How many times does our gentle instruction turn to heated argument?
My daughter has been going through one of her independent phases again. She is pushing the boundaries of her sense of control. On my good days I gently instruct her one my bad days I argue with her. Yesterday she says, “I want some apple juice!” I reply in a rather exasperated tone, “we don’t have any.” To which she replies, “Well then make some.” “We don’t have any,” I repeat. “Well then make some,” she retorts. “We don’t have any.” I continue the loop.
All I would have had to do was ask her to come to the freezer and have her look in and see if she could find any apple juice. She would have come to an understanding and a much simply resolution if I had done some gentle instruction with her rather than entering into this no win argument.
I think this is what Paul is getting at in 2 Timothy chapter 2. He tells Timothy twice not to get into arguments over terms and words. He says the conflicts with only lead others astray. Then he mentions one of the topics, which have been argued about. Some have said the resurrection has already come. This seems like a pretty big issue to me. Shouldn’t Timothy stand up against such false teaching?
Paul clarifies a little later by once again telling Timothy not to enter into conflicts and arguments, but if someone disagrees with you to approach them with gentle instruction. The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; he must be kind to everyone, and willing to teach without resentment.
Let’s be honest for a minute. When we get swung at, how many of us can come back with kindness, no resentment, and gentle instruction. Furthermore to leave others to come back to the right conviction in the timing of the Holy Spirit instead of our own. It is so easy to argue, it is so easy to quarrel, especially when you know you are right. When can just go for it when we know we are right, we don’t hold back. “I’ll show him to pick a fight with me, I know I’m right!”
Arguments and quarrels are really all about us. I wanted unquestioned control so I argued with my 5 year old about apple juice. She wanted control so she argued right back. It was all about me. If I had really been thinking of her and the best way for her to understand the truth about our lack of apple juice. I would have taken the time to show her and explain to her we didn’t have anymore apple juice in the freezer. Then she would have come to her own satisfied conclusion.
How many arguments at home, in the church, at work, could be quenched by kindness, teaching without resentment or condescension, and gentle instruction? If we could set aside our own ego and simple think of the best way for the person we are talking to understand, to actually serve the other person, quarrels could be avoided. You can’t argue if no one will argue with you. It just doesn’t really work that way.
May we approach one another with kindness today, thinking always of how we can best serve each other to come to a better relationship and understanding.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Paul and the Three Musketeers (2 Timothy 1)
Are we people of action?
So last night I broke down and went to see the new Three Musketeers movie. I spent the day studying the book of Acts and was so impressed by the sense of boldness the apostles had in those stories, I wanted to watch something full of courage and action. I was not disappointed. D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis where full of both. I have been reading the book as well by Dumas. It is impressive to me the way these characters stop at nothing. They just keep going until the task is accomplished or they have been wounded trying. In the book in fact they are all wounded trying. On one of the first adventures to England to retrieve the diamonds from Buckingham first Porthos is wounded, then Aramis is taken in, and finally Athos barricades himself in the cellar to escape those after his life. And yet D'Artagnan rides on, wounds a man in his way and gets to Buckingham and back to Paris with the newly set diamonds in his hand. (A little different from the movie.)
Paul is the same way. He stops at nothing! In 2nd Timothy chap 1 says three times we are not to be ashamed. First to Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel, then not to be ashamed of him in chains and then once again commending those who have been in support of him as he is in chains they have not been ashamed of him. Most scholars recognize 2nd Timothy as Paul's last recorded letter. He has come to the end of his life and thus the end of his ministry. What is it that has placed Paul in these chains at the end of his life? His bold hope in the Resurrection of Jesus.
The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that he was the messiah all Israel had been waiting for. When confronted by the Jews in Jerusalem Paul exclaims he has been arrested for his belief in the resurrection. Now for one this causes a big argument between the Pharisees who believe in resurrection and the Sadducees who do not. But it is the truth. Paul has put his hope in this Christ, this hope of Israel, this Jesus. The resurrection is the proof of his hope.
Interestingly enough the resurrection is our source of hope as well. Jesus' raising from the dead is the proof the resurrection in the end will come. Not only that, Paul also tells us the resurrection power is available to us today.
I can tell you, I need the resurrection today. I need new life from the spirit flowing into my body and soul today. It is only hope that sustains us some days and with out an anchor for this hope we would be lost. We the anchor however we can move forward boldly and unashamed!
What would it really look like to live our Christianity unashamedly? How would it change the life we live today? Would we with the boldness of the Musketeers leap and hurl ourselves into whatever danger and obstacle might come in order to accomplish our mission? What would it look like to never give up, never surrender for the sake of the gospel. I have a feeling it would look and awful lot like Paul and Jesus before him.
May the hope of the resurrection push us forward today is my prayer and the power of the resurrection, the Holy Spirit, sustain us as we do.
So last night I broke down and went to see the new Three Musketeers movie. I spent the day studying the book of Acts and was so impressed by the sense of boldness the apostles had in those stories, I wanted to watch something full of courage and action. I was not disappointed. D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis where full of both. I have been reading the book as well by Dumas. It is impressive to me the way these characters stop at nothing. They just keep going until the task is accomplished or they have been wounded trying. In the book in fact they are all wounded trying. On one of the first adventures to England to retrieve the diamonds from Buckingham first Porthos is wounded, then Aramis is taken in, and finally Athos barricades himself in the cellar to escape those after his life. And yet D'Artagnan rides on, wounds a man in his way and gets to Buckingham and back to Paris with the newly set diamonds in his hand. (A little different from the movie.)
Paul is the same way. He stops at nothing! In 2nd Timothy chap 1 says three times we are not to be ashamed. First to Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel, then not to be ashamed of him in chains and then once again commending those who have been in support of him as he is in chains they have not been ashamed of him. Most scholars recognize 2nd Timothy as Paul's last recorded letter. He has come to the end of his life and thus the end of his ministry. What is it that has placed Paul in these chains at the end of his life? His bold hope in the Resurrection of Jesus.
The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that he was the messiah all Israel had been waiting for. When confronted by the Jews in Jerusalem Paul exclaims he has been arrested for his belief in the resurrection. Now for one this causes a big argument between the Pharisees who believe in resurrection and the Sadducees who do not. But it is the truth. Paul has put his hope in this Christ, this hope of Israel, this Jesus. The resurrection is the proof of his hope.
Interestingly enough the resurrection is our source of hope as well. Jesus' raising from the dead is the proof the resurrection in the end will come. Not only that, Paul also tells us the resurrection power is available to us today.
I can tell you, I need the resurrection today. I need new life from the spirit flowing into my body and soul today. It is only hope that sustains us some days and with out an anchor for this hope we would be lost. We the anchor however we can move forward boldly and unashamed!
What would it really look like to live our Christianity unashamedly? How would it change the life we live today? Would we with the boldness of the Musketeers leap and hurl ourselves into whatever danger and obstacle might come in order to accomplish our mission? What would it look like to never give up, never surrender for the sake of the gospel. I have a feeling it would look and awful lot like Paul and Jesus before him.
May the hope of the resurrection push us forward today is my prayer and the power of the resurrection, the Holy Spirit, sustain us as we do.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
In _______ we trust (1 Timothy 6)
Where does your worry find rest?
I have a little confession to make. When things get stressful in life, in thought life, in pace of life, in cost of life I have found myself taking refuge in T.V. I don't know about you, but sometimes it is so nice to sit down and and just veg for a while. When there is to much worry, when there is too much to do, when you have no money to do anything else, just turn on the TV and turn off your brain. I don't have to worry, I don't have to be doing something else, I don't have to worry about the self control of not spending money, because I'm not anywhere to spend money. I'm just there on my couch in la la land. And we can take entertainment with us anywhere now. With our smart phones we can watch netflix where ever we go. If the signal isn't good enough there are always audio books. This same media could be used to teach us about God to experience him. But do we really use it for that? Really...do you...be honest.
In 1 Timothy chap 6 there is a great deal of counsel about money. Paul exhorts Timothy not to chase after money as a man of God he is to keep himself from these pursuits. Paul goes on to give Timothy instruction to command the rich to place their trust in God not in their wealth. I was having a hard time relating to this idea sense I really don't have all that much money. I don't really feel secure in finances. I do have a hard time sometimes finding what ever creative way I can think of to make ends meet. There are times when I obsess about it and this is a pursuit of money which distracts from placing my trust in God to be sure.
But what I do have is entertainment. What I do have is a couch and a TV. What I do have is food in the fridge, well most days anyway unless I haven't been to the store for a while. When things get stressful I turn to these for sources of comfort and place my trust in them to bring me peace. When finances are hard to come by or the pace of life is just to stressful, I find repose in media. Doesn't the bible say something about God offering us a peace the world cannot understand? So while I might not be looking to wealth of dollars as the support of my life, I do tend to go somewhere other than God for the peace in my life.
The problem of course is that it never satisfies. When the TV is turned off the stress is all still there. There is no lasting peace, it was only a distraction. Paul goes onto tell Timothy to trust in God because he gives us all we need for our enjoyment. To serve others through good deeds and generosity. These are the teachings he is commanded to share with the wealthy.
God can be the source of my enjoyment? Yeah, he can. I can also give generously of my time and do good deeds with the time I would be vegged out with the TV. And in this case I don't think if means do more or make my pace of life more stressful. But rather to find peace and enjoyment in God, a source that will last. To rest in God. I recall a little family getaway to the beach just a couple of weeks ago; walks on the beach and reading a good book, which drew me all the closer to God. Yes I still listened to music and audio books on my walks, but there was a different content in those few days and a deeper peace and enjoyment.
May we find ways to trust God with all different aspects of our lives today. Financially to be sure, but also for peace, rest, and even...enjoyment.
I have a little confession to make. When things get stressful in life, in thought life, in pace of life, in cost of life I have found myself taking refuge in T.V. I don't know about you, but sometimes it is so nice to sit down and and just veg for a while. When there is to much worry, when there is too much to do, when you have no money to do anything else, just turn on the TV and turn off your brain. I don't have to worry, I don't have to be doing something else, I don't have to worry about the self control of not spending money, because I'm not anywhere to spend money. I'm just there on my couch in la la land. And we can take entertainment with us anywhere now. With our smart phones we can watch netflix where ever we go. If the signal isn't good enough there are always audio books. This same media could be used to teach us about God to experience him. But do we really use it for that? Really...do you...be honest.
In 1 Timothy chap 6 there is a great deal of counsel about money. Paul exhorts Timothy not to chase after money as a man of God he is to keep himself from these pursuits. Paul goes on to give Timothy instruction to command the rich to place their trust in God not in their wealth. I was having a hard time relating to this idea sense I really don't have all that much money. I don't really feel secure in finances. I do have a hard time sometimes finding what ever creative way I can think of to make ends meet. There are times when I obsess about it and this is a pursuit of money which distracts from placing my trust in God to be sure.
But what I do have is entertainment. What I do have is a couch and a TV. What I do have is food in the fridge, well most days anyway unless I haven't been to the store for a while. When things get stressful I turn to these for sources of comfort and place my trust in them to bring me peace. When finances are hard to come by or the pace of life is just to stressful, I find repose in media. Doesn't the bible say something about God offering us a peace the world cannot understand? So while I might not be looking to wealth of dollars as the support of my life, I do tend to go somewhere other than God for the peace in my life.
The problem of course is that it never satisfies. When the TV is turned off the stress is all still there. There is no lasting peace, it was only a distraction. Paul goes onto tell Timothy to trust in God because he gives us all we need for our enjoyment. To serve others through good deeds and generosity. These are the teachings he is commanded to share with the wealthy.
God can be the source of my enjoyment? Yeah, he can. I can also give generously of my time and do good deeds with the time I would be vegged out with the TV. And in this case I don't think if means do more or make my pace of life more stressful. But rather to find peace and enjoyment in God, a source that will last. To rest in God. I recall a little family getaway to the beach just a couple of weeks ago; walks on the beach and reading a good book, which drew me all the closer to God. Yes I still listened to music and audio books on my walks, but there was a different content in those few days and a deeper peace and enjoyment.
May we find ways to trust God with all different aspects of our lives today. Financially to be sure, but also for peace, rest, and even...enjoyment.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Lots and lots of sisters (1 Timothy 5)
Honor younger women as sisters, with all purity!
I remember asking a friend of mine when was it that the evil of pornography had become apparent to him. He told me it was when he had daughters of his own. He knew then he would never want someone staring at them from the other side of a computer screen in all the positions and situations he had scene so many other women. As I think about it now I pray my daughter never ever finds herself in any of the pornographic images that have passed through my life.
Don't get me wrong sexuality is created by God and is a holy and wonderful gift to marriage. But is has been distorted so badly through the mess of pornography and the entertainment industry in general. I mean really! God created man in his image, male and female he created them (Gen 1). Shortly after that the bible describes the first marriage of man and woman coming together to be one flesh. (And we know scripture is talking about marriage, because Jesus uses the same phrase when talking about divorce. We also know it is talking about sex, because paul uses the same phrase when talking about uniting yourself with a prostitute. Just in case someone out there is rationalizing.)
Man and woman created in the image of God then uniting in marriage to be one flesh. Oneness is one of God's obvious attributes. The trinity, Jesus' prayer for his disciples to be one with him as he is with his father, Paul says the mystery of oneness has to do with Christ and the Church. When man and woman unite together in oneness this is one of the times they are reflecting the image of God the most. No wonder the Devil wants to distort marital oneness as much as possible.
Ok, let me get off of my soap box for a moment and come back to 1 timothy. Chapter 5 begins with the way we are to treat others. Older men as fathers, young men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters. Paul says a little later in the chapter that not taking care of our family is worse than denying the faith. So we are suppose to take care of our family...and everyone is our family. I don't want to lessen the weight of needing to care for our immediate family that Paul brings out in this passage. I just want to highlight something in light of the previous discussion.
I have heard it said the wake up call for pornography is to realize the woman on the screen is somebody's daughter. It is also true of the men being someones son. They are real people and if we were to place our children in their place we shutter to think of it. This is true!
It is also true that we all are the children of God. And all of those women out there...men...are to be treated as your sisters. And all of those men out there...women...are to be treated as your brother. So if the shutter factor of your children in those situations is not enough or if you don't have children yet. Then perhaps the gross out factor of naked pictures of your siblings will be the wake up call that you need.
I know there is much more that goes into addictions and recovering from them. But let this be perhaps the wake up call to shake you out of the stupor in which you may be stuck in. TREAT YOUNGER MEN AS BROTHERS AND YOUNGER WOMEN AS SISTERS WITH ALL PURITY!!!
OK, I'm done. If anyone is struggling in this particular addiction, please get help. There are good resources out there. And just as Paul later in the chapter admonishes us to care for our families, let's lift one another up in this issue...please...love, support, and accountability are so, so, so important!
Ok, I'm really done now.
I remember asking a friend of mine when was it that the evil of pornography had become apparent to him. He told me it was when he had daughters of his own. He knew then he would never want someone staring at them from the other side of a computer screen in all the positions and situations he had scene so many other women. As I think about it now I pray my daughter never ever finds herself in any of the pornographic images that have passed through my life.
Don't get me wrong sexuality is created by God and is a holy and wonderful gift to marriage. But is has been distorted so badly through the mess of pornography and the entertainment industry in general. I mean really! God created man in his image, male and female he created them (Gen 1). Shortly after that the bible describes the first marriage of man and woman coming together to be one flesh. (And we know scripture is talking about marriage, because Jesus uses the same phrase when talking about divorce. We also know it is talking about sex, because paul uses the same phrase when talking about uniting yourself with a prostitute. Just in case someone out there is rationalizing.)
Man and woman created in the image of God then uniting in marriage to be one flesh. Oneness is one of God's obvious attributes. The trinity, Jesus' prayer for his disciples to be one with him as he is with his father, Paul says the mystery of oneness has to do with Christ and the Church. When man and woman unite together in oneness this is one of the times they are reflecting the image of God the most. No wonder the Devil wants to distort marital oneness as much as possible.
Ok, let me get off of my soap box for a moment and come back to 1 timothy. Chapter 5 begins with the way we are to treat others. Older men as fathers, young men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters. Paul says a little later in the chapter that not taking care of our family is worse than denying the faith. So we are suppose to take care of our family...and everyone is our family. I don't want to lessen the weight of needing to care for our immediate family that Paul brings out in this passage. I just want to highlight something in light of the previous discussion.
I have heard it said the wake up call for pornography is to realize the woman on the screen is somebody's daughter. It is also true of the men being someones son. They are real people and if we were to place our children in their place we shutter to think of it. This is true!
It is also true that we all are the children of God. And all of those women out there...men...are to be treated as your sisters. And all of those men out there...women...are to be treated as your brother. So if the shutter factor of your children in those situations is not enough or if you don't have children yet. Then perhaps the gross out factor of naked pictures of your siblings will be the wake up call that you need.
I know there is much more that goes into addictions and recovering from them. But let this be perhaps the wake up call to shake you out of the stupor in which you may be stuck in. TREAT YOUNGER MEN AS BROTHERS AND YOUNGER WOMEN AS SISTERS WITH ALL PURITY!!!
OK, I'm done. If anyone is struggling in this particular addiction, please get help. There are good resources out there. And just as Paul later in the chapter admonishes us to care for our families, let's lift one another up in this issue...please...love, support, and accountability are so, so, so important!
Ok, I'm really done now.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tip jars and christianity (1 Timothy 4)
Does what we place in the tip jar say anything about our faith?
As I write this blog in the gloomy morning light of a rainy day in Portland, I'm sitting in a local coffee shop. I walked in today and stepped up to the counter. I ordered my drink and picked out a cheddar bagel. I gave them my card and the slip came back to me with space for a tip. I reflexively crossed out the tip line and left the total unaltered. I mean its just a cup of coffee, it takes them a minute or two and I served myself the bagel. Why would I need to give a tip? I began to think about this as I sat down at my little table and plugged in my laptop.
I was reminded of the Chinese restaurant my wife used to work at when we were in seminary. They had a lunch buffet, a pretty good one too. There was a professor from the seminary who used to frequent the buffet on a fairly regular basis. Laura knew him and greeted him when he came in. When she went into the back of the restaurant the owner pointed out the professor and called him the 52 cent man. Laura gave her a quizzical look and the owner explained. "Whenever he comes in for the lunch buffet he rounds up his check to the nearest dollar which is only 52 cents." This was the whole amount of the tip he left. The owner didn't know who he was, she didn't know he was a professor at the seminary, she didn't know he was a public evangelist who lived his life proclaiming Jesus. All she knew him by was the 52 cents he left as a measly little tip.
In 1 Timothy chap 4, Paul continues to instruct his young mentee in what it means to be a good minister to his community. The chapter finishes with the statement, "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers." Watch both your life and your doctrine Timothy. Not just your doctrine, not just your life. You have to watch them both. What if Timothy taught the love of Christ and then when he went to his local seafood restaurant and left a 52 cent tip. In the 1st century that might have been a lot, but you get my point.
Jesus lived and taught a life of generosity. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, if you are commanded to walk one mile carrying a soldiers pack walk two instead, if a man asks for your coat give him your shirt as well. Paul tells Timothy to watch both his doctrine and his life. The two must meet, live together, become one. "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young," says Paul, "but be an example in speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Devote yourself to the teaching and preaching of the word of God." They are both there life and faith enmeshed with one another. Faith and the tip jar are related.
Rob bell has said one of the exhortations in the 1st century was, may the dust of your rabbi cover you. May you be close enough to your rabbi that the dust of his feet covers you. May we walk today covered in the teachings of Jesus. May our life be covered in our faith.
If you would excuse me I have a date with the tip jar.
As I write this blog in the gloomy morning light of a rainy day in Portland, I'm sitting in a local coffee shop. I walked in today and stepped up to the counter. I ordered my drink and picked out a cheddar bagel. I gave them my card and the slip came back to me with space for a tip. I reflexively crossed out the tip line and left the total unaltered. I mean its just a cup of coffee, it takes them a minute or two and I served myself the bagel. Why would I need to give a tip? I began to think about this as I sat down at my little table and plugged in my laptop.
I was reminded of the Chinese restaurant my wife used to work at when we were in seminary. They had a lunch buffet, a pretty good one too. There was a professor from the seminary who used to frequent the buffet on a fairly regular basis. Laura knew him and greeted him when he came in. When she went into the back of the restaurant the owner pointed out the professor and called him the 52 cent man. Laura gave her a quizzical look and the owner explained. "Whenever he comes in for the lunch buffet he rounds up his check to the nearest dollar which is only 52 cents." This was the whole amount of the tip he left. The owner didn't know who he was, she didn't know he was a professor at the seminary, she didn't know he was a public evangelist who lived his life proclaiming Jesus. All she knew him by was the 52 cents he left as a measly little tip.
In 1 Timothy chap 4, Paul continues to instruct his young mentee in what it means to be a good minister to his community. The chapter finishes with the statement, "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers." Watch both your life and your doctrine Timothy. Not just your doctrine, not just your life. You have to watch them both. What if Timothy taught the love of Christ and then when he went to his local seafood restaurant and left a 52 cent tip. In the 1st century that might have been a lot, but you get my point.
Jesus lived and taught a life of generosity. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, if you are commanded to walk one mile carrying a soldiers pack walk two instead, if a man asks for your coat give him your shirt as well. Paul tells Timothy to watch both his doctrine and his life. The two must meet, live together, become one. "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young," says Paul, "but be an example in speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Devote yourself to the teaching and preaching of the word of God." They are both there life and faith enmeshed with one another. Faith and the tip jar are related.
Rob bell has said one of the exhortations in the 1st century was, may the dust of your rabbi cover you. May you be close enough to your rabbi that the dust of his feet covers you. May we walk today covered in the teachings of Jesus. May our life be covered in our faith.
If you would excuse me I have a date with the tip jar.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Forsake your family...not so much (1 Timothy 3)
Are we really suppose to forsake our family for the cause of Christ?
In one of the cities I have ministered in, in one of the years I have been in ministry, there was this one evangelist who came to work with our city. We spent a full month helping with the meetings. 5 nights a week I went to the rented hall along with many others to volunteer and help with the hospitality of the event. I remember the end of the event. The evangelist's family came to be with him for the final weekend. Those who had organized the event invited the family up on stage and gave them gifts of thanks for sacrificing their time with their father and husband for the cause of Christ.
While I know the organizers were doing this with the best hearts and intentions something seemed to be wrong in this for me. I knew the tole this month of meetings had taken on my family and the time I had been away even while still going home every night. I couldn't imagine the cost to the family of the evangelist who went on these month long things on a regular basis. It just didn't sit right with me to thank his family for this.
I began to theorize perhaps Jesus had never said to forsake wife and children for his cause. Parents maybe, aunts and uncles OK, but not wife and kids. Well this got blown out of the water when I reread his words. He does include wife and children in this list. I was wondering if I could find support for my feelings in scripture. I have found the balance in 1 Timothy 3.
This chapter is instructions of the qualifiers for serving as an elder or deacon in the church. There are many good principles here and some direct qualifiers. The leaders of the church, which is God's household says Paul, are things like; not given to drunkenness, gentle not violent, not going after dirty money, able to teach, hospitable, etc. In each list for both deacons and elders we also have some statements regarding their families. They must be married to only one person and they must have things in order at home. Their kids need to obey them with respect. If their homes are not in order how can they be leaders in the church.
Initially this might sound like they need to be a little militant at home. Many men have misused this passage to do just that. They have ordered their kids around so they can have order in their homes. Have any of you seen this actually work through the teenage years, or even the preteen years? It might make it for quite a long time as long as the kids are good and afraid of their fathers. But eventually this breaks down. Each child as they grow up needs to learn how to make their own decisions and if they haven't been given the chance they eventually begin to push back. It might even wait until they get to college and then they finally break through. Or it may just be when they get out of the house to go to school. They are respectful at home based on their fear, but they are terrors out side the home.
The other side of this is the absent parents, especially fathers. They are dedicated to their role at the church so much so they don't spend much time with their kids. Their kids eventually begin to seek their absent parents attention in positive or negative ways, whatever will do the job.
From the outside we look and say,"Kids will make their own decisions, this can't be helped." The parents remain as leaders in the church because the fathers can't be held responsible for the sins of their children. It is true we often do the best we can as parents and our kids still decide to do things that are out of control. But whatever the case maybe this isn't a time to be spending less time at home.
To forsake all for the cause of Christ is essential in the choices we make. Jesus was being approached by his family to stop him doing all this crazy messiah business. We must follow Christ above the influence of all others. This does not mean however we forsake the care of our families.
For the leaders of the church to have their homes in order means they are spending time with their families. For their children to truly respect their parents and not fear them they must be loved and cared for. One of the elders I have respected the most is the man who recognized things were getting out of hand at home and pulled back from his leadership role and the cause of Christ at the church for the cause of Christ in his own home.
These words aren't only for the ministry professionals like evangelists, pastors, and teachers. This is for all of us. The deacons and elders in our churches are from all walks of life. It doesn't matter if you are an evangelist or a plumber we have a responsibility to care for our families and only then can we care for the church. We also need to keep in mind the truth that our families are the church, so we have a double reason to take care of our families.
Please don't let this blog load you down with guilt if your children have made other choices than you hoped for them to make. I pray you would instead take this a good excuse to give them call, a hug, or a card to send some love their way. Remember God is great and powerful and he is greater than our efforts can ever be on our own. Place your kids in the hands of a loving Father in heaven today.
I don't know the state of the family of the evangelist I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. He might spend plenty of time with them and have an amazing loving relationship with his kids. I hope so.
It is my prayer today we all might have a loving relationship with our families and children and this same love would extend to our church families and beyond. In case you needed an excuse or a wake up call to spend some time with your family, I hope this blog can be just that.
In one of the cities I have ministered in, in one of the years I have been in ministry, there was this one evangelist who came to work with our city. We spent a full month helping with the meetings. 5 nights a week I went to the rented hall along with many others to volunteer and help with the hospitality of the event. I remember the end of the event. The evangelist's family came to be with him for the final weekend. Those who had organized the event invited the family up on stage and gave them gifts of thanks for sacrificing their time with their father and husband for the cause of Christ.
While I know the organizers were doing this with the best hearts and intentions something seemed to be wrong in this for me. I knew the tole this month of meetings had taken on my family and the time I had been away even while still going home every night. I couldn't imagine the cost to the family of the evangelist who went on these month long things on a regular basis. It just didn't sit right with me to thank his family for this.
I began to theorize perhaps Jesus had never said to forsake wife and children for his cause. Parents maybe, aunts and uncles OK, but not wife and kids. Well this got blown out of the water when I reread his words. He does include wife and children in this list. I was wondering if I could find support for my feelings in scripture. I have found the balance in 1 Timothy 3.
This chapter is instructions of the qualifiers for serving as an elder or deacon in the church. There are many good principles here and some direct qualifiers. The leaders of the church, which is God's household says Paul, are things like; not given to drunkenness, gentle not violent, not going after dirty money, able to teach, hospitable, etc. In each list for both deacons and elders we also have some statements regarding their families. They must be married to only one person and they must have things in order at home. Their kids need to obey them with respect. If their homes are not in order how can they be leaders in the church.
Initially this might sound like they need to be a little militant at home. Many men have misused this passage to do just that. They have ordered their kids around so they can have order in their homes. Have any of you seen this actually work through the teenage years, or even the preteen years? It might make it for quite a long time as long as the kids are good and afraid of their fathers. But eventually this breaks down. Each child as they grow up needs to learn how to make their own decisions and if they haven't been given the chance they eventually begin to push back. It might even wait until they get to college and then they finally break through. Or it may just be when they get out of the house to go to school. They are respectful at home based on their fear, but they are terrors out side the home.
The other side of this is the absent parents, especially fathers. They are dedicated to their role at the church so much so they don't spend much time with their kids. Their kids eventually begin to seek their absent parents attention in positive or negative ways, whatever will do the job.
From the outside we look and say,"Kids will make their own decisions, this can't be helped." The parents remain as leaders in the church because the fathers can't be held responsible for the sins of their children. It is true we often do the best we can as parents and our kids still decide to do things that are out of control. But whatever the case maybe this isn't a time to be spending less time at home.
To forsake all for the cause of Christ is essential in the choices we make. Jesus was being approached by his family to stop him doing all this crazy messiah business. We must follow Christ above the influence of all others. This does not mean however we forsake the care of our families.
For the leaders of the church to have their homes in order means they are spending time with their families. For their children to truly respect their parents and not fear them they must be loved and cared for. One of the elders I have respected the most is the man who recognized things were getting out of hand at home and pulled back from his leadership role and the cause of Christ at the church for the cause of Christ in his own home.
These words aren't only for the ministry professionals like evangelists, pastors, and teachers. This is for all of us. The deacons and elders in our churches are from all walks of life. It doesn't matter if you are an evangelist or a plumber we have a responsibility to care for our families and only then can we care for the church. We also need to keep in mind the truth that our families are the church, so we have a double reason to take care of our families.
Please don't let this blog load you down with guilt if your children have made other choices than you hoped for them to make. I pray you would instead take this a good excuse to give them call, a hug, or a card to send some love their way. Remember God is great and powerful and he is greater than our efforts can ever be on our own. Place your kids in the hands of a loving Father in heaven today.
I don't know the state of the family of the evangelist I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. He might spend plenty of time with them and have an amazing loving relationship with his kids. I hope so.
It is my prayer today we all might have a loving relationship with our families and children and this same love would extend to our church families and beyond. In case you needed an excuse or a wake up call to spend some time with your family, I hope this blog can be just that.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
A bit of a rant (1 Timothy 2)
Why do we still dress up for church?
I had a very interesting weekend. On Saturday I got up and got ready for church. I was preaching that day so I had plenty to do. I took a shower I trimmed off my manly gotee to a much more metro look. I got my suit out of the closet. Picked out a nice white shirt and a green stripped tie. I fastened my cuff links and laced up my shinny shoes. They could have used a polish, no doubt, but they were still looking pretty good. Trimmed, shaved, groomed, and suited I got on my scooter and went to church.
On Sunday I went to visit a local community church with my wife and daughter. I got up, showered, put on an everyday pair of casual khaki pants with a black button up shirt and flip flops. We hoped in the van and went to church. And when I got to church I was pleasantly relieved and peaceful to see the pastor preaching in a button up short-sleeve shirt with jeans and Adidas tennis shoes on.
I am going to get on a bit of a soap box today so take it as such. But I have the bible to back me up on this one. Paul gives instructions to Timothy in chapter two of his first letter concerning dress. He is addressing the women of the congregation and warns against extravagant adornment. Instruct the women to dress with all modesty, and all decency and propriety not with braiding their or gold or pearls or expensive clothes. But with good deeds appropriate for a woman who professes to worship God.
Don't worry all you wounded adventists out there this is not going to turn into an anti jewelry campaign. And truth be told I'm not even going to focus on women, shocking I know. I am going to once again ask the question, why do we dress up for church!!!
"Haven't you read in Revelation, where it says the bride is adorned for her husband with all kinds of jewels?" Yes I have. "Haven't you read about how the priest wore all the finest robes and jewels when they served in the temple?" Yes I have. I have also read when the people of israel came to meet God on say...the day of atonement. They took off all of their finery and went as simply adorned as possible and David took off his kingly robe and danced before the Lord in his plain linen garment.
The point I'm interested in here is WE DON'T NEED TO DRESS UP FOR GOD!!!! He loves us as we are. He accepts us as we are. We are with God every day of our lives, he is always there so why do we need to get dressed up for him at church? The truth is we aren't getting dressed up for him. We are getting dressed up for each other.
Have you ever gone to hot dog on a stick at the mall and seen those poor employees there dressed up in their striped shirt and little hats. I feel so sorry for them every time I see them. You know why they wear those outfits? Because management says so, because it is the uniform for their work. We all wear different uniforms based on the expectations of the people around us. So we dress for church they way people expect us to. That's all!
There is nothing wrong about looking "nice" for church. There is nothing wrong with dressing up for church. Unless of course you are spending exorbitant amounts of money on your clothing, which you could be using to...feed children in africa or something. (Which can go for designer jeans and well as designer suits by the way.) God likes beauty, he made a beautiful world. There is nothing wrong with looking beautiful or handsome.
Here is the thing that bothers me about dressing up for church. Are we putting on a mask to go to church? Are we fixing up our appearances to try and fix up our lives? If we have all our buttons lined up and the tie just strait enough, will people be more likely to think we have our lives all lined up too? Is dressing up, dressing differently then we do the rest of the week playing a role on a stage? Do we actually push people further away and make it all the easier to respond, "I'm fine" when inside we are broken?
It is strange to me, there are people in my church who only know me as a guy in a suit which I only wear one once a week and only for a few hours. The rest of the week I'm a guy in jeans. To tell you the truth I would rather be the same guy in both places. I would rather be authentic and real in both places. I can do that regardless of the clothes I am wearing it is true. But as scripture tells us man judges on the outward appearance where God judges on the heart. So to help man out it might be good for him to see me as I am.
What ever you wear to church or in your daily life for that matter, may it not get in the way of relationship. I pray for authenticity in my life and yours. If we are going to shape the opinion of others of who we are, may we do it by our lives instead of our clothes.
I had a very interesting weekend. On Saturday I got up and got ready for church. I was preaching that day so I had plenty to do. I took a shower I trimmed off my manly gotee to a much more metro look. I got my suit out of the closet. Picked out a nice white shirt and a green stripped tie. I fastened my cuff links and laced up my shinny shoes. They could have used a polish, no doubt, but they were still looking pretty good. Trimmed, shaved, groomed, and suited I got on my scooter and went to church.
On Sunday I went to visit a local community church with my wife and daughter. I got up, showered, put on an everyday pair of casual khaki pants with a black button up shirt and flip flops. We hoped in the van and went to church. And when I got to church I was pleasantly relieved and peaceful to see the pastor preaching in a button up short-sleeve shirt with jeans and Adidas tennis shoes on.
I am going to get on a bit of a soap box today so take it as such. But I have the bible to back me up on this one. Paul gives instructions to Timothy in chapter two of his first letter concerning dress. He is addressing the women of the congregation and warns against extravagant adornment. Instruct the women to dress with all modesty, and all decency and propriety not with braiding their or gold or pearls or expensive clothes. But with good deeds appropriate for a woman who professes to worship God.
Don't worry all you wounded adventists out there this is not going to turn into an anti jewelry campaign. And truth be told I'm not even going to focus on women, shocking I know. I am going to once again ask the question, why do we dress up for church!!!
"Haven't you read in Revelation, where it says the bride is adorned for her husband with all kinds of jewels?" Yes I have. "Haven't you read about how the priest wore all the finest robes and jewels when they served in the temple?" Yes I have. I have also read when the people of israel came to meet God on say...the day of atonement. They took off all of their finery and went as simply adorned as possible and David took off his kingly robe and danced before the Lord in his plain linen garment.
The point I'm interested in here is WE DON'T NEED TO DRESS UP FOR GOD!!!! He loves us as we are. He accepts us as we are. We are with God every day of our lives, he is always there so why do we need to get dressed up for him at church? The truth is we aren't getting dressed up for him. We are getting dressed up for each other.
Have you ever gone to hot dog on a stick at the mall and seen those poor employees there dressed up in their striped shirt and little hats. I feel so sorry for them every time I see them. You know why they wear those outfits? Because management says so, because it is the uniform for their work. We all wear different uniforms based on the expectations of the people around us. So we dress for church they way people expect us to. That's all!
There is nothing wrong about looking "nice" for church. There is nothing wrong with dressing up for church. Unless of course you are spending exorbitant amounts of money on your clothing, which you could be using to...feed children in africa or something. (Which can go for designer jeans and well as designer suits by the way.) God likes beauty, he made a beautiful world. There is nothing wrong with looking beautiful or handsome.
Here is the thing that bothers me about dressing up for church. Are we putting on a mask to go to church? Are we fixing up our appearances to try and fix up our lives? If we have all our buttons lined up and the tie just strait enough, will people be more likely to think we have our lives all lined up too? Is dressing up, dressing differently then we do the rest of the week playing a role on a stage? Do we actually push people further away and make it all the easier to respond, "I'm fine" when inside we are broken?
It is strange to me, there are people in my church who only know me as a guy in a suit which I only wear one once a week and only for a few hours. The rest of the week I'm a guy in jeans. To tell you the truth I would rather be the same guy in both places. I would rather be authentic and real in both places. I can do that regardless of the clothes I am wearing it is true. But as scripture tells us man judges on the outward appearance where God judges on the heart. So to help man out it might be good for him to see me as I am.
What ever you wear to church or in your daily life for that matter, may it not get in the way of relationship. I pray for authenticity in my life and yours. If we are going to shape the opinion of others of who we are, may we do it by our lives instead of our clothes.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Timothy...the boy who lived? (1 Timothy chap 1)
Has anyone ever prophesied over you?
My wife Laura had a very interesting experience the first year of our marriage. She went to a christian music conference in Estes Park, CO. While she was there she met a very kind and interesting woman. This woman, let's call her Kate, was apparently from a charismatic tradition. She would tell Laura what she had heard from the Lord on any particular day. One day she told Laura she heard from the Lord and it was about Laura. She proceeded to prophecy over her. She told Laura God had told her Laura's ministry was going to become subservient to mine for a time. She was going to follow me in my career instead of my following hers. This was pretty interesting at the time considering we had moved to Nashville and I was doing home study courses so Laura could chase her music.
Sure enough though about 6 months later we moved back to Andrews University so I could finish my degree in the classroom. Sense then we have followed my career to other places and churches. It seems quite possible Kate did hear from the Lord and told Laura these things to prepare her heart for our move away from Nashville.
In 1 Timothy chap 1 Paul is writing to Timothy a young pastor placed in the church in Ephesus. At the end of the chapter Paul encourages Timothy to remember the prophecy pronounced over him and fight the good fight. The whole letter is describing the actions Timothy needs to carry out in this fight. Doesn't this sound a little bit more like Harry Potter then church? When was the last time you heard or saw anyone prophecy over someone else? Is Timothy...the boy who lived or something? Is it something magical, out of the norm, super natural?
I'm not so sure it is. I went to a youth specialties convention a few or more years ago and heard a speaker encouraging us as youth workers to have a prophetic voice in the lives of our students. Do you remember a teacher or parent who inspired you when you were growing up. There was the time when your 5th grade teacher took you aside and told you...you could write well...your art was impressive...you're a good leader...etc. The speaker was encouraging us to recognize the God given talents and gifts our students have and name them. Call those gifts out. Prophecy of the call God has placed upon their lives with those gifts.
I wonder if this is the kind of prophecy Paul is reminding Timothy of. When you were young Timothy, your grandmother Eunice saw in you the call to share the good news of Jesus. Now is that time, fulfill the prophecy placed upon your life.
We can have prophecy go one of two ways in our lives. There are the good messages which come our way. There are also the negative ones. "You'll never amount to anything...You call that art, the bird could do better...Stop messing around with your stupid music and get a real job." Have you ever heard prophecies like those?
To be a prophet of God is to speak for God. He does show us when things are going in a wrong direction to be sure, he lets us know when we are in sin. But he doesn't let us know in order to push us down into it. He wants us to rise out of it. He has a plan for each of us. The Holy spirit gives each of us gifts according to his wisdom.
If we are to a mouth piece for God then we must call out those gifts in others. We much prophecy over our kids, friends, family, even aquaintances. It's more than just encouragement. The things we say could be the things which shape our lives.
So let's pay attention to the people around us..really notice them. Let's speak specifically into their lives, not general compliments or "you can do anything you want to." Let them know what we really see in them, their potential, their gifts, their calling. Let us prophecy!
My wife Laura had a very interesting experience the first year of our marriage. She went to a christian music conference in Estes Park, CO. While she was there she met a very kind and interesting woman. This woman, let's call her Kate, was apparently from a charismatic tradition. She would tell Laura what she had heard from the Lord on any particular day. One day she told Laura she heard from the Lord and it was about Laura. She proceeded to prophecy over her. She told Laura God had told her Laura's ministry was going to become subservient to mine for a time. She was going to follow me in my career instead of my following hers. This was pretty interesting at the time considering we had moved to Nashville and I was doing home study courses so Laura could chase her music.
Sure enough though about 6 months later we moved back to Andrews University so I could finish my degree in the classroom. Sense then we have followed my career to other places and churches. It seems quite possible Kate did hear from the Lord and told Laura these things to prepare her heart for our move away from Nashville.
In 1 Timothy chap 1 Paul is writing to Timothy a young pastor placed in the church in Ephesus. At the end of the chapter Paul encourages Timothy to remember the prophecy pronounced over him and fight the good fight. The whole letter is describing the actions Timothy needs to carry out in this fight. Doesn't this sound a little bit more like Harry Potter then church? When was the last time you heard or saw anyone prophecy over someone else? Is Timothy...the boy who lived or something? Is it something magical, out of the norm, super natural?
I'm not so sure it is. I went to a youth specialties convention a few or more years ago and heard a speaker encouraging us as youth workers to have a prophetic voice in the lives of our students. Do you remember a teacher or parent who inspired you when you were growing up. There was the time when your 5th grade teacher took you aside and told you...you could write well...your art was impressive...you're a good leader...etc. The speaker was encouraging us to recognize the God given talents and gifts our students have and name them. Call those gifts out. Prophecy of the call God has placed upon their lives with those gifts.
I wonder if this is the kind of prophecy Paul is reminding Timothy of. When you were young Timothy, your grandmother Eunice saw in you the call to share the good news of Jesus. Now is that time, fulfill the prophecy placed upon your life.
We can have prophecy go one of two ways in our lives. There are the good messages which come our way. There are also the negative ones. "You'll never amount to anything...You call that art, the bird could do better...Stop messing around with your stupid music and get a real job." Have you ever heard prophecies like those?
To be a prophet of God is to speak for God. He does show us when things are going in a wrong direction to be sure, he lets us know when we are in sin. But he doesn't let us know in order to push us down into it. He wants us to rise out of it. He has a plan for each of us. The Holy spirit gives each of us gifts according to his wisdom.
If we are to a mouth piece for God then we must call out those gifts in others. We much prophecy over our kids, friends, family, even aquaintances. It's more than just encouragement. The things we say could be the things which shape our lives.
So let's pay attention to the people around us..really notice them. Let's speak specifically into their lives, not general compliments or "you can do anything you want to." Let them know what we really see in them, their potential, their gifts, their calling. Let us prophecy!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
It's not a balancing act, it's everything at 100% (Hebrews 13)
Is balance about either/or? Or is it about both/and?
Camp meeting was only a week ago and yet it feels like an eternity. For those of you who don't know what camp meeting is. We set up a camp ground with large pavilion type tents, wire in infrastructure, fill up every space with tents and RVs, and then we hold spiritual meetings for a week with 15,000 people when all is said and done.
I was coordinating the youth tent this year. We had 150 high school students for the first few days and then up to 400 on the weekend. We had a great, very intense, and full week. One of the things I learned to do when we were on the road with a youth ministry team was to finish the week off with a word from each of us. We would play some really fun loud music and have a great time and then sit down for a "last words" chat. So I decided to do the same thing in the youth tent this year. All 7 of the youth pastors who were working in the youth tent were invited up front to share what was on there heart. If they could share one thing with the kids from the week what would it be?
It was a really great evening. We had a freshly graduated high school band, thank you arboretum, rock the walls of the tent and then we sat down for a chat. There were 6 of us up there, and there were 6 different perspectives shared. Here's the thing about the 6 most important things that were shared. They were all the most important thing. None of them was less important than the others. It really wasn't a matter of either or, pick and choose, go with what fits best with you. It was not just both/and but all/and. Every single perspective was good, needed, and yes the most important thing.
I was reminded of this when I was reading Hebrews 13. 13 is the last chapter of the book. These are the finishing admonitions of the author to their audience. When some one is about to die we listen closely to the last words they have to say. When we are finishing a letter we want the most important things to be said last. It has been studied and revealed people remember the first thing and the last thing we say the most. So we want the last things to count.
So how do we bring all of the last things in Hebrews together? Focus on loving one another these are good gifts to God. Come out of the city to the new blood of the covenant with Jesus. Marriages are important, keep the marriage bed pure, no sexual immorality. Be content with what you have don't chase after money. Strengthen yourself with grace not ceremonial foods.
So many different things, so what is the most important? How are we suppose to balance all of these varying statements? Be strengthened by grace, but act out your faith. Isn't this a contradiction, or at least two sides of the scale that need to be balanced?
NO
It's not either/or it's both/and. 100% on all of them. 100% strengthened by grace. 100% pure and free from sexual immorality. 100% loving others. 100% acceptance of the new covenant of Jesus' blood. 100% for everything for all of it. Yes, yes to all.
When we live out our lives for the cause of Christ we give it all. We live by grace towards those around us without judging them as worse then ourselves. We do this 100%. We also call them out of their sin and encourage them to be pure and to step out of any immoral relationship, to be content with their money, to share their resources with others. We do this 100% as well. We are saved by grace and we life out grace 100%.
I hope this can get through to me and my brain as well as to you. It's not a balancing act is all at 100%. I am a father 100%, I am a pastor 100%, I am a husband 100%, I am a friend 100%, I work at my job 100%, and I spend time with my family 100%.
May we give our all today, may we not do either/or, may we be and do all in all. God is the one who will strengthen us to do it 100% and we are the ones who will respond to him 100%. May we live life to the fullest...100%!
Camp meeting was only a week ago and yet it feels like an eternity. For those of you who don't know what camp meeting is. We set up a camp ground with large pavilion type tents, wire in infrastructure, fill up every space with tents and RVs, and then we hold spiritual meetings for a week with 15,000 people when all is said and done.
I was coordinating the youth tent this year. We had 150 high school students for the first few days and then up to 400 on the weekend. We had a great, very intense, and full week. One of the things I learned to do when we were on the road with a youth ministry team was to finish the week off with a word from each of us. We would play some really fun loud music and have a great time and then sit down for a "last words" chat. So I decided to do the same thing in the youth tent this year. All 7 of the youth pastors who were working in the youth tent were invited up front to share what was on there heart. If they could share one thing with the kids from the week what would it be?
It was a really great evening. We had a freshly graduated high school band, thank you arboretum, rock the walls of the tent and then we sat down for a chat. There were 6 of us up there, and there were 6 different perspectives shared. Here's the thing about the 6 most important things that were shared. They were all the most important thing. None of them was less important than the others. It really wasn't a matter of either or, pick and choose, go with what fits best with you. It was not just both/and but all/and. Every single perspective was good, needed, and yes the most important thing.
I was reminded of this when I was reading Hebrews 13. 13 is the last chapter of the book. These are the finishing admonitions of the author to their audience. When some one is about to die we listen closely to the last words they have to say. When we are finishing a letter we want the most important things to be said last. It has been studied and revealed people remember the first thing and the last thing we say the most. So we want the last things to count.
So how do we bring all of the last things in Hebrews together? Focus on loving one another these are good gifts to God. Come out of the city to the new blood of the covenant with Jesus. Marriages are important, keep the marriage bed pure, no sexual immorality. Be content with what you have don't chase after money. Strengthen yourself with grace not ceremonial foods.
So many different things, so what is the most important? How are we suppose to balance all of these varying statements? Be strengthened by grace, but act out your faith. Isn't this a contradiction, or at least two sides of the scale that need to be balanced?
NO
It's not either/or it's both/and. 100% on all of them. 100% strengthened by grace. 100% pure and free from sexual immorality. 100% loving others. 100% acceptance of the new covenant of Jesus' blood. 100% for everything for all of it. Yes, yes to all.
When we live out our lives for the cause of Christ we give it all. We live by grace towards those around us without judging them as worse then ourselves. We do this 100%. We also call them out of their sin and encourage them to be pure and to step out of any immoral relationship, to be content with their money, to share their resources with others. We do this 100% as well. We are saved by grace and we life out grace 100%.
I hope this can get through to me and my brain as well as to you. It's not a balancing act is all at 100%. I am a father 100%, I am a pastor 100%, I am a husband 100%, I am a friend 100%, I work at my job 100%, and I spend time with my family 100%.
May we give our all today, may we not do either/or, may we be and do all in all. God is the one who will strengthen us to do it 100% and we are the ones who will respond to him 100%. May we live life to the fullest...100%!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
scraped...sore...and broken backs (Hebrews 12)
When was the last time you were tempted to loose faith?
We are getting ready to leave today and take my daughter to day camp. She is all dressed and ready to go. She is sitting on the top of the couch and makes her attempt to get down. As she does she scraps her back along the back of the couch. It's just a little fabric burn and you can't even see any redness, but it is enough to bring the tears.
I see this happen, give her comfort and a Popsicle thinking all the time this is nothing. I remember when I was a kid. We had a boat and I loved to knee board. One day we were out on the river and I caught some nice air off of the wake. But the nose of the knee board re-entered the water first. This flipped me over on my face and gave me major whip lash. I couldn't move a whole lot the rest of the boat ride home.
This is of course nothing compared to the pain my dad goes through every day with the discs in his back deteriorating by the moment.
And even still compared to a student of mine in Colorado my dad's condition is nothing as well. Working as a tree trimmer in high school, the branch he was hooked onto snapped and he wakes up in the hospital no longer able to move his legs.
There are degrees of suffering in this world. There are also degrees of temptation. Sometimes I think how can Jesus have any idea what I am going through. He didn't have all the stuff we have now. He didn't have internet, or drugs, or naughty emails, or movies, he wasn't even married!
Hebrews 12 helps bring it back in to perspective though. Have any of us been tempted to the point of shedding blood? I know I haven't. There might be some of you reading this that have, I don't know. The point is, Jesus has been tempted at every level as we have but he didn't give in so the devil had to turn up the heat. Why would the devil ever need to make it harder for us if we just give in at the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level? He wouldn't. So we haven't experienced anything close to the Son of God who never gave in.
I think this helps with the deeper more underlying temptation when we are in the middle of our own suffering. The temptation to give up on faith. The temptation to say, well God you aren't there for me so why should I pay any attention to you? I also believe this is why Hebrews encourages us to look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12 goes on to tell us our Father in heaven disciples those he loves. He allows us to go through hard things to better shape us into the image of his holiness. He has not left us, he hasn't forgotten us. He is sustaining us through these are things so we can be stronger in the end.
I know this has been true in my life. Many of you know my marriage got really hard a little over a year ago. How could a pastor struggle so much with his marriage? Aren't they suppose to have it together more than the rest of us? Well I am here to tell you pastors are people too, and we need to grow just as much as everybody else. It was painful to confront the things not working in our marriage especially my stuff. But we did it and we are much better now because of it.
The truth of it is, no matter how bad our suffering is our Father in Heaven is there with us. My daughters little scrape on her back may have been nothing to me, but it was a big deal to her she needed me to be there. She needed me to take care of her.
Even if our temptation or our suffering in nothings compared to the suffering Jesus went through. He doesn't stand up there and scoff. He is our high priest who understands us, who has been through it. And going through it produced all the more compassion towards us.
May we have the same spirit today as does Christ, that through our sufferings we will not look with contempt on those who are going through less, but rather we feel compassion towards them and lift their eyes to the author and perfecter of our faith.
We are getting ready to leave today and take my daughter to day camp. She is all dressed and ready to go. She is sitting on the top of the couch and makes her attempt to get down. As she does she scraps her back along the back of the couch. It's just a little fabric burn and you can't even see any redness, but it is enough to bring the tears.
I see this happen, give her comfort and a Popsicle thinking all the time this is nothing. I remember when I was a kid. We had a boat and I loved to knee board. One day we were out on the river and I caught some nice air off of the wake. But the nose of the knee board re-entered the water first. This flipped me over on my face and gave me major whip lash. I couldn't move a whole lot the rest of the boat ride home.
This is of course nothing compared to the pain my dad goes through every day with the discs in his back deteriorating by the moment.
And even still compared to a student of mine in Colorado my dad's condition is nothing as well. Working as a tree trimmer in high school, the branch he was hooked onto snapped and he wakes up in the hospital no longer able to move his legs.
There are degrees of suffering in this world. There are also degrees of temptation. Sometimes I think how can Jesus have any idea what I am going through. He didn't have all the stuff we have now. He didn't have internet, or drugs, or naughty emails, or movies, he wasn't even married!
Hebrews 12 helps bring it back in to perspective though. Have any of us been tempted to the point of shedding blood? I know I haven't. There might be some of you reading this that have, I don't know. The point is, Jesus has been tempted at every level as we have but he didn't give in so the devil had to turn up the heat. Why would the devil ever need to make it harder for us if we just give in at the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level? He wouldn't. So we haven't experienced anything close to the Son of God who never gave in.
I think this helps with the deeper more underlying temptation when we are in the middle of our own suffering. The temptation to give up on faith. The temptation to say, well God you aren't there for me so why should I pay any attention to you? I also believe this is why Hebrews encourages us to look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12 goes on to tell us our Father in heaven disciples those he loves. He allows us to go through hard things to better shape us into the image of his holiness. He has not left us, he hasn't forgotten us. He is sustaining us through these are things so we can be stronger in the end.
I know this has been true in my life. Many of you know my marriage got really hard a little over a year ago. How could a pastor struggle so much with his marriage? Aren't they suppose to have it together more than the rest of us? Well I am here to tell you pastors are people too, and we need to grow just as much as everybody else. It was painful to confront the things not working in our marriage especially my stuff. But we did it and we are much better now because of it.
The truth of it is, no matter how bad our suffering is our Father in Heaven is there with us. My daughters little scrape on her back may have been nothing to me, but it was a big deal to her she needed me to be there. She needed me to take care of her.
Even if our temptation or our suffering in nothings compared to the suffering Jesus went through. He doesn't stand up there and scoff. He is our high priest who understands us, who has been through it. And going through it produced all the more compassion towards us.
May we have the same spirit today as does Christ, that through our sufferings we will not look with contempt on those who are going through less, but rather we feel compassion towards them and lift their eyes to the author and perfecter of our faith.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Hurry up and Wait! (Hebrews 11)
Anyone else tired of waiting?
My daughter does not wait well. She is very much an in the moment kind of girl. If she wants something she wants it now, in the moment, for immediate enjoyment. And when she has received it she is ready for the next thing. We went to visit my folks over the 4th this July. One of the activities we were looking forward too was floating down the river. Lorelai was really excited to get in the truck to go. Then she was really excited to get there for the entirety of the 20 minute drive. Then she was excited to get in the boat. Once we were in the boat she wanted to be floating and once we were floating she wanted the next "bumpy water" and before long she wanted to know when we would get back to the car. She did give in and enjoy the float, the bumpy water, and paddling us around in circles.
Oh and here's another one, as soon as one cartoon is over she wants me to find her a new show even though there will be another one as soon as the commercial is over. She just can't wait through the commercial. She wants the new show now in this moment!
She is not all that different from her dad or the rest of us really. We want the next thing now. We are looking for the fulfillment of our lives, appetites, or attention spans.
I am beginning to realize from Hebrews chapter 11 what Lorelai and I might be needing to learn is not so much patience as it is faith. As we cruise through the lives of those in chapter 11 we see they did great things by faith for sure. Noah built an ark by faith, Abraham left his home by faith, the judges conquered armies by faith. But the fuller explanation of faith seems to be the assurance of what has not happened yet. They do all these things looking forward the the city of God not yet built, looking forward to the messiah who has not yet come, to the promise yet to come.
I have to ask myself as I live my daily life, do I live based on the promise yet to come? We talk about telling the world the good news of Jesus so we will see him come. When we finish this task then the end will come. So we need to get busy, time must not be wasted we have got to get this done. But I have to ask is this really what Jesus meant? Did the actions of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, Enoch bring the coming of the messiah any closer? Did they do the things they did in order to get the messiah to come sooner? The answer is no, they really didn't. Moses tried to get the exodus going early by killing that Egyptian slave master, but that didn't work out either. God has his time line in mind. He knows when things will happen. It does not seem we will be changing his time lines any time soon.
So we act as those in the hall of faith in Hebrews chap. 11 do, by faith rather than for results to be brought about on our own effort. We are still waiting for Jesus to come the second time and complete salvation delivering us from a broken world just as those in the past have been waiting. But its not so much about being patient or finishing a task as much as it is faith and trust in the one who gave us the task. He will come through and so we live as if we actually trust him to do so. We faithfully do the things he asks us to do simply because we trust him and he asked us to do them.
May our lives be deepened in the moment by living in faithful assurance of the one who created the universe, shaped the lives of those before us, and will keep his promise to come again.
My daughter does not wait well. She is very much an in the moment kind of girl. If she wants something she wants it now, in the moment, for immediate enjoyment. And when she has received it she is ready for the next thing. We went to visit my folks over the 4th this July. One of the activities we were looking forward too was floating down the river. Lorelai was really excited to get in the truck to go. Then she was really excited to get there for the entirety of the 20 minute drive. Then she was excited to get in the boat. Once we were in the boat she wanted to be floating and once we were floating she wanted the next "bumpy water" and before long she wanted to know when we would get back to the car. She did give in and enjoy the float, the bumpy water, and paddling us around in circles.
Oh and here's another one, as soon as one cartoon is over she wants me to find her a new show even though there will be another one as soon as the commercial is over. She just can't wait through the commercial. She wants the new show now in this moment!
She is not all that different from her dad or the rest of us really. We want the next thing now. We are looking for the fulfillment of our lives, appetites, or attention spans.
I am beginning to realize from Hebrews chapter 11 what Lorelai and I might be needing to learn is not so much patience as it is faith. As we cruise through the lives of those in chapter 11 we see they did great things by faith for sure. Noah built an ark by faith, Abraham left his home by faith, the judges conquered armies by faith. But the fuller explanation of faith seems to be the assurance of what has not happened yet. They do all these things looking forward the the city of God not yet built, looking forward to the messiah who has not yet come, to the promise yet to come.
I have to ask myself as I live my daily life, do I live based on the promise yet to come? We talk about telling the world the good news of Jesus so we will see him come. When we finish this task then the end will come. So we need to get busy, time must not be wasted we have got to get this done. But I have to ask is this really what Jesus meant? Did the actions of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, Enoch bring the coming of the messiah any closer? Did they do the things they did in order to get the messiah to come sooner? The answer is no, they really didn't. Moses tried to get the exodus going early by killing that Egyptian slave master, but that didn't work out either. God has his time line in mind. He knows when things will happen. It does not seem we will be changing his time lines any time soon.
So we act as those in the hall of faith in Hebrews chap. 11 do, by faith rather than for results to be brought about on our own effort. We are still waiting for Jesus to come the second time and complete salvation delivering us from a broken world just as those in the past have been waiting. But its not so much about being patient or finishing a task as much as it is faith and trust in the one who gave us the task. He will come through and so we live as if we actually trust him to do so. We faithfully do the things he asks us to do simply because we trust him and he asked us to do them.
May our lives be deepened in the moment by living in faithful assurance of the one who created the universe, shaped the lives of those before us, and will keep his promise to come again.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Why do we hang out again? (Hebrews 10)
Why do we go to church anyway?
People get together for all sorts of different reasons. We form clubs all the time. We have a book of the month club, a shooting club, a gaming club. Sometimes we get together just to get drunk or shoot the breeze or watch a TV show. Special occasions are used to gather together. How many of you have a 4th of July barbeque planned? How many families or groups of friends with gather together this weekend across the US to celebrate and independence day from 1776 that we really don't remember. But we love to have a good time together and we love to share in the freedom to do whatever we feel like doing. Eat way to much food served on the barbe, drink way to much, light up the sky with explosive color. We really love to come together and do whatever we can think of as a reason for coming together.
I'll never forget getting together for one of my best friend's weddings. More specifically the bachelor party. I went to Walmart to help pick up the supplies. We rolled through the aisles and when we got done we had a cart full of clay pigeons, shot gun ammo, and beer...twelve cases each. Oh and one case of soda for me the preacher man. Sounds like a rather dangerous combination. It really wasn't all the dangerous, it was a lot of fun with 6 shot guns and lots of things to blow-up. What could a group of guys want more?
Hebrews 10 encourages us to not forsake meeting together as is the habit of some. Which seems a little strange all by itself sense we gather together all the time for all sorts of different reasons. As we take in more of the chapter we see there is a specific reason for gathering together. To encourage one another to draw near to God and to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Jesus' body is compared to the curtain in the temple when he was torn so was the curtain and we are no longer separated from God by our sin. We can draw near to God. But how often do we forget? How often do we get focused on the things of life and forget to draw near to God? How often do we forget to focus on the good and loving things?
I can get so focused on simply surviving in my day to day tasks, and then zoning out with some sort of entertainment. But life is more than this, there is a God who wants me to draw near and there are good and loving things to do. Spending time with my family. Playing with my daughter. Giving my time to those who are in need. We need to gather together to encourage each other on to these things.
Many times this verse is used to say, "You need to go to church! You should not forsake gathering together as is the habit of some." I think going to church is a good thing, don't get me wrong. I am a pastor after all. But what are we doing when we gather together in church? Are we really encouraging one another to draw near to God? Are we really spurring one another on to loving and good deeds? "Sure we are the songs and the sermon cover these things all the time." But is it personal enough?
It's easy to listen to a sermon and then expect that it's for everyone else. Do we gather together with others who can REALLY encourage us, hold us accountable, and know enough about who we are as individuals to actually see a difference in our lives? I know how my pursuit of God, good deeds, and loving things is greatly increased when I am accountable to others. It's hard to open up to let people actually speak into my life. But this is what it really means to gather together for the purposes expressed in Hebrews 10.
May we know we can come boldly into the presence of God. May we live in good and loving ways. And may we gather together to encourage one another on to these things.
People get together for all sorts of different reasons. We form clubs all the time. We have a book of the month club, a shooting club, a gaming club. Sometimes we get together just to get drunk or shoot the breeze or watch a TV show. Special occasions are used to gather together. How many of you have a 4th of July barbeque planned? How many families or groups of friends with gather together this weekend across the US to celebrate and independence day from 1776 that we really don't remember. But we love to have a good time together and we love to share in the freedom to do whatever we feel like doing. Eat way to much food served on the barbe, drink way to much, light up the sky with explosive color. We really love to come together and do whatever we can think of as a reason for coming together.
I'll never forget getting together for one of my best friend's weddings. More specifically the bachelor party. I went to Walmart to help pick up the supplies. We rolled through the aisles and when we got done we had a cart full of clay pigeons, shot gun ammo, and beer...twelve cases each. Oh and one case of soda for me the preacher man. Sounds like a rather dangerous combination. It really wasn't all the dangerous, it was a lot of fun with 6 shot guns and lots of things to blow-up. What could a group of guys want more?
Hebrews 10 encourages us to not forsake meeting together as is the habit of some. Which seems a little strange all by itself sense we gather together all the time for all sorts of different reasons. As we take in more of the chapter we see there is a specific reason for gathering together. To encourage one another to draw near to God and to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Jesus' body is compared to the curtain in the temple when he was torn so was the curtain and we are no longer separated from God by our sin. We can draw near to God. But how often do we forget? How often do we get focused on the things of life and forget to draw near to God? How often do we forget to focus on the good and loving things?
I can get so focused on simply surviving in my day to day tasks, and then zoning out with some sort of entertainment. But life is more than this, there is a God who wants me to draw near and there are good and loving things to do. Spending time with my family. Playing with my daughter. Giving my time to those who are in need. We need to gather together to encourage each other on to these things.
Many times this verse is used to say, "You need to go to church! You should not forsake gathering together as is the habit of some." I think going to church is a good thing, don't get me wrong. I am a pastor after all. But what are we doing when we gather together in church? Are we really encouraging one another to draw near to God? Are we really spurring one another on to loving and good deeds? "Sure we are the songs and the sermon cover these things all the time." But is it personal enough?
It's easy to listen to a sermon and then expect that it's for everyone else. Do we gather together with others who can REALLY encourage us, hold us accountable, and know enough about who we are as individuals to actually see a difference in our lives? I know how my pursuit of God, good deeds, and loving things is greatly increased when I am accountable to others. It's hard to open up to let people actually speak into my life. But this is what it really means to gather together for the purposes expressed in Hebrews 10.
May we know we can come boldly into the presence of God. May we live in good and loving ways. And may we gather together to encourage one another on to these things.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Motor Scooters and Cleansing the soul (Hebrews 9)
Have you ever felt your soul being cleansed?
Today I am spending the afternoon in retreat with God. It's time taken to seek the heart of God and to reconnect with him in my life. I usually take off in the van and go somewhere I can walk and think. Listening to a book on my ipod and spending time in reflective prayer journaling through out the day. Today is not so different except instead of the van I have my piaggio fly 150 motor scooter. I had planned to just hunker down somewhere and do some reading for today sense I wouldn't have the luxury of traveling as far. But as I began to ride, I realized I needed to ride further. So I kept going with the wind whipping around me and my most significant worship songs playing in my ears.
I have lots of things to get done right now. And I was debating today as to whether I should take this time apart with God today or if I should get busy on some of the activity planning I have fallen behind on. As I began to ride I knew the answer. My soul was parched, I was thirsty for God, my soul felt gritty and needed to be cleansed. I can't really explain to you how if happens. But as I rode I felt living water coming back into my soul. I could feel the refreshment I so desperately needed. My prayer time has been sweet as well and as I write this blog expressing these truths to you I feel it going ever so much deeper.
Hebrews 9 tells us the priests who offered sacrifice of sheep and goats for all of those years where only able to provide external cleansing. The sacrifices where forms and rituals and that's all they were. When Jesus came however and offered himself. When his blood was shed and he rose from the dead and entered the heavenly sanctuary our consciences were cleansed. Through the sacrifice of the God of the universe we were cleansed internally. Our souls were cleansed.
It reminds me of the day I am having today. There are so many rituals and customs I can do in the service of God. I can plan the next service day and make sure the next big youth event is planned. I do this on a regular basis everyday. These things bring external value to my ministry and the job I have been hired to do. But they do not enliven my soul.
I think this is why Jesus tells the parable of those who come to him when the wedding feast has started and seek entrance. He opens the door and says I do not know you. They protest, "we did all of these things in your name, preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons." But he replies still I never knew you. Your actions may have been in my name, but you never sought me with your soul. You didn't come looking for me you only knew about me.
The end of Hebrews 9 has one of my very favorite verses. Scripture promises here that Jesus came the first time to deal with sin and he is coming again a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (For a fuller thought process of this verse look back in my blog to the one titled still waiting.) He is coming again and we will see him face to face. I am so grateful the condition of this world is not considered salvation complete.
But in order for his second coming to truly be filled with joy, we need to know him now. We need to seek his face while he may be found. We need to connect with him so we will be known and cleansed from the inside out rather than following the customs and christian activity only to be cleansed on the outside.
May we come to know our God and me known by our God today, rather than simply know about him and serve him with external forms but be empty and parched on the inside.
Today I am spending the afternoon in retreat with God. It's time taken to seek the heart of God and to reconnect with him in my life. I usually take off in the van and go somewhere I can walk and think. Listening to a book on my ipod and spending time in reflective prayer journaling through out the day. Today is not so different except instead of the van I have my piaggio fly 150 motor scooter. I had planned to just hunker down somewhere and do some reading for today sense I wouldn't have the luxury of traveling as far. But as I began to ride, I realized I needed to ride further. So I kept going with the wind whipping around me and my most significant worship songs playing in my ears.
I have lots of things to get done right now. And I was debating today as to whether I should take this time apart with God today or if I should get busy on some of the activity planning I have fallen behind on. As I began to ride I knew the answer. My soul was parched, I was thirsty for God, my soul felt gritty and needed to be cleansed. I can't really explain to you how if happens. But as I rode I felt living water coming back into my soul. I could feel the refreshment I so desperately needed. My prayer time has been sweet as well and as I write this blog expressing these truths to you I feel it going ever so much deeper.
Hebrews 9 tells us the priests who offered sacrifice of sheep and goats for all of those years where only able to provide external cleansing. The sacrifices where forms and rituals and that's all they were. When Jesus came however and offered himself. When his blood was shed and he rose from the dead and entered the heavenly sanctuary our consciences were cleansed. Through the sacrifice of the God of the universe we were cleansed internally. Our souls were cleansed.
It reminds me of the day I am having today. There are so many rituals and customs I can do in the service of God. I can plan the next service day and make sure the next big youth event is planned. I do this on a regular basis everyday. These things bring external value to my ministry and the job I have been hired to do. But they do not enliven my soul.
I think this is why Jesus tells the parable of those who come to him when the wedding feast has started and seek entrance. He opens the door and says I do not know you. They protest, "we did all of these things in your name, preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons." But he replies still I never knew you. Your actions may have been in my name, but you never sought me with your soul. You didn't come looking for me you only knew about me.
The end of Hebrews 9 has one of my very favorite verses. Scripture promises here that Jesus came the first time to deal with sin and he is coming again a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (For a fuller thought process of this verse look back in my blog to the one titled still waiting.) He is coming again and we will see him face to face. I am so grateful the condition of this world is not considered salvation complete.
But in order for his second coming to truly be filled with joy, we need to know him now. We need to seek his face while he may be found. We need to connect with him so we will be known and cleansed from the inside out rather than following the customs and christian activity only to be cleansed on the outside.
May we come to know our God and me known by our God today, rather than simply know about him and serve him with external forms but be empty and parched on the inside.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Holy Jeans (Hebrews 8)
Is anything in your life becoming old and obsolete?
I have had a rash of disintegrating jeans lately. My jeans usually wear in the same to spots. It had to do with my pockets. First is the spot where my keys are and second is the spot where the corner of my wallet is. So eventually all my jeans seem to wear holes in those two places. It's not a big deal and I can wear them for quite a while with the two holes beginning. But when they decide to go they go quickly.
I was playing broom ball about a month ago with a bunch of high school students. It's great fun really. You run around on ice in your tennis shoes with a giant rubber spatula type thing and whack little red balls at each other. Once in a while those balls end up in the goals at either end of the rink. It's a blast with 50 or so kids running around on the ice chasing 4 or 5 balls. It's chaos and a lot of good fun. Back to the jeans. I am playing broom ball and probably sliding in for the perfect shot or picking myself up off the ice when my jeans split right along the line of the my right front pocket. I wonder into the office to find some duct tape and keep playing. Even with my patch job, it's needless to say the jeans are now old and obsolete. They will no longer function in their once useful purpose of covering my legs. I will need a new pair of jeans.
In Hebrews 8 we are told Jesus is the priest for a new covenant. And if there is a new covenant we therefore know something didn't work out with the old covenant. God made a covenant with Israel but Israel didn't follow through. They could not keep the law and the law could not save them. So we need something new something better. Hebrews tells us the tabernacle Moses made was the shadow of the true one in heaven. The sacrifices made, the covenant of animal sacrifice was all just a shadow of the true. Jesus is the new priest, the new sacrifice, the new covenant. So the old forms are going to become obsolete. They are no longer needed. Even the law will change shape. It will no longer be something we must do but it will be who we are. It will be written on our hearts and minds. We will be God's people and He will be our God. For he has forgiven us through Jesus and brought us right back in communion with him.
I am glad for one the old worn out covenant is obsolete, I'm glad we aren't sacrificing animals for the rest of our lives. I am all the more glad however when I think of this old worn out earth and the life we live on it, becoming obsolete. We live in but a shadow of the existence we were meant for. The earth is filled with holes. We try to patch it up each time something rips. We rebuild, remarry, renegotiate, but it is old and worn.
The old however will pass away and the new will come. The shadow will no longer be our home and the sunlight will shine. Jesus promises to make all things new. He promises to make us new. We can get so frustrated at times as we try and try again to get things right. I know I want my gut to go away and yet I still go for the pizza and soda. So I'll patch it up, I'll exercise again, go back to the gym fill the fridge with healthy stuff and then rip...McDonalds. But we are promised to have the law written on our hearts and minds. Our desires will be transformed our thoughts will follow his thoughts. No one will have to be taught to know God because we will all know him.
Why will this be true, Hebrews 8 says it's because He will forgive our sins and remember our wickedness no more. It's not because he beats or burns it our of us. It's because he forgives us. It's your kindness Lord that leads me to repentance, not your wrath not fear of eternal punishment (which I don't believe in by the way). We are made new by his love for us...he ever forgiving grace. The new covenant! Jesus! He didn't just put a patch on it with his death like all those lambs and goats. He made it new and will make it all the more new as this old life in sin becomes old and obsolete.
I ready for a new pair of pants, aren't you?
May we find his grace today and may he continue the work of making things new in our hearts even before the world is made new.
I have had a rash of disintegrating jeans lately. My jeans usually wear in the same to spots. It had to do with my pockets. First is the spot where my keys are and second is the spot where the corner of my wallet is. So eventually all my jeans seem to wear holes in those two places. It's not a big deal and I can wear them for quite a while with the two holes beginning. But when they decide to go they go quickly.
I was playing broom ball about a month ago with a bunch of high school students. It's great fun really. You run around on ice in your tennis shoes with a giant rubber spatula type thing and whack little red balls at each other. Once in a while those balls end up in the goals at either end of the rink. It's a blast with 50 or so kids running around on the ice chasing 4 or 5 balls. It's chaos and a lot of good fun. Back to the jeans. I am playing broom ball and probably sliding in for the perfect shot or picking myself up off the ice when my jeans split right along the line of the my right front pocket. I wonder into the office to find some duct tape and keep playing. Even with my patch job, it's needless to say the jeans are now old and obsolete. They will no longer function in their once useful purpose of covering my legs. I will need a new pair of jeans.
In Hebrews 8 we are told Jesus is the priest for a new covenant. And if there is a new covenant we therefore know something didn't work out with the old covenant. God made a covenant with Israel but Israel didn't follow through. They could not keep the law and the law could not save them. So we need something new something better. Hebrews tells us the tabernacle Moses made was the shadow of the true one in heaven. The sacrifices made, the covenant of animal sacrifice was all just a shadow of the true. Jesus is the new priest, the new sacrifice, the new covenant. So the old forms are going to become obsolete. They are no longer needed. Even the law will change shape. It will no longer be something we must do but it will be who we are. It will be written on our hearts and minds. We will be God's people and He will be our God. For he has forgiven us through Jesus and brought us right back in communion with him.
I am glad for one the old worn out covenant is obsolete, I'm glad we aren't sacrificing animals for the rest of our lives. I am all the more glad however when I think of this old worn out earth and the life we live on it, becoming obsolete. We live in but a shadow of the existence we were meant for. The earth is filled with holes. We try to patch it up each time something rips. We rebuild, remarry, renegotiate, but it is old and worn.
The old however will pass away and the new will come. The shadow will no longer be our home and the sunlight will shine. Jesus promises to make all things new. He promises to make us new. We can get so frustrated at times as we try and try again to get things right. I know I want my gut to go away and yet I still go for the pizza and soda. So I'll patch it up, I'll exercise again, go back to the gym fill the fridge with healthy stuff and then rip...McDonalds. But we are promised to have the law written on our hearts and minds. Our desires will be transformed our thoughts will follow his thoughts. No one will have to be taught to know God because we will all know him.
Why will this be true, Hebrews 8 says it's because He will forgive our sins and remember our wickedness no more. It's not because he beats or burns it our of us. It's because he forgives us. It's your kindness Lord that leads me to repentance, not your wrath not fear of eternal punishment (which I don't believe in by the way). We are made new by his love for us...he ever forgiving grace. The new covenant! Jesus! He didn't just put a patch on it with his death like all those lambs and goats. He made it new and will make it all the more new as this old life in sin becomes old and obsolete.
I ready for a new pair of pants, aren't you?
May we find his grace today and may he continue the work of making things new in our hearts even before the world is made new.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The unbelievable world of faith (Hebrews 7)
Have you recognized recently the other worldliness of the bible?
For Lorelai's birthday party this year she wanted a mermaid theme. So we decorated a friend's home with all kinds of under the sea things; animals and sparkling sea weed. All kinds of stuff. The children who came wore costumes. Lorelai's was of course a mermaid. They painted faces with glitter and jewels and took on different identities. Lorelai has told me several times,"Daddy, when I get to heaven, I want to be a mermaid." What is the last fantasy novel you have read? Or the last fairy tale you have been told of watched? When was the last time you read something that was completely outside of your world of experience?
I would have to say for me it was the bible...this morning...Hebrews chapter 7 to be precise. We are talking here about a line of priests who don't die. They live forever. There are two the bible tells us about. The first was Melchizedek and the second is Jesus. Melchizedek (wow try typing that one 10 times fast) shows up to receive a tenth of the war plunder from Abraham. Hebrews tells us he had no beggining and no ending. He had no father or mother and would live forever. He is the king of salem which means the king of peace. Jesus is said to be in the same line. He has no father of mother and will live forever. He is said to be the king of kings and the prince of peace.
I have heard different theories on who Melchizedek was, some say he was the holy spirit or maybe God the father. Well all I know for sure is he is beyond anyone I have ever met or experienced. When the bible talks about these kinds of things, immortality and such, it is so hard to hold onto. We don't know what this is like. We have nothing to understand it with in our own lives or the world of empirical science. We haven't observed it we can't test it. This is the stuff that magic is made of. These are the stories of fantasy and magical places.
We are so oblivious to the world outside of our world because we just don't understand it. And that's OK! It's OK to not know everything. It's OK for there to be mystery and wonder. It's OK for there to be a world of angels and demons and priests who live forever. In fact it is this world of faith which saves us. Hebrews 7 tells us it is by this immortality Jesus is able to save us completely. He is our eternal intercessor. There is a covenant better than the blood and guts of animals. It is something beyond. And it's OK...in fact its very...very...good.
I pray we might enter into wonder today. I pray we would be OK with mystery and the unexplainable today. I pray we would be opened to the world of faith today.
For Lorelai's birthday party this year she wanted a mermaid theme. So we decorated a friend's home with all kinds of under the sea things; animals and sparkling sea weed. All kinds of stuff. The children who came wore costumes. Lorelai's was of course a mermaid. They painted faces with glitter and jewels and took on different identities. Lorelai has told me several times,"Daddy, when I get to heaven, I want to be a mermaid." What is the last fantasy novel you have read? Or the last fairy tale you have been told of watched? When was the last time you read something that was completely outside of your world of experience?
I would have to say for me it was the bible...this morning...Hebrews chapter 7 to be precise. We are talking here about a line of priests who don't die. They live forever. There are two the bible tells us about. The first was Melchizedek and the second is Jesus. Melchizedek (wow try typing that one 10 times fast) shows up to receive a tenth of the war plunder from Abraham. Hebrews tells us he had no beggining and no ending. He had no father or mother and would live forever. He is the king of salem which means the king of peace. Jesus is said to be in the same line. He has no father of mother and will live forever. He is said to be the king of kings and the prince of peace.
I have heard different theories on who Melchizedek was, some say he was the holy spirit or maybe God the father. Well all I know for sure is he is beyond anyone I have ever met or experienced. When the bible talks about these kinds of things, immortality and such, it is so hard to hold onto. We don't know what this is like. We have nothing to understand it with in our own lives or the world of empirical science. We haven't observed it we can't test it. This is the stuff that magic is made of. These are the stories of fantasy and magical places.
We are so oblivious to the world outside of our world because we just don't understand it. And that's OK! It's OK to not know everything. It's OK for there to be mystery and wonder. It's OK for there to be a world of angels and demons and priests who live forever. In fact it is this world of faith which saves us. Hebrews 7 tells us it is by this immortality Jesus is able to save us completely. He is our eternal intercessor. There is a covenant better than the blood and guts of animals. It is something beyond. And it's OK...in fact its very...very...good.
I pray we might enter into wonder today. I pray we would be OK with mystery and the unexplainable today. I pray we would be opened to the world of faith today.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Stuck in Elementary School-the billy madison syndrome (Hebrews 6)
Do you realize most of the christian church has never graduated from elementary school?
I am reminded this morning of a very silly and not completely recommendable movie called Billy Madison. It's a slap stick Adam Sandler movie that came out years ago. Adam plays this wealthy kid, Billy Madison, who hasn't had to work a day in his life. He coasted through school because his dad payed the teachers to pass him. Now he gets drunk every night and sleeps it off around the pool everyday. Until his dad is going to give the family business to someone else. Now Billy has to step up and go back to school and pass all 12 grades once again without daddy's money this time. But he has to do it in a couple on months, so it's fly by the seat of his pants time. It is so goofy seeing the "grown man" sitting in the little kid's desks and then trying to be the cool poser in high school when the generations have changed.
Can you imagine staying in elementary school for the rest of your life?
And yet it seems to me the church might be doing just that. In Hebrews 6 we are encouraged to move beyond the basic teachings of 1. repentance from acts that lead to death (sins) and faith in God 2. Instruction about baptism 3. lay on of hands 4. the resurrection of the dead 5. eternal judgment.
Really we are to move beyond these things? To grow in christian maturity there is something more? Most of the christian churches we go into today teach nothing more than this. Repent, pray the sinners prayer, be saved. Then to really seal the deal you can be baptized so you don't have to fear the resurrection of the dead or the judgment.
That's were we pretty much stop, over and over again every week, the same basic message...repent come to salvation.
This was the message of John the baptist, repent and be baptized, prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus however went beyond this. The baptism of Jesus was the baptism of the spirit, one which was meant to be trans-formative and come with power to live. John's was a good place to start but we must go farther.
These are good foundational teachings, but Hebrews is telling us if we stay here we are the Billy Madison's of the kingdom. Adults sitting in the elementary school desks. There is more. This message is to change our lives. When it is sown it will bring forth a crop. There will be evidences which Hebrews says God will remember.
"God is not unjust he will not forget the work and love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."
Wait a minute, we don't like this so much. You mean we will be help accountable for the way we treat other people. I thought this was all about grace, I thought this was all about what God has done for me not what I have done for him.
It's true Jesus died for us so we could have life. If you have the son you have life. Even our imitation of Jesus is through faith. You and I can stay stunted in elementary school if we want to, getting spiritually wasted every worship service and then sleep it off by the side of the pool.
But we will never be mature Christian's that way. We will get stuck in our little tiny desks with the bottle's of spiritual milk hanging from our mouths.
Harsh? I know.
But if our faith doesn't shape and change our lives what good is it? If it does not integrate into the fabric of our conversations and personal ethics at work, then what good is it? If we do not treat our families and co-workers and co-human beings better because of it, then what good is it?
Our faith and our theology must become incarnational! It must take on the flesh of our daily lives as our God took on the flesh of sinful humanity to show us his great love for us. Faith must meet life! This is christian maturity, this is spiritual growth!
Now don't forget to stay connected to the vine. Doing good dutiful deeds without connection to Christ gets us no where. But living our connected faith out in the world gets us everywhere.
May we dig our roots into the foundations of Christianity, deeply in, and then may we grow in the light of God's love stretching our branches to heaven to be a blessing to all as we have been blessed. Let us graduate from elementary school and move on in higher education.
I am reminded this morning of a very silly and not completely recommendable movie called Billy Madison. It's a slap stick Adam Sandler movie that came out years ago. Adam plays this wealthy kid, Billy Madison, who hasn't had to work a day in his life. He coasted through school because his dad payed the teachers to pass him. Now he gets drunk every night and sleeps it off around the pool everyday. Until his dad is going to give the family business to someone else. Now Billy has to step up and go back to school and pass all 12 grades once again without daddy's money this time. But he has to do it in a couple on months, so it's fly by the seat of his pants time. It is so goofy seeing the "grown man" sitting in the little kid's desks and then trying to be the cool poser in high school when the generations have changed.
Can you imagine staying in elementary school for the rest of your life?
And yet it seems to me the church might be doing just that. In Hebrews 6 we are encouraged to move beyond the basic teachings of 1. repentance from acts that lead to death (sins) and faith in God 2. Instruction about baptism 3. lay on of hands 4. the resurrection of the dead 5. eternal judgment.
Really we are to move beyond these things? To grow in christian maturity there is something more? Most of the christian churches we go into today teach nothing more than this. Repent, pray the sinners prayer, be saved. Then to really seal the deal you can be baptized so you don't have to fear the resurrection of the dead or the judgment.
That's were we pretty much stop, over and over again every week, the same basic message...repent come to salvation.
This was the message of John the baptist, repent and be baptized, prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus however went beyond this. The baptism of Jesus was the baptism of the spirit, one which was meant to be trans-formative and come with power to live. John's was a good place to start but we must go farther.
These are good foundational teachings, but Hebrews is telling us if we stay here we are the Billy Madison's of the kingdom. Adults sitting in the elementary school desks. There is more. This message is to change our lives. When it is sown it will bring forth a crop. There will be evidences which Hebrews says God will remember.
"God is not unjust he will not forget the work and love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."
Wait a minute, we don't like this so much. You mean we will be help accountable for the way we treat other people. I thought this was all about grace, I thought this was all about what God has done for me not what I have done for him.
It's true Jesus died for us so we could have life. If you have the son you have life. Even our imitation of Jesus is through faith. You and I can stay stunted in elementary school if we want to, getting spiritually wasted every worship service and then sleep it off by the side of the pool.
But we will never be mature Christian's that way. We will get stuck in our little tiny desks with the bottle's of spiritual milk hanging from our mouths.
Harsh? I know.
But if our faith doesn't shape and change our lives what good is it? If it does not integrate into the fabric of our conversations and personal ethics at work, then what good is it? If we do not treat our families and co-workers and co-human beings better because of it, then what good is it?
Our faith and our theology must become incarnational! It must take on the flesh of our daily lives as our God took on the flesh of sinful humanity to show us his great love for us. Faith must meet life! This is christian maturity, this is spiritual growth!
Now don't forget to stay connected to the vine. Doing good dutiful deeds without connection to Christ gets us no where. But living our connected faith out in the world gets us everywhere.
May we dig our roots into the foundations of Christianity, deeply in, and then may we grow in the light of God's love stretching our branches to heaven to be a blessing to all as we have been blessed. Let us graduate from elementary school and move on in higher education.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Am i still a baby? (Hebrews 5)
Do we really know good from evil?
I remember a story shared with me about the keen perception of my mother-in-law. Laura, my wife, was studying in Spain for a year in college. Her parents brought her cousin for a visit over Christmas break. While they were moving through one of the crowded bustling streets Laura's mom spotted a man who she new had just robbed someone. She even said it out loud. But Of course she had not seen the robbery, she just new some how it had happened by looking at this man. Sure enough Laura's cousin soon discovered the money she had in her breast pocket was gone. She was the one who had been robbed. Laura's mom also seemed to have this discerning gift when she refused to let Laura babysit at a certain families house alone. It turned out the father was an abuser and molester, but they didn't know that until after wards.
Is this what it means to know good from evil? Can we really perceive these kinds of things?
Hebrews chapter 5 talks about what it means to be mature in Christ. The readers are almost chided because they should be able to teach the things the letter is instructing and yet they are sill in need of intense nurture on these subjects. So much so they are compared with infants who still need to be fed spiritual milk rather than real food. This castigation is finished with the explanation of what it means to be mature in Christ. To be mature is to know good from evil.
It is interesting this lesson on maturity comes at the end of teaching about Jesus as our high priest. The teaching that he cried out to God for deliverance, went through suffering on our behalf, and then was made perfect at his resurrection thus becoming the source of salvation for all mankind. What kind of evil was against this good? I wonder if the people were still coming to God through priests rather than strait to God through Jesus? Had there been a re-commitment to the old rituals of sacrifice and looking to their own works to save them from sin? I'm not sure what the historical context is presenting here, but I does bring questions for us today.
Do we know what is good and what is evil? So many times the evil we rage against as Christians are behavioral acts like what movies or music are bad. Drinking, smoking, premarital sex. These are the things that are evil. Whether to have drums in the church or not, good or evil?
It seems to me, just perhaps, this passage is suggesting true evil are the things which misplace Jesus. When we think we need to go to God through some good and pleasing action of our own, or when we don't approach God at all because we don't think we are worthy to do so. We need a priest or a pastor to pray for us. We can't really go to God...can we? But scripture is telling us we can, and Jesus is the source, the way of this salvation. To be with God, reconciled to God.
The behavioral aspects are important, don't get me wrong I am all for purity of heart, mind, soul, and body. But the only reason they are important is because they are indicators we are still separated from God. When we focus on them we miss the point. We may correct some of the behaviors, but we will still miss God who is to be our focus. When we look to him the other things will fall by the wayside.
Does it show how much of a baby I am, that when I read this passage the first things I thought of with good and evil where what books I was reading and movies I was watching? Spending time in the Bible, pursuing God's intentions and will revealed to us, and learning of who Jesus is. When we are focused on God who is good, I don't think the evil will be to hard to spot.
My life is filled with so much gray sometimes of what is good and what is evil, it is really hard to tell. I wonder if I was a little more focused on the light if the shades of gray would become more distinct.
May we grow in maturity today. May we be able to discern the good from the evil, because we are so focused on the good, so in pursuit of God the evil will become so much more apparent and so much less desirable.
I remember a story shared with me about the keen perception of my mother-in-law. Laura, my wife, was studying in Spain for a year in college. Her parents brought her cousin for a visit over Christmas break. While they were moving through one of the crowded bustling streets Laura's mom spotted a man who she new had just robbed someone. She even said it out loud. But Of course she had not seen the robbery, she just new some how it had happened by looking at this man. Sure enough Laura's cousin soon discovered the money she had in her breast pocket was gone. She was the one who had been robbed. Laura's mom also seemed to have this discerning gift when she refused to let Laura babysit at a certain families house alone. It turned out the father was an abuser and molester, but they didn't know that until after wards.
Is this what it means to know good from evil? Can we really perceive these kinds of things?
Hebrews chapter 5 talks about what it means to be mature in Christ. The readers are almost chided because they should be able to teach the things the letter is instructing and yet they are sill in need of intense nurture on these subjects. So much so they are compared with infants who still need to be fed spiritual milk rather than real food. This castigation is finished with the explanation of what it means to be mature in Christ. To be mature is to know good from evil.
It is interesting this lesson on maturity comes at the end of teaching about Jesus as our high priest. The teaching that he cried out to God for deliverance, went through suffering on our behalf, and then was made perfect at his resurrection thus becoming the source of salvation for all mankind. What kind of evil was against this good? I wonder if the people were still coming to God through priests rather than strait to God through Jesus? Had there been a re-commitment to the old rituals of sacrifice and looking to their own works to save them from sin? I'm not sure what the historical context is presenting here, but I does bring questions for us today.
Do we know what is good and what is evil? So many times the evil we rage against as Christians are behavioral acts like what movies or music are bad. Drinking, smoking, premarital sex. These are the things that are evil. Whether to have drums in the church or not, good or evil?
It seems to me, just perhaps, this passage is suggesting true evil are the things which misplace Jesus. When we think we need to go to God through some good and pleasing action of our own, or when we don't approach God at all because we don't think we are worthy to do so. We need a priest or a pastor to pray for us. We can't really go to God...can we? But scripture is telling us we can, and Jesus is the source, the way of this salvation. To be with God, reconciled to God.
The behavioral aspects are important, don't get me wrong I am all for purity of heart, mind, soul, and body. But the only reason they are important is because they are indicators we are still separated from God. When we focus on them we miss the point. We may correct some of the behaviors, but we will still miss God who is to be our focus. When we look to him the other things will fall by the wayside.
Does it show how much of a baby I am, that when I read this passage the first things I thought of with good and evil where what books I was reading and movies I was watching? Spending time in the Bible, pursuing God's intentions and will revealed to us, and learning of who Jesus is. When we are focused on God who is good, I don't think the evil will be to hard to spot.
My life is filled with so much gray sometimes of what is good and what is evil, it is really hard to tell. I wonder if I was a little more focused on the light if the shades of gray would become more distinct.
May we grow in maturity today. May we be able to discern the good from the evil, because we are so focused on the good, so in pursuit of God the evil will become so much more apparent and so much less desirable.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
"Daddy my heart is breaking right now." (Hebrews 4)
Is obedience a source of rest?
When I pick my daughter up from school she loves to surprise me. She hides behind the same chair every day and then pops out and says surprise. I do my best to ask surprised and then she laughs and laughs. Yesterday I went to pick her up she was hiding as usual. She didn't jump out as fast though and I got to where I could see her before she had yelled surprise. She melted into a puddle on the floor. I had seen her upset before when she wasn't able to surprise me, but this was a little more than usual. She wouldn't help clean her toys up and I ended up half pulling her out to the car. She is crying and sobbing telling me, "Daddy my heart is breaking right now."
I suggest she might need a nap when we get home, and she doesn't like this at all. So I let her know if she can't calm down by the time we get home she will need to take a nap. She gets her sobs kind of under control and then she tells me what's really going on. She had stayed at school later than usual which means she had to stay through rest time. Lorelai is not good at rest time. She has too much energy and doesn't like to slow down. So she doesn't sit still and usually gets in trouble with the teacher. This time she was convinced she had been told by the teacher, "because you are not obeying and resting you won't be able to go to any more parties at the school."
I tried to reassure her I was sure this was only for the day. Then she would burst into bigger tears and cry out, "you don't believe me, I'm telling you the truth and you don't believe me." So much agony so much sadness and all because she couldn't obey and sit still for a little rest time.
Hebrews chapter 4 tells us about the rest available to us. There was a rest offered to the children of Israel, way back when they were to enter the promised land, but they didn't choose to obey God and accept the rest he had for them. They heard the message of rest but did not believe it was true. "Those people in that country are too big, we can't do this." Hebrews goes on to say there is a rest available to us now. Today is the day of salvation to accept the gift of Christ and rest in obedience to him. Believing the message of the gospel is true and acting upon it by approaching the throne of mercy and grace with confidence when we are in need.
I know the war I have with my conscience when I am not in obedience. It is the constant struggle with sin. Hebrews says Jesus understood this battle with temptation and he battled the evil. Sometimes though I feel like I'm on the other side battling the good. I know the good I should do, but I don't do it. Instead I do the evil I want to do. It is in these battles that obedience truly brings rest. When I choose obedience to Christ in these moments and go to the throne of grace and mercy for strength there is great rest in my mind, soul, body, and emotions.
Sometimes it seems God just really wants me to sit down on my mat and take some rest time. Just a little obedience can go a long way. It sets my mind at ease I can find rest and peace. And you know what, there is a big party coming at the end where our struggle with sin will be no more and we can truly live in the rest of God. Can you imagine sabbath rest and communing with God every day? The beautiful thing is it can start here and now. Even this time writing this blog is a moment of rest for my weary soul.
May you take time today to sit still, rest, and know he is God. Hear the message of the gospel and believe it, through our obedience to him we will find rest for our weary souls. Wrestle no more with sin but find mercy and grace when we are in need from a savior who understands because he as been there.
When I pick my daughter up from school she loves to surprise me. She hides behind the same chair every day and then pops out and says surprise. I do my best to ask surprised and then she laughs and laughs. Yesterday I went to pick her up she was hiding as usual. She didn't jump out as fast though and I got to where I could see her before she had yelled surprise. She melted into a puddle on the floor. I had seen her upset before when she wasn't able to surprise me, but this was a little more than usual. She wouldn't help clean her toys up and I ended up half pulling her out to the car. She is crying and sobbing telling me, "Daddy my heart is breaking right now."
I suggest she might need a nap when we get home, and she doesn't like this at all. So I let her know if she can't calm down by the time we get home she will need to take a nap. She gets her sobs kind of under control and then she tells me what's really going on. She had stayed at school later than usual which means she had to stay through rest time. Lorelai is not good at rest time. She has too much energy and doesn't like to slow down. So she doesn't sit still and usually gets in trouble with the teacher. This time she was convinced she had been told by the teacher, "because you are not obeying and resting you won't be able to go to any more parties at the school."
I tried to reassure her I was sure this was only for the day. Then she would burst into bigger tears and cry out, "you don't believe me, I'm telling you the truth and you don't believe me." So much agony so much sadness and all because she couldn't obey and sit still for a little rest time.
Hebrews chapter 4 tells us about the rest available to us. There was a rest offered to the children of Israel, way back when they were to enter the promised land, but they didn't choose to obey God and accept the rest he had for them. They heard the message of rest but did not believe it was true. "Those people in that country are too big, we can't do this." Hebrews goes on to say there is a rest available to us now. Today is the day of salvation to accept the gift of Christ and rest in obedience to him. Believing the message of the gospel is true and acting upon it by approaching the throne of mercy and grace with confidence when we are in need.
I know the war I have with my conscience when I am not in obedience. It is the constant struggle with sin. Hebrews says Jesus understood this battle with temptation and he battled the evil. Sometimes though I feel like I'm on the other side battling the good. I know the good I should do, but I don't do it. Instead I do the evil I want to do. It is in these battles that obedience truly brings rest. When I choose obedience to Christ in these moments and go to the throne of grace and mercy for strength there is great rest in my mind, soul, body, and emotions.
Sometimes it seems God just really wants me to sit down on my mat and take some rest time. Just a little obedience can go a long way. It sets my mind at ease I can find rest and peace. And you know what, there is a big party coming at the end where our struggle with sin will be no more and we can truly live in the rest of God. Can you imagine sabbath rest and communing with God every day? The beautiful thing is it can start here and now. Even this time writing this blog is a moment of rest for my weary soul.
May you take time today to sit still, rest, and know he is God. Hear the message of the gospel and believe it, through our obedience to him we will find rest for our weary souls. Wrestle no more with sin but find mercy and grace when we are in need from a savior who understands because he as been there.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Hey, God I'm not sure I believe in you. (Hebrews 3)
Can we have questions about God's existence and a good heart at the same time?
I have had many conversations with God about my questions of his existence, especially in college but after-wards as well. I remember one instance when I was driving along in Denver. I was a youth pastor at one of the churches there at the time. I remember a really strong pang of doubt coming over me. “Am I just making this stuff up, am I living a lie as a pastor and trying to convince others of the same lie, the same conspiracy?”
So I began to talk with God about that. This is kind of strange I suppose to talk with the being you are doubting the existence of, but hey why not? It’s in conversations like these I find myself reminded of the moments in my life where I know God moved. This time was no different. The Holy Spirit moves in my heart and helps me to recall these moments, these anchor points for my faith. As the memories come back I find myself at rest once again in the faithfulness of Christ in my life.
Hebrews 3 challenges us,” See to it, brothers, that non of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that runs away from the living God.” The first reaction of many Christians is, how is this possible? Doesn’t scripture say the heart is deceitfully wicked beyond all things? How can we have a heart without sin and unbelief? It seems to me once again a good heart is one that is receptive to Christ. This passage in chapter 3 tells us again and again, “today is you hear his voice do not harden your hearts.”
Even in the middle of my questioning and struggle with unbelief I kept my heart open to God. I brought my questions to him. Israel hardened their hearts towards God, they wouldn’t follow him into the Promised Land so they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. A whole generation didn’t enter into the rest of the Promised Land. There are many today who are in the same place. Peace seems to be ever elusive for them, even when they have the life of the American dream.
I pray today we would open our hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Seek God with our questions and our doubts. Don’t let these things drive us away from God but towards him. This is what it means to have a good heart. Open to what God has to say to us. Jesus told the parable of the sower, different hearts different soils. The good soil was the one that received the word let it grow deep and produce a good crop. This soil was good even before the word was in the heart, because it was open and receptive.
May we be open and receptive today to the voice of God. May we have good hearts without sin and disbelief. May we find rest as we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
I have had many conversations with God about my questions of his existence, especially in college but after-wards as well. I remember one instance when I was driving along in Denver. I was a youth pastor at one of the churches there at the time. I remember a really strong pang of doubt coming over me. “Am I just making this stuff up, am I living a lie as a pastor and trying to convince others of the same lie, the same conspiracy?”
So I began to talk with God about that. This is kind of strange I suppose to talk with the being you are doubting the existence of, but hey why not? It’s in conversations like these I find myself reminded of the moments in my life where I know God moved. This time was no different. The Holy Spirit moves in my heart and helps me to recall these moments, these anchor points for my faith. As the memories come back I find myself at rest once again in the faithfulness of Christ in my life.
Hebrews 3 challenges us,” See to it, brothers, that non of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that runs away from the living God.” The first reaction of many Christians is, how is this possible? Doesn’t scripture say the heart is deceitfully wicked beyond all things? How can we have a heart without sin and unbelief? It seems to me once again a good heart is one that is receptive to Christ. This passage in chapter 3 tells us again and again, “today is you hear his voice do not harden your hearts.”
Even in the middle of my questioning and struggle with unbelief I kept my heart open to God. I brought my questions to him. Israel hardened their hearts towards God, they wouldn’t follow him into the Promised Land so they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. A whole generation didn’t enter into the rest of the Promised Land. There are many today who are in the same place. Peace seems to be ever elusive for them, even when they have the life of the American dream.
I pray today we would open our hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Seek God with our questions and our doubts. Don’t let these things drive us away from God but towards him. This is what it means to have a good heart. Open to what God has to say to us. Jesus told the parable of the sower, different hearts different soils. The good soil was the one that received the word let it grow deep and produce a good crop. This soil was good even before the word was in the heart, because it was open and receptive.
May we be open and receptive today to the voice of God. May we have good hearts without sin and disbelief. May we find rest as we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Under the bed bother (Hebrews 2)
Have you ever had a brother die for you?
I grew up in a family of four; Mom, Dad, and my younger sister. I have to admit my sister and I didn’t get along to well. I am very glad we do now. But during those growing up years I had another sibling I was closer too. Wait a minute you say, I thought you said family of four. I did and we only had four in the “family,” but not in the family. My best friend growing up was the closet person I had to brother. We did everything together. And for a while he ever lived at our house.
In my bedroom I had my bed put up on bookcases, kind of like having a bunk bed but with out the lower bunk. It gave me way more space in my little room and a great little cave for video games, hanging out, and putting a mattress in when my “brother” needed to move in. Our friendship just got stronger in those months he spent living with us. We are still brothers and friends today even though we don’t see each other that often. I guess that is kind of like brothers too.
Warning: Transition! Stay with me.
I remember thinking for a long time, I wish I had more feeling attached to the act of Jesus dying for me. I have been a Christian sense I turned 13. I always felt like I should get hit harder when I read the story of Jesus’ death. If I really love Jesus then I should feel sad when I read about his suffering. But it just never really hit me until I read Hebrews chapter 2 while I was a youth pastor in Denver.
Hebrews 2 tells us Jesus is like our bother. He calls us brother. He took on flesh and blood because we have flesh and blood. He really became human, made a little lower than the angels as we are, and suffering with temptation as we do. When I read the word brother I thought on my friend, the one who had slept on that mattress under my bed. The friend I love as a brother. Then I thought about him giving his life for me on the cross. Suffering the whipping, the agony of Gethsemane, the crown of thorns, and the ragged breath on the cross. It hit me then.
My brother dying for me.
I don’t know if this hits home for you or not. I hope it does, because the brother connection doesn’t stop at the cross. Jesus being our brother means it’s our brother who is on the throne in heaven now. Our brother is the one standing up for us in the face of accusation. He is our high priest and he is our advocate. He is our brother, he knows what its like to suffer from temptation. Far more than we do actually, why would the devil turn up the heat on us if we give in and fall on something easy. Jesus never gave in he just kept fighting, so the heat of temptation was turned up even hotter for him. He knows what we go through.
He is our brother.
I pray today you would sense a deeper connection with Jesus Christ today. Take him in to your family. See him sitting with you at the dinner table, opening presents Christmas morning, hanging out at camp fires with you in the back yard.
He’s there, he’s our brother.
I grew up in a family of four; Mom, Dad, and my younger sister. I have to admit my sister and I didn’t get along to well. I am very glad we do now. But during those growing up years I had another sibling I was closer too. Wait a minute you say, I thought you said family of four. I did and we only had four in the “family,” but not in the family. My best friend growing up was the closet person I had to brother. We did everything together. And for a while he ever lived at our house.
In my bedroom I had my bed put up on bookcases, kind of like having a bunk bed but with out the lower bunk. It gave me way more space in my little room and a great little cave for video games, hanging out, and putting a mattress in when my “brother” needed to move in. Our friendship just got stronger in those months he spent living with us. We are still brothers and friends today even though we don’t see each other that often. I guess that is kind of like brothers too.
Warning: Transition! Stay with me.
I remember thinking for a long time, I wish I had more feeling attached to the act of Jesus dying for me. I have been a Christian sense I turned 13. I always felt like I should get hit harder when I read the story of Jesus’ death. If I really love Jesus then I should feel sad when I read about his suffering. But it just never really hit me until I read Hebrews chapter 2 while I was a youth pastor in Denver.
Hebrews 2 tells us Jesus is like our bother. He calls us brother. He took on flesh and blood because we have flesh and blood. He really became human, made a little lower than the angels as we are, and suffering with temptation as we do. When I read the word brother I thought on my friend, the one who had slept on that mattress under my bed. The friend I love as a brother. Then I thought about him giving his life for me on the cross. Suffering the whipping, the agony of Gethsemane, the crown of thorns, and the ragged breath on the cross. It hit me then.
My brother dying for me.
I don’t know if this hits home for you or not. I hope it does, because the brother connection doesn’t stop at the cross. Jesus being our brother means it’s our brother who is on the throne in heaven now. Our brother is the one standing up for us in the face of accusation. He is our high priest and he is our advocate. He is our brother, he knows what its like to suffer from temptation. Far more than we do actually, why would the devil turn up the heat on us if we give in and fall on something easy. Jesus never gave in he just kept fighting, so the heat of temptation was turned up even hotter for him. He knows what we go through.
He is our brother.
I pray today you would sense a deeper connection with Jesus Christ today. Take him in to your family. See him sitting with you at the dinner table, opening presents Christmas morning, hanging out at camp fires with you in the back yard.
He’s there, he’s our brother.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Um...so who was Jesus again? (Hebrews 1)
The claims of Christianity really are quite outlandish and polarizing.
My wife has some pretty great stories of some patients she has met in mental hospitals. Some are very sad and everyone has a story no one is just crazy. I am talking about the ones who made outlandish claims though. She has told me a story of sitting at a table in a ward having a bible study, with one guy who claimed to be Jesus, another guy who claimed to be the devil, and still another guy who told her she was a vampire. They were all together at one table studying the bible. Crazy right? The experience is crazy to have those different claims and perspectives all studying the bible together, but their claims are crazy too!
Christianity makes some claims just as crazy and outlandish, if you think about it. Hebrews Chapter one claims Jesus is the son of God, the one who created the world, the one who sustains the world, the full and complete image of God's glory, he died for our sins, raised to life, and is seated at the right hand of God in Heaven. Oh, and God has chosen to speak through Jesus to us. This is all in just the first few verses. The rest of the chapter goes on to say Jesus is greater than the angels and gives examples from prophecy and the rest of scripture to show this is true.
If someone today claims to be the devil, Jesus, or a vampire and then follows the line of reasoning with action they are locked up in a mental hospital until the can come back to reality. Now Hebrews is written after Jesus was alive on earth, so people make all kinds of claims about people after they are gone. They turn them into God's and all kinds of things the person never intended to be.
The problem is Jesus said the same things. He also said he was the son of God. He stated it so clearly in front of his accusers, the high priest tore is robe (which was a capital offense) and made it very clear they needed no more testimony from anyone else. As far as the priests were concerned Jesus has stated he was God. This was blasphemy and that would be the end of Jesus.
So um...who was Jesus again? He was just a good moral teacher, the simple son of a carpenter, he was a historical figure who had some really good things to say and was a good example for us on how to live our lives, right? Christianity has taken it way further. Because Jesus took it way further. It's no wonder he got killed. If he was on earth today we would at least lock him up and give him lots of drugs and therapy.
C.S. Lewis ask the question; what are we going to do with Jesus? We can't just leave him as a good teacher, because he claims to be more. So we either must dismiss him as a mad man who claims to be a scrambled egg or accept his claim that he was the son of God.
These are outlandish and polarizing claims. This is the way the book of Hebrews begins.
So we ask ourselves again today so...who was Jesus? Creator, sustainer, redeemer, perfect image of God, sacrifice for humanity, who sits at God's right hand in heaven, higher than any created being including the angels or a mad man who needs lots of drugs and therapy?
I'm going with Hebrews on this one...I don't know what you will choose.
My wife has some pretty great stories of some patients she has met in mental hospitals. Some are very sad and everyone has a story no one is just crazy. I am talking about the ones who made outlandish claims though. She has told me a story of sitting at a table in a ward having a bible study, with one guy who claimed to be Jesus, another guy who claimed to be the devil, and still another guy who told her she was a vampire. They were all together at one table studying the bible. Crazy right? The experience is crazy to have those different claims and perspectives all studying the bible together, but their claims are crazy too!
Christianity makes some claims just as crazy and outlandish, if you think about it. Hebrews Chapter one claims Jesus is the son of God, the one who created the world, the one who sustains the world, the full and complete image of God's glory, he died for our sins, raised to life, and is seated at the right hand of God in Heaven. Oh, and God has chosen to speak through Jesus to us. This is all in just the first few verses. The rest of the chapter goes on to say Jesus is greater than the angels and gives examples from prophecy and the rest of scripture to show this is true.
If someone today claims to be the devil, Jesus, or a vampire and then follows the line of reasoning with action they are locked up in a mental hospital until the can come back to reality. Now Hebrews is written after Jesus was alive on earth, so people make all kinds of claims about people after they are gone. They turn them into God's and all kinds of things the person never intended to be.
The problem is Jesus said the same things. He also said he was the son of God. He stated it so clearly in front of his accusers, the high priest tore is robe (which was a capital offense) and made it very clear they needed no more testimony from anyone else. As far as the priests were concerned Jesus has stated he was God. This was blasphemy and that would be the end of Jesus.
So um...who was Jesus again? He was just a good moral teacher, the simple son of a carpenter, he was a historical figure who had some really good things to say and was a good example for us on how to live our lives, right? Christianity has taken it way further. Because Jesus took it way further. It's no wonder he got killed. If he was on earth today we would at least lock him up and give him lots of drugs and therapy.
C.S. Lewis ask the question; what are we going to do with Jesus? We can't just leave him as a good teacher, because he claims to be more. So we either must dismiss him as a mad man who claims to be a scrambled egg or accept his claim that he was the son of God.
These are outlandish and polarizing claims. This is the way the book of Hebrews begins.
So we ask ourselves again today so...who was Jesus? Creator, sustainer, redeemer, perfect image of God, sacrifice for humanity, who sits at God's right hand in heaven, higher than any created being including the angels or a mad man who needs lots of drugs and therapy?
I'm going with Hebrews on this one...I don't know what you will choose.
Monday, May 9, 2011
"Oh, right, I forgot." (Luke 24)
How many times do we have to be reminded of something?
This morning was a semi-typical morning. We got up and I gave my daughter breakfast, took the dog for a walk, and went to take a shower. I came back out to get Lorelai dressed. "Take your pajamas off...take your pajamas off...take your pajamas off please." This was the whole process, ever article of clothing took at least three verbal ques before things got done. I asked her as we are walking out the door. "Lorelai, why do you wait to do something until I get grumpy? I asked you the first time nicely and you wait until I get grumpy before you do anything." Her response is a typical one for her, "Oh, right, I forgot."
In the final chapter of Luke, 24, its seems this phrase just keeps coming out of the mouths or at least the thoughts of the desciples. The women go to the tomb to annoint his body and they are met by angels who say, he's not here he's risen. Remember how he told you...then they remembered his words. "Oh, right, I forgot."
There are two men walking along the road to Emmaus, downcast and sure everything is over. Jesus, incognito, comes along side of them and says, "what are you discussing, what's got you down?" The continue to tell him about Jesus and how they had hoped he would be the one, but now he is dead. Jesus still unrecognizable tells them, "How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" Then Jesus gives them a bible study about the messiah. When he is finally recognized at the breaking of the bread and he disappears, the two guys finally get it. Didn't our hearts burn within us on the road and he spoke to us? "Oh, right, I forgot."
It happens again as Jesus shows up with the rest of the disciples. He has to eat some fish to convince them he's not a ghost. How many times did Jesus tell these guys he was going to die and then on the third day be raised? "Oh, right, I forgot."
Don't we do the same thing? How many times have we read in scripture and been told by the preachers, in Jesus you are forgiven. We still hold onto our guilt convinced God can't love us..."oh, right, I forgot." How many times are we told of his everlasting love, how many times does Jesus pray for our unity as a body of believers and yet we pick and slash at each other, "oh, right, I forgot." How many times does scripture tell us to care for the poor and the least of these, sharing out belongings as each other have need. Yet we decide the new car, the bigger house, or the $5 cup of coffee is really what we want to do with our money. "Oh, right, I forgot."
May Jesus do for us as he did for his disciples at the end of Luke 24, "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures." This is not to say the disciples got it from then on out. This is why Jesus promised to send his holy spirit to remind us of all the things he has taught.
One more little thing. How are we going to remember what he said, unless we spend time listening. Our hearts can't really be opened to the scriptures unless we are reading them. How often our busy lives carry us away from this. How often do I find myself saying, "oh, right, I forgot."
May we seek God today while he may be found when we seek him with all of our heart. May we remember who he is and what he has done for us as the words ring out through the history of scripture and resound in our own lives.
This morning was a semi-typical morning. We got up and I gave my daughter breakfast, took the dog for a walk, and went to take a shower. I came back out to get Lorelai dressed. "Take your pajamas off...take your pajamas off...take your pajamas off please." This was the whole process, ever article of clothing took at least three verbal ques before things got done. I asked her as we are walking out the door. "Lorelai, why do you wait to do something until I get grumpy? I asked you the first time nicely and you wait until I get grumpy before you do anything." Her response is a typical one for her, "Oh, right, I forgot."
In the final chapter of Luke, 24, its seems this phrase just keeps coming out of the mouths or at least the thoughts of the desciples. The women go to the tomb to annoint his body and they are met by angels who say, he's not here he's risen. Remember how he told you...then they remembered his words. "Oh, right, I forgot."
There are two men walking along the road to Emmaus, downcast and sure everything is over. Jesus, incognito, comes along side of them and says, "what are you discussing, what's got you down?" The continue to tell him about Jesus and how they had hoped he would be the one, but now he is dead. Jesus still unrecognizable tells them, "How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" Then Jesus gives them a bible study about the messiah. When he is finally recognized at the breaking of the bread and he disappears, the two guys finally get it. Didn't our hearts burn within us on the road and he spoke to us? "Oh, right, I forgot."
It happens again as Jesus shows up with the rest of the disciples. He has to eat some fish to convince them he's not a ghost. How many times did Jesus tell these guys he was going to die and then on the third day be raised? "Oh, right, I forgot."
Don't we do the same thing? How many times have we read in scripture and been told by the preachers, in Jesus you are forgiven. We still hold onto our guilt convinced God can't love us..."oh, right, I forgot." How many times are we told of his everlasting love, how many times does Jesus pray for our unity as a body of believers and yet we pick and slash at each other, "oh, right, I forgot." How many times does scripture tell us to care for the poor and the least of these, sharing out belongings as each other have need. Yet we decide the new car, the bigger house, or the $5 cup of coffee is really what we want to do with our money. "Oh, right, I forgot."
May Jesus do for us as he did for his disciples at the end of Luke 24, "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures." This is not to say the disciples got it from then on out. This is why Jesus promised to send his holy spirit to remind us of all the things he has taught.
One more little thing. How are we going to remember what he said, unless we spend time listening. Our hearts can't really be opened to the scriptures unless we are reading them. How often our busy lives carry us away from this. How often do I find myself saying, "oh, right, I forgot."
May we seek God today while he may be found when we seek him with all of our heart. May we remember who he is and what he has done for us as the words ring out through the history of scripture and resound in our own lives.
Friday, April 15, 2011
cringe and duck (luke 23)
Three strikes and your out?
When I was a wee lad I played little league for one year. I should have been in minor league or pee wee league, whatever you want to call it. But because my family kept the sabbath and the minor league games were on sabbath I got bumped up just one year in age to little league so I could play. I'm not a bad ball player. Pretty good actually I can catch and throw all right and I really can actually hit pretty well. Plus I'm a lefty when I bat so it throws people off a little bit which is good.
One of our practices on this little league team I was up to bat, and I was hitting alright. Our pitcher who was learning as well was having a hard time with his accuracy. I got lined up at the plate ready for the pitch. The pitcher wound up and let one fly and it hit me. That was it for my hitting the ball that year. I was too afraid, so every game for the whole year I would strike out. I couldn't stay with the ball, because I was to afraid it would hit me, so I would cringe and miss one, two, then three times and I was out.
It seems like three is about all we have in us sometimes. In Luke 23 Jesus comes before Pilot and then before Herod and then then back before Pilot again. Pilot tries three times to tell the crowd, I don't find anything wrong with this man. I will have him punished and then release him. But the crowd keeps on him to crucify Jesus. After three attempts Pilot is done. He gives into the crowd, he cringes and ducks so he doesn't get his by the ball and sends Jesus to the cross.
There is another set of threes in this chapter. Jesus is on the cross and three times he is taunted, if your the messiah come on down and save your self, You saved others now save yourself king of the Jews, Yeah come on save your self and us get all of us off of these crosses. With this set of threes, however, it's the crowd who strikes out. Jesus stays on the cross, he doesn't give in. He stays on the cross because he is saving us and well himself too I guess. Going through with the death for sin is the road to resurrection. It is the road back to heavenly realms both for Jesus and for us.
When Jesus dies its the centurion, the one in charge of the crucifixion who says it out loud, surely this was a righteous man.
Salvation comes because Jesus doesn't strike out. He sticks with it. He doesn't cringe with fear of being hit by the ball. He takes blow after blow pounding into his flesh, his heart, and his soul.
I don't know what it is I am cringing from right now, or what it might be for you. I pray we might meet it strait on whether it hits us or whether we hit it. I don't want to live my life striking out! Do you?
May we have the fierce bravery and stamina of Christ. May we will our lives with the faith of Christ. This is how we overcome scripture says it's those who keep the commandments and have the faith of Jesus Christ. May we live today without giving into fear, without the cringe and duck, but rather swing with all we are worth.
When I was a wee lad I played little league for one year. I should have been in minor league or pee wee league, whatever you want to call it. But because my family kept the sabbath and the minor league games were on sabbath I got bumped up just one year in age to little league so I could play. I'm not a bad ball player. Pretty good actually I can catch and throw all right and I really can actually hit pretty well. Plus I'm a lefty when I bat so it throws people off a little bit which is good.
One of our practices on this little league team I was up to bat, and I was hitting alright. Our pitcher who was learning as well was having a hard time with his accuracy. I got lined up at the plate ready for the pitch. The pitcher wound up and let one fly and it hit me. That was it for my hitting the ball that year. I was too afraid, so every game for the whole year I would strike out. I couldn't stay with the ball, because I was to afraid it would hit me, so I would cringe and miss one, two, then three times and I was out.
It seems like three is about all we have in us sometimes. In Luke 23 Jesus comes before Pilot and then before Herod and then then back before Pilot again. Pilot tries three times to tell the crowd, I don't find anything wrong with this man. I will have him punished and then release him. But the crowd keeps on him to crucify Jesus. After three attempts Pilot is done. He gives into the crowd, he cringes and ducks so he doesn't get his by the ball and sends Jesus to the cross.
There is another set of threes in this chapter. Jesus is on the cross and three times he is taunted, if your the messiah come on down and save your self, You saved others now save yourself king of the Jews, Yeah come on save your self and us get all of us off of these crosses. With this set of threes, however, it's the crowd who strikes out. Jesus stays on the cross, he doesn't give in. He stays on the cross because he is saving us and well himself too I guess. Going through with the death for sin is the road to resurrection. It is the road back to heavenly realms both for Jesus and for us.
When Jesus dies its the centurion, the one in charge of the crucifixion who says it out loud, surely this was a righteous man.
Salvation comes because Jesus doesn't strike out. He sticks with it. He doesn't cringe with fear of being hit by the ball. He takes blow after blow pounding into his flesh, his heart, and his soul.
I don't know what it is I am cringing from right now, or what it might be for you. I pray we might meet it strait on whether it hits us or whether we hit it. I don't want to live my life striking out! Do you?
May we have the fierce bravery and stamina of Christ. May we will our lives with the faith of Christ. This is how we overcome scripture says it's those who keep the commandments and have the faith of Jesus Christ. May we live today without giving into fear, without the cringe and duck, but rather swing with all we are worth.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Coupons and Angels (Luke 22)
Why are we sooooooooo human-centric?
So much of what we do with our lives is focused on us and what is best for me or for my family. We want to make sure we do the best we can in the time and world we are given so "I can live a fulfilled life and make my world work the best way it can." I was sucked into a show last night about extreme coupon shoppers. I was amazed as a woman went into her local grocery store and rang the bill up to $1900 dollars and then threaded the hundreds of coupons through until the total bill came out to $103.97. I couldn't believe it, but they showed it again and again people who walk into these stores and have 96-98% savings!
Several of these people had husbands who had lost their jobs or spending habits they had to make up for from college or whatever it was that got them started. Now this is what they do. Spending up to 6 hours of prep time before a shopping trip and then 4 hours in the store going through just the right motions to manage things just right. The place where it gets even more extreme is when you see their stock piles at home. Basements and closets and under-bed storage areas full of their stock pile. Our focus can zero in on anything. I have to admit I am going to be checking out some coupons, luckily I don't have a basement, lol.
The view of our world can get so narrow at times, coming all the way down to coupons. I not just thinking today about limiting the view to our families, our towns, our nations, or our world. I am talking about the limiting we do to make our view human-centric only.
In Luke 22 we begin to have things broadened for us. Judas is entered into by Satan, Jesus is strengthen by and angel, and the human race is invited to have thrones in heaven. We just don't get this. The disciples hear someone is going to betray Jesus and they ask for a little while who it might be, but then they go strait on to who will be the greatest. Jesus blows their minds but saying, "I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
We don't get it! I don't get it most of the time. We live our lives with our heads in the ground thinking we are the only ones here on this planet and off of this planet. But there are ancient beings right here with us. Angels, fallen and unfallen, moving through human existence. Jesus tells his disciples, "pray so that you don't fall into temptation." He moves away to pray pouring his heart out and an angel shows up to strengthen him.
What happens when we pray? What is going on that we cannot see? What would happen if our viewpoint shifted and widened, so we could pray for others believing angels will show up? How many demons of suicide can an angel take down? How many demons of depression can a couple of warriors from heaven ex-spell from a high school? How many marriages could be saved by a husband or wife being strengthened?
May our minds be opened today to the world around us, beyond humanity, into the supernatural. May the power of Christ move through our prayers and bring strength to the battles around us. Let's wake up people, open our eyes, and start really praying.
So much of what we do with our lives is focused on us and what is best for me or for my family. We want to make sure we do the best we can in the time and world we are given so "I can live a fulfilled life and make my world work the best way it can." I was sucked into a show last night about extreme coupon shoppers. I was amazed as a woman went into her local grocery store and rang the bill up to $1900 dollars and then threaded the hundreds of coupons through until the total bill came out to $103.97. I couldn't believe it, but they showed it again and again people who walk into these stores and have 96-98% savings!
Several of these people had husbands who had lost their jobs or spending habits they had to make up for from college or whatever it was that got them started. Now this is what they do. Spending up to 6 hours of prep time before a shopping trip and then 4 hours in the store going through just the right motions to manage things just right. The place where it gets even more extreme is when you see their stock piles at home. Basements and closets and under-bed storage areas full of their stock pile. Our focus can zero in on anything. I have to admit I am going to be checking out some coupons, luckily I don't have a basement, lol.
The view of our world can get so narrow at times, coming all the way down to coupons. I not just thinking today about limiting the view to our families, our towns, our nations, or our world. I am talking about the limiting we do to make our view human-centric only.
In Luke 22 we begin to have things broadened for us. Judas is entered into by Satan, Jesus is strengthen by and angel, and the human race is invited to have thrones in heaven. We just don't get this. The disciples hear someone is going to betray Jesus and they ask for a little while who it might be, but then they go strait on to who will be the greatest. Jesus blows their minds but saying, "I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
We don't get it! I don't get it most of the time. We live our lives with our heads in the ground thinking we are the only ones here on this planet and off of this planet. But there are ancient beings right here with us. Angels, fallen and unfallen, moving through human existence. Jesus tells his disciples, "pray so that you don't fall into temptation." He moves away to pray pouring his heart out and an angel shows up to strengthen him.
What happens when we pray? What is going on that we cannot see? What would happen if our viewpoint shifted and widened, so we could pray for others believing angels will show up? How many demons of suicide can an angel take down? How many demons of depression can a couple of warriors from heaven ex-spell from a high school? How many marriages could be saved by a husband or wife being strengthened?
May our minds be opened today to the world around us, beyond humanity, into the supernatural. May the power of Christ move through our prayers and bring strength to the battles around us. Let's wake up people, open our eyes, and start really praying.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Airports and the coming of Jesus (Luke 21)
What is it that makes you heart race with sudden urgency?
So as you may remember from my last couple of blogs I was in Colorado last week. Wednesday morning I got myself out of bed and dragged through the motions of getting packed and out the door to the airport. I had come down with some sort of nasty bug which left me feverish and aching all over. I wasn't moving very fast so I gave myself plenty of time to get my rental car turned back in and get to the airport.
I got through security and rather uneventfully and still have a couple of hours before my flight. I wondered up to the mezzanine level with the restaurants and made my way to paradise cafe and bakery. They have some really good fresh food there and I was in need of something with less grease then the average fast food joint. So I ordered a sandwich and salad combo and sat down enjoying my meal with plenty of time to spare.
At about 10:45 I heard something over the loud speaker referencing a flight to Portland but didn't think much of it sense my flight wasn't leaving until noon. Then about 5 minutes later I heard it again. Flight number 369 to Portland is departing from gate B26. I look at my ticket and sure enough that's my flight. I grab my stuff and race towards to the gate in my weakened state. Maybe my phone hasn't made the time change I must be late.
I get to the gate with a rather panicked look on my face and get the word "Portland" out of my mouth. The jet way is not attached to the airplane. I start to panic that I have missed my flight. The woman kindly says the flight will be boarding next. The announcement had apparently been simply a gate change. I really wish they had said in the announcement "gate change!" Maybe they did and I missed it, but whatever the case may be, it got my attention.
Luke 21 catches my attention in much the same way. I have read the prophecies of Jesus many times. I know they talk about wars and rumors of wars. They talk about earthquakes, famines, and all kinds of other nasty things happening through out history. But it's through out history. It is to be expected, these things will happen says Jesus they are not the signs of the end.
But then we get to verse 25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." Sound familiar to anyone yet? "Men will faint from the terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
I read this and I can't help but think of Japan and the tilting of the earth's axis with the raging of the seas. It gives me the same feeling as "flight 369 to portland is departing from gate B26." There is something happening there is something coming. I have been content to know Jesus is coming sometime soon, but this is not soon as in sometime in the future this is soon as in soon.
I get a little bit of fear in my gut, until I read the rest of the passage. Stand up lift up your heads because the end of the world is coming??? No! Because your redemption is near! This is good news, this is a relief, this is what I want. I don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming, I think scripture is pretty darn clear about that one. But no matter how soon is soon I can look forward to it remembering why he is coming.
Redemption is near!!!
If you are not sure redemption is something you want to be near, I encourage you to take the time to find out. Take a look around this old earth and see the suffering abounding. Then take a look at Jesus again or for the first time and see if he isn't the kind of person you would like to spend eternity with. The nice part about it all is we can start spending time with him now, we don't have to wait for the day the earth falls apart.
May we take a better look at who Jesus is today and why his coming would be such a very, very good thing.
So as you may remember from my last couple of blogs I was in Colorado last week. Wednesday morning I got myself out of bed and dragged through the motions of getting packed and out the door to the airport. I had come down with some sort of nasty bug which left me feverish and aching all over. I wasn't moving very fast so I gave myself plenty of time to get my rental car turned back in and get to the airport.
I got through security and rather uneventfully and still have a couple of hours before my flight. I wondered up to the mezzanine level with the restaurants and made my way to paradise cafe and bakery. They have some really good fresh food there and I was in need of something with less grease then the average fast food joint. So I ordered a sandwich and salad combo and sat down enjoying my meal with plenty of time to spare.
At about 10:45 I heard something over the loud speaker referencing a flight to Portland but didn't think much of it sense my flight wasn't leaving until noon. Then about 5 minutes later I heard it again. Flight number 369 to Portland is departing from gate B26. I look at my ticket and sure enough that's my flight. I grab my stuff and race towards to the gate in my weakened state. Maybe my phone hasn't made the time change I must be late.
I get to the gate with a rather panicked look on my face and get the word "Portland" out of my mouth. The jet way is not attached to the airplane. I start to panic that I have missed my flight. The woman kindly says the flight will be boarding next. The announcement had apparently been simply a gate change. I really wish they had said in the announcement "gate change!" Maybe they did and I missed it, but whatever the case may be, it got my attention.
Luke 21 catches my attention in much the same way. I have read the prophecies of Jesus many times. I know they talk about wars and rumors of wars. They talk about earthquakes, famines, and all kinds of other nasty things happening through out history. But it's through out history. It is to be expected, these things will happen says Jesus they are not the signs of the end.
But then we get to verse 25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." Sound familiar to anyone yet? "Men will faint from the terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
I read this and I can't help but think of Japan and the tilting of the earth's axis with the raging of the seas. It gives me the same feeling as "flight 369 to portland is departing from gate B26." There is something happening there is something coming. I have been content to know Jesus is coming sometime soon, but this is not soon as in sometime in the future this is soon as in soon.
I get a little bit of fear in my gut, until I read the rest of the passage. Stand up lift up your heads because the end of the world is coming??? No! Because your redemption is near! This is good news, this is a relief, this is what I want. I don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming, I think scripture is pretty darn clear about that one. But no matter how soon is soon I can look forward to it remembering why he is coming.
Redemption is near!!!
If you are not sure redemption is something you want to be near, I encourage you to take the time to find out. Take a look around this old earth and see the suffering abounding. Then take a look at Jesus again or for the first time and see if he isn't the kind of person you would like to spend eternity with. The nice part about it all is we can start spending time with him now, we don't have to wait for the day the earth falls apart.
May we take a better look at who Jesus is today and why his coming would be such a very, very good thing.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Water, wind, teaching, and Life! (Luke 20)
Are you really alive?
Day three of the wild at hear boot camp. We were asked today to think about when we feel alive. What is it that makes us feel alive. I started to make a list; times in the water: cliff diving, swimming in mountain lakes, scuba diving, body surfing, the wind: on top of a mountain, whipping past me on a snowboard, on the river in alaska holding me up, moments of teaching: when I have a new sermon on my lips, when I am fully connecting with an audience or class room, when the message God has for me to share is pouring through my finders on the keyboard.
What are the times when you feel alive?
I have asked this question around the country in different places when I speak and share the gospel. I have heard some great stories; surfing on top of cars, the day my child was born, hitting the highway with an full tank of gas, catching a wave, etc. When do you feel alive? Are you alive? Really?
In Luke chap 20 Jesus is accosted by some teachers of the law and others trying to trap him with questions. "Jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar?" "Jesus, by what authority do you do these things?" Then we have a really complicated one. This group of Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection bring Jesus a story problem. "If there are seven brothers and the oldest brother marries a woman and has no children with her so she passes on to the next brother and the next through all seven with the same result, when we get to the resurrection whose wife will she be?" I love the way Jesus responds to these questions, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is Gods," and "Tell me by what authority John baptized and I'll tell you where I get my authority." The the story problem. "You guys don't even know what you're talking about, marriage in heaven? When the resurrection comes this whole scenario will be a non issue. Oh an P.S. the resurrection will happen. God is a God of the living not the dead. To him Abraham and all those guys are alive, he can see the end from the beginning."
The scope of God's vision is amazing. He is watching the parade of life from the blimp in the sky he can see the end, the middle, and the beginning. So for him all those lying in the grave right now are also alive. He is the God of the living not the dead. So here is my question; Is he our God? Are we alive or are we dead? I know Jesus is talking about the physical grave here, but I think it goes farther than that. God is the God of the living. Are we living? Is he our God?
Do we spend our lives in the dead doldrums of life, going from routine to routine appointment to appointment. When was the last time you felt alive and when was the last time that feeling involved God? He is the life giver, he is the God of the living. The letter to the church of Sardis in revelation says they are spiritually dead. They appear to be alive in the actions, but they are just going through the motions they have no life in them.
Wake up! Oh sleeper, wake up!
The God of life is calling you. Sin is the separation from God. It is no wonder sin leads to death. When we separate ourselves from the source of life, from the God of the living, we will surely die. Unfortunately a lot of us are walking corpses right now. We are physically alive walking, talking, and eating. But we are spiritually dead separated from God.
God is the God of the living. He looks at us and sees the potential of every man and every woman to come alive. he is drawing us to himself. He has reconciled us to himself through Jesus. There is no more barrier between us and him.
May we draw near to God today. May we come to him and approaching his throne of grace boldly stand in the glow of his glory the source of our life. May the God of life be our God, may we be fully alive!
Day three of the wild at hear boot camp. We were asked today to think about when we feel alive. What is it that makes us feel alive. I started to make a list; times in the water: cliff diving, swimming in mountain lakes, scuba diving, body surfing, the wind: on top of a mountain, whipping past me on a snowboard, on the river in alaska holding me up, moments of teaching: when I have a new sermon on my lips, when I am fully connecting with an audience or class room, when the message God has for me to share is pouring through my finders on the keyboard.
What are the times when you feel alive?
I have asked this question around the country in different places when I speak and share the gospel. I have heard some great stories; surfing on top of cars, the day my child was born, hitting the highway with an full tank of gas, catching a wave, etc. When do you feel alive? Are you alive? Really?
In Luke chap 20 Jesus is accosted by some teachers of the law and others trying to trap him with questions. "Jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar?" "Jesus, by what authority do you do these things?" Then we have a really complicated one. This group of Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection bring Jesus a story problem. "If there are seven brothers and the oldest brother marries a woman and has no children with her so she passes on to the next brother and the next through all seven with the same result, when we get to the resurrection whose wife will she be?" I love the way Jesus responds to these questions, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is Gods," and "Tell me by what authority John baptized and I'll tell you where I get my authority." The the story problem. "You guys don't even know what you're talking about, marriage in heaven? When the resurrection comes this whole scenario will be a non issue. Oh an P.S. the resurrection will happen. God is a God of the living not the dead. To him Abraham and all those guys are alive, he can see the end from the beginning."
The scope of God's vision is amazing. He is watching the parade of life from the blimp in the sky he can see the end, the middle, and the beginning. So for him all those lying in the grave right now are also alive. He is the God of the living not the dead. So here is my question; Is he our God? Are we alive or are we dead? I know Jesus is talking about the physical grave here, but I think it goes farther than that. God is the God of the living. Are we living? Is he our God?
Do we spend our lives in the dead doldrums of life, going from routine to routine appointment to appointment. When was the last time you felt alive and when was the last time that feeling involved God? He is the life giver, he is the God of the living. The letter to the church of Sardis in revelation says they are spiritually dead. They appear to be alive in the actions, but they are just going through the motions they have no life in them.
Wake up! Oh sleeper, wake up!
The God of life is calling you. Sin is the separation from God. It is no wonder sin leads to death. When we separate ourselves from the source of life, from the God of the living, we will surely die. Unfortunately a lot of us are walking corpses right now. We are physically alive walking, talking, and eating. But we are spiritually dead separated from God.
God is the God of the living. He looks at us and sees the potential of every man and every woman to come alive. he is drawing us to himself. He has reconciled us to himself through Jesus. There is no more barrier between us and him.
May we draw near to God today. May we come to him and approaching his throne of grace boldly stand in the glow of his glory the source of our life. May the God of life be our God, may we be fully alive!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Smoldering fire (luke 19)
Do you feel like your fire has gone out?
I am currently attending a wild at heart boot camp with John Eldredge and his team. It has been good so far and it seems each meeting although I have heard or read most of this stuff before there is something that hooks into me and makes me think and ask the questions of my life God has for me to ask.
We are having some time in silence right now and asking the questions how do we see ourselves and how do others see us. I have already spent my time of reflection on these questions and have come to an interesting word picture. I see my self as a smoldering fire. On the outside I appear as a dead heap of ashes, but under the surface there are still coals smoldering. Most of the time it looks as though I have gone out. This comes from multiple reasons, stress, depression, struggle with addictions, isolation. But every once in a while there is a flame up. Every once in a while the passion burns hot again. I will flame up in my study of the word of God and produce a new sermon or write a new blog. I will flame up and actually exercise consistently for a while. I will flame up and romance my wife. I will flame up and actively play with my daughter. Then I seem to go underground again the light in my eyes turns to ashes again.
I was reading Luke chap 19 this morning. I am struck by the fire burning in Jesus. There are times when he is fully ablaze like when he is clearing the temple for example. I think of the fantastic for movie with the human torch, flame on these guys are out of here. But even in the more subtle times. When Jesus is telling a parable of the minus there is a flame in his eyes. The figure in the analogy who represents Christ, the one who goes away to get authority for his rule comes back and has those who opposed him put to death in from of him. Jesus is not a particularly safe person for those who oppose the kingdom of God. He sends them out of the temple burning brightly, he tells them they will be put to death with fire in his eyes, and he offends them by going to the home of a sinner tax collector.
I pray today as you and I draw nearer the heart of God, as we become more like Christ the ashen times will become less and less and while I may not always be burning full on you will see the smolder in my eyes. The passion of the heart of God.
May this be your journey as well, may God rekindle your life today.
I am currently attending a wild at heart boot camp with John Eldredge and his team. It has been good so far and it seems each meeting although I have heard or read most of this stuff before there is something that hooks into me and makes me think and ask the questions of my life God has for me to ask.
We are having some time in silence right now and asking the questions how do we see ourselves and how do others see us. I have already spent my time of reflection on these questions and have come to an interesting word picture. I see my self as a smoldering fire. On the outside I appear as a dead heap of ashes, but under the surface there are still coals smoldering. Most of the time it looks as though I have gone out. This comes from multiple reasons, stress, depression, struggle with addictions, isolation. But every once in a while there is a flame up. Every once in a while the passion burns hot again. I will flame up in my study of the word of God and produce a new sermon or write a new blog. I will flame up and actually exercise consistently for a while. I will flame up and romance my wife. I will flame up and actively play with my daughter. Then I seem to go underground again the light in my eyes turns to ashes again.
I was reading Luke chap 19 this morning. I am struck by the fire burning in Jesus. There are times when he is fully ablaze like when he is clearing the temple for example. I think of the fantastic for movie with the human torch, flame on these guys are out of here. But even in the more subtle times. When Jesus is telling a parable of the minus there is a flame in his eyes. The figure in the analogy who represents Christ, the one who goes away to get authority for his rule comes back and has those who opposed him put to death in from of him. Jesus is not a particularly safe person for those who oppose the kingdom of God. He sends them out of the temple burning brightly, he tells them they will be put to death with fire in his eyes, and he offends them by going to the home of a sinner tax collector.
I pray today as you and I draw nearer the heart of God, as we become more like Christ the ashen times will become less and less and while I may not always be burning full on you will see the smolder in my eyes. The passion of the heart of God.
May this be your journey as well, may God rekindle your life today.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
I love it when high school students shout! (Luke 18)
When was the last time you shouted in public?
When I was a youth pastor in Denver Colorado I had this group of kids who were completely unashamed. I loved it. I remember one weekend retreat in the mountains. We were walking around the camp with guitars in our hands shouting a song at the top of our lungs and the whole gang was totally going for it. The amazing thing about this group was they would do this in public as well. Another time downtown Boulder we had the guitars out again and we were singing and shouting for the whole street to hear. One of the guys who had some low blood sugar issues went to get some pizza. He sat down next to a guy to eat and while they were sitting there the student asked this random stranger what he thought of those crazy Christians out there singing. These kids were just bold and it was awesome.
I sit here writing this trying to remember the last time I sang at the top of my lungs let alone outside on a public street. It has been a while I have to admit. I might sing at the top of my mind while driving or something, but it has been a while sense it has come out, and a really long time sense anyone else has heard it.
In Luke 18 there is a story of Jesus healing a blind man. When the man hears Jesus is coming by he starts to shout. The people around Jesus try to shut him up. He shouts all the louder. Jesus hears him and comes to him. Jesus heals him and now the man is following Jesus shouting praises to God and everyone else joins in as well. I wonder, do we shut down the praise of God sometimes because we shut down those who are seeking him?
The crowd was not praising God before the healing, they were just walking along following Jesus trying to be a part of what was happening. They even tried to stop the blind man from calling out. That's not proper it's not right do disturb the master. This happens earlier in the passage as well. People are bringing their children to Jesus and the disciples try to send them away. Don't disturb the master he has a lot to do he is too busy for you.
Its no wonder we don't come to God more often in our lives. We are always to busy for others so why wouldn't the God of the universe be to busy for us. He has a lot on his plate after all. But he's not to busy for his children. He wants them near, he wants to bless them, hear their cries, and heal them.
God isn't too busy for you.
I pray we would learn to follow Jesus in this as well. I pray we wouldn't be found too busy or too important to stop for the children and for those in need. I am often caught in this, running too and fro and not taking the time to stop, listen, care, and possibly help someone.
May we know God isn't to busy for us today, and may we also not be to busy for others. May we accept the care Jesus wants to give to us and in turn extend the same care to those around us. And when we meet with God and he with us, may our praise ring out for all to hear and know what he has done!
God isn't to busy, are you?
When I was a youth pastor in Denver Colorado I had this group of kids who were completely unashamed. I loved it. I remember one weekend retreat in the mountains. We were walking around the camp with guitars in our hands shouting a song at the top of our lungs and the whole gang was totally going for it. The amazing thing about this group was they would do this in public as well. Another time downtown Boulder we had the guitars out again and we were singing and shouting for the whole street to hear. One of the guys who had some low blood sugar issues went to get some pizza. He sat down next to a guy to eat and while they were sitting there the student asked this random stranger what he thought of those crazy Christians out there singing. These kids were just bold and it was awesome.
I sit here writing this trying to remember the last time I sang at the top of my lungs let alone outside on a public street. It has been a while I have to admit. I might sing at the top of my mind while driving or something, but it has been a while sense it has come out, and a really long time sense anyone else has heard it.
In Luke 18 there is a story of Jesus healing a blind man. When the man hears Jesus is coming by he starts to shout. The people around Jesus try to shut him up. He shouts all the louder. Jesus hears him and comes to him. Jesus heals him and now the man is following Jesus shouting praises to God and everyone else joins in as well. I wonder, do we shut down the praise of God sometimes because we shut down those who are seeking him?
The crowd was not praising God before the healing, they were just walking along following Jesus trying to be a part of what was happening. They even tried to stop the blind man from calling out. That's not proper it's not right do disturb the master. This happens earlier in the passage as well. People are bringing their children to Jesus and the disciples try to send them away. Don't disturb the master he has a lot to do he is too busy for you.
Its no wonder we don't come to God more often in our lives. We are always to busy for others so why wouldn't the God of the universe be to busy for us. He has a lot on his plate after all. But he's not to busy for his children. He wants them near, he wants to bless them, hear their cries, and heal them.
God isn't too busy for you.
I pray we would learn to follow Jesus in this as well. I pray we wouldn't be found too busy or too important to stop for the children and for those in need. I am often caught in this, running too and fro and not taking the time to stop, listen, care, and possibly help someone.
May we know God isn't to busy for us today, and may we also not be to busy for others. May we accept the care Jesus wants to give to us and in turn extend the same care to those around us. And when we meet with God and he with us, may our praise ring out for all to hear and know what he has done!
God isn't to busy, are you?
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