Hello all.  Just a quick reminder about this Thursday's Christmas Dinner: it all starts at 6:30pm (in the CrossPoint Theater), and it will be a real fun time together.  The program will include our legendary Christmas Skit and the 12 Days of Christmas.  If you did not get your ticket already, then you're getting coal in your stocking (just kidding).  There are a LIMITED number of tickets remaining and will be available at the door for $5: first come, first served.  

This will also be our last gathering of 2008 (it's hard to believe this year is almost over!).  We will not meet December 25 (Christmas Day), or January 1, 2009 (New Year's Day).  Spend those two Thursdays with family and friends, remembering Christ's first advent, as well as the beginning of another year to consecrate yourself to the Lord. 

Where are you celebrating Christmas Eve?  The Chapel at CrossPoint is offering FOUR (4) identical services on December 24: 12 Noon, 2:00pm, 4:00pm, and 6:00pm.  I hope you can make it to one of these services; I will be in the Atrium and I would love to see you there to wish you a Merry Christmas.  

Our next gathering will be January 8, 2009 when we have our Annual Birthday Bash with the Golden Eagles.  You can get your ticket ($5) in the Atrium on Sunday mornings.  New electives will begin on January 15 - more information to come later.

I hope to see you this Thursday,

Pastor Deone

P.S. Jonathan and I will be taking a sabbatical from the blog from now until January 6, 2009.  He may "pop in" to provide a provoking thought or two, but our weekly, Tuesday entries will resume in the New Year. 

Please gather at the CrossPoint Theater at 6:30pm.  There are two caroling options for this evening: Northgate Health Care at 7264 Nash Road in North Tonawanda, and Elderwood at Heathwood at 815 Hopkins Road (between Klein and Maple).  We will be leaving at 6:45pm from the CrossPoint Theater, so please - be prompt.  This will be a great time together, singing the wonderful Christmas carols that we know and love.  Plus, we'll be blessing others during this season for some folks who don't get to spend a lot of time with their families.  It will be well worth it, and I hope you can join us!

I've heard it all - every possible excuse/reason for why people don't give a tithe: "I can't afford it," "I still have some debt/student loans," "I have to take care of my family first," and my ultimate favorite: "Tithing is part of the Law, and we're not under the Law any more."

And they're right.  The Mosaic Law (fancy way of saying the Laws given to Moses) explicitly states: "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD" (Leviticus 27:30).  And yes, we are no longer under the Law, because as Paul has said, we are now under grace (Romans 6:14).  That's all there is to it, right?

Wrong.

In the Bible there is a story of a man named Jacob.  He lived an interesting life: he was a twin, he got tricked into marrying the wrong girl (can anyone relate?), he wrestled with God, he saw the intersection of Heaven and Earth (aka, Jacob's ladder), and his name means "Deceiver."  I'd say he had a very exciting existence.  But there's one account of Jacob's life that we need to consider, and it takes place the day after he saw the "ladder."  

"Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the op of it.  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house.  And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you" (Genesis 28:18, 20-22).  Jacob made a vow to give to God 10% of everything that God gave to him. 

But at this point, you might be saying, "Wait a minute!  We already said: we're not under the Law - we're under Grace!  Jacob was in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament Law doesn't have its hold on us anymore!"  And you'd be absolutely right...sort of.  But I would just ask you this: what Law was Jacob under?  What set of rules was Jacob following when he made that vow?  The Ten Commandments?  The Mosaic Law?  The Levitical Law?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Buehler?  Buehler?

The thing is, Jacob lived before Moses - by about 500 years.  That means Jacob was dead for a half-millennium before God ever told Moses, "A tithe of everything belongs to the Lord."  Jacob predates the Law.  Jacob's pledge to tithe predates the Law.  What do you do with that?  That's not as clean as "we're under grace now."  It's a little messier.

But if Jacob's decision to tithe predates the Law, then it also must outlast the Law - because it has nothing to do with the Law at all!  It has everything to do with God, because He is the giver of all that we have.  Could it be that he was operating under Grace, and not the Law?  For Jacob, he acknowledged the hand of God on his life and all the blessings that God had given him; that was the heart of his pledge.  If we - people living in America, the most blessed nation since Israel herself - cannot look at our own lives and acknowledge the hand of God on us, and realize all he's blessed us with...then this is all a waste.  Then why bother following Christ?  Then why continue to worship God?  If he hasn't done anything for you, then why are you still here?  I think you will quickly realize (if you don't lie to yourself) that God has blessed you, and he does have his hand on your life, and that out of sheer gratitude the least you could do is give him something back.  

I'm challenging you, boldly, to take Jacob's pledge (if you haven't already done so).  I know it's bold, and I may be over-stepping my territory, but I'm not getting paid for this.  There's no one endorsing this blog entry.  The Chapel didn't ask us to try and boost the offerings this week.  This is about God's Word, and honoring Him.  So, again, I challenge you to join me in taking Jacob's pledge - give to God a tenth of everything that He has given to you.  Don't wait for New Year's Resolutions, because you break those anyway.  Start now.  Take the pledge.  You won't regret it.

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A lot of people might describe me as a cynic, but I like to think of myself as a "believing skeptic."  I enjoy calling into question those things that are just assumed about the Christian faith, that have very little biblical basis - or none at all.  For example, when tradition or ritual gets in the way of pure, unadulterated worship of God, then the tradition needs to go.  Another example, when tradition or ritual supersedes or replaces the Holy Scriptures, then the ritual needs to die.  I am always on the look-out for things like that, and so (consequently) I am sometimes perceived as cynical.

Lately, there has something like that on my mind, and it is this phrase: "To be used by God."  I hear it very often: "I just want to be used by God," or "God really used me to do ______."  It certainly sounds nice, but that phrase "used by God" is not found anywhere in the Bible (you can check it out for yourselves).  When something becomes so engrained in our conversation and our theology, but it's not in God's Word, I hope a red flag goes up for you.  It should spur you on to research it further, and that is what I did.

Before you think I've gone off the deep end, I will say this: my findings shocked me.  My skepticism led me to a place that I did not expect to be.  Let me explain: for the longest time I was frustrated with the phrase "I just want God to use me" because it is such a peculiar phrase.  In any other area of life, no one would say, "I just want to be used by my boss," or "I hope I get used in this dating relationship."  To be "used" always connotes the idea of being taken advantage of.  If your boss "used" you, it would mean that he only hired you for what you could bring to the company (or how you could make him wealthier), and when that ceased he would fire you.  That is being used. 

So you can see, it always bothered me when people said, "I just want to be used by God."  What?  Are you crazy?  You want to be sapped of all your energy and resources so that when you have nothing left, God is done with you?  That does not even make sense.  And when we use that phrase around outsiders to the Faith, I imagine they think the same sorts of things.  Who would want to be used by God?  It's peculiar, it's unusual, it's...unhuman. 

Finally, it clicked.  Yes, it's unhuman - that is exactly the point!  To be used by God is an entirely peculiar thing, because he is not like mankind (Numbers 23:19) and he can't be compared to any human being (Isaiah 40:18ff.).  Therefore, he is altogether different, and altogether unlike any of us; when he uses one of us for his purposes, it is an altogether unhuman experience.  He won't expend you of all your time, energy, and resources and leave you by the way-side.  The beautiful thing about being used by God is that we come to him empty already with nothing to offer, and he still uses us.  Paul explains why: "This makes it clear that our great power is from God, and not from ourselves" (2 Corinthians 4:7).  

In another letter, Paul tells us who is qualified to be used by God: "Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth."  Paul did NOT say, "Not any," but he did say, "Not Many."  It doesn't mean that intelligent or powerful people can't be used by God, but merely that you don't have to be "A Somebody" in the World in order to be "A Somebody" in God's Kingdom.  This is, again, completely unhuman: a company will hire you for what you have to offer; God will "hire" you in spite of what you have to offer. "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong...so that no one may boast" (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).  To be used by God is unlike anything else in this world.  The only requirement is willingness.

My skepticism sometimes hurts people, because it is perceived as cynicism.  Thank God for His grace that in spite of my skepticism, he lovingly led me to a place of understanding: that to be used by God is entirely Biblical, entirely proper, and entirely peculiar.  It is unlike any other experience in this world - and that's a good thing.  May the Lord use you today and forever.

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In Him,

Jonathan