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I Could Have Got More: Schindlers List

In our conversation at SVA this weekend on the return of Christ, one area we discussed was how followers of Christ are to live and engage the world while waiting for His return. Three key thoughts we discussed were that we needed to:

  • Stay Awake…His return is imminent, He could come back at any moment so we need to be ready. Every person is responsible for their faith and relationship with God. You can’t live on someone else’s faith…You can’t but or work your way into the kingdom…and when Christ returns, there are no more chances. In light of this we need to make sure that our lives are connected to God through Christ. His grace is waiting for everyone…there is nothing you need to do, figure out, or clean up before you come to God…simply come. 


  • Stay Engaged…God has given everyone a purpose and mission to live out. The followers of Jesus are not to “bunker-in” and disengage from life, but rather, we are to invest all that God has given us to make a positive impact for His kingdom with every breath that we have. If you are still breathing, you still have a purpose and mission to fulfill. 


  • Stay Missional…As you read the parables of Christ it quickly becomes apparent that those who follow Jesus live in such a way that mercy, grace, justice and compassion are not just deeds that they do, but rather a lifestyle that they live. When we are tethered to Jesus and when we long for His presence in our lives, there is a transformation that takes place deep within us. This transformation is birthed from God’s love releasing mercy and grace like a burgeoning river breaking through a dike.

For me, the Second Coming of Christ comes down to a question of love… If I truly love Jesus with all that is within me, I will long to be with Him, and in the meantime that love will propel me to live in such a way that other’s long for His return as well. The contagion of love creates a Christ-reality and at the same time waits for a Christ-reality.

Love is a verb…

Love requires expression…

Love is why Jesus is coming back…

Love is the means and the method to reach seekers…

Love is the definitive mark for those who follow Jesus… 

When we allow God to perform a heart transplant within us,  our motivation to share Christ with others moves from religiosity to compassion expressed through love.

This reminds me of the closing scene from Schindler’s List where Oskar Schindler had purchased the lives of 1100+ Jews from concentration camps to work in his factory during WW II. Initially he saw the use of Jewish prisoners as a way to make great profits, but something happend…he changed…his heart changed…those Jewish prisoners became people who mattered and Oskar’s profiteering turned to redemption.

Even though Oskar did so much, spending his income to purchase/redeem those 1100 Jews from a certain death…he knew it wasn’t enough and he could have done more.

When it’s all said and done, and we stand before God I hope we can all know we made a difference.

We are here to help people find their way back to God.

Here’s that final scene from Schindler’s List…

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Funny Theological Video of the Day

My friend Matt Archer posted this video the other day and it brought a huge level of pastor/theology humor. If you have ever tried to explain the concept of the Trinity to someone, you realize how quickly all of our examples done in simile fashion breakdown. The Trinity is mysterious, and this video pokes some fun at our attempts to boil the infinite down into earthly terms.

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The Size of Things

Here’s a rough edit of the video that I used in the conversation on Sunday about the “Incarnation” There are a number of good videos that have been created that try to show how small we are as a planet in comparison to all the stars we have found.

So often we do think that we are the center of the universe rather than a part of the over-all macro story of God in the universe(s). For example, take our own star the Sun. It is so big that you could place 960,000 earths inside of it! That is huge, but even our sun is a blip compared to Canis Majoris.

You could fit 7 quadrillion earths inside of the star Canis Majoris, that is so unfathomable. Louie Giglio noted that if earth was the size of a golf ball, 7 quadrillion golf balls will completely cover the entire state of Texas not just once, but up to 22 inches deep! That’s a lot of golf balls, and that puts our infinitesimally small size into focus when compared to Canis Majoris.

This also reminds me of how great, grand, awesome and infinite God is. That there are galaxies and universes that we have not even created the technology to discover yet. But they exist solely because of God’s pleasure. The stars are His,  the worlds are His. Everything we see belongs to Him and was created by Christ.

That is why the Incarnation amazes me. The Incarnation means that God came to our world. But not only that He came as a god on a visit, but incarnation tells us that He “enfleshed” Himself with humanity. Yes He came, but He also be-came one with us. The immortal became mortal so that the mortal could taste immortality  God became human so that humanity could experience God’s indwelling grace.

I’m still amazed that bedraggled and  befuddled humans have received so great a love from our God who is untamable  unfathomable, all-powerful, and all-knowing. Even though He knows us so well, He still chooses to love us, forgive us and empower us to be His hands and feet on this little ol’ planet. Because of that great love, I want to be a planet changer that brings about a God-reality everywhere I go.

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Jesus and Religion

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“Christianity was never intended to be an “ethical system” with Jesus Christ at the head. Our Lord did not come into the world 2,000 years ago to launch Christianity as a new religion or a new system. He came with eternal purpose. He came as the center of all things. Actually, he came to be our religion. He came in person, in the flesh, to be God’s salvation to the very ends of the earth. He did not come just to delegate powers to others to heal or cure or bless. He came to be the blessings and the full glory of God are to be found in His person.”  ~A.W. Tozer
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I came across this quote by Tozer and I was again reminded of the centrality of Jesus and the decentralizing of religious institutions. It seems the more we succeed in the church, the more we create something that competes with Jesus. Jesus came to be our faith, our religion, not to compete against what we have created.

As churches grow and initiatives progress, we tend to pat ourselves on the back for what we have accomplished. Yet the community of faith is supposed to be something different, the measuring metrics are different, the outcomes are different.

The larger a church grows the more complex the machinery needed to maintain it. Expansion moves towards the ever elusive dollar, and soon a congregation might find itself serving their structures and initiatives and programs rather than the God who inspired the movement.

When the church moves in this fashion, the teachings become more about behavioral modifications and sinning less because we are so busy “doing” religious stuff that we forget that Jesus -is- our religion.

For the follower of the Rabbi, there is no substitute for who He is…There is no to do list that trumps His presence…There is no self-improvement program that transcends His power.

Jesus is the center. Jesus is the personal revelation of the Father. Jesus is our religion. In becoming our religion, He has demolished the machine that has been created in His name yet lacks the power of His presence.

Monty