to the hurting, the poor, the pimps and prostitutes, addicts and gang bangers.

Here are some quotes from Pastor Matthew Barnett:

“If We worship the God of the second chance, we must be people of the second chance.”

“When God sees someone help a homeless person, I believe he does a touchdown dance in heaven.”

“Getting ready to take 150 men and women in our recovery program to go see TRON. These peeps are the best!”

“We don’t need more spiritual leaders—we need more spiritual janitors, picking up broken pieces and telling people they can dream again.”

“The moment you help someone in need, you just snuggled up to Jesus a little closer.”

Follow Pastor Matthew on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/matthewbarnett

Read about the Dream Center: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Center

Generally, we think of middle-class as a safe (or even desirable) place to be.

However, this isn’t always true. Spiritually, it’s more desirable to be poor, bankrupt, at the end of your rope.

Remember what Jesus said?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” —Matthew 5.3 (NKJV)

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (NLT)

“They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.” (NCV)

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” (MSG)

God’s blessing comes to those who acknowledge their spiritual bankruptcy.

When we see how deep our debt is before God and have no ability to redeem ourselves… that’s when grace flows.

Salvation is God’s extravagant gift to us. It’s free, but it cost Him so much.

Poor in spirit? That’s the place to be. You’re blessed.

What if you aren’t poor in spirit?

This would mean you don’t see yourself as so bad, sinful, morally bankrupt and lost that only grace can save you.

You would be “middle-class in spirit.”

You would believe that you’ve earned your standing with God and blessings from him.

You would believe that your success and wealth are due to your own hard work, talents and abilities.

Quoting Timothy Keller from his book Generous Justice:

“My experience as a pastor has been that those who are middle-class in spirit tend to be indifferent to the poor, but people who come to grasp the gospel of grace and become spiritually poor find their hearts gravitating toward the materially poor.

To the degree that the gospel shapes your self-image, you will identify with those in need.

You will see their tattered clothes and think: ‘All my righteousness is a filthy rag, but in Christ we can be clothed in his robes of righteousness.’

When you come upon those who are economically poor, you cannot say to them, ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!’ because you certainly did not do that spiritually. Jesus intervened for you.

And you cannot say, ‘I won’t help you because you got yourself into this mess,’ since God came to earth, moved into your spiritually poor neighborhood and helped you even though your spiritual problems were your own fault.

In other words, when Christians who understand the gospel see a poor person, they realize they are looking into a mirror. Their hearts must go out to him or her without an ounce of superiority or indifference.”

As individuals, and as a church, we must avoid the middle-class in spirit problem.

How?

By being poor in spirit—aware of our own pitiful shortcomings, failure and spiritual bankruptcy.

We are recipients of His grace.

Let’s pass that grace on….

We have a city to love—the hungry to feed, the hurting to comfort, the lonely to include, the overlooked to welcome and orphans to provide for.

Our church is to be a city of refuge—a haven for those who are looking for a safe place and a second chance.

We will not be an exclusive club for spiritual fat cats.

We will not be a religious retirement home.

We must be a place of grace.

We must be a place that doesn’t care…

“We don’t care where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what your zip code is or what your reputation is. You are welcome here. You belong, you are loved and you are accepted here.”

We must be a pocket of blessing, hope, healing, restoration, life and joy within our city.

As Israel was preparing to cross over into the land God had prepared for them, God gave their leaders instructions for several cities of refuge in the new territory…

“When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, designate cities of refuge to which people can flee…” (Numbers 35.9-10 NLT)

Later, the cities of refuge are described in Joshua chapter 20 – Kedesh, Schechem, Kiriath-arba, Bezer, Ramoth and Golan. These Hebrew names are significant—they reflect God’s purpose for establishing these cities of refuge.

Kedesh means: sanctuary or refuge.

Shechem means: shoulder or back.

Kiriath-arba means: to associate or fellowship.

Bezer means: gold.

Ramoth means: lifted up, a high place.

Golan means: refuge.

In other words, these cities were places where exiles could come and find new strength and value as God redefined them, restoring their hope and dignity.

In these cities, God welcomed those who needed a second chance… He put them back on their feet, put a new twinkle in their eye, lifted the heavy burden off their back—allowing them to hold their head up high and without shame.

This is the picture of what our church must be: a city of refuge—a place of second chances.

Psalm 113.7, 8 in the Message Bible says, “He picks up the poor from out of the dirt, rescues those who’ve been thrown out with the trash… seats them among the honored guests, a place of honor among the brightest and best.”

I’m thankful for a God who sees beyond my dirt—giving me value and worth.

And I want to be part of helping others experience the same.

Our 2010 included…

BBQs.

Parties.

A car show.

A Kid’s Carnival.

Weekly giveaways.

500 backpacks stuffed with school supplies—given to local children.

Frozen turkeys and Thanksgiving groceries—enough to feed 1,100 people in our community.

Hundreds of Christmas gifts for kids in foster care.

Over 5,000 hot meals given to the hungry.

Why?

Because we have a city to love.

It’s not “us -vs- them.” We live here and we are them.

God has us here for a reason—and that reason does not include hating on the city or its people.

Consider these instructions from God to his people:

“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you… Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29.5-7 NLT)

I believe these instructions are fitting for us today…

Work for the peace and prosperity of the city.

Pray for the city—its welfare will determine your welfare.

It’s clear that we have a job to do.

We have a city to love—our future and well-being depends on it.

The list of things we did in 2010 isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.

In 2011 we will care more, love more, give more and serve more.

Our greatest days are before us, not behind us—because we have a city to love!

I find this story intriguing…

Vivian Maier was an American amateur street photographer whose work depicts scenes in Chicago and New York in the 1950s and 1960s. Her photographs were not discovered until 2007. Following her death in 2009, her pictures began receiving critical acclaim.

John Maloof, a 26-year old real estate agent in Chicago discovered her work and purchased nearly all of it—100,000 negatives and prints. He posts some of the photographs on a blog and recently announced plans for an upcoming book and documentary about Vivian Maier.

The blog: http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

Here are some of the photographs featured on the blog:

It’s possible to be so good for yesterday that you’re no good for today.

I feel sad when I drive by a local casino’s sign and read the names of their upcoming acts…

REO Speedwagon, MC Hammer, Smokey Robinson, STYX, Rick Springfield, Brian McKnight, Air Supply.

Kinda seems like the last stop before the grave for musical artists.

I wonder, has anyone rebounded from performing in (local) casinos?

If I had to choose, I’d rather be so good for today that I’m no good for yesterday.

I’d rather be creating, writing, inventing, dreaming, producing, thinking—than living off yesterday’s success.

I’d rather be filling stadiums with today’s songs than playing hits from 30 years ago in local casinos.

This is what I’m saying…

You’re alive.

You’re here, today.

You’re not at the last stop before the grave!

Your best days are still before you—they’re not behind you.

Be good for today—so good in fact, that you’re no good for yesterday.

Keep dreaming, thinking, creating, inventing, producing, growing, changing, learning.

Think stadiums, not casinos.

I was doing some reading yesterday.

Specifically, I was reading from the Bible Reading Plan—it had me in John chapter 12.

I was struck with the experiential nature of worship described…

First, a woman pours expensive perfume all over Jesus’ feet. Judas flips his lid—calling it a waste of resources, but Jesus defends her.

Next, a large crowd gathers around Jesus. They had palm branches (not sure really what they were doing with ‘em—I’ve always pictured them waving the branches around) and they shouted some good stuff about Jesus.

What I’m noticing about the worship described in these stories: there were smells, sounds and stuff.

Their worship was experiential.

Mary, the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet, went home smelling like the perfume.

The crowd broke branches off palm trees.

Maybe their hands smelled like palm branches.

Maybe someone got a sliver in their finger.

And they shouted… they were yelling things.

Maybe someone went home with a hoarse voice.

Maybe some of them woke up the next morning with no voice left.

I think what I’m saying is that worship is more than just reciting something.

It’s more than singing along.

It’s experiential.

It might cost you something.

It might make you sweat (or even stink).

It could cause you to lose your voice.

You might even get a sliver.

It’s all good—embrace the experience.

Worship is experiential.

The Israelites were subjected to harsh conditions as slaves in Egypt.

God heard their prayers, their cries for help.

God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt.

God sent plagues to Egypt in order to frustrate Pharaoh, Egypt’s leader.

God opened up the Red Sea so the people could cross over on dry ground.

God provided bread from heaven and plenty of quail for the people to eat in the desert.

God provided water for them to drink from a rock.

Moses went up a mountain to meet with God for several days.

A few days later, the people forget about God and decide to make their own god…

Aaron (Moses’ brother) leads the way, collects gold, and makes a golden calf for them to worship.

“The people responded with enthusiasm: ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!’” (Exodus 32.4 MSG)

They gave credit to the cow for all that God had done.

It seems ridiculous, doesn’t it?

I want to call them a bunch of idiots…

And then I realize, we do the same thing.

We credit the cow—we praise our efforts as if that’s why we’ve come this far.

Our rule keeping, morality, accomplishments and achievements are just hand-crafted golden cows.

Paul reminded the Ephesian church of this truth:

“Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role, If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. (Ephesians 2.8-10 MSG)

Here’s another way to say it:

Don’t credit yourself—don’t credit the cow. Give God all the credit.

Most of my memories of what we did in church during my growing up years wouldn’t exactly fit in a category labeled “celebration”.

We did other things (not bad things—but not really celebratory things)… things like “waiting on God” and “crying out to God”. Our “worship face” was usually some version of a pained expression.

Of course, the kid’s songs in Sunday School were fun, energetic and pretty celebratory.

Unfortunately, as we grew older, the mood of the songs we sang became more and more melancholy.

When God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, they celebrated.

They weren’t just celebrating their new situation or their new location.

They were celebrating Him.

They wrote a new song—they sang it. They danced and they celebrated.

Here are some lines from their song (found in Exodus 15):

I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
God is my strength, God is my song, and yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have and I’m telling the world.
This is the God of my father—I’m spreading the news far and wide!
Who compares with you in power, in holy majesty, in awesome praises, wonder-working God?

The number of people singing, dancing and celebrating: about 2 million.

That must have been some noise. Makes me wonder if the ground shook…

During the recent Seahawks playoff win against the New Orleans Saints, Marshawn Lynch ran 67-yards and broke 8 tackles for a touchdown. The crowd’s wild celebration registered as a small (magnitude 1 or 2) earthquake on a seismometer 100 yards from the stadium. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/01/stomping-by-elated-seahawk-fans-on-pivotal-play-caused-local-quake/1

The Seahawks are still in the playoffs. Who knows what will happen next?

Our God is not in the playoffs—He’s already won the victory for us and He deserves to be celebrated.

To celebrate means “to proclaim the glory of….”

Synonyms and related words: bless, exalt, glorify, magnify, resound, adore, worship, acclaim, applaud, commend, hail, salute, cheer.

Maybe your experience in church has been somber, restrained, quiet, reserved, or even depressing.

Perhaps much of what you’ve experienced in church wouldn’t fit in a category labeled “celebration”.

I say, it’s time for us to cross over—into that place of celebrating our great God.

Let’s celebrate Him.

I noticed something recently… my blog is all work and no play.

It’s time for some fun.

I love style and fashion.

My favorite fashion blog is the Sartorialist.

The Sartorialist (also known as Scott Shumann) is the subject of a new mini documentary by Intel.

Maybe you will enjoy it as much as I did…