Tyson Kirksey

Chris ended our Vintage Christianity series this morning with an incredible sermon about feeding the desires of the Spirit and crucifying the desires of the sinful nature. I’ve listened to Chris’ sermons for over a year now, and I believe his most quoted verse is from Proverbs 23: “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” Today’s sermon got to the core of that verse, and again reminded us that spiritual transformation (and life transformation for that matter) happens from the inside out. Instead of showing more love and showing more peace, we need to become more loving, and become more peaceful.

According to Galations 5:16, those who have the Spirit of God have two desires inside of them, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit. There is conflict. The one you actively feed is the one that will be stronger. For a change, try to instantly gratify the desires of the Spirit while delaying gratification for the sinful desires.

Tyson Theology

I was reminded last night in our small group study of a quote from Dallas Willard that Chris quoted last weekend.

We always live up to our beliefs – or down to them, as the case may be. Nothing else is possible. That is the nature of belief.

This is true because the choices that we make, from insignificant to life-changing, we make according to what we value most. There are no exceptions.

Tyson Theology

Many Christians would tell you that the Lord had nothing to do with Katrina, or any other natural disaster for that matter. Some say they’re merely by-products of a fallen world, and should be treated as such. I don’t hold to that theology for a number of reasons, and esteemed story-teller Max Lucado presents a good argument for one reason: The Lord is searching for humans, and He is serious.

Read Max’s sermon here.

I really believe the Lord loves us so much that he’s willing to go to extreme measures to get our attention. (Remember, this is the same God that said if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off!) Consider for a moment the following verses of Scripture:

“If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” – Joshua 24:20

“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7

“When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?” – Amos 3:6

You must be thinking “man, Tyson, this God of yours is real mean.” No, He’s just good. We just can’t see the big picture, the canvas that he’s painting around our lives. From the beginning of time, God has pursued man, desiring to live intimately with him. Sometimes it’s just hard to get our attention.

Tyson Theology

I was given a reminder this morning as to the state of our nation as I heated my waffles and tuned to the Fox News Channel. Not surprisingly the network was giving coverage to its beloved American Idol finale. Some blonde-headed country girl won I think (I’ve never seen an episode of the show). What at first just irked me began to become downright frustrating because for 20 minutes they didn’t cover a single news story. It’s obvious people care about the latest “Idol” more than the real state of our nation, and stories that affect us.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely against American Idol as a show (its just a glorified Star Search). I’m am, however, intrigued by the fact that we are now explicitly calling what has been for some time. Make no mistake, America has had Idols long before the show was even conceived. Only recently has it become socially cool to have an idol, though.

Even more perplexing is why Christians participate in the show. What believer in Christ really wants to be an idol for America? It’s dumbfounding to me.

I’m reminded of the sermon by Louie Giglio entitled “Worship: It’s what we do.” He began by showing a video of Michael Jackson arriving at a large city in Europe. The fans were gathered in the tens of thousands, shouting, screaming and raising their hands as Michael walked out. Some fans were crying, others were jumping. They all were worshipping.

You worship what you value most…period.

Tyson General, Theology

Recently, a few handpicked “leaders” of the Church of Christ fellowship (of which I was raised in) collaborated to form a document they coined the “Christian Affirmation” (link). It is necesssary to note that the churches of Christ have no official governing body, technically. Each church is autonomous under its own leadership of elders, ministers and lay persons. We do, however, have a network of schools and universities which act as a pseudo-government when problems arise. This has persisted for decades now.

The affirmation seeks to “clarify” and “unite” churches of Christ by expounding on three issues that have given “identity” to the fellowship historically.

Question 1: Why does our particular church sign need an identity? Can’t we let each autonomous branch define its own identity?

Proposed Answer: If each church is able to make decisions on fellowship, doctrine and worship without outside influence, we lose the ability to feel safe (or satisfied) when someone says they belong to a “church of Christ”. What does that mean? Which church of Christ, the one on Elm St. or Maple St.? Yes, heaven forbid, if this were the case we would actually have to ask each person if they believed in Jesus as the Son of God. Obviously this is beyond reason…

Question 2: Do the signers of the Christian Affirmation really believe acapella worship is as important as baptism or communion?

Proposed Answer: With a few exceptions, yes. Nevermind the fact that there is no clear directive for acapella / instrumental music in the New Testament. After all, our identity is at stake. (Side note: We are told to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another. What is the difference between a psalm and a hymn?)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m passionate about Christian unity more than anything. I’m also passionate about exposing disunity and those who purposely make it difficult to come to Christ. The very nature of God is to work in ways that we do not expect, and I’m sure that when we surround the great throne, there will be those there whom we did not expect to see. Meanwhile, let us fix our thoughts on Jesus, who starts and finishes our faith.

Tyson Theology