anonymous

Recently I have received several comments on my blog under the name “anonymous.” Because I don’t know you, I looked you up in my dictionary to understand you better. According to the dictionary on my Mac dashboard you are someone who, “has no outstanding, individual, or unusual features; unremarkable or impersonal.” Because I don’t want to believe this about you, I have written this note specifically for you:

Dear anonymous commenter,

Why do you choose to be anonymous? Are you scared of revealing yourself to the Internet world? Do you know how to fill your name into the box that says “name”? Are you in too big of a hurry to get to the next website you read? Are you trying to be funny? Or perhaps rude?

Whatever your answers to any of these questions are, anonymous, I want you to know I love you, and better than that Jesus loves you. Often times I do think you are funny and chuckle at some of the words you use, like Pee Wee used to do when someone said the infamous word of the day. However, because of my love for the other individuals that read my blog I can’t always allow your comments to be known.

I do want us to be friends, anonymous, but you’re making it quite difficult. Let’s bury the hatchet. I’ll go first. Hello. My name is Matthew Costner. So good to meet you…

Worship Star

Dear pastors and congregations,

Please watch this video. It can help you understand your worship leader, or pray it isn't your worship leader... 

Your friend, Matthew

Heaven & Earth

I have the wonderful privilege of letting you all in on an awesome CD that is coming out November 17, 2009. Phil Wickham's Heaven & Earth (H&E) is seriously taking worship to another level. From the first moment I put H&E into the CD player, I found myself banging my head and tapping my feet as my wife told me to focus on driving. I couldn't help myself though. I was captivated at the enhancing sounds of what I picture to symbolize the future while listening to sweet melodies drawing me closer to my Savior. 

I don't know if H&E is better than Wickham's previous album Cannons, but it definitely gives it a run for its money. Personally, I have been searching for a new song to sing to the Lord, and I have been struggling finding the right song that said the right thing. As I listened to H&E I realized quickly that Mr. Wickham could quite possibly be someone who could pen the lyrics my heart has been trying to articulate. When I got to Cielo I couldn't fight the emotion this CD had welled up inside of me. I still find myself singing the lyric, "I can't bow low enough at the vision of you my God. I can't reach high enough when I'm reaching for you." How powerful. How awe inspiring. How worshipful. You want this CD. You need this CD. What a great way to continue our journey, listening to great music, by a great muscian. Thank you INO Records and thank you Mr. Wickham.  

Jesus curses?

It seems like many people who call themselves Christian, fake abiding and trusting in Jesus. Am I the only one who thinks this? Churches seem to be packed with people who act like they have their junk together, when in reality they don't. In the bible those people were referred to as the religious people. It’s the people that Jesus warned us about, and it’s the very people that worked the hardest to kill Him during His ministry. Does it not blow your mind that the people that tried to kill Jesus were the ones that knew Scripture the best and had been so religious for so long they felt some sort of entitlement to their religion?

It was in this context that we find the crazy story of Jesus and the fig tree. Do you remember it? Mark 11: 12-21.

The disappointment of Jesus with the fig tree is an extremely significant event we Christians need to understand. At first glance, one might think Jesus is upset with an actual tree that failed to feed Him when He was hungry, but the fig tree and its fruit play a much larger role.

When Jesus cursed the fig tree, He symbolically placed a curse on Israel. The fig tree (Israel) failed to bear fruit even though its leaves indicated it was in season (the appointed time for the coming of the Messiah). Due to its lack of fruit, the fig tree was cursed to wither. Likewise, Israel placing her trust in her religion rather than her Messiah led to her eventual destruction at the hands of the Romans in A.D. 70.

Now, let’s deal with what seems like the hard question here. Why did Jesus curse the fig tree if it was not the right season for figs?

I don't know a lot, but being from the country, I know that the fruit of the fig tree generally appears before the leaves and because the fruit is green it sort of blends in with the leaves right up until it's almost ripe. When Jesus approached the fig tree, the text indicates that the tree had plenty of leaves! Researching this idea, I found that R.K. Harrison, writing in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, explains that various kinds of figs grew in Palestine during the first century. One very important aspect of fig growth has to do with the relationship between the leaf and the fruit. Harrison notes that the tiny figs, known to the Arabs as taksh, “appear simultaneously in the leaf axils.” This taksh is edible and “is often gathered for sale in the markets.” Furthermore, he notes: “When the young leaves are appearing in spring, every fertile fig tree will have some taksh on it.... But if a tree with leaves has no fruit, it will be barren for the entire season.”

When Jesus approached the leafy fig tree, He had every reason to believe that something edible would be on it. However, after checking it out, Mark records that “He found nothing but leaves.” No taksh were budding, as they should have been if the tree was going to produce edible figs that year. The tree appeared to be fruitful, but it only had outward signs of bearing fruit (leaves) and in truth offered nothing of value to weary travelers.

Therefore, when Jesus and His disciples saw from a distance that the tree had leaves, they would have expected it to also have fruit on it even though it was earlier in the season than what would be normal for a fig tree to be bearing fruit. Because of the climate there, sometimes fig trees produced two to three crops of figs each season. There would be an early crop in the spring followed by one or two later crops. In some parts of the area, depending on climate and conditions, it was also possible that a tree might produce fruit ten out of twelve months! This also explains why Jesus and His disciples would be looking for fruit on the fig tree even if it weren't in the main growing season. The fact that the tree already had leaves on it even though it was at a higher elevation around Jerusalem would have seemed to be a good indication that there would also be fruit on it!

When we look at this story in its context, the barren fig tree seems to apply to the pretentious religion of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Following Jesus’ curse on the fig tree, the text says that Jesus went to Jerusalem and began to drive the moneychangers out of the temple (Mark 11:15-19). In essence, the activities in the temple that once had been fruitful and wholesome had become empty of value and useless. What was intended to be good had become bad because they (the religious people) began placing their trust in the activities, programs, and traditions rather than what all that was originally pointing to.

I guess here's the point of all this: if we are finding our identity in anything other than Jesus, we need to repent and turn from our ways! The religious people in Jesus day had began placing their trust in their religion rather than who their religion was pointing to, Jesus. As a people we need to make sure we aren’t following in those same footsteps. Let’s make it a point to seek to abide in Christ and pursue Him, the author and perfector of our faith.  

What do you think about Work?

Do you work? What do you think about it, working? Even if we don’t have a regular job to go to we end up finding ourselves working. There is always something that needs to be done, if not in a regular job, then around the house, or at a neighbor’s house, or at church. 

The bottom line is that the Bible establishes the goodness of work early on in the book of Genesis. We can sum up that the very first thing that ever happened was “WORK!” Then by Genesis 2:1 we read this:

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” 

And what do we know about all this work? God said that it was… “good!"

As I was reading in Genesis it was amazing to me that from the very beginning God had a positive attitude. He had been working, and then He stepped back and said, “man that’s good!” Can you picture it? He was proud of what He had made, and his attitude reflected it! Coach Lou Holtz once said, "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

Paul wrote in Colossians 3: 23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Work is inevitable. We are always going to work. There's no way around it. It is such a big part of our life people write songs about working. There's songs that talk about loving work and there's songs that talk about hating work. Our attitude towards that work is dependent upon our relationship with Christ. It is truly impossible to bear the fruit (attitudes) of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26) when we don't abide in Christ. John 15: 5 says, "I (Jesus) am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." This includes having the kind of attitude we need and dare I say want to have.

Just for kicks, what's your favorite song about working? Mine is "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" by Alan Jackson.

3 SIMPLE RULES FOR BUILDING AN ONLINE COMMUNITY

1) Actually Care – Are you Friends on facebook and other social sites? Let’s face it, anybody can add numbers to their Twitter followers, but building an online community goes beyond that to caring holistically about the person. This involves doing what you can to get to know the person better. Not stalking them, but seeking to get to know them better. This won’t happen if you don’t care to begin with.

2) Respond/Comment – There’s no way you can get to know someone if you aren’t in communication with them. Communication is the key to establishing any relationship even if it is online. Ask questions; answer questions; encourage; support. Once you get to know someone then you can joke, but be careful joking at first. It's hard to hear the tone in someone's voice when you are only reading.

3) Move On – If someone isn’t in to you, then move on to someone that is. There are millions of people on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, and if only a fraction of those are interested in being your online buddy then that is still more than you need to actually be a friend. The beauty of social sites is that people who care can get connected and grow. Also, if they don't care, then you no longer have to follow. 

So, how serious are you at building community online? Do you do it to feed an ego or to meet and get to know people?

My Prayer 4 You.

Today as I was having my quiet time, I came across this Scripture. I've read it before, but it has never hit me the way it did today. When I had finished, I couldn't stop reading back over it. As the afternoon progressed, just as Paul was using it as a prayer for the Philippian church, I began to pray it for my church, friends, and family. I thought that I would share it with you... 

"God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:8-11).

I wish I would have been able to write this myself, but it truly is my heart. I love you all, and am so thankful to serve Jesus along side each of you .