If the joy of the Lord is in your heart ... tell your face.

I live in Toccoa, GA. It happens to be the buckle of the Bible Belt. The football team has scripture clearly emblazoned on each t-shirt of every member of the team. If your pick-up truck lacks scripture verses you are most assuredly in cahoots with the devil. If your (KJV) Bible isn't worn rugged you are a "backslider."

There are 64 Southern Baptist churches in my county. My town has 12,000 people and happens to be the only major town in the county. I live in a thoroughly "churched" area. There isn't a single teacher at the Elementary School where I work who doesn't have a church affiliation. Divorce isn't mentioned. Living an "alternative lifestyle" means you go to the bowling alley on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays.

It is in the midst of this culture that I daily find hurting and broken people. The concept of the gospel held by the majority of people in my area leaves little room for the marginalized. Somehow the gospel message has become mainstream. The message of Jesus is no longer about restoring people to a right relationship with God but about big hair, excessive makeup, and showy cars.

It's neither about orthodoxy nor orthopraxy. It's about appearances. Does it look like I'm living the right way? Do I drive out of town for liquor and hookers? Where I live now it isn't about how well you are living out your faith, it's all about how well it looks like you're living out your faith.

There is a disconnect. People don't cuss or drink, but they also show little evidence of a changed heart.

Tony and I were friends in middle school. We went to church camp together. We both had a great time there. We both asked Jesus into our hearts at the end of that week. So how is it that, a decade later, I am still a committed Christian and Tony has had nothing to do with faith since that day?

Why have I held on to faith when all else failed and Tony felt that faith was the first thing to fail? We will be talking about faith and obedience in worship on Sunday. I have faith that God is real and personal. I am willing to obey God to the ends of the earth. I do wonder, however, why faith isn't a universal concept. How could any God created being live without a desperate need for faith?

I know that people will fail to understand the Gospel of grace. People will take it too far, they will justify sin, and they will fail at righteousness. People will hear me preach the gospel of grace and take it as a license to sin. I know of one brother who, after hearing the gospel of grace, decided that because it “felt right” it was alright for him to sleep with his girlfriend. All of his life he had learned that it was wrong, but in the gospel of grace he found a loophole.

And the loophole does exist. Jesus Christ gives us the freedom to do what we want. He loves us enough to die on the cross, but also loves us enough to give us the freedom to daily reject him without consequence. Love is lived in tears. The gospel of grace exists on the principle that sin is fun, but not fun enough to equal the eternal glory of God. I’m sure my friend has had a lot of fun having sex with his girlfriend. Sex is fun. But, it won’t compare to the eternal glory of God.

“We’ve all been the adulterous whore at one point in our lives.” I spoke these words to one friend who carried on an adulterous affair for an extended period of time. She left the church, her friends, and even God to enjoy that relationship … but she eventually realized that it wasn’t fun anymore. She was miserable. She called me crying and asked for prayer. It wasn’t fun enough.

I know that people who hear me preach the gospel of grace will take their new found freedom too far. They will sin, they might ruin their reputations or their lives. I know this. I have experienced this. But I won’t stop preaching the gospel of grace. I won’t stop because it is the only gospel. There is no gospel of good deeds or of religious exercise or of legalism or of “do whatever you want as long as you are in church on Sunday”… gospel means “good news.” The good news is the grace available in Jesus Christ.

I drove down to Florida this weekend. I had set plans to sleep 8-12 hours every night to try and sleep off this sickness in my body. My plans feel through on Friday night when I found out that Saturday was my grandmother's birthday. Normally, this revelation would have meant a quick phone call on Saturday ... but not this year.

My grandfather drove to Pennsylvania a few days ago. Grandmother felt that she wasn't in good enough health to make the trip. So, Grandfather left her home alone for several days. One of those days happened to be her birthday. My plans changed radically, and through the help and support of my friends I was able to table everything I had to do for the weekend and make the trip to Florida. It was worth it. I know that my Grandmother was happy to see me and glad to not be alone for her birthday.

On the way back I had dinner with several of my Macon friends. It was a really great dinner with really great people. It reminded me again of the need for solid community in the life of the church - and that community in the church does not exclude those outside of the church.

I didn't get the sleep that I needed. I still have my "smoker's cough" but I did find some rest this weekend. Enough to make it through five days of class? We'll see.