Eternity Starts Now

            Years ago, our church ministered to a girl, who had a form of palsy. She walked in an uneasy gait—very unsteady. She moved to our town, when she was probably nine or ten.

            Her father was long gone (I think he was in prison.) She lived with her mother. She needed help from her mother to perform the tasks we consider routine—bathe, use the toilet, dress….

            In time, we could not help but notice this girl had terrible body odor. Little by little, the reality of this girl’s life took a tragic turn.

            Her mother had been neglecting her. Sometimes, she would not help her use the toilet. Sometimes, she would leave her in the bathtub. Sometimes, she would not help her bathe.

            The reasons varied. There were times the mother felt overwhelmed. Escape ranged from a TV program to entertaining male friends.

            In time, I, and others, became aware of the situation and called Child Protective Services to intervene.

            I think back often to that young girl’s situation. Had she been in a jail, the authorities would have been arrested for their treatment. In some ways, this girl’s circumstances were like that of an inhumane jail. The girl’s jailor just happened to be her mother.

            I believe in the eternal existence of a realm called hell. I believe that Satan exists and that he has many who join him in bringing as much hell as he can to this earth. The girl I just told you about experienced a little bit of Satan’s hell.

            But to most of us, those experiences I just described were clearly hellish.

            I used to think the world cheapened the word “hell” through over use. Now, I think I have gone to the other extreme. Satan is all about bringing hell to this earth; he wants people to experience as much of it as he can.

            I have thought a lot about what I would do, if I were a soldier of Satan. I really think these guys who are part of the Church of Satan, have it wrong. They are too heavy-handed. I remember hearing about what a missionary said to Satan worshipers, when he had a conversation with them, “Do you guys think you’re the only ones going to hell?

            If I were a worshiper of Satan, I think I would I would attempt to be subtler. You can win more people this way. More importantly, you can win more people in the churches. There they could spread the opposite of salt and light—darkness and “do-do” (see Luke 14:35.)

            If I were an advocate of Satan, here's how I would help people, especially Christians, experience a little bit of hell on earth:

            (1) Self-righteousness. Nothing distorts your life more than being self-righteous. It puts things out of whack. It helps you elevate your strengths and ignore your weaknesses. It energizes you to find the weaknesses of other people and focus on them. It is an excellent way to empower yourself on this earth. And, you can push people toward being just a little bit more damned.

            2) Gossip. Another great way of bringing a little bit of hell to this earth. You can distort the truth and make people believe things that can quickly morph into outright lies. Moreover, on a technicality, you can add telling the truth to the gossip column, if you tell it to an inappropriate audience—such as breaking a confidence. A prayer circle asking for prayer requests is a great forum for this. “Pray for Marge, she and her husband are thinking about getting a divorce…”

            Gossip is an excellent way to hurt people, without going to prison for it. Just one more way you can bring a little bit of hell to this earth.

            3) Greed. Greed is a fantastic way to bring a little bit of hell on earth. It can motivate you to pursue money or things at the expense of other people who are hurting. If you are good at deluding yourself, you can even convince yourself that the pursuit of the material is nothing more than God choosing you for incredible blessing. Meanwhile, those without continue live lives of disease, ruin, or even starvation.

            If you are serious about following Jesus, none of that is good, though, is it?

            What Jesus calls us to do over and over again, is to collaborate with him in bringing God's reign here to earth. For the past one hundred years, writers ranging from C. S. Lewis to N. T. Wright, from Philip Yancey to Rob Bell, have been reminding Christians: eternity doesn’t simply start at death. The New Testament affirms over and over again that eternity begins today.

            When Christians walk with Jesus, Christians invited Jesus to reign. When Jesus reigns, he is doing what God does in heaven. Any place on earth, where God is reigning, is a little bit of heaven on earth.

            I believe all I have written is summarized in one tiny verse—John 10:10, “A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.”NCV

            Eternity, whether it is oriented toward hell or heaven, starts now.

            Those of us in Christ, invite a little bit of heaven here. We allow-we encourage-God's will to be done here, like it is in heaven.

            We bring God’s rescue here on Earth. Christian workers serving children for CPS or serving the elderly in nursing homes can both rescue human beings from hellish situations and transport them to caring, dignified, and nourishing environments.

            God’s people can bring a little of heaven’s beauty here to earth. Every painting offered to the glory of God, every book written to honor God, every house painted to honor God, every tool manufactured to honor God, every act done to serve people, every move made to bring peace, joy, love, gentleness, forgiveness, healing, to a broken world, is bringing a little bit of heaven to earth.             This is the greatest call. It is compassionate service to those, who are hurting; it is food offered to a person who is hungry; it is parental care for orphan; these are some of the things a hellish world needs. When God begins through us, it holds the potential of lasting forever.

            This cause is noble. Why wait to experience heaven after death? Why ask people to delay experiencing heaven until the afterlife? I wonder, who wouldn’t want to join us in offering-and experiencing-a little bit of heaven today?

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I finished the book, OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell, last week. It started out well. I was especially fascinated by the references to the 10,000-hour rule—talented people spend a minimum of 10,000 hours perfecting their craft. (For example, the Beatles played for 10,000 hours before they made it big.)  I was, however, disappointed in the conclusion of the book. The details were too mundane for my tastes.

2. If you are a fan of the NFL, you owe a debt to NFL Films. If you are not a fan of the NFL, your life has still been impacted by NFL Films. Steve Sabol, to me, the heart and soul of NFL Films, is battling a brain tumor—recently diagnosed. I pray for Steve Sabol.

3. A factoid that may only matter to me: I always try to have someone read my blogs before I post them. I find this reduces errors. Two weeks ago, I posted a weekly blog that was one of my most read. (It was the one reviewing Rob Bell’s new book—LOVE WINS.) Unfortunately, I discovered last week that somehow, the one I posted was not the edited version. If you noticed—sorry. I’ll edit it and post an updated version.

4. LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR CHRIST is this weekend. This year will be the first year I’ll be able to stay over on Sunday. I’m looking forward to that.

5. Could it be the Mavericks have a chance this year?

The Rule of 150

According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of the book, TIPPING POINT, human beings are limited in the amount of information their brains can contain. Once humans “pass a certain boundary, we become overwhelmed.”

Maintaining a relationship with a best friend requires a minimum investment of time. Any more time spent requires drawing from a reservoir containing emotional energy. It is exhausting to care for someone deeply. Most people can handle deep, close, personal relationships with 10 to 15 others. After that, overload begins.

The amount of people with whom we can maintain a simple social relationship expands. Most humans can socially interact with approximately 150 people. As Gladwell says, these would be the people that you and they would feel comfortable getting together in a restaurant, should you accidentally run into them.

This number has held true in various cultures throughout the last several decades. This reality has social implications. Studies have indicated repeatedly that is hard to get more than 150 people “sufficiently familiar with each other so they can work together as a functional unit.”

Corporations exist that recognize the reality of the rule of 150, and organize their corporate culture around this principle. Gore Associates is a privately held, multimillion dollar high-tech firm based in Newark Delaware.

A major portion of their strategy has been this: in organizational planning and structure, observe the rule of 150. No single entity within the corporation grows past this point. If one plant approaches 150 employees, a new plant is built. When it approaches 150 employees, another plant is built. By doing so, Gore assures itself that each employee works well relationally with the other employees in each plant. Output is at maximum capacity.

I'm wondering if the rule of 150 has implications for church work. Perhaps, we in congregations would do well to organize ourselves in such a way that we assure that no member is expected to work with and relate well to more than 150 other people.

Perhaps it would be beneficial for leadership to emphasize community taking place within the context of small groups, Bible classes, shepherding groups, and other units of relationship. Maybe it is time we recognize that to expect our members to know more than150 other members is taxing. In doing so, we are placing a burden upon them they are not capable of bearing.

It could be for this reason the average church in the United States maintains a membership of less than 100. This is not to say congregations cannot grow larger than 150 members. Indeed, our church is larger than this, and I hope we grow to be even larger. There are many blessings a larger church can offer, unique to its size. I know, I have done foreign mission work with groups of less than twenty people. Believe me, there are limits to smallness!

Still, a church larger than 150 could be guilty of asking its members to offer more than they are capable of delivering. This is exasperating to them, and it reduces the ability of the church to minister. Ultimately, members typically express their frustration or pain by quietly leaving the church.

Maybe I should not be surprised to read about the rule of 150. After all, Jesus had huge crowds, but he did not pretend to know each crowd member on an individual basis. Instead, he sought to relate to people on a much more intimate level. He reduced the masses into a group of 120, then there were the 70, then there were the 12 apostles, then there were the three apostles closest to Jesus (Peter, James, and John), and then, finally, there was the disciple whom Jesus loved–John.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1.  TIPPING POINT came out a few years ago, but it is still extremely relevant. I found it a useful read and would recommend you skim it.

2.  Rangers win Game 5 against Tampa, lose Game 1 (heartbreaker!) against the Yankees, and then dominate Game 2. What’s next? Tonight, Cliff Lee vs. Andy Pettitte. It should be fun to watch.

3.  May a church never love me like the Dallas Cowboys love Wade Phillips.

4. Blessings to you, Lady Panthers, in your playoff game Tuesday night.

5. Thanks to John and Trish Eastland, I am in Dallas today listening to Troy Aikman, General Colin Powell, and more. This should be a good day.