Jason Schifo - SJO Daily

A Thanksgiving Message: Grow In Grace

Jason Schifo — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 17:12:46 +0000

BY JASON SCHIFO

Thanksgiving Sunday has just past, and as a pastor, I joined scores of other pastors across the country in challenging people to be thankful. I pleaded with them to rise above the rivalry, division, animosity, and antagonism by becoming a people best known for our thankfulness. I also made an impassioned plea to resist the temptation of being self-focused and self-indulgent during this season.

Even as I type this I am bothered, but why?

As I reflect on my Thanksgiving message, taking an honest inventory of my own heart, I begin to see that I myself have missed a critical element of being thankful. I am not saying I am not thankful, but often my thankfulness is mostly centered around being thankful for things in my life. For instance my house, my finances, the fact that my car runs, that my kids are healthy and that I have things I desire.

And while there’s nothing at all wrong with being thankful for these things, I thought more about it. I began to see how that kind of thankfulness made me the focus of my thankfulness, and totally missed one of the greatest things we all can be thankful for; the people around us. I guess the impassioned plea to resist the temptation of self-focus and self-indulgence fell on deaf ears, mine.

As I thought about this more and more I began to see that yes, we can thank God for the things in our lives, but we should remember to be infinitely more thankful for the people God has placed in our lives.

Now when I say that, I don’t just mean the people you like being around, you know, ones who are easy to be thankful for. I also mean the people who aren’t always easy to be around, and yet God placed them in our lives. I wonder if that is why we tend to make thankfulness more about us rather than others. It is us trying to control the mess. And yet, while sharing life with others can be quite messy, just think about how empty, meaningless, and frankly boring our lives would be without them.

In Old Testament Scripture the word for giving thanks is tied to, “acknowledging what is right about God, and what He has provided.” In the New Testament, the word is connected to “giving praise as a response to God’s grace, His unmerited favor.” Like the Old Testament, the New Testament acknowledges God’s provision, but it goes much deeper because of God’s grace, His provision of Jesus Christ, went right to the heart of the matter.

In the New Testament we are not just those who are called to respond to God’s grace by giving thanks to Him, but also to respond by living out that grace and offering it to others; by thanks giving.

Peter wrote these very things in his second letter to the church in Rome, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) Notice that it does not say we are to grow from grace or to grow beyond grace. We’re told to grow in grace, and as we grow in it we extend it out more and more.

So often we think the grace of God is about us, but the grace of God goes far beyond that. If we limit what grace is all about to us, we have a terribly sad misunderstanding of the grace of God.

Grace is about bearing fruit.

Grace is about abounding in good works.

Grace is about acknowledging and extending your thankfulness

Interestingly, my more liturgical friends will recognize the connection of the word “thanks” and the Latin word “Eucharist,” which is one name for the practice of Communion. Communion is the practice of acknowledging God’s grace, which was instituted in the upper room at the Last Supper.

Luke chapter 22 verse 19 says that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks (a response to God’s grace), He broke it and gave it to his friends, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” What I love about this moment is that those gathered around Jesus were about as messy as they come.

Peter tended to be a bit of a loose cannon and often needed correction. James and John were nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder,” which is thought to come from the fact that they both had stormy personalities. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. Phillip was known for introducing his friend Nathanael Bartholomew to Jesus. Thomas struggled with doubt, and Matthew had a checkered past as a tax collector. Then there was James, Thaddeus, Andrew, Simon, and just when you thought, well that’s not so bad, we have Judas the one who would betray Jesus.

Jesus’ friends were a messy bunch, not unlike the people we have in our own lives, and yet Jesus broke the bread and gave thanks.

The table itself was set by grace.

That act of gathering together was grace.

Jesus, who is the living embodiment of God’s grace, was seated somewhere near the center. Which tells us something about where we ought to position grace among others.

Jesus acknowledged grace by giving thanks, and He extended grace to this messy group of people by washing their feet and serving them.

Jesus gave thanks as a response to God’s grace, and He extended that same grace to that messy group of people gathered around Him, acknowledging that God put them in His life.

The odds are good that you are surrounded by the same kinds of folks.

The inlaws, the outlaws and those who live on fringes of your patience and love. So my challenge to you is to set the table of grace, offer them a seat, and give thanks for them. Chances are you might discover that beauty abounds in the mess.

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Commentary: Looking at the ingredients that cause violence

Jason Schifo — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 19:51:43 +0000

BY JASON SCHIFO

Last year my wife was away on a missions trip, and my son needed to make treats for his student ministry night. My wife had sent him a tried and true recipe for S’more‘s bars, a real winner in every setting. As he set himself to the task of making them, he had two things working against him. He is 13 years old and believed he could play Minecraft and bake.

So, I was sat at the kitchen table watching anxiously. Age and wisdom told me that there was a problem brewing, but I also wanted to allow room to fail so he could learn. After what seemed like a parental eternity, he said, “Dad, this batter doesn’t look or taste right.”

The moment I prayed for had happened. It was time to intervene, and unlike many other times, I didn’t jump up and tell him how it should have been done, or how wrong he was for doing it the way he did. And he didn’t get defensive. We just went down the list of ingredients one by one, looking at each one, making sure we understood why it was there and how much was needed so the finished product would serve others well.

When I think about that story it serves as a kind of parable for what we are facing today…

The Gifford’s Law Center has reported that an average of 36,000 Americans are killed by guns each year, an average of 100 per day. In 2017, gun deaths reached their highest level in at least 40 years, with 39,773 deaths that year alone. This was an increase of 16% from 2014 to 2017. But we don’t need statistics to catch our attention and raise our concerns. We have the recent events in Dayton, Ohio, El Paso, Texas and others to inform us.

Certainly something needs to be done to address the sharp rise in deaths between 2014 and 2017 (and 2018-2019), but my caution is that we need to address every part and ingredient in this recipe as important to the whole, and not focus on just one, so we like my son, don’t miss anything.

Here are, from my perspective, the ingredients:

Lack of Empathy:

Studies have proven that we suffer from a growing lack of empathy. The sharp rise of communication through impersonal means (devices) and at a distance has created a rise in a lack of empathy for others.

No longer do we look people in the eye and discuss our differences with them. No, now we just simply type, tweet, post, blog, live stream and then hit send, with no degree of empathy attached to our actions. I believe that any communication that is done without having to look at another person in the eye tends to lack loving empathy.

A Lack of Real, Meaningful Connection:

In one sense, we are more connected than ever. We have access to one another’s lives through posts and pictures, at all hours of the day and night. However, as one cultural researcher has said, “our connections have become window dressing, lacking any part of what makes meaningful connection truly meaningful.”

Think about it. People are friended and unfriended, brought into or blocked out of conversations on a whim. Our connections are no longer heart level, but instead, are often now dictated by the swipe of a finger. Our meaningful connections with one another cause us to depend upon and care deeply in meaningful ways for others.

Spending Time Alone, Together:

One of the saddest things I read recently was Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone”. In it, Putnam talks about a growing trend of people doing things alone that they traditionally did in groups. Things like: eating alone, seeing movies alone, and even bowling alone, an activity that was once considered the gold standard for group activity.

The saddest part of Putnam’s conclusion is that our aloneness is often happening in the places where it shouldn’t, where we are together. We may be “bowling alone”, but we are still gathered together doing it. And in being alone together, we are robbing ourselves of a key component to being emotionally healthy: being known.

So a lack of empathy and meaningful connection, in a growing culture being alone and unknown is the recipe thus far. Now, let’s add a few more ingredients:

A Lack of Justice:

I remember being a teenager and watching with everyone else the trial of O.J. Simpson. I also remember a deep sense of frustration as I watched the verdict being handed down. The glove may not have fit, but there was too much evidence that did fit to deny the truth. They said justice was served that day, but it was half baked.

And this isn’t an isolated case. It seems like daily we are served stories where justice fell short, falls flat and isn’t being served. We watch people who are clearly guilty, who never answer for their crimes. You don’t have to look too hard to see injustice at every level, and it is maddening.

Video Games:

The video game market, according to Newzoo, is growing rapidly from $137.9 billion in 2018 to projected $180.1 billion by 2021. The research firm also expects the top five video game markets in the world to generate nearly $98 billion in revenue this year alone. I stand by the old adage, “follow the money and you will find the problem”, and I’ll also add, “if there’s enough money, then you will find the reason why we don’t address the problem.”

Of the video games on the market, the top-selling games by percentage and revenue are first-person shooter games. There is something powerful about assuming the role of someone who has the power to solve problems, save the princess, address evil and injustice, and defeat the enemy. I would argue that these games have gotten so realistic that the lines between fantasy and reality have continued to become blurred. At what point will it become indistinguishable?

According to Jordan Shapiro writing for Forbes, “if gamers spend much of their time in virtual game spaces, averaging 22 hours per week, in the United States, it will shape their worldview.” Shapiro goes on to voice his concern for his own sons as they “see that the world is not just a landscape full of potential targets.”

“I’m just saying,” he recalls saying to his boys, “I watch you playing Halo, and I want to make sure you know that when you grow up, work will not be all about locking onto problems that can be eliminated by choosing the right weapon and firing with simple solutions.”

Friends, a lack of empathy, meaningful connection, being alone and unknown in a culture of injustice, while being trained to act upon our convictions is just missing a call to action.

Media Antagonism and Toxic Sensationalism:

I am old enough to remember when the news was someone sitting at a desk, with a few pieces of paper, reporting the news to us. These days news is inundated with sensational graphics, animations, heated debate, sharp rhetoric, and even inappropriate images – all to keep us tuned in. And not just for 30 minutes a night, as it used to be. Now this kind of news runs 24/7, across dozens of channels, day and night.

News today relies on creating a growing sense of antagonism and tribalism by sowing division between issues, peoples, parties, and platforms. It isn’t about expressing our differences and differing views in healthy ways that move us towards truth together. Now celebrating and vilifying the rightness or wrongness of groups in sensational ways is part of the standard playbook. And honestly, I really don’t see much difference between that and reality television.

Jordan Peterson recently said of technology and media: “Traditional media is in a difficult place right now. Podcasts and social media have become the go-to for people to get information and opinion. In terms of traditional media and news, there is an extinction-level event coming. The signs of that are found in the ways media now has to sensationalize itself to attract viewers. In effect, waving their hands in the air and saying, ‘look at me.’ This form of sensationalism is toxic.”

I believe this type of media is especially dangerous for those who are already at a tipping point. Those who are not connected in meaningful ways and feeling alone and unknown.

Mental Health and Over Medication:

Mental health is a real issue, and one that we need to address, but what I am not hearing enough about in connection to mental health is over-medication.

Graham C.L. Davey Ph.D. writing for Psychology Today says, “We hear so much about mental health problems. But the most recent figures tend to suggest that as many as 57% of people with mental health problems are being treated solely with medications and without any form of psychotherapy. And that figure is not going down, it’s going up from 44% to 57% between 1998 and 2007. In addition, the pediatric use of antidepressants has risen significantly between 1994 and 2000, largely to treat childhood anxiety and depression, and has often occurred without regulatory approval to the benefit of the drug companies.”

Let that last line sink in.

Davey goes on to say, “Treating mental health problems with drugs from the outset may effectively “medicalize” them, turning what might have been short-term acute bouts into a longer-term chronic problem. For example, almost everyone knows someone who has been on anti-depressants for most of their life. This may be good business for the pharmaceutical industry, but are those drugs having any significant effect on symptoms and the users over the long-term?”

There is big money in medicalizing the problem rather than addressing it properly with empathy and meaningful connection in ongoing therapy. But there is a roadblock. In many instances, insurance providers will only allow 6-8 appointments with a licensed therapist. Unfortunately, 6-8 appointments are only the beginning of what is needed to help unravel the problems most people face.

Deputy John Miller testified before congress on gun violence saying, “These kinds of stories (Dayton and El Paso) don’t create new stories, they accelerate the ones already in motion.” It tips over the ones who are already at a tipping point.

We need to address mental health, but not only with medication. We need to grow in our empathy, seek meaningful connections, finding those who are alone and unknown and meeting them where they are at rather than medicating them.

Now, probably the most divisive thing I will say comes next.

I want to preface my comments by saying I am neither pro-gun nor anti-gun, don’t own any guns, nor am I a member of any gun-related organizations.

Guns Alone Are Not The Problem:

I am not dismissing guns from the equation, and I believe that they have a place in this problem. But the gun is a tool, an expression, used to work out what is happening within a person. Take the gun away from gun violence, and the violence still remains. I personally believe that without guns people will just pick up another tool to work out what is at work within them.

Prior to gun violence, we had bow and arrow violence, sword violence, club violence and even before that stone violence. It is the way that humans have done it since Cain picked up a weapon and slew his brother Abel. The issue is not the tool per se, but the person who holds the tool responsibly and in the right regard. Sure we can remove guns, but then what else?

Instead of passionately trying to remove something, why not put our passion to work in things like showing and growing in empathy? Seeking meaningful connections with others? Not allowing the alone and unknown to remain alone and unknown. Realizing that the most valuable resource we have is sitting next to us.

We have to be bold enough to challenge industries to act responsibly with their products, not allowing revenue to trump responsibility. We have to hold power accountable. And we have to stop looking for band-aids to big problems and start finding solutions around kitchen tables in our own houses, rather than hoping it might come from the White House.

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Commentary: Lovers of Self and the Last Days

Jason Schifo — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 01:08:27 +0000

BY JASON SCHIFO

I love people and good coffee, so I generally spend four to five hours a week working from a local coffee shop. Inevitably at some point in my time there someone will approach me and ask, “When is Jesus is coming back?” While I enjoy questions, the answer I have is really shorter than most would like because I have to admit, I just don’t know.

Jesus Himself says the same in Mark 13:32, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” From Jesus’ own mouth I want to emphasize to you that if anyone says that they know when He is returning, that person is wrong.

Now, even though I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, what I can say without hesitation is that His return is near. And by “near,” I mean what the bible says, which is that His coming is imminent, unknown.

Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” The coming of Jesus Christ, His life, death, resurrection and ascension has ushered in the final season of the world; the last days, and his second coming is the next major step in history.

Jesus return began at His ascension, and it is nearer today than it was yesterday. That is what Paul, James, Peter and the writer of the Book of Hebrews believed, and what the faithful church has lived out for the last two thousand years. So while we don’t know the “when”, the Bible does promise that it will happen, and gives us some insight as to what it will look like around us.

Paul writing to his protege’ Timothy says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.” (2 Timothy 3:1)

He says, “Don’t be surprised that life is tough; these are the last days, remember?” The future is not some time far off; it is here, now. I think we can agree that we are living in increasingly difficult days. Why? Because these are the last days.

Paul continues, “For people will be lovers of self” (2 Timothy 3:2).

The Greek word for love, in “lovers of self”, is “philos”, which is the kind of love that comes from our emotions. Basically, it is what we experience when we are attracted to someone. Lovers of self are drawn to who? Themselves.

Studies are now showing what many of you may have suspected, and the Bible already knew, that we are living in an increasingly narcissistic (lovers of self) society? Narcissistic personality traits have risen faster than any other statistic, and are found most often in our online lives.

This should not be a shock as we live in a world where people routinely sit across dinner tables, in the same room, and on dates checking in on social media rather than having face-to-face conversations.

If we scan the top downloads on the Apple App store and the Google Play Store would we be shocked to find that they are Facebook (4.1 billion downloads), Instagram (1.8 billion downloads), Twitter (834 million downloads), Snapchat (753 million downloads) and Youtube (644 million downloads)?

Why is this relevant? Because studies are finding that people who score higher on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire (let’s call that the lovers of self-assessment) tend to spend more time on social media, tag themselves more often in photos, and update their social media feed more often.

Think about how much time is spent putting together, updating, and checking in on a page that is curated and dedicated to what we are doing, eating, wearing, thinking and who we are hanging out with.

I think there are a few real problems with this…

First, if we are honest, we don’t need to be encouraged to love ourselves. We naturally struggle with being too focused on ourselves (loving self). Paul says in Romans 12:3 “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” We must see ourselves as we really are.

Second, and this is important. The love of self eliminates any real concern for other people. It also sucks the life out of meaningful relationships, because ultimately everyone and everything else becomes expendable. It was the first sin of the universe when Adam and Eve chose themselves over God.

Third, is that so much of it is fake. People post perfect photos of perfect moments rather than the real us in our real moments. When was the last time you tagged yourself in a photo titled “just being a jerk and fighting with my wife”? And I am not saying you should do this, it is just an illustration. The lives we live on social media are not real. It is at the very least heavily edited, but in reality, very fake.

This is really quite important because that means that the selves we are loving aren’t the real us. Pause and take that in. The self that we are loving isn’t even the real us. The “lovers of self” we have become is not even lovers of the true self, but the lovers of some self-created self.

And that breaks my heart, because the Bible says that you were wonderfully and beautifully made by God. And in trying to create a better you, what you are really saying is that you can do it better than God did.

It reminds me of what the founder of Hobby Lobby, David Green, said, “The trouble with some self-made men (and women) is that oftentimes they end up worshiping their creator.”

Paul goes on to say to Timothy, they will be “proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)

I was thinking as I was writing this, where do I tend to find these kinds of people most often? You find them on social media. Isn’t it crazy that the people we are told to avoid are found in the most popular spaces in peoples lives, on social media?

This past week, I was reading psychology journals, both Christian and secular in preparation, and I began to see a trend. Testimony after testimony, and study after study showed that when people live their lives largely on social media they have a much greater chance of having the character traits that Paul warns Timothy about.

John Calvin notes while discussing 2 Timothy 3 that, “the lovers of themselves, which comes first, can be regarded as the source from which all the other traits spring forth.” The love of self is where it all starts.

The moment we place love of self over everything else both divine and human relationships are diminished, obedience to God and love of others becomes impossible, because you live for the benefit of yourself and not others.

Tom Hanks was once asked if actors had any traits which set them apart from other human beings. “Without a doubt,” he replied. “You can pick out actors by the glazed look that comes into their eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves.”

Amazingly, studies also show that when people lessen social media use or leave it altogether, they no longer constantly seek validation of others, they focus more on doing meaningful and important things, they start to communicate in ways that lift up others, and they become more aware of the people around them.

One last thing that I want to address, and this is to the church whom I love and have given my life to…

Paul tells Timothy to be watchful of “having an appearance of godliness”. Which means trying to look like we are devoted to God, but our actions speak otherwise.

It means that while our social media profiles say that we are Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, we also spend a considerable amount of time posting hateful, antagonistic, arrogant and unloving things to those who don’t agree or believe what we believe.

That brings us back to the original problem, that we love ourselves and what we have to say so much that we don’t care who we hurt in saying it.

And our online lives look far more like the list Paul says to avoid, than the people Jesus says to follow.

In John 13:35 Jesus Himself says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We can post all the Bible memes, Bible verses, and encouraging quotes from prominent pastors we want, but if we aren’t loving one another, the world won’t know we are Jesus’ followers.

I know that what I am saying isn’t a real popular message, but I think it needs to be said because as the church we can and are called to do better. We are called to shed the love of self so that we can love others like Jesus Himself loved us.

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Commentary: Anger, Bitterness and Love

Jason Schifo — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 20:10:15 +0000

BY JASON SCHIFO

I don’t know if you have noticed, but things around us are feeling awfully divided lately. This person believes this thing, that group believes that thing. It seems like every day there is more and more to drive us apart rather than bring us together.

And every crevice and corner we see increasing hatred, bitterness, and division. Lines are being drawn by groups and tribes, gathering together around issues rather than people, seems to be trumping unity.

Now, it’s not like there isn’t a lot to be angry about. The world seems like a powder keg for anger. Watching the news or reading the paper these days feels like walking across a floor filled with my son’s legos screaming, ”YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!”

I am not going to go for easy applause by naming the things that make us angry and bitter. You already know the issues that cause you to become angry and say, “those people!”, and then to rally around “Your people” – those who embrace and agree with whatever you are angry about.

And then we have more anger, more bitterness, and more division. And in doing so move farther from the unity. Each one of us is complicit in either a move towards unity or one towards division.

As with all things, the Bible isn’t silent on this. Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” But how can we possibly live peaceably with all when we’re all so angry? We will get to that…

Ephesians 4:26-27 says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”

But wait, Jason, the Bible just said that I do get to “be angry,”

Yes, it did, but that isn’t all that it says.

The Bible says, “be angry” because we all have these emotions and to deny these emotions denies what it means to be human, and the Bible never denies our humanity. We all get angry. But it doesn’t leave us there. It wants to tell us what to do with that anger.

First, it tells us not to sin.

What is sin? Well, we teach our AWANA Clubs kids that sin is: Anything that we think, say, or do that disobeys God. What did God tell us to do that sin would lead us to disobey?

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus is asked what the most important thing is, and He says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” The most important thing is to love God and to love others.

Often when we talk about sin we think about stealing, murder, infidelity, immorality; all most heinous examples. But the sins the Bible is leading us towards are the ones we seem to find ourselves practicing most often.

Ephesians 5:4 says, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place”, and Ephesians 5:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths.”

The Bible gives us a warning not to let our anger and bitterness degenerate into sin; things like filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking, and corrupting talk that would come out of our mouths. In our modern context, I might want to add, and out of our keyboards and onto social media.

There are commands on how we express our anger and there is also a strict time limit. You do get to be angry because you are human, but you don’t get to stay angry. The Bible says “And don’t sin by letting anger control you and Don’t go to bed angry” (Ephesians 4:26).

When we harbor anger and bitterness in our heart, we do the work of division, by sowing discord. If God’s mercies are indeed new every day, and the Bible says they are, then why would we carry our anger, bitterness, and resentment into each day in ever increasing amounts?

But what do we do about injustice? Because injustice makes us angry.

This is so important, but we need to acknowledge what has subtly happened. That as we have addressed injustice, and the things that make us angry, we have become experts at getting others angry with us.

The problem is that if our motivation for justice is anger and bitterness, if and when we get justice we will still be left with anger and bitterness. And this is incompatible with the life that we are called to live together.

Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Conversely, and imagine this, if our motivation is love then when we get justice we are left with love. We are not left angry, divided and bitter, but united in something greater: in love.

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to the Zacharias Center. There I had the opportunity to meet Reverend Justice Okoronkwo and Pastor Hassan John from Jos, in northern Nigeria. There Hassan John told a story…

“My church had been repeatedly attacked by local factions from the terrorist group of Boko Haram. We had been bombed, shot at, some members killed, and even I have a $700 bounty on his head.”

“Finally I reached my breaking point. I was beside myself, did not know what to do with my anger. So I called a man of the church and told him that I needed to get an AK-47. If Boko Haram had the AK-47, then I needed one to protect my church! The man told me he could get one, but that it would cost roughly $1,000. With scarce extra money, I struggled with how to get the money.”

“A few days later I was sitting outside the church thinking again about the AK-47, when I saw a little Muslim girl selling peanuts. I called to her and asked, “Daughter, why are you not in school?” The girl responded, “My mother is unable to pay the fees for school.”

“I asked her where her mother was, and the girl motioned to me and started off for her home as I followed. But as she entered the Muslim section of the village, I being a Christian, started to become very fearful and concerned. Things became more tense as the local Imam, suspect of my presence in the village, approached us.”

“I told the Imam that I wanted to speak to this girl’s mother to find out why she was not in school. The Imam agreed but continued to follow us as we went to her home. Once there, her mother confirmed to me that indeed their family along with many other Muslim families in the village were unable to pay the fees for school. Without thinking much, I committed to pay the fees for the girl to attend school. First her, then others and now currently over a hundred.

“Sometime later, our church was gathered to worship, when suddenly there was a commotion outside. A man burst through the doors yelling that we were going to be attacked. I ran out the doors and there I saw that same Imam that had followed us into the village, holding down the young man who was coming to attack the church.”

“I was confused, and after they took the youth away, the Imam approached me and said, “Hassan, because of the kindness that you showed our women and children no harm will come to your church.”

“With tears in my eyes I realized that in my anger and bitterness I wanted an AK-47, but in that moment I realized that I had a far greater power to combat evil and injustice – Love.”

The problem with getting angry for one another is that it hinders our ability to love one another. And when we stop loving one another, we stop building one another up, and then we stop living for one another.

I think it’s always a good day when you can end with the Beatles…

“All you need is love” – Love is the answer.

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Commentary: Making God BIG in your life

Jason Schifo — Mon, 24 Dec 2018 14:34:47 +0000

By Jason Schifo
Pastor, Community Evangelical Free Church of Mahomet

What is your favorite song to sing this Christmas season?

Maybe it is Charles Wesley’s famous “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”:

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord!

Or the classic, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” by Wade and Reading?

Jesus to thee be all glory given; Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!

Or something with a bit more bop like, “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms?

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock, Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring.Snowin’ and blowin’ up bushels of fun, Now, the jingle hop has begun!

All of us have our favorite Christmas songs.

The ones we love to sing that bring us back to Christmas moments long ago.

But I wonder how often how often we think about a song written by a little known female artist from a backwater town. No, I am not talking about Loretta Lynn, but instead, the song that Mary sang regarding the coming of Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 1.

As with all great songs, the critics have been harsh. They say that there is no way it could have been sung by a young Mary. It is too theological, too deep, too packed with meaning, too carefully structured, too poetic, too subtle, too finished to possibly have been sung by her. But friends as learned as the scholars are, I think they are short-sighted on this one.

“The Magnificat”, was sung by young Mary, and yes, it is a brilliantly woven tapestry of Scripture because it was sung from a heart full of all the Scriptures, prayers and hymns that she had sung both in the synagogue and at home. So when the Holy Spirit came upon her in Luke 1:45, He took what she had hidden in her heart and wove it into this beautiful song creating the “Magnificat” – a fitting name for a song sung about the coming of Christ into the world.

So as we prepare our hearts for Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s coming, I would love if we could spend a few moments together looking at this wonderful, yet not often sung, song.

Luke 1:46-48 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

Literally, Mary begins by singing, “My soul makes BIG the Lord”.

It is an interesting thing to sing because God cannot be made any bigger. He is by nature already as BIG as BIG can be. He already exceeds our understanding – But friends, He can be enlarged in someone’s life.

What Mary shows us is that we make God BIGGER in our lives when we think about His greatness. When we meditate upon any part of God’s Word our thoughts regarding God get larger. The fuller our knowledge of his greatness, the greater He grows, and the BIGGER He gets in our lives.

For many of us, God is much too small because the time we spend thinking about Him is far too small. Mary’s song teaches us that for God to be BIG in our lives we need to think about Him in BIG ways.

Imagine how making God bigger in your own life might impact the world?

I often wonder as Mary had begun to think bigger and grander thoughts about God if she might have thought, “If God who could do this with me, a young girl from a backwater town, then what could He do with all of Israel and the world?”

It’s not a question that is out of the realm of possibility.

And we know the answer to that question, don’t we?

The coming of Christ through Mary affected, impacted and changed the entire world. Think about it. More songs have been sung, more books have been written, more paintings have been painted, more hospitals have been built, more people have been fed, and more lives have been saved in the Name of Christ than anyone else in all of human history.

When you really think about that how can one not feel blessed?

Luke 1:48-49 For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

There has been much made about the generations calling Mary blessed, and I am not really interested in weighing into those discussions. Instead, when things get complicated, I like to refer to Occam’s razor, which says that sometimes the simplest, most obvious thing is the correct answer.

Mary was close to God, the work of God and because of that Mary was blessed, and called blessed. Do you know that you are called blessed?

Even though Mary was just a young girl, she understood something very important – that the most blessed thing that could ever happen is for God to be BIG in our lives. And this isn’t just for Mary, or some other people, but for you also. If Jesus Christ is truly born in you, then you too will be called blessed.

Jesus himself tells us…

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34)

Mary was blessed, and in Christ so are we!

Luke 1:49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

This isn’t just a story where God is mighty. Mary speaks personally of God’s “might” because she has experienced it when the “the power of the Most High overshadowed her” (Luke 1:35). She knew the words of the Prophet Isaiahwho told us He will be called “mighty God” (Isaiah 9:7).

One of my favorite Christmas albums contains the song called “He Who Is Mighty”, by Kate DeGraide, Rebecca Elliott. The chorus says so well what Mary is singing…

He Who is mighty has done a great thing,

Taken on flesh, conquered death’s sting

Shattered the darkness and lifted our shame

Holy is His name.

Mary knew that the Son she was carrying would be “the holy one” because the angel Gabriel said “therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

Did Mary truly get how big all this really was? Probably not.

But that doesn’t stop her from praising God by saying, “Holy is His Name!”

And all this happens because the Lord looked upon her giftedness? No.

The Bible says, “for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant”.

God met her in her humility. And out of Mary’s humility will be born the Son of God.

Come on, you can sing along because Her song is ours to sing also.

This is how God comes to us, and how Christ is born within us. When we declare from our humble estate that indeed the God is BIG just like like Mary did.

Last year, our family bought our first home here in Mahomet after renting for 7 years. It is a nice house, and it is our house, but it certainly isn’t the nicest home in Mahomet. Please know that I am so thankful for our home, but I am also realistic.

As I drive around town, other homes have bigger yards, larger driveways, a few more trees, that red door we have been thinking about, but this home is our humble estate. A place where our family and friends can gather together. A place where we can pray and our prayers are heard. And it is a place where we try our best to make God BIG in our lives and the lives of others.

That is my prayer for each and every one of you also.

That from your humble estate you would celebrate yet again, in a BIG and beautiful way, that Christ has come into the world. And that like Mary you might sing this season, “My soul makes great the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Merry Christmas!

The post Commentary: Making God BIG in your life first appeared on SJO Daily.

Thanksgiving Message: Give Thanks Away

Jason Schifo — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 13:07:49 +0000

By Jason Schifo
Pastor at Community Evangelical Free Church

A woman was traveling in the mountains and found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she happened to meet another traveler who was hungry, and the woman opened her bag to share the food she had with her. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone she picked up and immediately asked the woman to give it to him, and she did so without hesitation.

The hungry traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime, but a few days later he returned to the woman to give her back the precious stone.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said with tears in his eyes, “I know how valuable this stone is, but I want to give it back in the hope that you might give me something even more precious. Please give me what you have within you that led you to give me that precious stone.”

So often what we value has little value and what is often undervalued is really the thing of value. It is Thanksgiving, a day we give value to by setting it aside. By closing businesses, government offices and schools – taking time off to cook all-day and sometimes over multiple days in preparation for gathering together. We value the day of Thanksgiving by what we do, but I want to argue that the more precious thing, a reminder that we ought to live a life of thanks – giving is being lost.

This week is Thanksgiving, and when I say that I know you are immediately thinking of all that we value about the holiday: the turkey, the stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings. Which inevitably means we begin thinking about the cooking, the cleaning, the gathering of family, the inlaws and the out laws – Oh, my!

But I want us to try thinking of thanksgiving differently because I believe that the real value of this day is something of greater worth than just what can be expressed in a day.

Recently I was reading Psalm 100 and thinking about the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving. A small note that accompanies the title of Psalm 100 caught my eye because it tells us so much about the intention of the writer of this Psalm: “A Psalm for giving thanks.”

The short 8 verses of Psalm 100 is the climax to the collection of Psalms known as the “royal Psalms” which emphasize how awesome God’s goodness is to His people as He rules and reigns over all of creation. As “a Psalm for giving thanks”, the Psalm doesn’t begin by just offering instruction, and letting us decide what we want to do. It immediately calls us to do something.

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

I don’t know about you, but right out the gate this is challenging stuff, isn’t it? Why? Because I don’t always make a joyful noise. I mean if I am honest, I am pretty good at making a grumpy noise, I make a great critical noise, a have a pretty effective fatherly or pastorly noise, a corrective noise – but a joyful noise? Yep, that is a work in progress. How about you?

So right out the gate, Psalm 100 confronts our own personal need of “a Psalm, for giving thanks” and reveals the truth of our hearts. Asking us to make a joyful noise reveals if we are willing, half-hearted, antagonistic, pessimistic or just plain unwilling to make a joyful noise. The call to do it is telling of our willingness to do it. And that can be quite frustrating because it means that the problem starts with us.

This is important because it means you matter. I don’t think that I have run across anyone recently who is thankful for the current state of affairs in the world. We are at a point where every noise coming from everywhere is so filled with division, tribalism, antagonism, and hatred that is anything but a joyful noise. Everyone I meet wants this to change.

Gandhi famously said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

One of the great lies that we perpetrate today is that the change we want should come from somewhere else, and not here. You know, because we’re too busy, not qualified, don’t have the status or means to be that change agent. So we elect, look to, and ask others to be that change, and not much changes, right?

The second great lie is that it has to be complicated. We love to make things complicated, to create a plan or program, and the more complicated the better. Because if it is complicated it must be good because now it needs an expert to manage it. And, we find ourselves back at the first great lie, of our not being qualified or good enough, and round and round we go.

When Jesus was confronted with the question of what is the greatest commandment, the Jews were wondering which one of the very complicated 613 laws they had built around God’s original 10 Commandments He would choose. It was a complicated matter. So what does Jesus do? He doesn’t address the 613, or even the 10. He offers a simple answer which everyone can do: to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus didn’t make it more complicated, He instead offered a simple answer to a complicated problem.

Psalm 100:1 doesn’t give us a complicated command. It tells us to make a joyful noise – to give thanks, starting with you. And while that joyful noise may start with you, it doesn’t end with you. There is this crazy belief in the Bible that your joyful noise, your thankfulness, will be so infectious that it will spread out to others and into the nations.

Have you ever been around someone who is so thankful, encouraging, and joyful that it annoys you because you can’t be your grumpy, critical and contemptible self in their presence? Someone who, within minutes of being with them, you find yourself unable to not be more thankful, more encouraging and more joyful.

It’s interesting because a recurring theme in the “royal psalms” was Israel’s responsibility to show the world what God looks like. The joyful noise of thankfulness was Israel’s testimony to show the nations God’s goodness. As powerful as it is for you to give thanks, there is a real power in you also giving away your thanks to others. A joyful noise that starts with you, but as you give it away it goes to everyone everywhere.

Maybe all this is leading to that great verse in Revelation 9:7 where is says “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands” This joyful noise is all the nations giving thanks in one loud voice.

What an awesome picture! Why would we settle for anything less?

We can become so wrapped up in what we think we should value about Thanksgiving; the turkey, the stuffing, the people and the pie that we miss the true value: the power of giving thanks – on this day, and every day. And in giving thanks we give away thanks, infecting others, and they give thanks and give away thanks, and round and round we go until every tribe nation and tongue is giving thanks – “all the earth”.

When the Psalmist says, “all the earth” I believe that He is opening up every corner, a crack, every crevice and pocket to the awesome prospect of joining the chorus of those who are making a joyful noise! Who are focused on giving thanks, and giving away thanks for the sake of others.

This is what true thanksgiving does.

It transforms division into unity. It changes loathing into love.

It takes the lost and makes them family.

It takes the condemnation and confrontation and creates a joyful chorus of thanksgiving.

This is a BIG view of “thanks” worthy of living for and giving to others!

A BIG view of “thanks” that we can give that makes a difference!

A BIG view of “thanks” that changes the temperature of things around us!

The kind of thanks that defeats division and draws us together in one voice, and it all begins with you.

So celebrate Thanksgiving with the kind joyful noise, that gives thanks to others, that leads to more thanks, that leads to more thanks; ad infintium and throughout all the earth is your job. So will you start giving thanks, and give away thanks to others today?

The post Thanksgiving Message: Give Thanks Away first appeared on SJO Daily.