Anyways, I’m back again at least for the next few months.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:27-32

This week we continue the study of the life of Jesus examining his interaction with the tax collector named Levi, and in his calling we find some great examples of what it means to practice good community. In this narrative from Luke we see three steps in the process (to borrow some phrases from Driscoll):

• Follow Jesus
• Start a Community Group
• Repent, Repent, Repent

Personally, I find the order of the activities particularly interesting. Of course the command to follow Jesus precedes all, for that is where the motivation comes for all that will happen later. But one might expect that the next step will be the revelation of sin in the life of Levi, and the inevitable priod of conviction and repentance that lead to a changed life. Instead we see that after meeting Jesus at the tax booth Levi’s immediate reaction is to call together all his friends and fellow sinners so that they too may come to know Jesus. The life-analysis and study that leads to the revelation of sin, conviction, and ultimately repentance follows, rather than precedes, the starting of this new “community group.”

Instead of having to “get oneself right” in order to participate in relationships with others (both Christian and non-Christian), we see that good community helps “get ourselves right” for relationship with God through conviction of sin and accountability. Thus the importance of involvement in community is stressed as an immediate reaction of the newly-called disciple of Christ.

But what makes good community and, considering many of us are already practicing good community of one sort or another, what are the risks to good community once established? Let’s limit the discussion for the time being to that of Christian community since, after all, this is a blog about Christian community groups.

There are two primary dangers that I see to the practice of healthy community. The first is that the success of our community group would lead to pride that is not focused on Christ. This can either happen in a religious or worldly sense. The second is that in reaching out to sinners we would become so blind to sin that we ourselves fall into temptation.

We find an example of the first risk in Galatians 2:11-14. Here we see that Paul opposing Peter who has refused to eat with Gentile Christian.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, l live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatians 2:11-14

In this case Peter had previously eating with the Gentiles exercising a freedom that he was granted in Christ to ignore the previously strict dietary guidelines that governed what Jews could and could not eat. But, upon the arrival of some Christians of Jewish heritage, Peter pulled back and excluded Gentile Christians from his fellowship. This rejection comes despite Peter’s previous affirmation of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles expressed in the preceding passage: Galatians 2:7-10. Here we see the risk of allowing pride in our community to color our interactions with others. For me, this risk takes the form of wanting to get everything in my life “just so.” I can sympathize with Peter who in his refusal to eat with the Gentiles was reacting to the deep-seated beliefs that have their origin in the strongly-stated Levitical laws regarding what was permissible to eat. Although the laws from the Old Testament regarding food had been made obsolete by the redemption of Christ, there was still an uneasiness that came with the new dietary freedom that undoubtedly created significant discomfort for Christian Jews, Peter in particular. Although selfish and wrong, his decision was at least based on a desire rooted in the commands of the Lord. I’m convicted when I consider how many times I avoid dealing with certain people or situations to avoid discomfort not because of a misunderstood command of the Lord, but purely based on my own selfish desire to have things the way that I want them to be.

Such an attitude is toxic to good community. This not only expresses great selfishness, but it puts us in a position where we are completely ineffective for the spread of the gospel. By ensuring that we allow our “boat to be rocked” in this regard we ensure that the following positive benefits will come out of our community groups:

• Selfishness will be eliminated as we are forced out of our comfort zone.
• We will be constantly aware of the sinfulness and brokenness of ourselves and of the world.

The second danger to good community is found in 1 Corinthians 5 where we see the unwillingness of the Corinthian church to deal with the explicit sin found among Christian brothers:

It is actually reported that there is w sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

The second risk touches on the need for good community to help us realize our own sinfulness and urge us to repentance. If the first risk of community is being too judgmental, then this second risk is that of refusing to engage in accountability with our fellow Christians. This is important because we are all called to live above reproach, this is how the glory of God is demonstrated in the redeemed and changed lives of Christians. This means that, as good community members, we must be willing to put aside our comfort and have those difficult conversations and interactions in which sin can be exposed and put to death.

In concluding, it’s important to note here that the judgment in this case is not directed to those outside the community, or to non-Christians, but rather to those members of the group who profess to follow Christ and yet still live in sin. In the passage from Luke, and all thought the ministry of Jesus we see his desire to reach out to the “unclean” and help heal them of their sin them as a spiritual physician. So like him, we must be constantly reaching out to the world around us maintaining the delicate balance between internal moral consistency and external unconditional love.

Two days ago my family lost a four-legged friend. For nearly the past 11 years the Roe family dog was a Welsh Corgi named Ginger. This week we decided, based on several medical conditions she was suffering, to put her to sleep.

Those who know me know that I’m not really what you would call an “animal person.” But I’ll admit, Ginger grew on me. 11 years is a long time, and not just in dog-years, and as I considered that “Ginger-dog” will no longer be there to greet me when I visit my parents it seemed a bit like her passing is the close of the childhood chapter of life for both my sister and I.

Ginger was a great dog. I’ll always remember how we had to dig pathways in the snow in the backyard for Ginger because she was too short to get through it on her own. Or how whenever you went to get ice out of the freezer Ginger would bound into to kitchen to demand the ice-cube tax. And how, when you gave her that ice cube, she would spend 3 minutes chasing it around the kitchen because it was too slippery for her mouth.

So, goodbye Ginger, I hope wherever you are you have some warm sun to nap in and a good human to give you love!

It just seems so unfair that New Orleans, already in the throes of Marti Gras, gets a big ol’ second serving of partying courtesy of their Super Bowl victory. Didn’t their parents teach them to share? But don’t despair Indy fans, eventually those partiers down south will be just as hungover as you are right now.

One of the more interesting things I’ve seen recently.

This Thanksgiving I traveled all the way from Seattle to Atlanta (again) to, among other things, attend the best college football rivalry game in the country; the Georgia Tech vs. U(sic)GA game. This year the game was the first and only GT game that I attended at Bobby Dodd stadium (readers will recall that I also saw the team play in person at Vanderbilt) and unless you have had your head under a rock for the past few days you probably also know that the game did not go well for us.

Now I don’t really know what qualifies a game as “rough” but here’s what made the game last Saturday rough for the GT faithful. First, we hate UGA. Good, clean hate mind you but hate none the less. Perhaps it’s because most of their fans didn’t even go to the school, and cheer for them because they win a lot and make an easy team to root for. Perhaps it’s because they usually beat us in football. Perhaps it’s because their football players and mascot tear up our field in front of our fans when they win. Whatever. We just don’t like them at all and losing to them only makes that worse. Second, we were actually good this year. Although I’ll admit that I thought the ranking in the top 10 was a bit optimistic, I really do think that we’ve done a good job this year. And in years past when the roles were reversed and U(sic)GA was on top we got trounced. Any of those years we would have loved to play the spoiler to U(sic)GA’s otherwise great season. Why then on the one rare occasion where the roles are reversed are we the ones who provide redemption for our rival’s otherwise mediocre season? Third, the game was so close. Although we were trailing pretty much the entire time, we were always within striking distance. And except for a brief period in the second quarter we had plenty of offensive momentum. This means that for pretty much the entire game we were all on the edge of our seats screaming our heads off hoping that we would take the lead. Right up to the very end. Let me tell you how much fun it was to wake up the next day, unable to speak in anything above a raspy whisper and remember: “oh yeah, we lost to Georgia last night, sweet.” And finally, on the topic of that period in the second quarter, it wouldn’t be a game against the dawgs without a little “coincidence.” How fortuitous that the first play immediately following our recovery of a U(sic)GA fumble for the go-ahead touchdown our star quarterback goes down with a twisted ankle…

Phew, now that’s out of my system.

The rest of the trip was great. I had a great time with friends and like every time I go back I left wondering why I moved so far away. Also, this might sound dumb, but this was the first trip where I realized that I’m really not in college anymore. For the game I was standing with my fraternity just like the old days, except that it wasn’t. Most of my close friends have graduated and in their places are all these new guys who I don’t know. Even those guys that I do know are getting ready to move on to grad school and other things. So the limited connection that I do have there will soon be gone. Even just being around the house or on campus was interesting. For the first time ever I felt more at home at the alumni tailgate then I did anywhere else.

But then, what are my alternatives? I don’t really feel old enough to move to the alumni sections for the games. I mean who really wants to sit through a football game? If I wanted to sit then I’d just stay home where I can camp out on the couch and drink beer that didn’t cost eight dollars a bottle. This might not have been all that bad of an idea given the outcome of the game… Anyways the trip was great and the times were good. So I can’t really complain all that much, even if I’m becoming one of the “old guys.” I’m just not there yet.

We give control back to the project manager.

I must admit, I was alarmed. Have we here at The Empire© stolen away the control, the very freedom of project managers everywhere? Surely not! I mean, maybe those jerks over at Oracle with their mighty all-knowing Primavera solution, or those IBMers with their Rational portfolio management platform. I could see them snatching away control from project managers quicker than you can say “Gantt Chart.” But not us.

Boy was I wrong. I started asking around about the missing control and found out that even here at the newer, more compassionate Empire© we too frequently strip control away from helpless project managers. And not only that, but we even have a special room in which we hold hostage the control along with the tears of 1 million Vista users. I took a picture of it, but I must warn you I’m risking my job by posting it online:

And yes, if you’ve read this far and haven’t realized this is a joke then you might want to ask a friend about sarcasm, or about Front Page. The extensive use of either will likely ensure that you end up in hell.

Most anyone who’s known me for a while can tell you: I love GT football. This is why last weekend I flew all the way from Seattle to Nashville to watch Georgia Tech play Vanderbilt. Well, that and to spend time with some of my closest friends from college… but mostly to watch football. Um…. let’s call it a 55/45 football/friends split. Anyways, here are some of the reasons I love going to GT football games:

The Stadium Atmosphere

This season I’ve mostly been watching our games on ESPN 360 which is neat, but not the same experience as actually being at a game. There’s just not that excitement/energy level. Of course you might argue that going to a live game at Vanderbilt is pretty much the same thing as watching it on TV, but whatever.

Friends

I have some of the best friends in the world. Many of whom also cheer for Georgia Tech, which is actually a pretty important requirement for friendship with me. Just kidding, but no… really. Of course some of my friends look better than others. No offense Dustin

Paul Johnson

I’ve previously written about why I love our coach. But this season in particular I’ve gained new respect because a 4-quarter application of PJ usually results in…

Winning

I’ve already booked my tickets for the GT/UGA game and I cannot wait. Go Jackets, Fight, Win!