How Money Changes Us

Dear Crosswalkers,

Money is a very important part of our lives. It always has been and probably always will be. That's why the Bible has a lot to say about money. In fact, the Bible devotes 500 verses to prayer; less than 500 verses to faith; but over 2,000 verses to money and possessions.  In fact, Jesus talked about money in one out of every 10 verses in the Gospels.  The Lord talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell!

And get this:  The Bible says that the way you handle your money determines how much God will bless your life.  Strange but true.  How you manage your money is evidence of your spiritual maturity.  Here’s what Jesus said,

“If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?”                                                                                                          - Luke 16:11

Interestingly, a recent article in the Boston Globe was devoted to this question: Does money change you? The article reported:

As a mounting body of research is showing, wealth can actually change how we think and behave—and not for the better. Rich people have a harder time connecting with others, showing less empathy to the extent of dehumanizing those who are different from them. They are less charitable and generous. They are less likely to help someone in trouble. And they are more likely to defend an unfair status quo. If you think you'd behave differently in their place, meanwhile, you're probably wrong: These aren't just inherited traits, but developed ones. Money, in other words, changes who you are.

The article went on to summarize research studies conducted by Kathleen Vohs, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. Carlson and her colleagues have found that even the mere suggestion of getting more money—a technique known as "priming"—makes people less friendly and less sensitive to others. Moreover, the suggestion of getting more money showed people to be more likely to support statements like "some groups of people are simply inferior to others."

The article noted that "if you win the lottery and you want to avoid becoming an insensitive lout," there is a simple solution. One of the researchers summarized it this way: "Give at least half the money away."

This Sunday is Faith Promise Sunday. We will be challenged by an incredibly gifted speaker, Dr. Hormoz Shariat, who is featured in the article below. We will also be challenged to to make a faith promise. This is a promise to give, as God provides, over and above our tithe to support missions both here and abroad. This is a promise we make by faith. Honestly, it's hard to live by faith in today's world. We have insurance for everything. Here we make a faith promise and then "watch and pray" for God to provide.

God does provide, because God wants his world to be reached with the good news.The Lord is looking for people like you who will be open channels through which he can provide for the gospel to be preached in every people group. This is God’s plan A, to reach the world through his church, and there is no plan B! 

How does God provide for our faith promises?  From the experiences of many individuals and churches, there are three general ways God provides:

1. In Unexpected Ways:  These can be retroactive pay raises, bonuses, unexpected gifts, inheritance or tax refunds.

2. By Reordering of our Priorities:  When we manage our lives as God would have it, we can generate additional income for the Lord’s work.  This would include a commitment to live more simply, to fast once a week and give the money for that meal to missions, to cut down on unnecessary expenses, etc.

3. In Creative ways:  There are creative ways to generate extra income, such as having a garage sale and giving the proceeds to missions, using a hobby to generate income, a fun job to keep busy during your retirement, etc. 

Here's some good news: Money can change us for the better! But only if we recognize it as a blessing from God given to bless others. God wants us to be a channel through which his blessing flows!

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John Christie

How Civilization Will End

Dear Crosswalkers,

It's time for my latest book report. I recently finished reading a fascinating account of world history, which of course is "His story." The author is Niall Ferguson, who is a life-long atheist. His wife is an atheist activist whose recent article on the persecution of Christians across the globe was appreciatively featured in my post a month ago. Sometimes I like to read from atheist/agnostic authors to see the perspective of those on the other side. In this case, it was eye-opening in a surprising way!

Ferguson's work is entitled Civilization: The West and the Rest, and it's a vast, big picture look at the history of the world. His aim is to answer the question, "Why, for the past 500 years, have the civilizations of the West dominated the civilizations of the East ("the Rest")?" Put another way, "Why did Western Civilization become the greatest civilization in the history of the world?" The answer is presented in six factors: competition, science, property rights, medicine, the consumer society, and the work ethic.

The book is loaded with wise and thought provoking statistics and quotes. For example, he writes: "The current world population makes up approximately 7 per cent of all the human beings who have ever lived... we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind to our peril." In reviewing the history of the colonization of the Americas, Ferguson says it was one of history's biggest natural experiments: "Take two Western cultures, export them and impose them on a wide range of different peoples and lands - the British in the north, the Spanish and Portuguese in the South. Then see which does better." The reason why North America vastly outpaced Central and South America, he writes, is "an idea about the way people should govern themselves." 

He also launches into a fascinating account of the history of how clothing, especially blue jeans, has been instrumental and indicative of the ascendency of the West!

Getting more quickly to the point, this atheist author, taking an honest look at world history and tossing political correctness to the wind, ends up repeatedly praising Christianity, more particularly Protestant Christianity. In reporting on the vast missionary activity of Protestant Christians to the developing world, the author writes: "The level of Protestant missionary activity has also proved to be a very good predictor of post-independence economic performance and political stability."

Shockingly, Ferguson details the alarming rate that Western Europeans are leaving the faith that was foundational in making their own civilization great. He also shares why the United States is generally keeping the faith in a culture that proclaimed God dead back in the 1960s. Furthermore, he explores the remarkably deep attraction Christianity has to the Chinese people (not their government) today!  According to one scholar from the Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences: "We were asked to look into what accounted for the... pre-eminence of the West all over the world... At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful... We don't have any doubt about this."

Christianity isn't true because it works, it works in people's lives and in civilizations because it is true.

Near the end of his study, Ferguson notes that civilizations are formed by the literature they read. "But what are the foundational texts of Western civilization, that can bolster our belief in the almost boundless power of the free individual human being?" His own answer to this question begins: "I would suggest the King James Bible …."

Lastly, this world class historian deals with the demise of civilizations over the centuries. His conclusion is that civilizations generally end rather swiftly. He affirms the question that he himself asks, a question that should send chills down the spine of every non-believer, but a question that is strangely not worrisome for those who love the Lord:"Above all, what if collapse is not centuries in the making but strikes a civilization suddenly, like a thief in the night?"

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John Christie

Victoria's Secret Model Reveals Faith!

Dear Crosswalkers,

Here's a secret about one of Victoria's most popular models that has just been revealed! At the age of 19, Kylie Bisutti beat out 10,000 other contestants in the 2009 Victoria's Secret Model Search contest. This had been one of the major dreams she had for her life. But Kylie said that getting married and growing in her Christian faith caused her to see her career in a different light. In an interview Kylie said,

[The modeling world] is a very hard industry to be in without falling into things you don't want to do …. It's a very tempting industry …. Victoria's Secret was my absolutely biggest goal in life, and it was all I ever wanted career-wise …. [But] I'm a Christian, and reading the Bible more, I was becoming more convicted about it …. My body should only be for my husband, and it's just a sacred thing. I didn't really want to be that kind of role model for younger girls because I had a lot of younger Christian girls that were looking up to me and then thinking that it was OK for them to walk around and show their bodies in lingerie to guys. It was pretty crazy because I finally achieved my biggest dream, the dream that I always wanted, but when I finally got it, it wasn't all that I thought it would be.

That last sentence could be written over the lives and on the gravestones of millions of people! Kylie was interviewed by George Stephanopolous of ABC's Good Morning America, and predictably he didn't delve very deeply into questions about her faith. However, Kylie proudly proclaimed it and shared the profound life lesson that beauty is not an outer issue but a matter of the heart. You can see her interview by clicking HERE.

Personaly, I am greatly blessed when someone makes a stand for his or her faith and does the right thing. To swim against the powerful cultural forces in America takes a tremendous amount of courage. May God grant us that courage as well!

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John Christie

"Entitlement" Spirituality for Today's World

Dear Crosswalkers,

Of course we are living in what some are calling "the age of entitlement." In other words, people think they are entitled to all good things in life, and if they aren't experiencing those good things, they blame a political party, or wealthy people, or their parents, or their environment, and of course, many blame God. The following prayer is satire. It looks at "entitlement spirituality," which is characterized by superficiality, a shallow view of sin, and a perception that God is like a kindly grandfather. This prayer is a contemporary take of a traditional public confession of sin found in the Book of Common Prayer.

Benevolent and easy-going Parent: We have occasionally had some minor errors of judgment, but they're not really our fault. Due to forces beyond our control, we have sometimes failed to act in accordance with our own best interests. Under the circumstances, we did the best we could. We are glad to say that we're doing okay, perhaps even slightly above average. Be your own sweet Self with those who know they are not perfect. Grant us that we may continue to live a harmless and happy life and keep our self-respect. And we ask all these things according to the unlimited tolerances which we have a right to expect from you. Amen.

Compare this with a biblical prayer of confession that is potent and heartfelt and effective, from the book of Nehemiah (1:4-7) -

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said, “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.

This weekend over 60 of our men will be at our annual Men's Retreat at Redwood Christian Park. Our former associate pastor Jerry Ingalls will be leading us in living "The Epic Life." This is a life filled with prayer, trust in God, and a courage to do the will of God. But it all begins with confession; with a brutally honest self evaluation and understanding that we need God's forgiveness for our past, and his empowerment for our future. The Bible says,"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Please PRAY against the entitlement spirituality that is rampant in our culture today, and for a powerful outpouring of confession and cleansing of the Holy Spirit for the men of our church family!

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John Christie

The Joy of Restoration!

Dear Crosswalkers,

Leanna and I just returned from a short but sweet trip to visit our family in Florida. Here's something I came across in my reading. Not long ago one of the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance was restored to its original splendor and returned to its home at the world renowned gallery in Florence, Italy. The Madonna del Cardellino (Madonna of the Goldfinch) was painted by Raphael in 1505 for the wedding of his friend. It portrays the Virgin Mary with two children: John the Baptist and his young cousin Jesus. The three form an almost perfect triangle. This is by design as there is nothing artificial about the positions of the three figures. Mary holds a book which shows her to be Sedes Sapientiae (the “Seat of Wisdom”). Most importantly, John the Baptist holds a small bird, a goldfinch. Because the goldfinch feeds among thorns, this is interpreted as representing our Lord's future suffering. Interestingly, the toddler Jesus reaches out to gently stroke the tiny bird that foreshadows his crucifixion.  

But something happened to this painting. Forty years after it was created, there was an earthquake which shattered the work of art into 17 different pieces. Another artist took long iron nails and tried to patch the pieces together. Then he tried to paint over it to conceal the damage. But over the years, there were so many layers of paint added and so much dust and grime over this painting that the original art was completely obscured.

A massive restoration project was undertaken. It took fifty people ten years of working on this painting to restore the original color and repair all the damaged parts. Now the cracks are gone, centuries of dust and grime are also gone. The dulling veneers have been painstakingly stripped away, and the finished product now glows with all of the deep colors of the original masterpiece. Given how badly it was damaged, the restoration of Raphael's painting is arguably even more amazing than the painting itself. The original was splendid, but the miracle of restoration makes it even more of a treasure.

The spiritual parallels are significant. The Bible says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus…” (Eph 2:10 NLT). Sadly, the beautiful design of who God created us to be has been marred by sin and the hurts and disappointments of life. Layers of spiritual neglect and bitterness have been put on our lives. You thought you could paint over the damage, but it didn't work. The veneers and patchwork that you applied seemed right at the time, but in reality they have just made things worse. Some of us may even have been devastated by emotional and relational earthquakes that have left us shattered.  

So in the Bible, David prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation…” (Psalm 51:12 ESV). When the restoration came, he could say with deep contentment, “He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). The restoration God gives is so therapeutic and satisfying it’s like a dream come true! "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy…” (Psalm 126:1-2a).

In our series from Mark’s gospel, Simply Jesus, we have seen that our Lord has the power to make all things new. His miracles and his teaching reveal a far greater masterpiece of restoration, the one that the Lord wants to do in your life and in mine! This Sunday we will feature what is considered, aside from his resurrection, the most popular and talked about story of Jesus. Come and find out why!

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John Christie