Knowing Where You Stand

My thanksgiving weekend was definitely not what I expected it to be. Eye opening, at the least, it made me aware of just how important it is for me to know why I believe what I believe. After a hefty dinner on Thursday, I was on my way to visit a friend whose church held a youth conference. Somewhat aware of the negative sentiment that that church's leadership held towards Mars Hill, I nevertheless did not attempt to hide that it was a church that I considered home. Naturally, this created several occasions for debate.

It's difficult for me to weave the complexity of what happened into just a few paragraphs. Many factors contributed to the formation of widely accepted opinion about Mars Hill at that place. The leadership's goal for the past year has been to raise awareness about the Emerging Church, and warn their "flock" about the pitfalls and dangers of that movement. However, they seem to be unaware of the difference between Emerging and Emergent. All the attributes that they've given to an Emerging Church are really those of an Emergent Church, which Mars Hill is NOT. But what the leaders have been doing is listing it in the same category with Emergent Village.

Because of that sentiment, those in the church who never bothered to do their research, but zealously stand behind their pastor's opinion, actively participated in the naturally created debates with us, people from Mars. As funny as it sounds -- and always what the enemy's goal is for Christians to do -- the debate centered around appearances. Mars Hill just doesn't LOOK godly. The music is too loud. After that conversation one of my friends admitted that she hated how those were the only arguments they could think of because we are right, it DOESN'T matter. And that she wants to do more research to figure out what is REALLY wrong with Mars Hill.

I could sense the disappointment when upon the question of "did you get anything out of the conference?" all I could say is that it was a nice review. Andy Snider did a basic overview of Modernism and Postmodernism. But Pastor Mark has already done several way more in-depth sermons on these, as well as on the pitfalls and dangers of the Emergent Church movement. All I can say is that it was a difficult situation for me to be in. I didn't enjoy the conference. I didn't enjoy the tremendous effort it took for me to be loving towards people who were hating on my church. But I'm glad that the experience made me more aware of the importance of ME knowing the difference between Emerging and Emergent.

It also made me more thankful. Thankful that God has placed me in an amazing city where there is an amazing church that I can be a part of. Thankful for Mark Driscoll and the in-depth way in which he teaches the Bible. Thankful for the rest of Mars Hill team who make his sermons easily accessible. Thankful for my parents, who have taught me the importance of discernment from a VERY early age. Thankful for like-minded friends from Mars Hill, and especially those who were also at this conference, with whom I can share my thoughts and feelings about this experience. But most importantly, I'm thankful for God's Word. I'm thankful that He left us something to rely on, and that it's alive and talking today to everyone individually, always applicable, no matter what the situation.

This is a helpful sermon that Mark preached on the topic of the Emerging Church.

Instant Answer

On the verge of panicking myself into an anxiety attack this morning, not knowing what to worry about more, in utter desperation I bowed my head and said to God that once again my life is in utter disorder in more than one aspect, that I don't know how I got to that point and don't know where to start and how to fix it -- but I want out. Immediately I felt a huge dosage of piece come over me -- not completely pushing out anxiety, but drowning out enough of it to get me moving through projects at work. Within a few hours I accomplished a bunch of tasks. While I was on it, I listened to one of the sermons in the Nehemiah series, preached by pastor Mark Driscoll about three or so years ago. (Nothing like a sermon to get you going...)

The sermon was on "Leading and Laboring" and concentrated mostly on organizational abilities of churches, companies, and leaders. There technically should have been nothing in it to speak to my current woes. But of course God works better than any logic that we have. So I will simply share Mark's words, exactly how he spoke them smack in the middle of an otherwise almost irrelevant to my situation, albeit very entertaining and interesting, sermon.

"... I would say for some of you, this is even a general principle that applies to your own lives. You're tired, you're burnt-out, you're frustrated, you're broke, you're not doing so well health wise. So what you're saying is "I need to run faster, try harder, do more." The issue may be: No, you need to pull back. Stop working IN your life, and work ON it. Do you need to change your place of employment, your diet, your exercise, your schedule, your budget? Do you need to drop outstanding obligations that you can no longer fulfill? Companies need to do this as well, all the time. Individuals must do this also.

One of the indicators that God gives us when we reach those places is pain: physical pain, financial pain, relational pain, emotional pain. It's God's way of saying "it's time to work on your life, not just in it. The treadmill's too fast -- you are not keeping up. It's time to get off and re-look at everything."

Let's just say that it's absolutely amazing to me how God can use old sermons to speak today. And that this time I'm not as head-first into everything that's making me anxious, so it shouldn't be as painful as the last time I had to spring-clean my life. I'm thankful that He keeps speaking to me. Keeps working on me. And keeps pulling me out of mistakes that apparently I tend to make over and over again. It's time to de-clutter. And for those of you who'll be involved -- I apologize ahead of time. But I'm burnt out. I need to get off the treadmill.