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More Than Conquerors

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By Nate Champneys

As I write this, I am sitting in a hospital room watching and waiting for my dear friend Robert to die. You would think that, since every human being has to die at some point, we would get used to death, but for some reason it is never easy. It is not easy for me to sit here. I really didn’t even feel like writing this, but it’s my week to write the Last Word, so I write.

Last night I asked Jesus what He thought I should write about. I hear, “More Than Conquerors.” “More Than Conquerors?” I think. What does that mean? I was reading Romans 8 last night, which is where that phrase comes from, but I still had no idea what I was supposed to write. I couldn’t sleep. Last I looked at the clock, it was 1:30 a.m. I awoke wide awake at 5:30 a.m. After lying there for a half hour I decided to get up and go over to the hospital.

It’s hard seeing Robert this way. A week and a half ago He had an aneurysm, followed by a significant stroke in his frontal lobe. Cognitively, he doesn’t seem to be “home,” but he is still alive. Barely. I find myself praying that God will just end his life now and not make him struggle any longer. The doctors have given him 24 to 48 hours.

But as I sit here watching my dear friend die, I think about Robert and what amazing things God has done in his life. It almost makes it a little easier. In the hospital bed in front of me lies a man who is drastically different because he has been with Jesus. What a crazy story of redemption. I was given the gift of being able to watch Jesus take a worn-down, tattooed, at times grumpy biker in a wheelchair and turn him into something new. On the outside he still looks like a tattooed biker. But even his friends that don’t know Jesus would tell you Robert is different. Robert spent much of his early life in the biker gangs. He has told me of many of the horrible things that he saw and did and for much of our friendship he has been haunted by his past. He’s carried guilt. Shame. Doubt. He sometimes doubted if Jesus could ever really forgive him of his past. Robert also had a problem with his knees that kept him in a wheelchair. He used to feel anger and bitterness at being trapped in the chair.

Change can be so gradual that while it is happening you can’t see it. For a long time I don’t think that even Robert could see the change in himself. But at some point over the last year there was no missing the new man that God was crafting Robert into. What a joy it has been to watch as Jesus chased down Robert and freed him from the burden of his past and anchored him into the reality that “Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” (Romans 8:1). The last few months especially Robert has truly understood and held fast to that truth.

As I sit here in the hospital room I decide to read Romans 8 to Robert. Paul lays it out there. We have been chosen. Adopted. We are now beloved children of our heavenly Daddy. Jesus has conquered the power of sin and death. And now nothing can separate us from His love. Nothing. Because of that we are more than conquerors because of Him in us. There’s that phrase, “More than conquerors.” I look at Robert. I think I understand what I am supposed to write now. Robert’s life is a picture of Romans 8 from beginning to end. Because of Jesus in him, Robert is more than a conqueror. Even if Robert dies now, the enemy has no victory here.

Even if you weren’t in a biker gang like Robert, you may still wrestle with guilt from your past. The enemy may use your past as a way of heaping condemnation upon yourself. But this is not from God. The truth is that Jesus does not hold you in condemnation. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.” (Romans 8:33-34). He has made us to be conquerors over sin, over our past. But the key word is “He.” Robert did nothing to be a conqueror to the power of sin in his life. Jesus did it all.

So as I sit here in room 612, I am saddened by the fact that my friend is fighting for his life, but at the same time I find joy in God’s goodness, and His faithfulness that I have seen in His pursuit of Robert. Robert’s body is old, broken down, and dying, and yet he is a new creation.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

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AN OLD PRAYER MADE NEW

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by Nate Champneys

I remember a time this past winter when I was brutally honest with God. I let Him have it. I called the Complaint Department and I laid into Him. Giving had been down, and I was lacking people to serve in different ministry positions. I remember sitting in my car, having this fierce conversation with Him: “God, why don’t You give us more money so we can accomplish all the things we want to as a church?! God, why haven’t You given me the people that I need to fill all my ministry positions?! I feel like You are intentionally making my life difficult here, Jesus!”

The strangest, oddest thing happened. The end of the Lord’s Prayer popped into my head. “For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” Now let me tell you why this is strange. Will you allow me to be completely transparent with you for a moment? I have hated the Lord’s Prayer for many years. Yes, I said, “hated.” You’re thinking, “What?! Nate, you’re a pastor. You can’t say that!” Let me explain.

When I was a child we recited the Lord’s Prayer very often at the church we attended, and really, it was kind of creepy sounding as everyone recited it as a sort of mantra. But, more than that, I have always valued the fact that, because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we are now made to be His children. I can talk to Him like a son talks to a father. Reciting the Lord’s Prayer almost irritated me because saying a bunch of prewritten words is not how I talk to my real-life father. Why would I want to talk to my heavenly Father that way?

Now you can see why these words popping into my head was almost funny. But let me tell you, that day those words had more meaning to me than they ever had in my entire life. I understood them in that moment with perfect clarity. Jesus prayed that prayer as an example to us of complete surrender and dependence. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Jesus was saying, “Father, this is YOUR kingdom that YOU are building, with YOUR power, for YOUR glory.” I sat there in silence. I thought to myself, “Wow, my name isn’t even in there …”

God was saying to me, “Nate, will you quit trying to build your kingdom? This is My kingdom that we’re building here, not yours. It is by My power that it is accomplished, too. You have no power to do anything in this spiritual kingdom I am building. And don’t worry, it’s all for My glory, so even if you did fail it wouldn’t be on you. It would be on Me. (Which, by the way, I don’t think I need to remind you, Nate, I don’t fail at anything.) I really do know what I am doing.” What do you say to something like that?

It is amazing the pressure we put on ourselves to accomplish things that are not even in our control to accomplish, isn’t it? You may be thinking, “Well Nate, that’s great for you. You are a pastor, but how does that apply to me?” Here’s the reality: We all are invited to be a part of building God’s kingdom here on earth, not just pastors. Now I am not talking about church programs and positions. Do you have a friend that you know needs Jesus, but you are afraid to talk to them? Do you have a neighbor that you would love to invite to church, but you are afraid they will say no? Jesus has invited each of us to share in His joy in the building of His kingdom. Many of us miss out altogether by simply refusing to be a part of the process because of fear. Many also set out to be a part of building God’s kingdom, but we take control and want it done our way. That’s a lot of pressure that none of us needs on our shoulders.

In Matthew 28, Jesus told us from his own mouth, to, “Go and make disciples.” Left by ourselves, that is a lot of pressure. But he also said, “I am with you always.” The reality is that you and I have no power to create change in the hearts of others. None. When we acknowledge that truth, we let go of the reins and allow Him to build His kingdom in us and through us.

Jesus, you truly are our Daddy in heaven, but You are also a Holy God, I AM. We desire Your will as You build Your spiritual kingdom in each of us. You hold all things, including us, in Your hands. Just as You have forgiven us far beyond what we deserve, help us to forgive all others. Protect us from ourselves and from the Evil One. This is Your world, Your church, and my life is Yours. It is built by Your power, not mine, and for Your glory and fame, not mine. Your name be lifted high!

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Popcorn Parallels

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By Nate Champneys

Popcorn KaelenThe other day my 4-year-old son asked me if we could make popcorn (or “caw-corn,” as he calls it). So I got out the oil and popcorn and put a generous amount in the bottom of a pan. Kaelen sat on the counter next to me and waited excitedly. It finished popping and I poured it into a large bowl and handed it to him. A giant grin crossed his face as he took the bowl that was almost as big as him. We sat down to watch a movie together. Now I hadn’t made a bowl for myself but had just given him the whole large bowl, so, naturally, as we sat there I started to nibble from his bowl.

As I took a handful he turned to me and said very seriously, “Dad, don’t eat it all.” I replied, “Don’t worry, I won’t.” A couple minutes later I took another small handful.

“Dad, you’re gonna eat it all.”

“Kaelen, it’s okay, I can always make more,” I said.

As the minutes passed and we ate together from the giant bowl of popcorn (that no child could possibly finish by themselves, I might add), he got more and more adamant that I was going to eat it all. I finally turned to him and said with a smile, “Kaelen, do you realize that I have access to pretty much an unlimited supply of popcorn? If the bowl runs out I can go make more. If we run out here at home I could go and buy 100 pounds of popcorn if I wanted to. I promise you there will be enough popcorn.” Do you want to know his response?

“Dad, you’re gonna eat it all.”

Now this is a cute story of my life with a 4-year-old, but isn’t this really a picture of the way we are sometimes with our money and possessions? God has literally given us everything we have. Then when he asks us to give generously, we worry that there won’t be enough and we cling so hard to what we have. God is probably thinking, “Um … you realize that I have access to an unlimited supply of money and resources?” And, like my son, what is our response?

“But God, you’re gonna take it all.”

My wife and I have been married almost nine years, and for a long time we did not give faithfully. We had the same attitude as Kaelen; we gave only when we could see that there was more than enough, or when we felt guilty about our lack of giving. But God taught us through many difficult circumstances that he doesn’t want us to live in either of these places. Rather than saying we trust Him when things are easy and grasping for control when things are hard, He wants us to live in faithful dependence, trusting Him to provide for all our needs, in good times and bad. Rather than feeling guilty about our lack of trust, He wants us to live in joy by giving generously.

God doesn’t need your money. He just doesn’t. But that’s not the point of giving. God is not a God that needs anything from us, just as there is nothing that I technically need from my son. That is not why we are called to give. Giving is not about meeting God’s needs, but rather it is about our human need for prayerful dependence on our Father. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). This is a brutal truth and a haunting reality. We cannot cling to the control of our lives and possessions and serve God at the same time.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”—Matthew 6:25-27

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Secular Bananas

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Secular Bananas

By Nate Champneys

This is an amazing world. Everywhere you look you see amazing things crying out that there is a God and He is an amazing artist. Take a walk through the woods and observe a spider crafting a web; it skillfully engineers its web with a substance it naturally excretes from its web spinners, a substance that has a tensile strength many times stronger than steel. Walk under a tree one hundred feet tall; its root structure spreads out for a mile and somehow, miraculously, opposing gravity, carries water to the very tops of the tree. Amazing.

It’s also amazing how we as Christians can look at the natural world and say all of these things declare the glory of God, but we look at many things about humanity and we make a huge distinction between “secular” and “Christian,” between holy and pagan. I remember having a moment as I walked through the streets of Chicago and took in the city skyline. It occurred to me that, just as I give glory to God for the amazing spider, God really deserves the glory for even things like city skyscrapers. It didn’t make me ask the question, “I wonder if the designer of these buildings was a Christian.” It didn’t matter. All of creation, including skyscrapers made by pagans, cry out that our God is amazing. What an amazing creation God made when he created mankind in His image with the ability to create.

As a worship leader who has been making music since I was in elementary school, people love to tell me how gifted I am. Now I could take this as a compliment and an ego boost, but I really take it as words of praise to God. We call the things that I can do musically “gifts.” But who really gets credit for a gift, the receiver or the giver? When you step back and realize that this really is His world and thus it is He that receives glory for all the wonder in it, it opens up so many things for which to give Him praise.

Take music for example. As Christians we tend to have a strong awareness of whether or not a song is “Christian.” If music was written by a Christian artist, then it is crowned as “Christian.” If it is written by a non-Christian artist, then it is dubbed “secular.” Now I am not saying that all music is the same and should be treated equally, but problems arise when we toe the line of distinction too fiercely.

Take the song “Cinderella” by Steven Curtis Chapman, a “Christian” artist. A song about a father and his growing daughter, it doesn’t use the word “God,” “Jesus,” “Bible,” or any other religious words. Yet this song is played on every Christian radio station in the country. Even though the song is missing all of these things, as a father, I can’t help but listen to it in worship and praise to God for giving me my beautiful daughters. The sad reality is that if the same song were written by Mumford and Sons, you can bet that it would not be played even once on a Christian station. There is a song written by Lonestar called “My Front Porch Looking In” that is all about a father who has traveled all around the country for his job and has seen amazing things; however, he feels that the best view in the world is standing on his front porch looking in the window at his beautiful family. I listen to that song and dance with my children, and I have a moment of worship that brings me to tears as I think about how much God has blessed me and how much I don’t deserve His rich blessings.

So I’m NOT saying there is no difference in music. I AM saying that we should be careful not to write things off as “non-Christian” or “secular” and miss out on many special opportunities to worship our Creator. Rather, I think things should be evaluated on the basis of whether it’s pointing you toward a closer relationship with Jesus or whether it’s pointing you away.

I was eating a banana the other day, and as I was opening the peel, it dawned on me just how amazing the banana was. I thought about the amazing peel that is perfectly designed to easily come open but at the same time to protect the fruit from bugs and bacteria. I thought about how bananas aren’t juicy like other fruits, but rather are almost creamy. In that moment I said, “Jesus, bananas really are amazing. They really are like no other fruit you have made.” I wasn’t eating a “Christian” banana; rather, I am sure that many people with broken lives like my own were involved in the farming of it. And yet, it was still something for which Jesus deserves glory. This is His world that He created. And although it has been tainted by our sin, Jesus still deserves glory for His amazing creation, secular or not.

“For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; [or spider webs, skyscrapers, or bananas J ] all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

–Colossians 1:16

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God: Just Another Cord?

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By Nate Champneys

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Over this past summer I joined a gym. This was a big step for me, as I have never really been to the gym before. And it’s funny, as I took in the whole gym experience as an outsider who also happens to be a pastor, I couldn’t help but compare it to the Church.

I have been in church my whole life, so I will never be able to experience it as an outsider. Even when I visit a new church, it’s still the Church, and I pretty much know what to expect. I can talk the lingo and I can fit right in at just about any church I walk into. But after my first visit to the gym, I thought to myself, “This must be what people feel like who come to church for the first time in their life.”

I felt like an idiot going into the gym. I had no clue what I was doing. It was rather uncomfortable. I walked up to the front counter and said, “Uh, I’d like to join.” They had me fill out a few papers, and five minutes later I was in. I walked in and I looked out across an ocean of equipment. There was a huge room with adjoining rooms with station after station of free weights and machines, some I mostly recognized and others I had no clue about. Treadmills and stationary bikes. Stair machines and bench presses. Everyone there seemed to know exactly what they were doing. It was completely normal to them and completely abnormal to me.

As I worked out over my first few weeks, it became very clear that, to some people, this was their life and everything revolved around the gym. They were there multiple hours every day, and their bodies looked like they might never leave this place. Some of them looked like they could break me in half. These people were fit! But there were also others like me, people who came whenever they had time. To us, we went to the gym not because we enjoyed it but because we knew we needed some exercise.

And this is perfectly fine right? “Different strokes for different folks,” as they say. Many things in life are like this. One thing for some people can become the object around which everything in life is structured, and for others it is simply another thing further down their list of priorities, if it’s even a priority at all. The differences between people can be funny, and sometimes even frustrating, but this part of human nature was very deliberately created for a specific purpose within the community of faith. Romans 12 makes it clear that we are supposed to be different from each other. Some of us are passionate about teaching. Others of us are not. God created our differences, and no one is more important than the other.

BUT, there is a huge difference between our passionate pursuit of what we are gifted and talented at and a passionate pursuit of a relationship with God. Unlike my relationship with the gym, with God it cannot be a “whenever I get to it” mentality. Jesus said, “Be either hot or cold, but if you are lukewarm I will spit you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15). In our pursuit of Him, He wants it to be all or nothing. Living in our culture, it’s easy to lose sight of this. For many, the Church seems to be just another membership, much like the gym. Yes, some people make it their life, but many others have this mindset: “If I have time between work, family, camping, and my kids’ sports, then I will fit it into my life.”

Think of your life as a generic power strip. You choose what you are going to plug in; you only have so many spots because you only have so many resources. You may plug in a spouse, family, work, sports, a hobby (e.g., the gym), entertainment, or travel. The reality is that we have limited time, energy, and finances at our disposal, and many times God gets pushed to the last and final spot in the line, or He’s even removed altogether.

Before our lives in Christ, this power strip analogy was perfect. Back then it was our life and we lived it for ourselves, but as Christians this analogy is completely backwards. We like to think that our lives are just that: our lives. However, Paul tells us the opposite in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You are not your own; you were bought with a price.” God bought your life. He doesn’t want to simply be another part of your life, just another cord to plug in. You cannot simply “plug in” God next to your spouse, kids, work, or hobby and think that He is simply another cord. God is the source of all power. He IS the power strip. He gave you your life and He has asked you to give it back to Him. So the question is now, what does He desire you to devote HIS resources to? Spouse? Kids? Education? Work? Hobbies? Ministry? These are not bad things. They are actually great things. But just what is your number one priority? Are you living your life as though it is your own, or are you living your life as though it is the life that God purchased? God has said to us, “Love me with all your heart, soul, strength and mind” (Luke 10:27).

What does it mean to have God be number one? What does it mean for Him to be the Sun that your life revolves around? Take a look at your life. Think about what all your time, your physical and mental energy, and your money is devoted to. Whose life are you living?

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God … And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:1-4, 17)

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“Oh, Happy Day”

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last wordBy Nate Champneys

On October 26, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. George Washington, during his presidency, asked for “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer,” although at that time it did not become an official national holiday. Nevertheless, the idea of a day to focus on thankfulness has been a part of our history in the United States of America since our nation was founded. Now yet another Thanksgiving is around the corner with another Christmas almost upon us, and I feel it thus appropriate to focus this week’s Last Word on the idea of thanksgiving.

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me ‘to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” George Washington, October 3, 1789

The above statement is the opening paragraph of a “Thanksgiving Proclamation” given by President Washington. It’s hard to imagine our government making such a statement today. We hear the term, “Separation of Church and State” so often nowadays, but I don’t think people understand what the intent of our nation’s founders was when it came to religion. Obviously if Congress gave such a request to President Washington, they were not opposed to recognizing “Almighty God” as the source of all things good, nor were they opposed to prayer. They were, however, according to our Constitution, opposed to the government making laws “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” They were opposed to government messing with the free practice of worshiping God, not to the worship itself. Thus it was actually the government itself that requested George Washington “to recommend to the people” to have a day of thanksgiving. It wasn’t an order forcing people to thank God, but a recommendation.

Thanksgiving by definition is, “the act of giving thanks.” And “thanks” is defined as, “a good feeling you have towards someone who has helped you, given something to you, etc.” So being that it is a “good feeling,” thanks is an emotion and something that cannot be forced upon someone, but can only be recommended, as Congress did.

But going deeper, thanksgiving by definition has to have an object. You can’t have thanks without a person to whom you are giving thanks. Are you getting it? Without an object, this definition of “thanks” turns into simply “a good feeling.” Without God as the focus of thanksgiving, we are simply happy that we are lucky. We are not thankful.

So to those who do not acknowledge God as the source of every good thing, Thanksgiving is reduced to being simply “Happy Day,” when they are essentially saying, “I’m so happy that I have so much stuff!” This is not meant to be a put-down, but it is the logical conclusion that you must come to if you do not give God the acknowledgment for what He has given you.

For those who recognize the reality that every good and perfect thing comes to us from our Father in Heaven, Thanksgiving Day is just that — a day of Thanksgiving. A day to remember and thank God for His faithfulness. And being that Thursday was instituted by our government, I think it is good to follow the recommendation of George Washington and to also acknowledge the “favors of Almighty God, especially by affording [us] an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for [our] safety and happiness.” So as you sit down around the table with your family and friends on Thursday, ask yourself, “Am I just happy … or am I thankful?”

“So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us His true word. And we, out of all creation, became His prized possession.” (James 1:16-18 NLT)

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