Looking Ahead
On Sunday we took a few minutes to share four things we are believing for in the next number of months at City View.
3 Questions Every Jesus Follower Should Ask About Their Stuff
A few weeks ago we did a series at City View called Jesus & Money. We have been in the Sermon On The Mount as a community for over 15 weeks and during this series we unpacked Matthew 6:19-24.
It’s true that Jesus had a lot to say (1/4 of his teaching) about treasure, money and generosity. Here are a few things we learned:
- Everything is God’s and I get to steward what he has given me
- My finance always goes where my heart is
- We are not under law yet the tithe was instituted for my good
- An implication of following Jesus is that we are people who are generous
This is what Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-24:
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
There is a lot to unpack here, but I do think it leaves every Jesus follower three major questions to ask about what they do with their stuff.
1. Are You Storing Up Treasure In God?
When you hear the phrase “store up your treasures in Heaven” what comes to mind?
I’m assuming that most think of Heaven as some far off place you go when you die. The problem is that when we think like this we completely miss what Jesus is saying.
Many Jews in the first century were so devout that they wouldn’t write the name God. Most would write G-d for fear of someone destroying the page.
What Matthew did in his gospel is he interchanged the word Heaven for the word God in attempts to not offend his audience. So the “Kingdom of Heaven” could be translated “Kingdom of God”. The problem is that when people think of Heaven they often think of investing way into the future.
Now don’t get me wrong. I do believe that when you give financially to God’s work it will affect the future. The problem is that what Jesus is saying in Matthew 6:19 is actually a call for us to store up our treasure in God.
It has very little to do with storing up treasure in a far off place in the future and has a lot to do with storing up treasure in the present!
The question we are all faced with is this: Are we storing up treasure in Earth now? Or are we storing up treasure in God now?
You have to decide that for yourself.
2. Do You Have A Healthy Eye?
What is random is that in verse 22 Jesus begins to talk about the “eye”. Now the eye may not mean a lot to us today but in the ancient world the eye was a Jewish euphemism for how people handled money.
Jesus goes on to say, “If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light”.
The reality is that when you handle money well and exercise generosity it brings health to your entire life.
This has nothing to do with prosperity and everything to do with being under the rule and reign of Jesus.
It’s simple. Jesus followers should be the best at handling resource. They should be the most generous people on the planet!
How is your eye?
3. Who Is Your Master?
Verse 24 is the only place in the gospels where Jesus actually names a rival god. He takes this serious and says you cannot serve God and mammon (the god of money).
Most statistics show that the average person both inside and outside the church spends 97% of their money on themselves. It’s not a money issue as much as it is a master issue. Who rules your life?
Money is not inherently bad yet Jesus sets the stage for all of us. Who are you going to serve? Are you going to be under the rule and reign of Jesus or are you going to be under the rule and reign of money?
Easter 2012 Recap
We had an amazing Easter weekend! Here is a little recap, video from Good Friday and full video from our combined Resurrection Sunday gathering.
Recap
Good Friday
Resurrection Sunday [Full Video]
What I’ve Learned From Planting [Part 2]
About a month ago I took a few minutes to share some things we are learning as we plant a new community. I took some time to share some of the wins. Here are some things that I’ve learned on a day-to-day basis over the last 13 months.
Vision Is Important
We’ve learned that having a clear and concise vision is important. The reality is there are close to a hundred evangelical churches in our city so if you want a smorgasbord you can have it.
The tendency is to do to much and spread yourself thin as a young church. To avoid this we’ve focused on three primary things in how we function as a community:
- Corporate worship on Sundays
- Meeting house to house
- Releasing every person in our church to be a missionary (living on mission) in the city
Less On The Organization More On The Individual
I’ve been a pastor for seven years now and I have always found it amusing when people pose the question, “what is the church doing for the poor, the city, for this, for that, etc..”
I’ve always wondered why there is so much pressure on the church as an organization and very little expectation on the people who are the church.
Since we’ve started City View my answer to this question is another question. “What are you doing as a Jesus follower?”
We are working hard to shift from everything on the organization to more on the people who are the church. Our vision is to empower people in our corporate gathering on Sundays and from house to house throughout the week so that they can go and accomplish the mission of God in the city.
This doesn’t mean we won’t do things corporately for the marginalized. We have already started a ministry that gives away thirty or so lunches in the downtown core after our gatherings. It also doesn’t mean we won’t do certain things corporately to reach out to the community.
What it does mean is that we are not putting the mission simply on the organization. Less on the organization more on the people who are the church!
Calling People To “Be” The Church Isn’t Easy
We have a lot to work to do in the West. I don’t have all the answers but I’ve learned that it’s almost unique now to call people to be the church.
I am convinced theologically that God is not just creating for himself individuals. He’s creating for himself a people, the church, who are called to be priests to care and serve one another (1 Peter 2).
When you emphasize this in your community your growth may be slower. The reality is a lot of people want an event or to be entertained.
We have cautioned ourselves from simply herding people in and out of a church service.
Calling people to something greater isn’t easy.
A Church Plant Won’t Solve Your Church Problems
If someone is burnt out and critical on the global church from the beginning, a church plant is not going to help their church problems. If anything it is going to illuminate those problems because things are typically smaller and in the beginning stages of getting established.
Often people think something new will change their struggles with the church. In most cases it’s just not true.
Prayer Is The Engine For Everything
I have learned over the last 13 months that prayer is everything.
When we work to do things as the church and we do not pray we are basically declaring ourselves as God.
I have learned quickly that we do not bring growth. We do not sustain. We do not save. We do not change. We do not transform. God does.
If we do not dwell in Him and if we do not ask him to move for His glory we are simply missing the point.
Keller On The Gospel
The gospel does not say, “the good are in and the bad are out,” nor “the open-minded are in and the judgemental are out.” The gospel says the humble are in and the proud are out. The gospel says the people who know they’re not better, not more open-minded, not more moral than anyone else, are in, and the people who think they’re on the right side of the divide are the most in danger.
King’s Cross (p 47)
What I’ve Learned In The Last Year Of Church Planting (Part 1)
Today is the first birthday of City View, a church plant that we started in the center of London, Ontario. The last year has definitely been the most rewarding year of my life and as I look back we have a lot to celebrate.
I still remember our first morning together like it was yesterday and over the last year we have experienced some great wins and I have personally learned some valuable lessons.
Much of this has been brewing in my brain over the last couple of weeks so let me take a couple of minutes and share.
Today I will post some of the things we are celebrating and tomorrow I will post some things I have learned along this journey so far.
Some Things To Celebrate
Honouring The Past While Serving The Future
What I love about City View is that it has honoured the past while advancing into the future. We are apart of a greater church community where we share vision and resources. I’m thankful that Royal View is a church planting church.
A lot of the time new churches start because they think they can do things better. That was never the heart with City View. To be honest I pour as much of my time into what happens at Royal View as I do City View. We love what God has done in the past and we honour that. We would have it no other way!
Moving From Programs To Community and Mission Together
One major win for us has been shifting from programs and putting major emphasis on community and mission together. Programs are not bad, but we would rather see people in community, caring for each other and living out the gospel together. We don’t have a building so that naturally forces things to be more organic.
Our theme verse in this endeavor is from 1 Thessalonians 2:8 where Paul says, “so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”
Empowering The Priesthood
For those who know me well know that one of my greatest contentions with the church is that we often neglect empowering people to “be the church” and “do ministry”.
There is a lot of talk and there has been a lot written recently as to why young adults leave the church. There are many complexities as to why this is but I do think that much of this can be attributed to the fact that we put to much emphasis on certain people (leaders, pastor dudes) and less emphasis on the priesthood.
Looking back on this year, one of the things we can most definitely celebrate is people doing ministry! We don’t have money to pay anyone, yet a whole host of people have given their lives to lead, volunteer and serve the Kingdom of God in London.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10
Church From House To House
From the onset we said that we would put as much emphasis on meeting in groups in homes as we would on our Sunday gatherings. It has been beautiful to see five groups grow and live on mission together. They range from groups with no kids, to family friendly groups to a group of young adults that meets to serve and grow with each other.
This has been the strength of City View. There have even been weeks where we have had as many people in Community Groups as we have had in our Sundays gatherings.
Planting in a Canadian post-Christian context isn’t easy, but I do think we have some things to celebrate.
Below is a video that our kids shot for our birthday party!
FIVE MINUTE FRIDAY: Stop The Juggling Act
Our Lives The Last Couple Of Years
The end of a year always brings a lot of reflection in our lives.
This Christmas I got a new phone. I was well overdue. My old phone had over 1200 photos on it that we had taken as a family since August 2009.
Here is our story in photos from the last couple of years.
