The Root of the Issue - Luke 6:20-49

Thoughts from the message on 3/19/17

The Root of the Issue - 

Jesus consistently describes life in ways that may feel confusing to us. Imagine you've just come to your favorite swimming hole and find it littered with junk and dirty everywhere, so you spend some time cleaning it up. Then the next day you come back to enjoy a day in the water but its dirty again! What happened - this doesn't make sense? I thought I solved that problem! It's this kind of confusion that the people are feeling what Jesus speaks in this passage. What they thought led to blessing doesn't and what they put their hope in is uncovered as empty. 

Jesus is offering a bold rejection of their entire worldview, and the values which drive their life. It's normal to think that the world revolves around me and if I put my head down and work hard I will get money, good food, fun and prestige. I'll love the way I want to and direct my life the way I see fit. But Jesus is addressing where to put our hope and where to direct our love in a way that is totally counter-intuitive. We naturally love ourselves, but the self-giving love of God is the pattern and template where true joy is found. When we love the way the world loves, i.e. through give and take, we'll produce nothing other than what the world produces. We can only love the way God loves when we let Jesus' self-giving love envelope and live through us. And we can only love the way he loves when we choose to worship him and not some other thing that we feel gives us hope. 

As humans, we are naturally worshippers and will always worship something or someone. And what we worship shows us what we put our hope in. When we worship him, we allow him to be all we need, so that we don't have to put our hope in other things, but are free to give away, knowing that our needs will be met. It's when we give of ourselves without expecting payment and when we love without being loved back, that we live in the self-giving love of Jesus. This love isn't something we can produce on our own and we were not born with it. We may say we're following Jesus, but our life may be founded on something that we never actually left (a false way of loving and worshipping). We've worked really hard to keep the swim hole clean and we're in the same spot. Maybe we need to let Jesus take us upstream a little bit and show us the source of the problem, allowing him to refocus our love and worship. 

Questions for Reflection - 

1. Since I am a worshipper, what are the things I naturally want to worship or place my hope in?

2. How does Jesus challenge our pattern of loving people in this passage?

3. What does it mean for me to allow Jesus to be Lord of my life and the one I put my hope in?

Contributed by: Sky Cady

Ministering From Dependence - Luke 6:12-19

Thoughts from the Message on 3/12/17 

Ministering From Dependence:

When we look at the life of Jesus and try to understand his rhythms of life it’s good to observe the kinds of places he went.  He spent a considerable amount of his ministry life up around the Sea of Galilee.  Geoff told a story of when he went to Israel a couple months ago and had the chance to go on a hike up Mt. Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  When he got to the top of the mountain he was overwhelmed reflecting on Jesus ministry there – seeing the world that Jesus saw.  Sitting in awe of who God is and what he’s done, Geoff couldn’t help but remember that Jesus spent significant time alone in places just like that reasserting his dependence on the Father.  

While we all have incredibly impacting experiences with God those times don’t seem to come very often, and once they do happen it feels like we quickly forget them.  In this book, Luke says 5 times that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray.  In these times with God, Jesus was showing us his dependence on the His Father.  In this particular instance his prayer through the night was the preclude to showing the disciples his power in healing people.  The power came because of his dependence.  “Power was coming from him and healing them all” because of what God wanted to accomplish through him.  God wants to accomplish things through us in the same way, but we need to acknowledge our dependence on him.  We can’t be fully freed to do the work he has asked of us until we fully surrender in dependence, accepting his invitation and letting him do the work.

Questions for Reflection: 

Where do I need to rearrange my life to reestablish dependence on him?

What would it be like to allow the Lord to move in power through you to serve others?

What does dependence on God mean for you?

Contributed by: Sky Cady

Amsterdam!

Well, as most of you know we have an international strategy for our church. We are focused on 4 cities and specifically focused on church planting in these cities. This is why I am in Amsterdam.

Before I get more into that, a little fun cultural insight for Amsterdam...

This is true for Europe in many cases as well, but words don't mean the same thing here. For instance, Even though I'm here I still have had a bunch of work to do for our ministry at home, so my plan has been to go to different coffee shops during my time here and work from those places. However, "coffee shops" here are not the same as home. Here, they happen to be where you can purchase hash, marijuana and alcohol. In fact, most sell coffee but some don't.

So, the question is: why do they call them "coffee shops"?

I'm not sure exactly but here is my only conclusion because nobody here seems to know: Coffee is a drug. In our culture we don't think of it that way, but that is what it is. It is a chemically complex drug that has become a social norm. And so, in that sense, it makes sense as to why they call it a coffee shop. It is a place where you purchase, sit, relax, and enjoy legalized "drugs."

In fact, thus far I have only found one "coffee house" that would reflect what we would think of as a normal coffee shop. I am writing here as we speak! It is pretty close to the Anne Frank house. This is my view as I write:

Okay, enough of the cultural differences. We can talk about that all day - or at least I can. What am I doing here?

Well, as I mentioned before, I am here for our church planting efforts. Last year our board affirmed the vision of focusing on church planting in 4 international cities: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Shanghai, China; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Mumbai, India.

Our idea is that over the next 3-5 years we will be participating in meaningful ministry in each of these cities. Last year I began moving forward in Dubai and Mumbai and this year I am trying to get things rolling in Amsterdam and Shanghai.

Each city is an international city for its region of the world. Amsterdam is certainly that for Europe. Europe is post-Christian in just about every way and is very "hard soil" to till. We are not looking to plant a Colossae Church here, but rather to come behind what is already happening. I have had the privilege of building relationships with well networked people over the last 15 or so years and I am now able to lean into some of those relationships. For instance, in planning for this trip, I know enough networked people that I can email to find out who I should connect with in a city like Amsterdam. So, I am here for a series of meetings with city-wide leaders who are known, trusted and doing incredible work in this area.

Some of the people I am meeting with work in a church context, others in city-wide development roles, others work in business or for NGO's (non-government organizations). In my meetings I am explaining our vision and desire to come behind what is already happening here. There is nothing worse than for someone like me to come into a city like this and assume nothing is currently going on and that we have all the answers. That is nothing but arrogance. Of course there is good stuff happening here! We don't have the plans and knowledge of this city...we just have a desire to participate. So, it is in these meetings that I get not only an understanding of the sort of things going on here, but also get a feel of who might be the person/organization I eventually bring back to our board as a potential partner.

To give you a picture of my meetings, last night I met with two women who were referred to me through the Palau's. We talked for over three hours about the city work going on, the effectiveness of the Church, what is broken and the different ways churches are working together (or against one another) here in the city. We also talked about each other's stories a bit, which is vital for potential partnership. I never want to take just one person's or one meetings thoughts as the absolute truth for a city, but their opinions and insights are invaluable at this point. Both of these women are married. One woman is Dutch and one has been a missionary here for the past 23 years. Each provided phenomenal insight. And I trust that all my forthcoming meetings with people from different backgrounds and work experiences here in the Netherlands will provide a well-rounded understanding of how we might participate here.

In addition to meetings set up prior to coming, there are always "referrals." After meeting with people, they always seem to know someone else I should connect with. But one of my favorite ways to gain insight is by randomly meeting people in the city. Yesterday I had about two open hours where I was working from a bakery pretty close to my hotel. It was here that I met a Frenchman who lives in France, but works here in the city 4 days a week. He commutes by train. We talked for about 20 minutes about his perspective on the city, what he likes and doesn't. I see all of these encounters as priceless.

We are already moving forward in Mumbai, India and have narrowed our potential pathways in Dubai. I am hoping to get to Shanghai by the end of the year to further some conversations I've already begun over FaceTime or Skype. But for now, I am here in Amsterdam.

The hope of our board is within the next few years you will all be introduced to those we are partnering with around the world. We hope your heart drifts toward one of the cities or leaders and you can participate personally as well. But for now, I'd really appreciate and covet your prayer for my time here. There is nothing like meeting with people in person which makes my meetings I have here critical. As a board we desire this to be a relational partnership for our entire church but as we all know, relationships take time to develop. Just one example is our Mumbai focus. It has taken over 14 months to build relationship and begin letting our elders get to know the planter we are going to help.

That to say, we are on the front end of our vision where I am in many ways having to cut out a pathway for us, which unfortunately requires me to travel more. I say it often, but I really don't like to be away from my family...I happen to like them a lot! That said, this is necessary and Barbara and my girls are in this with me - as I trust you are. I must say though, it's not entirely painful. I do enjoy other cultures and as more of a visionary person I do enjoy prayerfully being in a city and meeting with individuals that are potentially long-term partners with us at Colossae.

If you have read this far, then you will want to know that I am planning to do a Sunday evening forum where I walk through where we are with each of these 4 cities. I am even hoping to Skype in a person from each city in that meeting - if we can work out all the time zone issues. If that interests you, then keep your eyes on the newsletter...it's coming sooner than later!

Just for fun, here is a picture I took on my walk to my current location. It is no doubt a beautiful city.

3 Gatherings

Okay, if you've been to a Sunday gathering in Tigard over the last month you've heard us talk about adding a 3rd Sunday gathering beginning THIS Sunday.

Our new gatherings times in Tigard are now: 8:30 / 10:00 / 11:30

That said, I did want to take a moment to make sure everyone is clear on why we are doing this. Most often additional gatherings are added at churches as a way of creating space for more people to come to the church services on Sundays. However, this is only partly true for us.

Our church is certainly not decreasing in the number of people coming and we do want to create space for you to continue inviting people. But we would make a critical distinction. Rather than trying to get more people in the building we are instead trying to minimize the number of people we have in any one gathering.

The way we usually say it is,  "we want to grow by staying smaller." As the number of people increase in any one gathering, the chances for connection decrease. It's simple math. And, providing the best opportunity for people to connect is something we will always fight for. So, we will continue trying to limit the amount of people in any one gathering by launching out more locations on the westside of Portland, but in the meantime we feel like adding this 3rd gathering in Tigard is an important step in trying to "grow by staying smaller."

Anyway, I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions just let us know!

Lastly, we also have more and more areas for people to serve, so if you want to help serve in additional ways you can let us know by filling out the form here: http://www.nowsprouting.com/colossae/form.php?pageID=72

Thanks for all you do for His Church.
Chuck

14 Thoughts On The SCOTUS Decision

Before I leave on sabbatical (for more on that see the blog directly below this one), I feel like I need to say a few things for our church regarding the recent SCOTUS decision.

This cannot be anything but controversial, so I will just offer a list of thoughts. Regardless where people fall on the pendulum swing of opinions/convictions/beliefs on this issue, everyone has deep feelings and even fears attached to all that is happening. So, my hope is that these thoughts will not only clearly state our position as a church, but hopefully bring some internal rest to some of us who are trying to think deeper about how we live out our faith right now.

The list is in no particular order. I only ask that you read all the way through this post. So, if you do not have time to do so at this point...please set this aside and come back to this post when you have ample time.

First, I must say that I have been so proud to be part of our church. As far as I have seen you have responded in humility and dignity to this issue. My hope for this post is that you would continue to be encouraged in the same posture.

Secondly, let me say upfront that I have dozens of friends that I love deeply who hold different convictions about this issue and dozens others that actively participate in same-sex partnerships. I maintain these relationships while being fully in line with our conviction at Colossae: We believe God's best for marriage is between a man and a woman. We hold to that statement based on both Old Testament passages (for example Genesis 1-3) as well as from New Testament passages, such as directly from the mouth of Jesus (Matthew 19:4-9).

THAT SAID...

1. Every person is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and therefore deserves to be respected as a human being, period. We believe this is true regardless of beliefs, opinions, backgrounds, choices, etc.
2. Love and humility, NOT shame, should be our mutual aspiration in culture. We believe Jesus modeled this perfectly...which is why we desire to follow his ways. 
3. If the bible becomes a weapon that we use against people, it is not holiness we seek but power. This is not only arrogant and contrary to the ways of Jesus, but detrimental to our passing along what we say we believe.
4. We can easily talk about the need for holiness in our culture, but fail to realize our own unholy motivations (James 1:13-15). To hold back from throwing stones we must come to grips with our own villainous nature (Romans 3:23). 
5. It should not be a surprise to anyone (Christian or not) that people hold different beliefs about different topics - gun control, Jesus, governmental structures, parenting philosophies...and everyone thinks they hold the correct view. We cannot react in fear but must be careful to respond with dignity toward others. 
6. We have to manage our anxiety and become servants of those that disagree with us not opponents (Matthew 20:28). 
7. God is not frantically pacing in heaven right now because of what is going on in the cultures around the world. As Christians we cannot react in fear of losing control of culture as if we ever had control in the first place. We believe God is the only sovereign One. 
8. We have zero right or freedom to judge people who are not Christian (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).
9. In the height of the Roman Empire when Caesar ruled through much corruption, Jesus never spoke up against him. In fact his perspective was the opposite (for example see Luke 20:22-25). Or later when Nero was torturing Christians in the public square because of their faith, the apostle Peter guided Christians on how to live under that government (see 1 Peter 2:13-17). The biblical or Christian response is always honoring those who govern over us. If that was true under the rule of Nero, it would certainly apply today as well. Also read Romans 13:1-7.
10. Belittling or separating from people because they sin differently than we do is a sin in itself. This is precisely what the Pharisees did and we cannot fall into that trap. We have talked about this many times, but as a church we cannot sit around with bracelets on, talking about what Jesus would do...as his followers we must do what he did. He not only avoided belittling people, but he clearly befriended those who were outside of his "belief system." The Pharisee's had a problem with this and only because they were arrogantly focused on how much people lived different lifestyles then they did - as if they were perfect. Anyone who arrogantly separates needs to read 1 Corinthians 5:9-10 because scripture never expects followers of Jesus to separate from people who live differently because they hold different beliefs.
11. Human beings are much more than moral agents who consistently fail and therefore just need Jesus as a remedy - as is too often the bottom line view in the evangelical world. In other words, morality is the wrong battle to fight. This was largely what I spoke on a few weeks ago in the message titled, Encounters: Who Do You Love? Life has never been about what we do or abstain from, but according to Jesus, it's about who we love (Matthew 22:34-40).
12. Every single person living today has a skewed sexual orientation. None of us has a holy or completely sacred idea about sexual relationships or, for that matter, relationships in general.
13. Warnings against heterosexual sin in scripture FAR OUTWEIGH the warnings against homosexual behaviors. The issue scripture addresses is not one of homosexuality, but porneia: any sexual interaction outside the context of marriage. So, to hold up homosexuality as something different or worse than anything else is really just an expression of bigotry.
14. Culture is not something we try to "win," but rather something we want to bring the Gospel to (Matthew 28:18-20). The Gospel has always been counter-cultural...it should not be shocking to us that we believe differently then the majority of our culture.

So I hope this helps you process how you respond to this. I would also ask that you carefully consider what you say, links you share, or how you respond to things online. My hope for our church is that we would choose to be viewed as humble servants more than be viewed as right.

Thank you for your humility before God and others.
Chuck

Sabbatical Overview

Hey everyone...hope you are doing well!

Okay, so, I wanted to write and update you on my sabbatical coming up. I've announced this a couple of times already, but the official dates are July 3rd through August 23rd. So I thought I would give you some of the details, clarify a few things and share a bit of my perspective on this.

First, I want you to know that even though I think this is beneficial for me, my family and our church as a whole, I don't feel like I "need" this time. I'm not saying I'm in denial, but when I find this to be so different than many others I've been exposed to. Many times sabbaticals are taken because a person is either on the verge of burning out, totally burned out or facing some personal trials that require stepping away to work through. Even though church planting is more consuming then most realize, thankfully none of those are the case for me. Sabbaticals are something our elders have put into our staff handbook as a proactive protection of our pastors. The bottom line is every 7 years our pastoral staff is required to take a 7 week sabbatical. My 7 years came up on April 11th so my time has come - I moved to PDX to plant Colossae on that date in 2008.

Secondly, although I am very excited to have designated time away with my family and to reflect and think about where we are as a church, I am honestly a bit torn emotionally to step out of things. I have never been called a control freak, but the reality is I have never been as excited about what God is doing in and through our church as I am right now. And there is so much I am excited about being involved with, personally. So, to leave at this time is a little odd for me. That said, I do believe God is in this and I am looking forward to the fruits of it - whatever those may be.

Okay, so, I also wanted to give you some details and to paint a bit more of a picture of what this will practically look like for me.

A sabbatical is not necessarily a vacation. I will be doing some "vacation-like" things, for sure - that is part of what the elders have directed me in. However, we see my sabbatical as a time away with a specific purpose: to get away to reflect on where God has us as a church as well as where He wants to take us and to restore a bit so that I can lead in the ways I will need to for the next 7 years. I will say that I (and our elders) feel great before the Lord about where we are and are heading so I don't anticipate any major changes. But, I must say I do expect to hear from Him during my time away. I am very much looking forward to what He will say.

Also, for the sake of full disclosure, this is a time where our elders have given me some clear direction and I think it's important for you to know a bit about that. So I want to let you know what they have asked of me:

1. To be completely detached from the day-to-day aspects of Colossae. At this point in our church there are a lot of things I'm not directly involved with, but the elders have asked that I'm completely removed from the daily operations/leadership. This is simply for the purpose of allowing me to do what the sabbatical is designed for. Therefore, I will not be in the office, be checking email or accepting calls pertaining to the church. Additionally, I will not be receiving any updates from our staff. There are a couple of exceptions where my wife might receive a call: (a) there is a death I need to be aware of (b) a pastor needs to step off our staff. Other than that I have been asked to be removed. In my absence, our staff is clear as to who the "decision makers" are for different aspects of the ministry and Chris Newman will be chairing our board of elders while I am gone. In all honesty, I will not even be thinking about whether or not things are covered while I am gone. With our staff and elders being as strong as they are, this is the last concern I will have.
2. To sit under teaching. Over the last 7 years I have written a lot (i.e. books, articles, curriculums) and have taught at least weekly and sometimes up to 12 times in one week. So, there is one week when my family and I will be staying in a friends house at Hume Lake Christian Camp where I will be sitting under the teaching of a pastor the entire week. I trust this will be a refreshing time for me.
3. To have time by myself to reflect and listen. Barbara and I have planned this into our time away. Not that I can't listen to God in this midst of my wife and family and activity, but I am looking forward to spending some time alone throughout the 7 weeks...desperately listening for what God might say. I really don't have many expectations during my sabbatical, but I can say I do expect to hear from God. 
4. To have time with my wife, with no kids. We have also planned this out - with quite a bit of excitement, actually. As much as we love our children, I am sure you can understand that one! We are excited to have sections of time to relax together and to reflect on where God has our family. Barbara and I are doing better then ever as a couple, but times like this are necessary to keep that on track - so we are excited.

My time away will include a bunch of different things, varying from doing some projects around our house, to being at the coast, to staying in homes owned by friends/family or staying in family members timeshares in various places along the west coast. It will be filled with a lot of activity, which our family is very excited about. It will also be enveloped with reading, reflection and conversation with Barbara. 

When I return I will spend a couple days articulating my reflection points with our elders and meeting with our pastoral staff. I will also be giving a full update to all you guys my first Sunday back teaching.

Anyway, there is a bit about it. If you have any question, please feel free to let me know - just remember that after July 3rd I will not be checking email until I return. You can also contact any of our pastoral staff or Kristin Gregory directly (email: kristin@colossaechurch.org).

Love you guys so much and I am so thankful to serve you and alongside you through all God is doing here at Colossae!

Chuck (and on behalf of Barbara, Karis, Hope and Sayla).

Welcome John Chang To Our Staff!

The Colossae team would like to welcome our newest member to the church family! John Chang joined our pastoral team last month and will be helping us with communities as well as our locations. Primarily focusing through the Tigard location, we are looking forward to the talent John brings. He is a proven leader, a high character guy and has already made our team stronger.

Prior to Colossae John was part of Mosaic, a great church on the east side of Portland. Two years later, in 2008, he was sent out to plant Missio. Missio became a growing church on the westside and they were able to hand off leadership this past fall in order to seek the next opportunity for investing into the greater Portland area.

We are thankful joining our team is that opportunity!

We introduced them last weekend, but if you see John, CJ or their 3 children...please say hello!