Here is the passage from Luke i referred to in the last post. It is Luke 6:46-49
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
I will be breaking this down into several themes over the next couple posts, but for today i want to look at the flood that came upon the houses. Notice that the flood comes first to the one who built the house well, not the one who didn't. We as Christians often think in a default manner that judgment first comes to "those sinners over there." But here we see that Jesus first points judgment at those that have built well. Even if this didn't happen chronologically it happened first in Jesus' telling of it. In I Peter 4:17 it says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God." The Lord brings the flood, judgment and, yes, even sufferings (if you read on in I Peter 4) not to harm the children of God but to exalt them! "He who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:14. What is more humble than hearing the word of God, and then obeying that word?
If you humble yourself and do what God says, most likely you will have some sort of suffering come your way. This is to test the quality of the materials you are using to build your house. ("If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work." I Corinthians 3:12-13)
If you are suffering, it is time to humble yourself even more. For your exaltation will bring others to knowing God in such a way that they will see how to build their lives on the Rock Himself. No one really wants to suffer, but i believe the mature see that in times of suffering that there is opportunity to see A) what their house is really built on in a certain area of their life and 2) where the Gospel of the Kingdom is really effective in reaching the hearts of others.
Think about it in terms of this really simple example: if i'm in line for lunch and it looks like it's going to be five minutes longer than normal, what is my reaction? Do i complain and moan and make things more miserable for others? If so, the storm has come and revealed that no work of God in the area of my patience has stood. In the area of patience i have built with wood, hay, and straw.
Next, we will talk about this idea of the different areas of our souls going through floods in more detail.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
This is My Home
I picked up a brick for at least the fiftieth time. It was the end of a long day, and i was doing something charitable for those who suffered from the worst hurricane in U.S. history, but i couldn't help but not feel like my efforts were being a little wasted. I was picking up bricks from the destruction of a gateway that led to a gigantic ocean side house that withstood Hurricane Katrina and all of her rage. Meanwhile i knew that there were millions suffering from leveled (or even missing) homes, and here i am cleaning up a really rich man's driveway decoration that told everyone around him his (high) economic status.
The owner would come by every now and then and humbly thank us for doing something so mundane. He had a wheelbarrow and was working pretty hard himself but often seemed distracted. This often led me to believe he was lazy. I soon found out i was horribly, incredibly wrong.
As the man smoked a cigarette and called his golden retriever to him i detected a tear in his eye that escaped the shadow of his shaggy sun-bleached hair. A couple of us started asking some of the typical questions, "How long have you lived here?" "What was the hurricane like for you?"
He began to tell us how the only thing he had left was his dog and his FEMA trailor. I asked him "Well, what about your house over there?" as i pointed to the three story mansion. He gave a half hearted chuckle and said, "Oh, sir. That's not my house, this... THIS is my house."
What he pointed to was nothing. Literally, flat ground that revealed a couple cynder blocks, broken bricks and a barely recognizable foundation. The bricks we were picking up weren't to the driveway of the mansion, but of the walls of a small one story house that got swallowed up by the ocean.
I've never felt so shallow in my whole life. I walked away in shame and refused to even make eye contact with the man as i did my best to pick up even pebble sized portions of brick in honor of this man. And his dog.
I did overhear him say one more thing though before we left.
"This is my home. A lot of people are moving north, fleeing to the hills, looking for a new place to live. But Pass Christian is my home whether i have a house or not."
This man's circumstances did not deter his perseverance. My next blog (i'm attempting to blog on Sunday evenings now, but will be gone next Sunday because of Spring break, so the next one will be in two Sundays) i will go into the passage in Luke where one house stands against the flood and one house falls and what that means for us going forward. But until then, know that there are a few things we must place deep in our hearts for this coming season:
*perseverance can only be found in trying times
*there are no accidents, just opportunities
*no matter what structures stand or fail, know where your true home is
The owner would come by every now and then and humbly thank us for doing something so mundane. He had a wheelbarrow and was working pretty hard himself but often seemed distracted. This often led me to believe he was lazy. I soon found out i was horribly, incredibly wrong.
As the man smoked a cigarette and called his golden retriever to him i detected a tear in his eye that escaped the shadow of his shaggy sun-bleached hair. A couple of us started asking some of the typical questions, "How long have you lived here?" "What was the hurricane like for you?"
He began to tell us how the only thing he had left was his dog and his FEMA trailor. I asked him "Well, what about your house over there?" as i pointed to the three story mansion. He gave a half hearted chuckle and said, "Oh, sir. That's not my house, this... THIS is my house."
What he pointed to was nothing. Literally, flat ground that revealed a couple cynder blocks, broken bricks and a barely recognizable foundation. The bricks we were picking up weren't to the driveway of the mansion, but of the walls of a small one story house that got swallowed up by the ocean.
I've never felt so shallow in my whole life. I walked away in shame and refused to even make eye contact with the man as i did my best to pick up even pebble sized portions of brick in honor of this man. And his dog.
I did overhear him say one more thing though before we left.
"This is my home. A lot of people are moving north, fleeing to the hills, looking for a new place to live. But Pass Christian is my home whether i have a house or not."
This man's circumstances did not deter his perseverance. My next blog (i'm attempting to blog on Sunday evenings now, but will be gone next Sunday because of Spring break, so the next one will be in two Sundays) i will go into the passage in Luke where one house stands against the flood and one house falls and what that means for us going forward. But until then, know that there are a few things we must place deep in our hearts for this coming season:
*perseverance can only be found in trying times
*there are no accidents, just opportunities
*no matter what structures stand or fail, know where your true home is
Sunday, February 26, 2012
What's The Expression on God's Face
If God walked into the room where you are sitting right now, what would the expression on His face be?
Would He be upset with you? Indifferent? Angry?
We typically believe the first thing God would do is lecture us about is His constant displeasure with us. Why is this?
Somewhere along the way we have elevated the concept of and the consequences of our sin above the characteristics of God Himself. We know and trust His anger, judgment and wrath above the idea that "God is love."
I'm not pleading ignorance of His judgement, i'm stating that along the way we have magnified this facet of God's love (yes, His love) over His love itself. For "God is love." (I John 4:8, 16)
When i ask the students i interact with the "expression on His face" question, i rarely ever get the one i've come to know as the true answer. This one is the one where in Luke 15 the father, the God-figure, cuts his son's repentance speech short to honor him as a cherished member of the family after seeing him come over the horizon from "a long way off." This is moments after Jesus colorfully portrayed him as a sinner worthy of the worst of Jewish punishments.This is moments before the son was going to request to be a slave instead of being considered a son. The father runs and gushes and kisses and clothes and gives jewelry and throws a feast large enough for the entire village because he was in his son's presence.
On to first impressions.
In Genesis 3 we have the first act of rebellion against God, and God's first opportunity to show us that scowl we think we always see on His face in response to our sin. After Adam and Eve both eat of the forbidden fruit, what would you guess God says?
Well, He says, "Where are you?"
What type of person (or God in this case) says something like "Where are you?" (God didn't misplace Adam!) One student responded to this question with, "I would ask 'Where are you?' if i missed someone."
Wow! What if our Gospel to people who don't believe in God became more like that?
"God misses you."
Would He be upset with you? Indifferent? Angry?
We typically believe the first thing God would do is lecture us about is His constant displeasure with us. Why is this?
Somewhere along the way we have elevated the concept of and the consequences of our sin above the characteristics of God Himself. We know and trust His anger, judgment and wrath above the idea that "God is love."
I'm not pleading ignorance of His judgement, i'm stating that along the way we have magnified this facet of God's love (yes, His love) over His love itself. For "God is love." (I John 4:8, 16)
When i ask the students i interact with the "expression on His face" question, i rarely ever get the one i've come to know as the true answer. This one is the one where in Luke 15 the father, the God-figure, cuts his son's repentance speech short to honor him as a cherished member of the family after seeing him come over the horizon from "a long way off." This is moments after Jesus colorfully portrayed him as a sinner worthy of the worst of Jewish punishments.This is moments before the son was going to request to be a slave instead of being considered a son. The father runs and gushes and kisses and clothes and gives jewelry and throws a feast large enough for the entire village because he was in his son's presence.
On to first impressions.
In Genesis 3 we have the first act of rebellion against God, and God's first opportunity to show us that scowl we think we always see on His face in response to our sin. After Adam and Eve both eat of the forbidden fruit, what would you guess God says?
Well, He says, "Where are you?"
What type of person (or God in this case) says something like "Where are you?" (God didn't misplace Adam!) One student responded to this question with, "I would ask 'Where are you?' if i missed someone."
Wow! What if our Gospel to people who don't believe in God became more like that?
"God misses you."
Sunday, February 12, 2012
"Plan A for Plan B" or "I'm the Vending Machine"
(Let me begin by stating this before i begin: the views i reflect on this blog post are not necessarily those expressed by my fellow staff members from either The Shippensburg First Church of God or the CCO [the Coalition for Christian Outreach] nor of either organization as a whole. But even my restating of this hopefully compels you to read on with the understanding of just how important this is to me, and how important i think this is to those who have ever or is currently involved in the life of the Shippensburg community.)
This is not a post about whether it's right or wrong for Shippensburg University to have a vending machine on it that dispenses the Plan B pill. This is a post about why it is Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, of all places that somehow managed to make national headlines because of a vending machine and its moral implications behind it. This is a post proposing a Plan A for Plan B.
The vending machine is a perfect analogy to represent the larger yet hidden story of all that is going on here, and in most of western civilization. A vending machine allows you to turn your back to the rest of the world, pay a small price in a private moment, and receive a momentary and hollow solution to your problems whether it's a possible pregnancy or a case of the munchies or feeding a caffeine fix. When someone pens up their anger and then types a coded status on Facebook or Twitter "expressing" themselves, they've just used a vending machine. When i text someone i should call, or call someone i should visit, i've used a vending machine again. When i say i'm ok and i'm not ok: vending machine. I turn my back on the world, make a tiny (yet too small of a) sacrifice and find a quick solution that does not fix a thing.
I'm thankful for a university that does employ people to help counsel people on all sorts of matters: academic, professional, health, physical, mental, and spiritual. And in fact, i think Shippensburg does it very well, all things considered. And yet this vending machine in the health center can't console a teenage girl who has made a choice she regrets and makes another choice she may regret as a result. It would be great to know that counseling would be offered as you engage the vending machine and not in a different corner of the campus from the vending machine. This is not to blame the university though. This is a reflection of the society, the system in which we live.
The system is one of fear. We don't want to admit we need help, that we hurt, yes, we ache with all sorts of burdens we've carried into desperate situations. And since we are all scared, and all ashamed, it's even easier to seek a vending machine for help. The vending machine is stoic (won't make fun of you) yet responds with exactly what you want it to respond with rather than what it should respond with: timely advice, hope, and ironically in this case, a plan.
Unfortunately we, as the body of Christ, have become all too good at pointing the finger in blame rather than towards a hopeful future. We quickly echo Adam in blaming someone else ("kids these days" or the government), or blaming what we've been given (i.e. a pluralistic society with lacking morals). Instead, shouldn't we be like the father in the Prodigal Son story, searching the horizon for those with aches and pains and debauched lives looking for a place to call home and providing them with family? Shouldn't we be the ones that echo our favorite of verses in Jeremiah 29:11 that says "I know the plans i have for you, plans with hope and with a future, and with prospering"? But even worse than not being the solution for a prodigal culture, i fear we are at the source of this vending machine culture.
I Peter 4:17 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God..." In Romans 5 it talks about how sin and death came through one man, Adam, and how righteousness and justification came through one man, Christ. You see, Scripture points to the "family of God," whether it was Adam years and years ago, Christ 2000 years ago, or the church now, it is the family of God that is the means through which the world receives its nourishment. "Can a spring bring both freshwater and saltwater?" begs James... no. And this is why God's judgment begins with the family of God, because God understands that the proposed solution for the world will happen through His children, not in spite of them nor will it be administered after their existence. However, if we take the curious case of the vending machine and do not take our own temperature and see what if anything is a result of us, then we will not notice our own need for a new plan to offer to the world. If we take the thermometer and put it in our own mouth we will see that it reads vending machine. We have mastered a vending machine version of the Gospel, and it's taking on flesh in the facets of our society.
You see, when we offer a gospel, "the good news," in a form where one can simply whisper a prayer, be forgiven of all misdeeds, and wait to one day fly away to heaven, we offer a gospel where you place a couple quarters in a machine and slowly watch the vending machine vend a high sugar high calorie sweet piece of candy devoid of relationship, devoid of care. We offer a solution that's quick to obtain, quick to receive, and easily discarded with after we receive its momentary benefits. (We offer eternal life, but is it really eternal if it doesn't come with lasting results on this side of heaven?) When really the good news is a Thanksgiving dinner in contrast to a mere Snickers bar.
The good news is that God came and is here and continues to chase after us all. He forgives and He offers hope on this side of heaven as well as a home in the other side. And not only that, but He recruits you and i to take part in the cosmic solution to all the world's deficiencies, aches, pains, homelessness, hurt and suffering. You become His superheroes, infused with His very Spirit. We become X-Men of a sort where are human bodies are infused with a supernatural call and ability. And one day, all of this work will usher in the fullness of God's joy and His ways and His healing as heaven comes and fully collides with earth shattering away all of its pain.
The problem is, when we offer a vending machine version of the gospel, we live a vending machine sort of life. We refuse to take risks. We don't value hope and "long-suffering" (the true translation of the word "patience" in the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5). We become very comfortable and even demand ease.
The worse problem is this: we offer a vending machine gospel and even if people don't believe it they live it out. And what do you get? A society where you can turn away from relationship and turn to a faceless, helpless machine for your hope... and receive it in pill form.
If we really want to make a difference in our society, we will throw away our vending machines in our every day lives and commit to providing an every day Thanksgiving dinner mentality to those who desperately need spiritual food, spiritual family and spiritual recreation (my family is the best at playing games on Thanksgiving evenings).
In the midst of the mocking and shocking headlines there is good news in all of this. Very good news.
Shippensburg has the ability to be a city on a hill, a beacon of hope to the world. How?
Do you need more proof? Is Tosh.0, Leno and Saturday Night Live not enough proof? What about CNN and all of the evening news shows and all of the news websites? A couple of my friends and i believe in Shippensburg. We've started families, joined churches, established businesses, bought homes, and invited others to join us. We pray and live for its well being (the exact prescription explained in the beginning of Jeremiah 29). And over this past winter break a few of us even began whispering, wondering and, especially looking in hindsight, prophesying that Shippensburg would have the anointing to be a light to the whole world.
But it's not New York City or L.A.? Right. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is when Philip (great name) invites Nathanael to come to see Jesus of Nazareth and Nathanael responds with "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" and Philip responds with "Come and see!"
The thing that changed Nazareth from a place of "Can anything good come from there?" to a place renown for being the hometown to the whole creation's Savior was a move of God witnessed by a man committed to sharing the news about it. The good news.
Listen, i've been there. I've had my doubts about Shippensburg. I've smelled the farms, i've stepped in buggy exhaust, i've seen people dancing drunk and naked outside at 6 in the morning (on Easter morning mind you). I've doubted it's importance. I've bemoaned the fact that i overheard my tenth graders i was student teaching at the time in a nearby school district were making plans to go to Shippensburg for the parties that weekend. My tenth graders.
I've also lived the vending machine life in many ways. Choosing laziness, video games, and personal ease over responsibility, being a good friend or attending the church or community function.
However, the only thing holding back Shippensburg from "light to the world" status is a group of people committed to not blaming the other person or the society, to not offering a vending machine version of the Gospel, and rather committed to discovering the full potential of the life afforded us while we are on this side of heaven and living it out.
There are several churches in the area that i know are viewing the good news in this way and are sharing. I go to one of them, and i'm excited about that. I know a bunch of great families committed to being a community of good news. Will you search for what the good news really is and not settle for anything that sounds too cheap and easy? Will you provide hope rather than pointing a finger anywhere other than at yourself? Will you confess that you've led a vending machine life too long already and you're willing to turn and be a Thanksgiving meal for others? Will you point to Shippensburg and say "Come and see!" while being busy making it a place worthy of such an invitation.
I hope you will.
This is not a post about whether it's right or wrong for Shippensburg University to have a vending machine on it that dispenses the Plan B pill. This is a post about why it is Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, of all places that somehow managed to make national headlines because of a vending machine and its moral implications behind it. This is a post proposing a Plan A for Plan B.
The vending machine is a perfect analogy to represent the larger yet hidden story of all that is going on here, and in most of western civilization. A vending machine allows you to turn your back to the rest of the world, pay a small price in a private moment, and receive a momentary and hollow solution to your problems whether it's a possible pregnancy or a case of the munchies or feeding a caffeine fix. When someone pens up their anger and then types a coded status on Facebook or Twitter "expressing" themselves, they've just used a vending machine. When i text someone i should call, or call someone i should visit, i've used a vending machine again. When i say i'm ok and i'm not ok: vending machine. I turn my back on the world, make a tiny (yet too small of a) sacrifice and find a quick solution that does not fix a thing.
I'm thankful for a university that does employ people to help counsel people on all sorts of matters: academic, professional, health, physical, mental, and spiritual. And in fact, i think Shippensburg does it very well, all things considered. And yet this vending machine in the health center can't console a teenage girl who has made a choice she regrets and makes another choice she may regret as a result. It would be great to know that counseling would be offered as you engage the vending machine and not in a different corner of the campus from the vending machine. This is not to blame the university though. This is a reflection of the society, the system in which we live.
The system is one of fear. We don't want to admit we need help, that we hurt, yes, we ache with all sorts of burdens we've carried into desperate situations. And since we are all scared, and all ashamed, it's even easier to seek a vending machine for help. The vending machine is stoic (won't make fun of you) yet responds with exactly what you want it to respond with rather than what it should respond with: timely advice, hope, and ironically in this case, a plan.
Unfortunately we, as the body of Christ, have become all too good at pointing the finger in blame rather than towards a hopeful future. We quickly echo Adam in blaming someone else ("kids these days" or the government), or blaming what we've been given (i.e. a pluralistic society with lacking morals). Instead, shouldn't we be like the father in the Prodigal Son story, searching the horizon for those with aches and pains and debauched lives looking for a place to call home and providing them with family? Shouldn't we be the ones that echo our favorite of verses in Jeremiah 29:11 that says "I know the plans i have for you, plans with hope and with a future, and with prospering"? But even worse than not being the solution for a prodigal culture, i fear we are at the source of this vending machine culture.
I Peter 4:17 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God..." In Romans 5 it talks about how sin and death came through one man, Adam, and how righteousness and justification came through one man, Christ. You see, Scripture points to the "family of God," whether it was Adam years and years ago, Christ 2000 years ago, or the church now, it is the family of God that is the means through which the world receives its nourishment. "Can a spring bring both freshwater and saltwater?" begs James... no. And this is why God's judgment begins with the family of God, because God understands that the proposed solution for the world will happen through His children, not in spite of them nor will it be administered after their existence. However, if we take the curious case of the vending machine and do not take our own temperature and see what if anything is a result of us, then we will not notice our own need for a new plan to offer to the world. If we take the thermometer and put it in our own mouth we will see that it reads vending machine. We have mastered a vending machine version of the Gospel, and it's taking on flesh in the facets of our society.
You see, when we offer a gospel, "the good news," in a form where one can simply whisper a prayer, be forgiven of all misdeeds, and wait to one day fly away to heaven, we offer a gospel where you place a couple quarters in a machine and slowly watch the vending machine vend a high sugar high calorie sweet piece of candy devoid of relationship, devoid of care. We offer a solution that's quick to obtain, quick to receive, and easily discarded with after we receive its momentary benefits. (We offer eternal life, but is it really eternal if it doesn't come with lasting results on this side of heaven?) When really the good news is a Thanksgiving dinner in contrast to a mere Snickers bar.
The good news is that God came and is here and continues to chase after us all. He forgives and He offers hope on this side of heaven as well as a home in the other side. And not only that, but He recruits you and i to take part in the cosmic solution to all the world's deficiencies, aches, pains, homelessness, hurt and suffering. You become His superheroes, infused with His very Spirit. We become X-Men of a sort where are human bodies are infused with a supernatural call and ability. And one day, all of this work will usher in the fullness of God's joy and His ways and His healing as heaven comes and fully collides with earth shattering away all of its pain.
The problem is, when we offer a vending machine version of the gospel, we live a vending machine sort of life. We refuse to take risks. We don't value hope and "long-suffering" (the true translation of the word "patience" in the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5). We become very comfortable and even demand ease.
The worse problem is this: we offer a vending machine gospel and even if people don't believe it they live it out. And what do you get? A society where you can turn away from relationship and turn to a faceless, helpless machine for your hope... and receive it in pill form.
If we really want to make a difference in our society, we will throw away our vending machines in our every day lives and commit to providing an every day Thanksgiving dinner mentality to those who desperately need spiritual food, spiritual family and spiritual recreation (my family is the best at playing games on Thanksgiving evenings).
In the midst of the mocking and shocking headlines there is good news in all of this. Very good news.
Shippensburg has the ability to be a city on a hill, a beacon of hope to the world. How?
Do you need more proof? Is Tosh.0, Leno and Saturday Night Live not enough proof? What about CNN and all of the evening news shows and all of the news websites? A couple of my friends and i believe in Shippensburg. We've started families, joined churches, established businesses, bought homes, and invited others to join us. We pray and live for its well being (the exact prescription explained in the beginning of Jeremiah 29). And over this past winter break a few of us even began whispering, wondering and, especially looking in hindsight, prophesying that Shippensburg would have the anointing to be a light to the whole world.
But it's not New York City or L.A.? Right. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is when Philip (great name) invites Nathanael to come to see Jesus of Nazareth and Nathanael responds with "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" and Philip responds with "Come and see!"
The thing that changed Nazareth from a place of "Can anything good come from there?" to a place renown for being the hometown to the whole creation's Savior was a move of God witnessed by a man committed to sharing the news about it. The good news.
Listen, i've been there. I've had my doubts about Shippensburg. I've smelled the farms, i've stepped in buggy exhaust, i've seen people dancing drunk and naked outside at 6 in the morning (on Easter morning mind you). I've doubted it's importance. I've bemoaned the fact that i overheard my tenth graders i was student teaching at the time in a nearby school district were making plans to go to Shippensburg for the parties that weekend. My tenth graders.
I've also lived the vending machine life in many ways. Choosing laziness, video games, and personal ease over responsibility, being a good friend or attending the church or community function.
However, the only thing holding back Shippensburg from "light to the world" status is a group of people committed to not blaming the other person or the society, to not offering a vending machine version of the Gospel, and rather committed to discovering the full potential of the life afforded us while we are on this side of heaven and living it out.
There are several churches in the area that i know are viewing the good news in this way and are sharing. I go to one of them, and i'm excited about that. I know a bunch of great families committed to being a community of good news. Will you search for what the good news really is and not settle for anything that sounds too cheap and easy? Will you provide hope rather than pointing a finger anywhere other than at yourself? Will you confess that you've led a vending machine life too long already and you're willing to turn and be a Thanksgiving meal for others? Will you point to Shippensburg and say "Come and see!" while being busy making it a place worthy of such an invitation.
I hope you will.
Monday, January 2, 2012
The Good Confession
"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time." I Timothy 6:12-15
Isn't this interesting that there's this little teaser to what the "good confession" is? Now before you go through your Bible or search Biblegateway for what the conversation between Pilate and Jesus is like, i want you to think about what your mind already tells you the "good confession" is.
If you are like me, you just LOVE frosted brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts.
But you also probably thought of a confession like, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior."
Well, ok then, let's put this, and whatever other instant reactions you had, to the test. Here's the passage in Matthew 27 Pilate asks Him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus responds with, "Yes, it is as you say."
But in John 18 we get even more of this conversation. Stunning.
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked.
Here's an attempt at summarizing this "good confession":
1) Jesus states that His Kingdom is not of this world.
What if our good confession included yet went beyond Jesus being Lord and Savior but admitting that "what rules over me is not the ways of the world. My ruler is not money, my job, my grades, sex, drugs, obsessions, addictions, NOTHING rules over me except Jesus Himself and all His ways of living life."
B) Jesus is truth.
Around the Christmas season i love reminding myself of this passage because Jesus says, "For this reason I was born... to testify to the truth." Which earlier in the book of John Jesus called Himself "the Truth" (14:6). What's even more amazing is that Pilate asks, "What is Truth" right before dismissing it/Him to His death. What if part of our good confession included standing by what is Truth at all costs.
III) Jesus is speaking.
"Everyone on the side of truth (an earlier part of our "good confession") listens to me." Jesus could have said "listened" but didn't. What if part of our good confession included to constantly gain an ear for His voice in our lives. Through His Spirit inside of us, through others speaking into our lives, through Scriptures, through praying, and through listening.
Perhaps we should reconsider what it means to confess our faith to something more expansive than just WHO Jesus is but also to WHAT He is, what He is like, and having nothing else maintain rule over us.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Judah and Israel
"When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel His dominion." Psalm 114:1-2
The second half of this passage is what really caught my eye. If we break down some of the name and word meanings, we gain interesting insight.
Judah means "praise." Sanctuary means "sacred place" and connotes safety. When we praise God, He find a safe and sacred place there. In the King James Version in Psalm 22:3 it says that the Lord "inhabitest the praises of Israel." When we are able to praise Him, God is able to find His home. The place where He can be Himself. But for us to do this we must see Him as good, as available, and as a provider. And when we respond with praising Him for this, He enters OUR presence. Conversely, consequently, we enter His presence.
Israel means "wrestles with God" or "He will rule as God." Dominion means "place of rule." When we wrestle with God, we find out He rules, He dominates. Jacob experienced this personally, He wrestled God. Literally. But the story makes it sound like the wrestled all night, and that it was Jacob that was resolute about not quitting until he was blessed by God. C.S. Lewis mentions that we often settle for playing with mudpies when a vacation at sea is offered to us by God. But too many of us won't actually wrestle with God. We don't wait. We encounter Him and leave. The main reason for this? We don't see opposition as God. Yes, God is for us, but even that facet of His character explains opposition, not defies it or contradicts it.
A good coach knows this. He or she will know his players and will know when to encourage, and when to push or even discipline. The best athletes will even discipline themselves. Will do the sprints in the offseason. Will run a lap before the coach even commands it. Will seek correction, or if you will, opposition.
Will you practice praise? And by doing so setting a place at the table and making a bed for God in the home of your soul.
Will you encounter God through opposition? Finding out that in the end, like Jacob, you may limp but you will know that God rules over our lives and will transform us.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The Forgiveness of Man
Just had this thought given to me...
How come we have come to know the events of Genesis 3 (the chapter with the talking serpent, Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, you know, all that) as "The fall of man" or "The temptation in the garden"?
Why isn't it more referred to "The Forgiveness of Man"?
At the end of the chapter Adam graciously calls the woman "Eve" since she will be "the mother of all the living." Where did Adam get that idea from? Didn't Eve just give him the fruit that would cause all to die, not live? And yet Adam must have seen love in God's judgments upon them. Psalm 145:17 proclaims "The LORD is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all that He has made." This includes Adam and Eve, and includes the more harsh things said from God in that chapter... it's all still righteous and loving. I believe Adam saw this and couldn't help but respond in a similar way towards Eve, naming her Eve as a result. Think about it! Adam could have easily named her "Big Eternal Screw Up" or "Fall" or... you get the idea. And there would have been no righteousness or love in that at all.
Nor any forgiveness.
Forgiveness isn't just about our past mistakes, but it is also an action bent on the potential of one's future. The original meaning to forgive was to "completely give" or "give completely." When we think of forgiveness as just grace towards our past mistakes, it leaves us with no direction. Adam forgave the woman, and gave her direction in the area of her truest identity: to give birth to all of the living.
One of the truest acts of forgiveness and restoring one's identity is wrapped up in Adam's naming of Eve, which stems from Adam's perception of who God really is and was in that moment. This is a true fulfillment of "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:14
If i ever write a translation of the Bible, the subheading for chapter 3 will be "The Forgiveness of Man."
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