In my experiences, I meet so many people who view their christian lives in terms of only heaven and hell.  Unfortunately there seems to be not much more of an implication of what Jesus has done for them rather than I’m saved, he’s saved, your saved, etc.  But we’re simply only scratching the surface when we view our relationship with Jesus as this.  The gospel implications of being in a relationship with Christ go far beyond salvific experiences.  In fact, being in a relationship with Jesus changes everything about our lives. I encourage you to ask God what those implications are.

image courtesy of Tamara Aguilar under the Creative Commons License

So….I’m headed to Memphis next Wednesday night to spend some much needed time with family and time away from the ATL.  On Friday night, I’ll be speaking at Beaver Baptist Church in Brighton, Tn.  If you’re in the area…you want to be there.

I think it’s always important to remember where you’ve come from and to thank individuals who have participated in very formative seasons of your life. That’s why I’m so pumped about this. On Friday night, I’ll be sharing quite a bit about where my life has taken me over the last 4 years. From sleeping in homeless shelters, to coming to a proper understanding of the gospel and God’s will in our lives; from positioning myself to pastoring, and then transitioning to lead a non-profit, it’s going to be incredible to be able speak into the lives of so many who spoke into mine growing up.

The night’s going to start off with an awesome meal (I’m hearing Bar-b-que) and then transition into a crafted talk developed especially for this audience.  If you’re in the area, I would ABSOLUTELY love to see you. It’s been too long for many of us!  Love you guys!

Image courtesy of theogeo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theogeo/3495927315/

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Many of us have heard this concept before, that the church should be “counter cultural”. We hear it thrown around from the pulpit, during conversations over coffee with friends, or even from the televangelist we see on the t.v. screen. Historically, the church has modeled counter-culturalism in a positive way (my opinion - other than the whole crusade and penance thing from the catholic church), but within the last five decades, I believe we’ve had a warped view of what being counter cultural looks like.

We’ve seen this modeled in the last few decades through two major cultural effects that have happened to the church. One being  ”mimicking culture”…a concept modeled perfectly through contemporary Christian music in which we take exactly what culture is doing, throw a couple of tag lines of Jesus on it, and call it “relevant”.  Interestingly enough, I believe the church was more focused on being ‘counter-church’ than anything else during this time period. Thank goodness we’re moving away from this.

Another model of counter-culturalism is when the church has completely reclused from culture all-together.  We see this in many fundamental movements where Christians are shut in the church, have nothing to do with broader society, and have very limited influence.

But what does true counter-cultural Christianity look like? What does it really mean to be in the world but not of it?  I would like to propose three concepts in which I believe define counter-cultural Christianity. Grant it…these aren’t the only three, but I definitely believe they are three major ones.

1. One-Way Belief

In an age of post-modernity and mosaic generations of individuals picking and choosing different belief systems to formalize their own truth, nothing screams counter cultural than the fact that Christ claims to be the way, truth, and the life…in fact, he goes so far as to proclaim himself to be the only way. But the only way to what? Well….truth. This makes secularist cringe because to them…truth is relative. But to any logical thinker, truth is not relative. If something else is true, the opposite has to be false. Christ’s claim of being the only way is super counter-cultural.

2. Love through Service

In our secularist/consumerist society, love is defined mainly by one thing….taking. It’s about what I can gain out of a relationship, a product, a feeling, etc.  In fact, with the recent “social justice” movement that everybody has jumped on, love in this process usually derives from a motive of…”it makes me feel good to give back.” But is this really love?  No, it isn’t. Love screams of something different. Love screams of serving others, even when there’s nothing to get in return. Love means serving others even when it’s hard. True love is modeled by service.

3. Engaging in Biblical-Community

This is where counter cultural Christianity gets tough. Within broader culture, the understood montra is….keep your junk to yourself. If you screw up, hide it. If you’re struggling, find whatever you can to cope with the pain. But biblical community calls for something different. Biblical community calls for us to be vulnerable with one another, to confess our sins to one another, and to carry each others burdens. This is not always easy. It’s hard, but always worth it.
A false assumption on counter cultural christianity is the question of what influence the church should have on the broader culture. Like stated before, many christians either mimic the culture to the tee, or recluse from it all together. I want to leave you today with an excerpt out of “How Now Shall We Live?” by Chuck Colson:
“When the Church is faithful to its calling, it always leads to a reformation of culture. When the church is truly the church, a community living in biblical obedience and contending for faith in every area of life, it will surely revive the surrounding culture or create a new one.” 
 
Religion is not a reflection or product of culture, but quite the reverse. As the great twentieth-century historian Christopher Dawson argued, cult is at the root of culture (taking “cult” in its most basic meaning as a system of religious worship). The late political philosopher Russell Kirk agreed: “It’s from association in a cult, a body of worshipers, that human community grows.”
 
The oyster offers a good analogy. Oysters make their own shells, so if the shell is badly formed, the problem is not in the shell but in the oyster. Likewise, when a culture deforms and decays, don’t ask what went wrong with the culture; ask what went wrong with the cult—the religious core. “When belief in the cult has been wretchedly enfeebled, the culture will decay swiftly,” Kirk wrote. “The material order rests on the spiritual order.” The hope for today’s world is a renewed and vibrant spiritual order, a culture-creating cult, men and women of another type, arrayed for the great battle of principle against principle. A battle that begins, “In the beginning…”

Image courtesy of esbjorn2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comicartschool/1483344473/

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I just drove into my new neighborhood I’ll be living in.  It’s really nothing new. I drive here a few days a week with what I do with work and church. But this time…this time I realize that I’m here to stay.  

Pulling off of 85 on Martin Luther King Dr., I pass by the capital and a Presbyterian church that sits across the street. On the steps and sidewalk of this church are people experiencing homelessness every night.  I have an old Hillsong United track playing in the background “Till I See You”.  I’ve entered into a time of worship on my drive down, and then I encounter this…

God immediately begins to flood my remembrance of why I came to Atlanta in the first place.  It’s the homeless.  I see them sleeping on the street….cold, broken, tired; and I see me.  It’s like looking in a mirror.

I drive away with tears as God speaks to me…this is why you are here.  I smile and thank Jesus; to be counted worthy of suffering with those who suffer, to enter into their lives as Christ entered into mine.  

Grant it…not everyone is called to “homeless” ministry…and I get that. But as believers, we are all called to those who are living on the margin, the broken, the oppressed.  It doesn’t always look the same, but it definitely feels the same. We can’t get away from that.

This is a new chapter for me, a chapter that I pray more than anything is filled with two things: the gospel and serving others. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached during his last sermon, and I mimic it with my name substituted for his:

“At the end of my life, I don’t want people to mention the awards I won or what school I went to. I want people to say on that day that P.J. Simmons tried to serve somebody. That P.J. gave his life clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. Fighting for justice and carrying about the least of these. That’s the type of legacy I want to leave.”

Image courtesy of Terence S. Jones: http://www.flickr.com/photos/terence_s_jones/8267849903/

BROKEN IS BEAUTIFUL from PEOPLE OF THE SECOND CHANCE on Vimeo.

Over the course of the years, I’ve met a lot of broken people, including myself. One of the main types of person my heart goes out to are those who feel their brokenness is so messed up that they honestly feel as if they are “damaged goods” and may not have anything else to bring to the table for anybody.

In art, it seems that the most beautiful pieces come out of the messiest situations.  Most times when art is created, artists begin working on something, only to finish with another thing they totally had not planned on creating.

In my life, I see this all the time in the communities in which I serve.  In the impoverished communities, it so incredible and thought provoking to see a simple gesture of love and beautiful things in the midst of messiness and brokenness.  Whether it be a flower in the ghetto, or a homeless person encouraging me, I become more aware and keen to it.

Take the story of of the prostitute who walked into the pharisees house to worship Jesus by washing his feet with her tears and drying his feet with her hair.  Jesus says that it’s those who are forgiven much that love more.

God loves making broken things whole again, and the way in which he does it is pretty incredible.

Growing up in church, the environment of true biblical community was very limited and even non-existant at times.  Outside of some few amazing relationships that I was privileged to have, I never was surrounded by a community of individuals who were looking to better me in my relationship with Christ, predominately when it comes to calling out sin, swaying from proper doctrine, and “being found out.”

However, I’m experiencing something quite different in my life right.  As I was praying this morning, God sweetly reminded me that these types of relationships aren’t placed in my life to “come down on me” with a swift hammer, but rather they are established by his grace for one sole purpose…to draw me back to him.

I think this is why being in true biblical community is so important.  If we truly believe that THE most important thing in our lives as believers is our relationship with Christ, we must be willing to be vulnerable with people…even people who are just as much sinners as we are.  

God has reminded me of this grace this week by surrounding me with men and women who have called me out on sin, leadership, etc.  And the thing that blows my mind is that they do so with the simple intentionality of only wanting to see me come closer to Jesus.  They rebuke me in love and in some sense choose to enter into my brokenness with me, even when I don’t know that I’m in a broken state.

That’s the sweet grace of community.

image courtesy of: L Lemons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23948654@N04/2887804867/

Here are some interesting homeless statistics found in the “State of Homelessness in America 2013” document for the State of Georgia.

  • 38% of national homeless pop are families with children.  16% are considered chronically homeless.
  • Trends in homeless pop show a decrease in chronic by 7% between 2011 and 2012.  Number of people experiencing homelessness as families increased by 1.4% during this same period.
  • Between 2005 and 2012 there was an overall drop in homelessness of -129,228. Chronic homelessness decreased by 76,020.
  • GA shows a 22% drop in chronic homelessness between 2011-2012.  This ranks 6thnationally.
  • Estimate of children experiencing homelessness at some time was an increase of 3,246 between 2011 and 2012.
  • Based on point-in-time numbers for January 2012, 38% of those experiencing homelessness were unsheltered, however the report does cite the limitations of these figures based on point-in-time rules and the imprecise nature of the data collection.
  • In dealing particularly with homelessness, GA was trending well in many factors for 2011-2012. 
  • Nationally, between 2007-2011, median household income decreased 8.3% while fair market rent increased by 15.1%.
  • For GA (2010-2011), there was a 3% decrease in median household income while the number of persons in poverty increased by 8% during the same period.
  • Overall, employment from 2010-2011 has increased, but so has the poverty rate.
  • Despite this increase in the poverty rate, GA has only spent 1% more on Medicaid spending during that time.
  • Also, GA’s per capita public assistance spending during the same time has decreased by 13%
  • GA has seen a 14% increase from 2010-2011 in poor renter households with severe housing cost burden.
  • GA has the 5thlargest homeless population.  Our overall number decreased by 459 persons between 2011-2012, but our rate is 20.9%, ranking us 39thin the country.
  • GA’s chronically homeless population accounts for 14.6% of overall homeless figures, and has decreased by 22.2% between 2011-2012.
  • However, GA has increased in numbers of both families and veterans who are experiencing homelessness.
  • GA’s sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations have decreased, by .5% and 4.6%, respectively, from 2011-2012.
  • GA’s median household income has decreased by 3.47% between 2010-2011.
  • There are nearly 200,000 more people in poverty in GA between 2010-2011.
  • Per capita social spending has decreased by 12.9% during that same time.
  • In same time period as before, GA’s number of individuals living in severe housing cost burden has increased by 13.8%.

Image Courtesy of Franco Folini: http://www.flickr.com/photos/livenature/247190719/

I’m currently reading How Now Shall We Live by Chuck Colson and he poses these three questions as the most important questions that any worldview must answer.  I’m looking forward to formalizing some thoughts surrounding these:

  1. Creation-Where did we come from, and who are we?
  2. Fall-What has gone wrong with the world?
  3. Redemption-What can we do to fix it?

Image courtesy of j.o.h.n. walker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatcouldgowrong/2245309248/

On March 12, 2009, TIME Magazine ran a series called “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now”.  One of the 10 ideas in this series was a concept called “The New Calvinism”.  Historically through our Christian faith tradition, one can track the intentionality of focus on gospel centered theology to more of a “feel-good” message, perfectly modeled with the music coming out of the local church.  It kind of reminds me of an old South Park episode where Cartman decides it will be much easier to break into the Christian music industry and then crossover to the secular.  Therefore, his strategy is take every secular song, and then substitute “baby” with the name of Jesus.
 
Despite the quite comical episode, I think South Park may be on to something.  Over the course of the last 100 years, Christianity has been very good at imitating culture rather than creating new ideas and influence.  We do really well at taking good music, concert lighting with big screens, and even front-man celebrity pastor fashion to the extreme.  But what about the gospel?  Have we forsaken the gospel implications of redeeming culture through what Christ did on the cross?
 
I truly believe the pendulum is swinging back to gospel centrality, and mainly through one generation: millennials.  Millennials, those born between circa 1980-1999, have mass influence on the church and culture at large.  With a value system unlike any generation in history, the millennial generation is seeking these things both within the church and in culture:
  • Proper Doctrine, biblical theology, and a focus back on Christian worldview
  • Community and relationships
  • Moving back into cultural epicenters i.e. cities for larger influence
  • Redeeming all of culture: business, education, church, arts and entertainment, medicine, and social sector
For millennials, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not limited to walking down an isle on a Sunday morning.  The implications of what Christ has done on the cross has influence on every single sphere of life.  From the way we work, to raising kids, to how we treat our spouses, to serving the poor and fighting for justice, this generation is swinging back to the centrality of Christ redeeming all of life.
 
And my hope?  Well…my hope is to get them there.

With the sound bite information age in which we live, the vast majority of individuals filter their worldview through a mosaic approach of taking bits and pieces of anything that seems attractive, feels good, veneered truth, or spit out by their preferred news network, and formalizing these nuggets as truth.

Ironically the same individuals take pride in not really knowing anything at all…..(i.e. leaving everything to question). Post modernity started in the garden with a scene of a serpent asking one question that we still struggle with today: “Did God really say?”

To any logical reader, yes….God did say. It’s laid out in black and white.  It was laid out verbally from the Father himself to first man and woman.  But this isn’t necessarily what this conniving serpent meant.  He was actually asking, “did God really mean?” “Are you sure you’re interpreting this correctly?

The fact is our culture still does this.  It prides itself in asking questions and being hesitant to paint anything as absolute truth.  As a statement once made, “anything that cannot be tested and proven by science cannot be deemed as truth.” However, if this statement is true, it’s also false. Reason being…there’s no possible way this statement itself can be proven by science.

Many say that truth is relative….but I say nope.  No one actually believes this.  Honestly, if truth is relative, then my truth is just as truthful as yours.  Therefore, if my reality and truth tells me that I deserve something that you have, I have the right to take that something.  The only problem is, you wouldn’t want me to do that would you? 

What I think people really believe is that truth is relative only to the point that it fringes upon my own personal truth.  Therefore yours is deemed false.  So….is truth really relative? No. It’s not….and this is the problem with post-modernity. Logically, how can two things be truth when the very tenants of their claim screams that the other is false? Both cannot be true…only one.

Picture courtesy of tommy_pariah: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommy_pariah/2512355138/

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I’ve been listening to a group from the West Coast that is lyrically just jamming the good news of the Gospel into my ears.  Here’s a bit of their goodness from Beautiful Eulogy.

How sweet the gospel sounds to ears like mine. Well acquainted with pain and strained relationships. Friendships that suffer from long distances or even worse they get severed from something more severe. And He still hasn’t wiped away all my tears yet. My cheeks get wet every now and then. When I give my best, I know I fall short, I get scared when the balls in my court, focused on my performance, wretched and poor it makes the message more real when I preach it. I’m not there yet so I’m reaching for a goal to stand before my king and be speechless, then never again will I question if his grace is sufficient to cover my sin cause death is gone and all the effects of evil and wrong will be conquered when His kingdom comes. So this is my hope and my prayer, the air that I’m breathing, eternity with lungs that never fail me. If it pleases my Lord, if only by your grace use my life till it’s poured out for your sake. Until then I’ll remain where you have me, with joy when I feel unhappy, and a peace that surpasses all my understanding my life is in the hands of your love everlasting.

Find our more about Beautiful Eulogy here: http://humblebeast.com/artists/beautiful-eulogy/

Luke 6….

Love enemies.

Do good to those who hate you.

Bless those who curse you.

Pray for those who mistreat you.

If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to them the other also.

I love the lessons of Jesus. Because more times than not, they fly in the face of what main stream culture holds value to.

Who are our enemies? The person that screws us over at work? The in-laws that seem to not give you a chance? The person we found out is gossiping about us? Are they the ones who mistreat and curse us? Even further, are they the ones who literally want to take our lives? Are they terrorists?

These are hard questions to approach…not necessarily defining these certain things as our enemies or not, but defining what our response should be towards them.

Love does something different in us. It completely changes our response and reactions to these individuals. Love bids us to do good to them, to pray for them, to bless them, and yes..to even lay our lives down for them, even if it’s unjustified.

Image courtesy of National Library of Scotland’s Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlscotland/4687966701/

My hope with these blogs is not to write in a tone that speaks with a club in my hand trying to pound truth over someone’s head. I hope I can write with humility and humbleness. This is even more true with this post.

This is an issue I’ve been dealing with for a while, and I believe the implications of it are more deeply rooted than we really want to admit.

With issues like gun control, Obamacare, liberal vs. conservative, prayer in schools, even American flags on stage in many local churches, I think we as the church need to dive more deeply into what the gospel actually has to say about these things.

It’s scary though isn’t it? Maybe the gospel says something other than what we feel is our right. Maybe the gospel says we treat people differently than how we actually are. Maybe being a follower of Christ and an American are not as synonymous as we would hope. Maybe this is the problem.

Photo courtesy of George Eastman House’s Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/george_eastman_house/3747528256/

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What the flip? Why would I write a blog post about this? Reason being…I think it needs to be brought to light. I know a lot of people who have preconceived ideas of homosexuals: artsy, good interior decorators, dress nice, 26 and don’t have a girlfriend….hey oh!

The truth is, many individuals within the christian faith see homosexuals on the exterior. I’m guilty o this myself. “They” act like this, “they” talk like this, “they” hang out in this part of the city.

But what if we as christians started seeing the humanity of homosexuals? That yes, the truth is, we are all made in the image of God. This might change our relationship with one another.

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