Russell Mckinney's Blog

Straight Talk About God and Life

Follow Up To “Church Or YBOA Basketball?”

In March of last year, I wrote a post entitled “Church Or YBOA Basketball?” In that post, I explained how my son Ryan’s participation in Youth Basketball of America was causing him to miss some of our Sunday morning church services. I concluded the piece by saying that I had made the decision that Ryan would no longer miss any church services over scheduling conflicts with his YBOA team.

Well, so far this year Ryan’s team has played in two tournaments. In the first one, we played three games on Saturday and one at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Since our church services begin at 10:30 a.m. and end at roughly 11:45 a.m., Ryan was able to attend church and still be at his game on time. So far, so good.

But things didn’t work out so convienently this past weekend. Ryan’s team played two games on Saturday and was scheduled again for 12:00 p.m. Sunday. Now I had to put my money where my blog was. It wasn’t an easy decision, and I did reexamine the whole issue before making it, but when the dust settled I stuck to my guns. Ryan missed the game, but we had an excellent church service.

On Thursday of last week, I wanted to talk to Jeff, Ryan’s coach, after practice. My plan was to hand him a printout of the blog post, ask him to read it, and then call me. But Jeff was too busy talking to other folks for me to have such a moment with him. So, I just left the printout in the seat of his truck with a little note asking him to read it. I called him later that night but couldn’t get in touch with him. He got my message, though, and called me the next day.

Jeff and I had a good ten-minute talk in which I explained that my decision to sit Ryan out had nothing to do with him as a coach. I said, “This is between me, Ryan, and the Lord.” Jeff understood completely and we even talked about ways in which the situation could be prevented from happening again. He said he is going to think about asking the tournament directors to let our team just play three or four games per Saturday and not come back on Sunday. That plan has my vote, but we’ll see what comes of it.

For the record, our team lost that Sunday game. That’s the bad news. The good news (at least for me) is that we lost by a wide enough margin so that no one could say, “If Ryan had been there, we would have won.” Since he is a starter, I figure that his presence could have helped some. But when you get beat by 23 points, I’m not sure Kobe Bryant could save you. 

There was one thing that surprised me about my decision not to let Ryan play. I had two different people make a point of saying that they didn’t expect Ryan to play because they had read the blog post and remembered it. When I found that out, I was glad that I hadn’t waffled on my decision. That would have caused me to lose some credibility.  

In the end, I don’t know how the rest of our season is going to play out. All I know is that I’m going to do my best to continue to honor the commitment I felt the Lord led me to make last March. Hopefully, we either won’t be scheduled for any more Sunday games or they will tip off late enough for us to get Ryan there after church.

Again, the idea of playing all Saturday games is very appealing to me. Of course, since Sunday is always the day the tournament champions are crowned, we wouldn’t be able to actually win a tournament. To me, though, that is a small price to pay to give nine boys and their parents the opportunity to build their Sunday around church instead of YBOA basketball.

February 24, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Character, Children, Choices, Church attendance, Parenting, Personal, Priorities, Sports, church | , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Righteousness & You

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6

I’ve been a pastor a long time, long enough to have learned some things about professing Christians. One of those things is: not many of them hunger and thirst after righteousness. When you do come across such a person, you are actually taken aback by how much he or she stands out from the crowd. Your reaction is, “Wow, now that’s the way this Christianity thing is supposed to work. That’s the kind of person it’s set up to produce.”  

I take no pleasure in reporting that a high percentage of professing Christians are only interested in living righteously enough to keep God from getting too ticked off at them. The time they spend in prayer is minimal. Their Bible study is barely a blip on the radar. They attend church only if all the planets align and nothing else comes up. They give sparingly and many times even begrudge that (2 Corinthians 9:6-7). They’ve never witnessed to anyone in their lives.

Even those who do better in some of these areas typically fall short when it comes to actually repenting of sins and making needed changes in their lives. I’ve known professing Christians who were at church every time the doors were open, but they were petty, bitter people who refused to forgive any perceived slight. I’ve known others who made prayer a vital part of their lives but didn’t mind engaging in pre-marital sex or “shacking up.” Others would give generously to the church but spend even more on alcohol or drugs. To all of these people, the idea of hungering and thirsting after righteousness was foreign. They had just enough religion to keep them at peace with themselves and certainly didn’t have a burning desire for anything more than that.

Imagine a man who hasn’t eaten for two days. He gets the opportunity to sit down at a buffet filled with delicious food. The way that man’s eyes dance over that food is the way the Christian’s eyes should dance over righteousness. The way he craves that food is the way the Christian should crave righteousness.

Imagine a woman who has been stranded in the desert for hours. When she is rescued, a rescue worker hands her a bottle of water. At that moment, there is nothing on earth she wants more. That’s how the Christian should thirst after righteousness.

Christian, when you are obsessively hungering and thirsting after righteousness, when righteousness is what you are chasing in life, you won’t have to be goaded into coming to church. You won’t have to be begged to pray. Your pastor won’t have to chide you into Bible study. It won’t take a ten-sermon series on stewardship to get you to give generously. You won’t have to be coerced into telling others about Jesus and inviting them to church. All of that will come as naturally to you as breathing. It will flow effortlessly out of your hungering and thirsting for righteousness. 1 John 2:29 describes this as “practicing” righteousness: “If you know that He (God) is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 5:1; John 3:1-8). 

And, furthermore, Jesus promises that your pursuit of righteousness will not be in vain. He says you shall be filled. I see a two-fold meaning in this promise. First, it only makes the sense that the more you devote your life to righteousness, the more righteousness will be exhibited in your life. Second, as for your eternal standing with God, the moment you realize that your life is stained by unrighteousness and you place your belief (faith) in Jesus as Savior, God actually imparts to you His spotless righteousness (Romans 1:16-17; 3:21-26; Philippians 3:7-9). That is an even more important filling.

So, Christian, how hungry are you? How thirsty? Are you burdened enough about righteousness to do some repenting? Will you commit to moving up to a higher level of practicing righteousness in your daily life? When you get hungry and thirsty enough to actually make some changes in how you conduct yourself, you’ll find Jesus standing ready to help you. He’ll be right there with the never-ending buffet and bottomless well. You will be filled, no doubt about that. But never forget that no one can be filled who is already full enough to suit them.

February 11, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Belief, Bible Study, Change, Choices, Church attendance, Discipleship, Doing Good, Evangelism, Holiness, Money, Personal Holiness, Righteousness, The Sermon On The Mount, Witnessing, faith, giving, obedience, salvation, stewardship | Leave a Comment

No Church Today

We had to cancel church today due to our second big snow in six weeks. Whereas the December storm dumped a foot on us, this one only gave us six or seven inches. I suppose we should be grateful that the weather guys missed the forecast a little. We were supposed to have gotten a foot again.

I really do hate cancelling church. The fact is, I could get there. I have not one but two all-wheel-drive vehicles and am pretty good at driving on snow and ice. I could get the parking lot scraped too. My brother-in-law, Ben, has a big blade on his jeep and volunteers to handle that job for me.

So why cancel? I do it because I don’t want anybody getting hurt by trying to get to church on a wintry morning. If one car ended up in a ditch, I’d feel terrible. If one elderly person slipped and broke a hip while getting in or out of a car, I’d feel terrible. If one mother’s feet gave way and she went down while holding her child, I’d feel terrible. I know that we are not supposed to live in fear of what could happen, and I’m really not a “doom and gloom” person. But I don’t think God wants us to completely abandon common sense in some misguided, fanatical zeal about never missing a church service.

As I listened to the church closings on our local radio station this morning, it became obvious that 95% of the pastors took the same cautious approach I did today. No church was having regular services. One was only having an 11:00 worship service. A couple were having one 2:00 service this afternoon. But 95% just cancelled everything.

For me, a Sunday morning without church is like a basketball court without goals. It’s just not right. I’m not one of these people who secretly cheers when church gets cancelled. (Seriously, if you are such a person, you need to do some soul searching and figure out why getting to “legally” skip church excites you.) And it’s not just the fact that I want to preach. It seems like I’m always preparing sermons or preaching them. The thing is, I really do miss the fellowship and community of church. I enjoy being around my brothers and sisters in Christ. I enjoy them being a blessing to me and me being a blessing to them.

Oh well, my prayer on days like today is that cancelling services will help the members realize how much they enjoy coming to Disciples Road Church. It’s the old “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing. I don’t ever want church attendance to become rut or ritual to them. I don’t even want it to become mere ”religion.” Christianity got off track when it became a religion. It was always supposed to be a relationship, a relationship between the believer and Jesus. And as a integral part of that relationship, the believer is supposed to attend church on Sunday, the first day of the week, as a way of celebrating Christ’s resurrection on that Sunday morning so long ago. Yes, Christians are supposed to do that celebrating every Sunday, not just Easter Sunday.

On a completely different note, I did get one bit of good news this morning. My scales weighed me at 187 pounds. So, I’ve lost 14 pounds in 20 days since I started my diet and exercise program. If you want to know the specifics of how I’m doing it, go back and read the post entitled “It’s Diet Time Again.” 

My goal is still to get somewhere between 175 and 180 pounds. From there I’ll just be trying to maintain. I’ve been in that range before, and I’ve even held it for a couple of years, but it doesn’t happen naturally. What naturally happens is me drifting back up over 200 pounds. Since I know that full well, maybe I can prevent it from happening this time and stay at my ideal weight. Now if I can just figure out a way to safely have church after a big snow on Saturday. That one is a little more problematic.            

January 31, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Christ's Resurrection, Church attendance, Easter, Personal, church, dieting | , , , , | Leave a Comment

The Importance Of A Child’s Salvation

(Post 4 of a series of 4)

This post will be the fourth and last in this series on parenting. In my previous three, I’ve dealt with the importance of obedience in a child, the importance of individuality in a child, and the importance of spanking a child. With this one, I want to talk about the importance of a child’s salvation.

Let us never forget that little boys and little girls need salvation. Salvation isn’t just for the drunk lying in the street, the convicted killer on death row, or the Muslim terrorist. It is also for young sons and young daughters.

To get us into this, let’s look at 2 Timothy 1:1-5, where the apostle Paul writes:

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.”

In this fifth verse, Paul talks about a genuine saving faith (an authentic belief in Christ). He says to Timothy, “This saving faith (this authentic belief in Christ) was first in your grandmother Lois. She then passed it down to her daughter (your mother) Eunice. Then Eunice passed it down to you.”

The idea is that Lois and Eunice created an atmosphere in their family wherein Timothy wanted to personally put saving faith in Jesus. Lois put saving faith in Christ, and her salvation played a big part in her daughter, Eunice, putting saving faith in Christ. Eunice’s salvation, in turn, played a big part in her son, Timothy, putting saving faith in Christ.

Now, with that said, I want to devote the rest of this post to offering some practical advice about how parents should share the gospel with their small children. I’ve put this advice under the headings of three general statements. You shouldn’t have any trouble following along.

Statement #1 is: Parent, before you ask your child to believe in Jesus as Savior, it’s a good idea for you to have a basic foundation of Jesus already in place in that child’s life.

When it comes time for a child to seriously deal with Jesus and His offer of salvation, it will be so much better if there is a basic foundation of Christ already in place in that child’s life. But how does a parent lay such a foundation? The obvious ways include taking the child to church every Sunday and buying the child a children’s Bible. The sad truth is that many parents fail even in these basic areas.

Moving on from these basics, there is what I’ll call the spoken word. By the spoken word, I mean that from a child’s early days that child should hear his or her parents talking to Jesus and about Jesus.

Here are a few examples of how a child can hear a parent talk to Jesus. Parent, at mealtime let your child hear you say, “Jesus, we thank you for this food.” When it rains, say to your child, “Well, Jesus is sending us some more rain.” When your child goes to bed, make your child’s bedtime prayers to Jesus. Get on your knees beside the child’s bed, have the child close his eyes, and then you say things like, “Jesus, thank you for watching over us today. Thank you for this home. Thank you for this warm bed to sleep in.” You pray like that a few nights and then let your child do the praying. Hopefully, that child will learn to pray like you pray.

And, by the way, be sure to remind the child that Jesus is God. If the child tries to act silly during the prayer time, just say, “Now remember, you are talking to God.” You see, if you will talk to Jesus correctly in front of your child, you can build all kinds of great theology into your child’s thinking.

Just through the things your child hears you pray, your child can learn that Jesus is: God, our creator, our sustainer, our protector, and our provider. Then, when the child is mature enough to honestly deal with the issue of believing in Christ as Savior or rejecting Him, that child will have all of that wonderful foundation already in his mind. If a child already thinks of Jesus as his God, creator, sustainer, protector, and provider, it won’t be too hard for him to add Savior to the list..

Now let me mention a few examples of how a child can hear a parent talk about Jesus. Parent, when you go to the beach, stand with your child on the shore, look out at the ocean, and say, “Didn’t Jesus create a big, beautiful ocean?” When a problem comes up, say to your child, “Don’t worry. Jesus will help us with this.” At Christmas tell your child the story of how Jesus left heaven, became a baby, and was born to a virgin named Mary. At Easter tell the child the story of how Jesus died for the sins of the world and then arose from the dead. Read Bible stories about Jesus to your child. Make it a point to talk about Jesus as if He is a real person, because, after all, He is. Don’t let Jesus get lumped in with SpongeBob SquarePants, Elmo, or Big Bird.

What I’m saying is, let your child hear you using the spoken word to talk to Jesus and about Jesus. In a hundred different prayers and a hundred different conversations, use the words you speak to saturate your child’s world with Jesus. This is a great way for you to lay a basic foundation of Christ in that child’s life.

My second statement is: Parents, when it comes to the matter of salvation, don’t rush your child.

Any right-thinking parent wants their child to be saved from that fiery place the Bible calls hell. But what each parent should remember is that children under the age of accountability are not in immediate danger of hell.

If you look for the term “the age of accountability” in the Bible, you won’t find it. That doesn’t mean, though, that the idea of an age of accountability is wrong. While it’s true that each child is born a sinner, it’s also true that small children simply do not have the ability to understand the idea of salvation, let alone God’s plan of salvation. We hear a lot about the love of God, but the Bible also says quite a bit about the justness of God, and, quite frankly, it’s hard to imagine a God of justness sending the soul of a small child to hell.

The issue is not the child’s innocence because each child really is a born sinner. The issue is the fact that the plan of salvation is totally beyond the understanding of a child. How can you share the gospel with a child when that child can’t even understand your language? I know that Romans 1:20 teaches that every adult on planet earth is without excuse before God (even those who have never heard about Christ), but adults aren’t the same as little children.

Matthew chapter 18 comes into play here. In that chapter we find the story of Jesus calling a little child to Him. In using that child as an object lesson to teach His disciples, Jesus said to them, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? Little children have angels who always behold the face of God the Father in heaven. I don’t know everything there is to know about that, but I sure like the sounds of it.

In addition to that passage, we have the story from 2nd Samuel chapter 12. David’s infant son died, and David said of him, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” When David thought about the afterlife he certainly wasn’t planning on spending eternity apart from God. He wrote in Psalm 23:6, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” His words about his son, then, seem to indicate that David thought of the soul of his dead, infant son as being with God.

Furthermore, 2nd Samuel chapter 12 isn’t just a story from the life of David. It is also a part of the inspired word of God. That means that those words aren’t just wishful thinking on David’s part.

Because of these passages and some others I could mention, I have enough confidence in the idea of an age of accountability to say that a parent shouldn’t rush their small child to “make a decision” for Jesus. Parent, the last thing you want to do is rush your child into making some kind of shallow, uninformed, false decision for Christ.

If you do that, here’s what might very well happen. After your child makes that false decision, you will then get the child baptized as soon as possible. Following that baptism, you will want the child to officially join the church membership roll. But that baptism and that joining of the church membership list will hurt the church and the child.

It will hurt the church because ideally each person on the church’s membership roll is a true Christian. It will hurt the child because the child will grow up thinking that he or she is on the way to heaven when in reality they are not. That might very well make that child resistant to truly believing in Christ.

You see, parent, you and your child stand to lose far too much if you rush that child on the matter of salvation. That’s why you should wait until you are rock-solid sure that your child is ready to decide either for or against Christ.

Of course, the age of accountability is different for each child. Anyone who knows children knows that children don’t mature at the same rate. Therefore, I don’t know how old your child will be when he or she has the mental capability to genuinely believe in Christ as Savior. But what I’m saying is, please don’t rush your child on this.

And then my third and last statement is: Parent, when you explain the plan of salvation to your child, keep it simple.

When you are giving your child the gospel, stay on topic and stick with the essentials. You don’t need to include a teaching on the Rapture. You don’t need to get into what the Bible says about bodily resurrection. You don’t need to try to explain election and predestination. You don’t need to bring up the topic of spiritual gifts. Just stick with the basic, vital, mandatory information. The child is a sinner; Jesus is the Son of God; Jesus died to pay for the child’s sins; the child needs to believe in Jesus as Savior. Once a child truly believes in Christ as Savior, then you can start the gradual process of giving that child more and more knowledge concerning Christ.

On the other hand, don’t oversimplify things and pronounce the child a Christian when he or she isn’t. Lay out the bare bones of the gospel and see how the child responds. Ask the child, “Do you understand this?” Even if the child says, “Yes,” don’t just take the child’s word for it. Quiz the child to see if he or she really does understand. If the understanding is there, push on to the decision part. If the understanding isn’t there, the child is probably just too young to really grasp what you are saying. He or she hasn’t reached the age of accountability yet.

In closing, let me remind each parent that a child’s salvation is the most important goal in bringing up a child. Parents put such careful thought and work into planning for a child’s college education, but they give little attention to bringing that child to saving belief in Christ. Parents knock themselves out to see to it that their children have food, clothing, and a home, but they put little or no effort into leading their children to Christ. What we need today are some parents like Lois and Eunice. If we have those, some Timothys will surely follow.

January 30, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Baptism, Belief, Children, Church attendance, Evangelism, Parenting, Witnessing, salvation | , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Sin & Church Attendance

Can you imagine getting drunk Saturday night and then going to church the next morning? Can you imagine rolling out of a bed you share with your live-in lover, getting dressed, and going to church? Can you imagine attending a Sunday night service with beer on your breath? Can you imagine refusing to pay a bill you owe and then trying to worship with the person to whom you owe it?

As a pastor, I’ve had church members do these things. Each time I was left to wonder about the mentality that could create such a situation. I’m sure that Ananias and Sapphira would have some thoughts on this subject. They lied about their level of commitment to the Lord and were struck dead after bringing their offering to the apostles (Acts 5:1-11). Nadab and Abihu would have some thoughts too. They were devoured in flames as they attempted to perform their priestly duties while under the influence of alcohol (Leviticus 10:1-11).      

The hard, cold truth is that if God still imposed such high standards for worship, we’d be seeing a lot of funerals in our churches. The current status quo reminds me of the worshippers of Amos’ day. Even though the northern kingdom of Israel was wicked to the core, the people still faithfully attended their worship services at Bethel and Gilgal. Amos sarcastically mocked these “worship” services by saying, “Come to Bethel and transgress. At Gilgal, multiply transgression” (Amos 4:4).

Far too many Christians seem to have the idea that sprinkling church attendance onto their sins makes those sins more acceptable. A rotten egg is still a rotten egg no matter how much sugar you pour on it. Oh, sure, going to church might ease your conscience and make you feel better about yourself. But God isn’t impressed or amused. Honestly, you can attend a hundred different services in a hundred different churches, but you won’t do any real business with God until you repent of those sins that characterize your life Monday through Saturday.

1 Samuel chapter 15 will preach. God spoke through Samuel and commanded King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites. That meant every man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey. But Saul didn’t do that. Instead he took Amalek’s king as a prisoner of war and spared the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, and lambs.

When Samuel came out to see Saul, Saul said, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” With words dripping of sarcasm, Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen which I hear?” Saul answered that he planned to offer them as sacrifices to God. But Samuel told him, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

Samuel was teaching Saul that no amount of “worship” can make up for rank disobedience. You can “play church” all you want, but God will never ignore the fact that He hears the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen in your life. As Saul described the spectacular sacrifices he was going to offer up as “worship,” Samuel might as well have said to him, “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you because the fruits of your disobedience are drowning out your voice.”

1 Peter 4:17 says: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God…” Peter wrote those God-inspired words sometime between A.D. 63-65. That is over nineteen centuries ago! If he could truthfully make that statement in his day, how much more so can we make it today?

Maybe it’s the pastor coming out in me, but I’m tired of Christians who live like hell through the week and then sing the joys of heaven on Sunday. I’m tired of them coming to church to learn more Bible when they flatly ignore the book’s most basic commandments and moral principles. And I’m definitely tired of having to explain the wrongness of the situation to them. If I have to tell you what the problem is, THAT’S part of the problem!

Our churches have become infected with ”sloppy grace.” We’re so scared that somebody will quit, or that somebody else will think poorly of us for letting them quit, that we just wink at all kinds of blatant sin. This, of course, kills our testimony and credibility with outsiders. You see, when personal holiness became optional in the lives of church members, we lost our power. Lost people don’t need another club or organization to join, even if it’s a religious one. They need for the church to be different. They need for it to be what it’s supposed to be. They need for it to be holy ground.  And as things stand now, it isn’t. We’ve got far too much bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen for that.

September 22, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Church attendance, Disobedience, Holiness, Personal Holiness, Repentance, Worship, obedience | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Idolatry In Early Bloom (a word about youth sports)

When you are the father of an athletic twelve-year old and eight-year old, you know more than you want to know about gyms, football fields, baseball diamonds, and soccer fields. You know how time consuming those places are. You know how much gas it takes to get to them. You know how much it costs for your kid to not only be there but be wearing the cool garb all the other kids are wearing. You’re life is not your own. You lost it all over again when they handed you the latest schedule. Of course, it’s been so long since you had it, you barely remember those days anyway.

A Christian with any degree of spiritual discernment can understand that sports has reached the status of idolatry in this country. But what many don’t understand is just how far down into the age brackets the idolatry has worked itself. A World Series in which the President throws out the first pitch and each player on the field is a millionaire is just the tip of the iceberg. A Super Bowl that offers Bruce Springsteen as halftime entertainment doesn’t paint the full picture. Neither does a Final Four where hundreds of fans have spent a couple weeks worth of paychecks just to sit in the nosebleed section of a dome and watch the games on a big screen. The fact is, the idolatry is in early bloom all the way down into the youth leagues.

The same parent who doesn’t mind calling in sick to work over a mere sniffle turns into Indiana Jones to get a kid to a game early Saturday morning. “Here’s the assignment, Dr. Jones, should you choose to accept it: Drag your child out of bed over protest (no bullwhip, please), get a uniform on the deadhead, grab a few Pop Tarts (the real breakfast of champions) on your way out the door, climb into the family truckster, exceed the speed limit, commit at least two cases of road rage, get to the site one minute after you were supposed to be there, watch the game and see your kid not do what he has been coached to do, drive back home as you fuss at the kid for not doing what he has been coached to do, and then spend the rest of your Saturday collapsed around the house trying to recover from the assignment.” Any takers? The hands of parents go up all over the countryside.

You say you are up for a sequel? Fine, let’s toss around a few more ideas. We could have Indy be forced to hunt down and buy a new, expensive football helmet because the one they gave his kid for standard issue looks like something Dick Butkus turned in at the end of the 1967 Chicago Bears season. Or we could have the coach of Indy’s kid suggest that Indy buy a lighter bat for the kid because the team has only three bats and none of them is light enough. And then, after Indy has shelled out $250 for the new bat, we’ll have three or four other kids on the team want to use it. Now we’re talking! And Indy will have to teach his child the lesson of sharing with those who haven’t contributed one dime to the cause. Oh, baby, I smell Oscar!

If I sound like I have an intimate knowledge of youth league sports, it’s because, for years now, I’ve moved through my calendar year by rotating from one youth sport to the next. In the spring and summer, it’s been baseball. In the fall, it’s been soccer and football. In the winter, it’s been basketball. I’ve been a head coach and an assistant coach. I’ve been a parent and a fan. I’ve been involved with everything from recreation league teams that didn’t win a game to “travel” teams made up exclusively of all-stars. And what has all of my experience taught me? I point you back to my earlier assertion: Youth sports is oftentimes nothing less than idolatry in early bloom.

I really don’t know what else to call it. One of the definitions that Webster’s Dictionary gives for “idol” is: “Any object of passionate devotion.” One of the definitions it gives for “idolatry” is: “Excessive love or veneration for any person or object.” An idol doesn’t have to be a graven image standing in your backyard. It doesn’t have to be a golden statue in the midst of an elaborate temple. An idol can be anything upon which you pour an inordinate amount of time, energy, money, and zeal.

Show me a father who won’t put a dime in the church offering plate but will gladly pay $175 for his kid to have that hot new pair of Nike basketball shoes, and I’ll show you an idol worshipping father. Show me a mother who won’t volunteer to do anything at church but thinks nothing of working the concession stand at the ball field or baking cookies for the fundraiser for her child’s soccer team, and I’ll show you an idol worshipping mother. Even if the father or mother is a Christian, it’s hard to deny that their purest worship goes to youth sports, not Jesus.

Just as some churches have “children’s church” or “wee worship” to train their children how to worship in the sanctuary with the adults, our society does the same kind of thing with the worship of sports. We use youth leagues to get our children ready to worship at the larger athletic stages. When a child never sees a parent praying, but often sees the parent arguing umpires’ calls, the child gets the message: Arguing umpires’ calls is important; prayer isn’t. When a child never sees a parent reading the Bible, but the parent knows the league rulebook from A to Z, the child gets the message: Knowing the rulebook is important; knowing the Bible isn’t. Kids aren’t stupid, and they pay more attention than we realize. It doesn’t take them long to figure out where our priorities lie. Once they’ve done this, all they have to do is embrace those same priorities and grow up. That’s how you build adults who worship sports more than Christ.

So, what should you, as the Christian parent of a child involved in youth sports, do about this problem? Let me suggest three things. Bear in mind that I don’t pretend this is an all-inclusive list. I offer it merely as an attempt to help you put on your thinking cap.

First, do an honest-to-goodness self-evaluation. Be real as to how big the problem is in your life. I know some Christian parents who genuinely have youth sports in a right perspective and balance. On the other hand, I know others who are way out of the banks on this issue. Where are you? Compare what you do for youth sports to what you do for your Savior. As the old saying goes, the first step is admitting you have a problem. If you have one, admit it.

Second, sit down with your child and ask questions you never ask. “Do you still enjoy playing this sport?” “Are you playing because you want to play or because you think I want you to play?” “Do you dread going to practice or the games?” “Has playing this sport made you more confident or less confident?” You might be surprised at the answers you get. Never take away a sport your child enjoys playing, but don’t make the child keep playing if the experience has turned painfully sour. It’s true that kids sometimes need to be pushed, particularly kids who are naturally lazy. But it’s also true that some parents keep their kids playing because to let them quit would be embarrassing to the parents, not the kids.

Third, get your worship back into proper alignment by rededicating yourself to Christ. This will knock youth sports off the throne of your life and give Jesus back His rightful place. If you will make this one big decision, it will take care of so many little decisions. Does Jesus want you to make a fool of yourself by arguing with an umpire? No. Does He want you to pull your child away from church Sunday after Sunday because your travel team plays in weekend tournaments that keep you constantly on the road and out of town? No. Does He want you to make your child keep playing a sport simply because if the child doesn’t keep at it he will never make the high school team? No. You see, once you have rededicated yourself to Jesus, that familiar question, “What would Jesus do?” takes on a whole new importance. If Jesus wouldn’t do something, you shouldn’t do it.

Perhaps by now you’re thinking that I’ve been reading either your mind or your mail. I haven’t. It’s just that, as I said, I know this subject very well. And, despite the conclusion you may have already drawn about me, I do know that sports doesn’t automatically equate to idolatry. Sports is fine when kept within acceptable parameters. It can even be a great thing. It promotes exercise, teaches teamwork, and rewards extra effort. It’s only when sports gets taken to the point of fanaticism, craze, and downright absurdity that it becomes idolatry. In that case, it has no place in the life of the Christian.

In the end, I certainly don’t expect our society to repent of its ways. I’ll bank on seeing a stadium full of people, on a Sunday at 1:00 p.m., in frigid weather, cheering wildly at a Pittsburgh Steelers or Green Bay Packers game this season. Those folks won’t all have just come from Sunday morning services either. We Christians, however, must reserve our worship for Jesus. More than that, we must show our kids just how devoted we are to Him. If that involves adjusting our mindset, so be it. If it involves missing a game, so be it. If it involves the extreme of quitting a sport, so be it. We must do whatever is necessary to bring every area our lives, including the area of youth sports, under the lordship of Christ. This won’t just help our kids; it will help us. And, after all, aren’t we the ones who are supposed to be molding and shaping them?

September 11, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Children, Church attendance, Fatherhood, God's Will, Parenting, Priorities, Sports | , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Lunchroom Trays & Jesus

You remember those lunchroom trays from your childhood, don’t you? They were so compartmentalized, so sectioned off, so “a place for everything and everything in its place.” The cream corn wasn’t to spill over into the mashed potatoes. The apple sauce couldn’t get out of its banks and make the roll soggy. The peas and Salisbury steak were strictly prohibited from mixing and mingling.

Such trays are nice things to have around when you are feeding kids. Give a seven-year old a flat playing surface with his food groups and who knows what artistic endeavors you might get? I think about Randy in that classic movie A Christmas Story. He was Ralphy’s little brother, the one who wouldn’t eat, the one who worked his mashed potatoes into the shape of a volcano and threw his peas into the side of it, making an explosion noise each time he did it. That probably wouldn’t have happened if his mother had used a lunchroom tray.

But the problem with lunchroom trays is this: Those things become so engrained in our minds when we are kids that we carry the mental imagery of them the rest of our lives. We come to think of our lives as being sectioned off into the neat little compartments of work, home, family, leisure, and religion. We shouldn’t take our work home. That is a spilling over and it’s wrong. Our leisure has no place at our worksite. If the two run together, we’ll get fired for goofing off. Home is for making the beds, sweeping the floor, mowing the yard, and cleaning the basement. It can sometimes walk hand in hand with family, but when family requires a trip to ball practice, piano lessons, dance recital, or the orthodontist, home must be left to stand alone in its own compartment of the tray. Leisure can be neighborly to home as well, what with television, dvds, and internet sites. But leisure and home can never fully join up because leisure must frequently abandon home to travel to the golf course, the lake, the campsite, the beach, or the amusement park.

And what about religion? Well, for the average Christian, religion primarily means going to church. Make no mistake, church is a wonderful thing, that is until it becomes something we merely drive to and back from. If that’s the case, church isn’t much more than a confined building where we sit and check off the program that is printed on the bulletin they hand us when we walk through the door. Opening prayer: listened to that, check. Hymn of Praise: sang that, check. Announcements: sat through them, check. Offering: paid my dues, check. Special Music: heard that, check. Sermon: got through that, check. Invitation: not for me, check. Benedictory Prayer: listened to that, check. Mission accomplished, time to leave for another section of the tray.

Let me assure you, however, that “tray living” is not what God has in mind for the Christian. The apostle Paul said, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). He also said, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Now, tell me, can you think of anything that isn’t a “whatever”? “Whatever” doesn’t just cover a lot of territory; it covers ALL territory. It is a Ziploc bag big enough to seal in your entire tray. The Christian must do his job, conduct himself at home, interact with his family, enjoy his leisure, and do his church attending all in the name of the Lord Jesus and to the glory of God. What a concept!

Can you imagine the implications of living in such a way? The Christian would be the best worker at his jobsite because he’d work as if Jesus was standing right there beside him. His home would be a well-kept place. It’s hard to have knee-high grass, filthy floors, and unmade beds to the glory of God. His treatment of his family would be exemplary, no spousal abuse, child abuse, or disfunction on his part. Sin wouldn’t enter into his leisure time either. No internet pornography, gambling addictions, alcoholism, or drug use. You just can’t engage in those things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Church attendance would be an awesome thing too. It would be vibrant, exciting, and uplifting, the kind of experience from which a person can launch out victoriously into the world.

You see, the point is that Jesus refuses to be compartmentalized. He wants everything the Christian says or does to come under His Lordship. If it is a “whatever,” He demands jurisdiction over it. He refuses to stay behind in His pew beside you at church and wait for you to rejoin Him there the next time you come. Instead, He stands up with you, listens to the benedictory prayer, and then has the gall to walk with you out the door and get in the car with you. As He climbs in, He asks, “Where are we off to?” When you protest by saying, “Wait a minute, Jesus, You’ve got to stay here at church while I go about my life,” He says, “No, I’m going wherever you’re going.”

By the way, in case you think I’m pushing things too far in depicting Jesus as being beside the Christian all the time, let me remind you that the Bible takes the idea even further than I have. Passages such as Romans 8:10, Ephesians 3:17, and Revelation 3:20 teach that Jesus, by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit, literally lives inside the Christian’s body. You can’t get any closer than that! What better Christians we would be if we would just get a hold of this idea. There you are, tempted to undermine your boss at work, play the slacker around the house, cut your spouse to shreds with cruel words, do something seedy and call it leisure, or daydream in church. Wait a minute, you wouldn’t do any of these things if Jesus was right there watching, would you? And it just dawned on you: He is!

That’s why, Christian, you should purge the concept of “tray living” from your mind. There are no sections, no compartments, no categories of your life. There is only Jesus, with you everywhere, all the time, expecting you to do everything in His name and to His glory. Yes, this is a radical way of living, but it’s a Biblical one. Live like this and your entire existence will be changed. Work won’t be the same place. Home will get an upgrade. Family will be taken to a higher level. Leisure will be good, clean fun. Religion will become something so much more than mere church attendance. Really, it won’t even be religion anymore. It will be a second-by-second relationship with Christ. Are you interested in that? Then turn in your tray and start living the way Jesus means for you to live.

 

 

August 11, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Church attendance, Commitment, Discipleship, God's Will, Personal Holiness, Work, Worship, obedience | , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Abounding More and More

In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, Paul says to the Christians of Thessalonica, “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God.” Please notice the phrase “abound more and more.” His point is that, generally speaking, a Christian’s service to the Lord should increase over the course of life. There should be a noticeable progression in service. At twenty, the Christian should do more for Christ than he did at fifteen. At twenty-five, he should do more than he did at twenty. At thirty, he should do more than he did at twenty-five. On and on it should go.

Of course, we understand that at some point the physical limitations of getting older will stop a Christian from performing certain acts of service. Even in old age, though, a person can shift focus to different kinds of service. The elderly preacher can’t hold down a pastorate anymore, but that just gives him more time for prayer. The retired school teacher can no longer be ”salt and light” in the school system, but she can do more visiting. Even the Christian in the nursing home can be an effective witness for Christ. The goal is to always abound more and more in service.

I was in my early twenties when I gave myself fully to Christ. Since I had been out of church for some time, my first order of business was to start slipping in for Sunday morning worship services. That led to my faithful attendance in Sunday School. That led to me getting serious about having a daily prayer life. That led to my faithful attendance for Sunday night services. That led to my faithful attendance for Wednesday night services. All of that church attendance led to me getting serious about Bible study. That led to me teaching a Youth Sunday School class. That led to me hearing God’s call to preach and accepting it. That led to me becoming a pastor.

You see, things started with me taking the baby step of slipping in for Sunday morning worship services. I took that step, stayed at that level for a little while, and then felt God push me to take another step. I took that step, stayed at that level for a little while, and then felt Him push me to take another step. I took that step, stayed at that level for a while, and then felt Him push me to take another step. The process has been a slow walk, not a long jump. The fact that I currently serve as the pastor of Disciples Road Church is simply where I am right now in my lifelong process of abounding more and more in service to Christ.

The New Testament uses the words “bishop,” “elder,” and “pastor” interchangeably to describe the role I play. Each word speaks to a different aspect of the role. “Bishop” carries the idea of overseeing. “Elder” carries the idea of leading with wisdom. “Pastor” carries the idea of shepherding the sheep. In 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Paul gives a God-inspired list of the qualifications of a pastor. Interestingly, in verse 6, he says that a pastor shouldn’t be a “novice.” It’s a real shame when a young Christian is rushed into the ministry. He hasn’t had the necessary time to get his roots sunk deep. He hasn’t been able to sit under enough teaching. He doesn’t have adequate experience where the rubber of Christianity meets the road of life. For this reason, young preachers oftentimes flame out like shooting stars. Most of that kind of thing could be avoided if each potential preacher was made to work through the careful process of abounding more and more in service to Christ.

I’m not saying that the end of every Christian’s road of service will be the ministry. It won’t be. I’m saying, Christian, that your life should show progression in service. If you aren’t currently doing any more for Christ than you did last year, you are wasting valuable time. You need to get off dead-center and take another step in service to Him. There is another level, one just above you, that you need to reach. Once you’ve been at that one for a while, then you’ll be ready for another one. You’ve got to keep moving up.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson was one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He had incredible natural talent, but he also had a strong work ethic. Each off season he would diligently work to add another dimension to his game. One off season he worked on his free-throw shooting and became an excellent free-throw shooter. Another off season he worked on his long-range shooting and became an excellent long-range shooter. He was never satisfied with where he was as a player. He was always working to get better.

Well, Christian, what Magic Johnson did as a basketball player, you should do as a servant of Christ. When you get your church attendance to where it needs to be, start working on your prayer life. When you get that in order, go to work on your Bible study. Once you get a good handle on that, hone in on specific acts of Christian service. Once those have become part of your routine, start working on your evangelism. Then work on your giving. Then work on your personal holiness. As I said earlier, on and on it goes.

God will take you as you are but He won’t leave you there. In our 1 Thessalonians 4:1 verse, Paul doesn’t talk about “how you ought to stand and to please God”; he talks about “how you ought to walk and to please God.” There is a big difference between standing and walking. Walking implies movement and progression. It goes right along with “abounding more and more.”  Take a look at where you are in service to Christ right now and dedicate yourself to doing more for Him.

May 7, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Church attendance, Discipleship, Doing Good | , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Food Won’t Come To You

Ryan, my eleven-year old, got off a classic line the other day. He was one with his bed, lying there watching his television. His mother had just finished her nightly chore of preparing his supper. When she told him that supper was ready, he didn’t respond. Finally, after a few minutes, she ratcheted the tone up to vintage motherly level and said, “Ryan, get in there and get your food.” In response, he said, with genuine surprise, “Oh, I thought it was going to come to me.”

As a pastor, I can’t help but relate that line to church attendance. Christian, the spiritual food doesn’t come to you; you have to actually go to church and get it. It’s all laid out there for you. It’s been carefully chosen and prepared to quench your spiritual hunger. But it won’t magically make its way to where you are and jump in your mouth. You have to put forth some effort.

Oh, I know all about the television ministries that some churches have. You can sit right there on your couch and be fed. But there’s really nothing like the “meal” you get by attending your local congregation. You know those people in a way you can never know that television congregation. That t.v. pastor won’t be the one to visit you when you are admitted to the hospital. He won’t be the one to baptize your child or grandchild. He won’t be the one to preach the funeral of your family member. That’s local church stuff.

Some years back, at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine special athletes lined up at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. When the starting pistol sounded, eight of them took off down the track. One boy, however, stumbled out of the blocks, tumbled a couple of times, and began to cry. When the other eight heard the crying, they slowed down to see what had happened. Upon seeing the boy, they all turned around and went back. One girl with Down’s Syndrome bent down, kissed the boy, and said, “This will make it better.” Then, with arms linked tightly together, all nine walked down the track and crossed the finish line together. That’s a beautiful picture of what church can be like. Brothers and sisters in Christ can help each other in life’s race by encouraging and supporting one another. Try getting that from a television broadcast.     

I realize that I’m painting a very idyllic view of churches. I’m a pastor, remember? It’s not like I haven’t seen my share of church members behaving badly toward each other. My point is simply that when church is right (and it’s right more times than we admit) there’s no place like it on earth. It’s a place for learning. It’s a place for growing. It’s a place for fellowshiping. It’s a place for sharing. It’s a place for giving. It’s a place for worshipping. Why wouldn’t you want to be there? 

And, believe me, I’ve heard just about all the excuses for not going to church. Again, I’m a pastor, remember? But so very many of those excuses don’t hold any weight with the Lord. In his book, The Miracles of Our Lord, Charles Ryrie offers a good word about such excuses. He does it in the context of his comments concerning Christ’s attendance of synagogue. He writes:

“If our Lord had wanted to use reasons, such as those often heard today, for not attending public worship He could have found many. Certainly He got very little out of the message, for after all He was the fulfillment of every Scripture read or explained in the service. Surely He knew more about God and spiritual things than anyone present, including the leaders in the synagogue. Too, He knew that the organization He was supporting would soon be replaced by the church. But still He went regularly. Christian liberty, properly understood, does not free one from regular responsibilities, including attending worship services (see Heb. 10:25).”

So, I ask you, how is your church attendance? Are you someone who can be counted on to be there? Or are you the type that only shows up when every last star comes into alignment? It’s been said that church-attendees are like cars: They start missing before they quit. You haven’t been sputtering, have you?  If you have, consider this little post God’s means of getting you back in tune and running smoothly. Go get your “meal.” It won’t come to you.

April 9, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Church attendance, Worship | , , | 1 Comment

Are You Too Busy?

Yesterday afternoon found me on the road having to be at a certain place at a certain time. It also found me in the midst of an absolute sea of traffic. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing. Cars, trucks, big rigs, dump trucks, and school buses were everywhere. I kept thinking, “Where are all these people going?”

To understand my astonishment, you’ve got to know where I live. I live in little old Mitchell county, way up in the mountains of western North Carolina. Our total population is a little under 16,000. We roll up the sidewalks at night in our two towns. We know our neighbors’ business. When we dial a wrong number, we end up talking to the person for ten minutes.

My afternoon trip had me driving out of Mitchell county and into Yancey county. Yancey county isn’t much more than a twin sister to Mitchell. That’s what made the traffic so amazing. I’ve taken more trips through Mitchell and Yancey counties than I can count. I know what is normal for these roads. Yesterday, I felt like I was in downtown New York city.

I don’t know where you live, but I’m guessing that there are more cars on your roadways these days. It seems that we now average two or three cars per household. Honestly, it’s hard for me to feel sorry for the auto manufacturers. It’s plain to see that they’ve been highly successful at selling their products for a long time now. If they’re having financial troubles, it has to be because of inept management, sinful excess, greed, downright stupidity, or something. They’ve sold enough cars in the past to be monetarily solvent for years to come. Of course, I do feel for all the blue-collar workers who’ve lost their jobs. It’s just that it seems absurd that they had to lose those jobs. I mean, it’s not like people haven’t been buying cars! 

But why am I fixating on cars today? I’m not. What I’m really fixating on is how BUSY we’ve become. Everybody seems to be running around to some place to do something. It makes me think of that Andy Griffith episode where the visiting preacher tells the Mayberry church folk to slow down and enjoy the simpler things of life. That was 1960s Mayberry. If that preacher wanted to preach that same message to today’s church folk, he’d have to leave an hour earlier just to account for the traffic to get to church.

There’s a Bible story that fits in here too. You’ve heard the one about Mary and Martha, haven’t you? They were the two sisters of Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead. Luke 10:38-42 is the record of a visit that Jesus made to their home. While Martha was scurrying around the house, taking care of the serving, doing the work of a hostess, Mary “sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Finally, in thinly veiled anger and frustration with the whole scene, Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”

It seemed to be a perfect occasion for a Proverbs style lesson on the value of a work ethic. It seemed to be the right time for a good word about love being shown in service. It seemed to be a clear case of Martha having a legitimate argument. But Jesus didn’t think so. He reversed field and said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

I can’t help but wonder how those words made Martha feel. They had to hurt her feelings, didn’t they? Did tears well up in her eyes? Did she get even madder? Did her mouth drop open in utter disbelief at Jesus siding with Mary? The Bible doesn’t tell us. The lesson of the story isn’t hard to discern, though: No matter how busy you are, you must make time to “sit at Christ’s feet” and “hear His word.” This can be done through prayer, Bible study, or reading a daily devotion. Many people call it “having a quiet time.” The classic word for it is worship.

You say, “Russell, I understand what you are saying, and I really want to have such times in my life, but I’m just so busy.” Okay, here’s my advice to you: Make this a priority! A friend of mine was fussing at his wife because she didn’t exercise enough. He was running several miles each day, but she wouldn’t even look at the treadmill. She said, “I just don’t have the time.” He replied, “You’ve got to make it a priority.” A few days afterwards, he asked her what was for supper. She said, “I don’t know. I’m not fixing it. I’m doing the treadmill. I’M MAKING IT A PRIORITY.”

I’m not telling you to stop doing any of the dozens of things that are mandatory for your day. Trust me, Jesus knows all about what is mandatory. But I am telling you that you must build times of intimacy with Jesus into your life. Leave the beds unmade if that’s what it takes. The yard doesn’t have to be manicured. Let a few dishes pile up in the sink. Your car will just get dirty again. The clothes don’t have to be yanked out of the dryer the moment it cuts off. Wal-Mart will still be there when you get there. You might have enough bread and milk to delay that trip to the grocery store. You get the idea. Whatever else you get done each day, you must spend some ”Mary” time with Jesus. And if you’re too busy to do that, you need to make some changes in your life. You’re busier than you need to be.

April 3, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Bible Study, Business, Church attendance, Personal, Priorities, Work, Worship, balance, prayer | , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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