Pantano Christian Church

I believe Christians and churches have a hard time being focused.  It is so easy to try to do everything (or too much).  Distraction is the curse of our age.  We are bombarded by so many things, our eyes have so much to look at, our ears are filled with noise and our lives are busier than ever.  There’s so much!  But with so much, we find that we are not satisfied, and in fact, the quality of our lives is diminished by all the stuff.  The mantra that I’ve been pounding lately is that less is more!  Focusing on fewer things that are really significant will make life much better.  Worry and anxiety, which includes the inability to be really satisfied, are the result of a diffused or lack of focus.

Jesus was clear about this principle.  In Matthew 6:19-34 Jesus teaches us how to avoid worry, anxiety and frustration and find focus.  He begins by warning about what we treasure (vv. 19-24).  If we treasure (focus on) the things of this world, life is dark. But when we treasure the things of God, we’ll experience a bright life.  The key is about what we FOCUS on.  Jesus said “the eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.” (vs. 22).  What we look at, gaze upon and focus on will become our treasure and shape our heart (vs. 21).

Jesus finishes this teaching (vs. 33) by reminding us that the only way to really be free from worry and find true satisfaction is to focus on the one and only thing that matters – the kingdom of God – “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The kingdom of God is people who allow God to really rule their own little kingdoms.  It is when we invite and follow Jesus to direct our daily lives.   When the question “Jesus, how do you want me to act right now?” becomes our focus, then everything in life changes.  As kingdom people our focus is on God, allowing him to influence our every thought, word and action.

These principles are true for our church also.  What is our church focus?  As a church we can do thousands of good and spiritual things.  We can use our time, our abilities and our money on lots of programs.  But the question is – “Jesus, what do you want your church to focus on?”  This is my prayer everyday.  It is the prayer I pray in retreat.  It is the prayer I pray before I make plans for our church.  What does Jesus want us to focus on?

As Lead Pastor here’s what the Lord has directed me to focus our church on in this season.  Our passion is that all of us at Pantano engage and grow in following Jesus well.  That is the most significant thing we can do.  We believe that STEP provides a path to following Jesus well (click here to check out STEP).  Further, as Christ followers, we want to love people to Jesus and reach those we are not reaching.  This is the hope for the world.

Together to make the world different,

Glen

Click here to check out my article “Finding Your Focus” in The Christian Standard.

The core of our current culture is that of consumption (that was a lot of “c” words).  Being a consumer is what life is about in America.  We’ll fix the economy if the government gives us more money (via bailouts or tax cuts) so we can consume (buy).  Our whole economic system is built on everyone buying more and new and paying for it on credit.  Shopping is the #1 leisure activity.

Everything we watch, see and listen to is a message to own, buy, have and use.  We are all marketed – meaning smart people spend lots of time and money figuring out ways to get us to buy and feel good about it.  Ownership is the path to the good life.  Having the right stuff can make us happy.  Without the right stuff, we cannot be happy.  The goal of marketing is to make sure we are never satisfied.  We are encouraged to indulge (discipline, sacrifice and self-control are never a part of advertising).  The customer is always right and that really means that the consumer is king.  It is great to feel like a king (with apologies to the King of kings).  We can’t escape the power and influence of consumerism.  That’s why I’m sounding the alarm.  We’ve got to resist.

We even choose a church based on how it serves me.  Can the church give me what I want?  Does its programs and services make me happy?  Does this church do a better job of delivering the good stuff?  Are there lots of choices?  Is the church comfortable, entertaining and relevant?  We seldom ask, “What can I do for Christ and his church?”  We’ve made Christianity into a consumer faith.

It gets worse.  In practical ways, we forget to worship God for simply who he is.  He is worthy to be praised … period.  But as consumers, we get upset at God for not giving us what we want or need.  God is often evaluated on how well he delivers.  It is so easy to view God as the great Walmart in the sky.  But the heavenly Walmart shouldn’t just dispense products, but happiness and a world without problems, sickness or inconveniences.

We can’t escape that we live in this consumer world.  I’ve tried in a few paragraphs to describe the heart (the worldview) of our world.  Jesus reminds us that we are not of the world (John 15:19).  We are called by Jesus to live above the demeaning and dehumanizing world of consumerism.  We are invited to forsake all the false gods of stuff and status to follow Jesus.

May each of us learn to choose Christ and real community over the daily temptation of consumption.  May we seek to sell out to the Savior rather than have our souls emptied by stuff and status.  May the cross be the logo and brand that we long to wear and that defines us.  May we endure in the struggle to be free of consumption in order to be a slave of Jesus.

Glen

As I’ve been reading and studying Proverbs I’ve noticed a recurring theme about snares that I had missed in the past.  Proverbs is written to give us wisdom to live well and experience blessing (the best life God has to offer).  So part of wisdom is to avoid the traps in life.

Think about a trap or snare.  Usually bait is put in the trap to catch the prey.  Or the trap is well hidden.  The bait looks good and the animal goes after it only to be trapped.  So much in life looks really good or the danger is not obvious.  If we tested many of our temptations against God’s guidance and wisdom, we’d discover we are actually being led into a trap.  Take a look at some (these are not all) of the proverbs that warn us about the kinds of traps to avoid.  These are worth the time in reflection.

The foundation or basis of wisdom to avoid traps is stated in Proverbs 14:27:

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.

And again in Proverbs 29:25:

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

In reference to a woman seducing a man we are warned that sexual sin is like a snare and can cost us everything (Proverbs 7:23):

till an arrow pierces his liver,

like a bird darting into a snare,

little knowing it will cost him his life.

There are several warnings about our words.  Our words can be a huge trap.

An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble. (Proverbs 12:13)

A fool’s mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. (Proverbs 18:7)

It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows. (Proverbs 20:25)

Proverbs 22:24 & 25 reminds us that who we hang around with can be a trap.

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.

Wisdom is learning how we are likely to be trapped and avoid them.  What sets you up to be ensnared?  Tiredness?  Loneliness?  Anger? Entitlement?  Envy?  May we trust God and obey him and avoid the traps that rob us of life.

Seeking to live free,

Glen

This past summer we did a series called the 7 Things that Kill taken from the ancient list of the 7 Deadly Sins.

Dante (1265-1321) wrote a classic called the Divine Comedy.  It is three poems about Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.  Dante describes the “7 Deadly Sins” as offenses against love.  That’s really intriguing.  When we sin, we are either not loving God or not loving as God loves or we love the wrong things. Here’s how Dante grouped the 7 Deadly Sins:

• Sins that pervert love by a focus on self:  Envy, Anger and Pride
• The sin of insufficient love: Sloth (not putting forth the effort to love well)
• Sins of excessive love of worldly things:  Lust (love of sex), Gluttony (love of food) and Greed (love of money)

In the end, it is not just about avoiding sin (which we need to give attention to).  It is about loving more.  It is about loving the right things – God, his Word and all his creation.  It is about loving without limits.

While I, like you, struggle with sin (lately my challenge has been envy and greed), my greater challenge is to love others like God has loved me.  That’s huge!

That’s why Jesus identified love as the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-40).  Our focus in life is to love God with our whole being and to love others as we love ourselves.  This is the great antidote to sinning.  Where love rules, sin is absent.  When love is absent, sin abounds.

A friend of mine a few months ago told me he was asking himself this question:  “Do I love well?”  The simplicity of that has had a huge impact on me.  I’ve been regularly asking myself that – “Am I loving well?”  Imagine if throughout our day, we asked this question and then made decisions to fulfill that!

I’m grateful I’m not on my own to figure out what that means.  Loving well is living like Jesus.  He put others first.  He was willing to sacrifice whatever for the good of others.  He loved without limits or conditions.  May we all grow to love like Jesus.

Together learning to love well to make the world different,

Glen

Every church has roots.  Churches have denominational roots or they formed from a church split.  Pantano Christian Church is a non-denominational church and we have roots.  Our roots go back to a movement that started on the American frontier in the early 1800’s.  It was a biblical unity movement.  It was a movement which stated that the church of Jesus is one Church.  That unity is possible only when we drop our denominational focus and re-focus on Jesus and the scriptures.  They used some great sayings or mottos that still resonate with me today:

• We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only.
• In essentials, unity.  In non-essentials, liberty.  In all things, love.
• Where the Bible speaks, we speak.   Where the Bible is silent, we are silent.

It was 200 years ago that a document written by a man named Alexander Campbell launched this movement.  It is called the Declaration and Address and it is not an easy read (39 pages).  As our country came out of a revolution that resulted in our political independence, this document was a call for a spiritual revolution to return to biblical Christianity.

Campbell and others started what became known as the Restoration Movement.  The idea was to restore “simple evangelical Christianity” that was to be discovered by looking to the New Testament and avoid man-made religious inventions.  Now, to be honest, that is a very hard thing to do.  It is a huge challenge to figure out what was taught and practiced by the first church that was intended to be true for every church of every culture of every age.  It’s a challenge to figure out what was unique to the 1^st Century church and not intended to be carried to our culture today (like: “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” – 2 Cor. 13:12).  It is a challenge to apply the commands and principles of the New Testament to a church in 2009 in Tucson, AZ.  But it is the right question and challenge to engage.

The Declaration and Address reminds us of our roots.  May our roots result in our being a catalyst to work with all churches to reach the whole world that needs Jesus more than anything else.  May we live in the realization that the church is the one body of Christ and it is necessary that we work for Christian unity to accomplish Christ’s mission on earth.  We therefore commit again to never speak against another church or judge another Christian.  While we will never agree on all theological or doctrinal opinions, we can build our unity on the core of the gospel based on the lordship of Jesus.  Our fighting with and against each other discredits Jesus and hurts the mission Jesus gave us.  May we fulfill Jesus’ prayer – an appeal for unity (John 17:20-23).

TOGETHER to make the world different,

Glen