John the Baptist came preaching and baptizing. Dressed in camel hair and leather and eating gross desert stuff he must have cut quite a figure. Mark tells us that the "whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him." Guess he caused quite a commotion in his day.
The people to whom John preached confessed their sins and were baptized by John in the Jordan River. Imagine, the whole countryside and the entire population of the capital city experiencing spiritual revival and a God-wrought change of heart. Nothing like that had happened since the whale belched up Jonah at the doorstep of Nineveh.
But here's John, preaching a baptism of repentance. Here's John, dressed like a desert hermit calling people to identify, acknowledge and turn away from their sins and commit through baptism to living a new life, and everybody's buying in. Here's John not letting folks get away with anonymous conversion but making a public event of evangelism, and people are responding. Here's John, preaching, baptizing, doing what he can for the kingdom.
But here's John recognizing that for all the success he appears to be having in ministry, he can only do what he can do. He says to his audience, "Someone more powerful than I will come after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." John recognizes God has given him some spiritual power, but it's nothing compared to what the One will bring. John acknowledges God has given grace for repentance but there is yet more, more that John cannot give. More than what John's preaching can initiate. More than baptism with physical water can accomplish. Here's John telling the people, "You can only do what you can do."
Today, you can act in faith. You can preach the gospel. You can enjoy a measure of success, but in reality, you can only do what you can do. The real glory, the real Spirit comes not from the hands of men but from the heart of God. We can baptize with water, but only Jesus can baptize with the Holy Spirit, God Himself in the heart and lives of believers. We can minister to the outside, but only Jesus can minister to the inside.
And we need to be okay with this arrangement. "I am not worthy to stoop down and untie His shoes," John said. He felt no need to compete with Jesus. He felt no need to exalt himself. He needed only to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. It was Jesus, not John, who would give them the Promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, so it was Jesus, not John, to whom John pointed the people.
I think the challenge will often be contentment. I think the obstacle will often be stepping back and taking the approach that John took to his dying day: "He must increase and I must decrease." You know what? Like John, you can only do what you can do, but the glorious truth is that as we live and act in faith, God will do what only He can do both in our lives and in the lives of others. And that is the foundation of our contentedness, that God will do what only God can do.
So Lord, let my heart be at rest in the labors to which you've called me, knowing that I can only do what I can do, but as I live and minister faithfully and obediently, You will do what only You can do, pour out the Holy Spirit for Your glory and for our joy. Let me give up both the straining and the guilt that come with taking up more responsibility than is rightfully mine. And let my life be marked by John's attitude: "Increase, increase, increase, O Lord, while I decrease."
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Old Blog, New Blog
Blogs come and go as bloggers' and readers' needs change. Notes from the Northland is headed for a slight change. Instead of blogging the results of my reading and thinking and praying, I'd like to try blogging the process. I'm reading and praying through the book of Mark. The very nature of pastoral ministry, the administrative and leadership demands, seems to inevitably draw my heart and attention away from Jesus and on to the needs, actual and perceived, that surround all of us. In and of itself, being sensitive and available to the needs of others is not a bad thing, but right now, having just turned 50, facing the needs of aging parents and dispersed family, attempting to be meaningfully present in the lives of a church and a community, right now, I miss Jesus. I miss the time spent with him, just thinking about the immensity and purity of his person, the glory of his purpose, and the love of his intention. I miss being around him and experiencing the overflow of his heart into my worldview and my hope. I find myself often just sitting and longing to be with Jesus.
So that's what I'm going to do here. I'm going to just sit and be with Jesus, and, Lord willing, I'm going to do it "out loud," so if you want to, you can come and sit here with us and enjoy him too. I'll record my thoughts, my prayers (some of them), the struggles of life that I so much want Jesus to enter into with the eternally adequate wisdom he offers. But in the end, my desire is that Notes from the Northland will not be about me, or about you, but about Jesus.
This morning I was sitting in Rooster's Coffee and Cafe in Arab, Alabama (where my wife's parents live). I've been trying to lay out a preaching schedule through the book of Mark for this summer. I opened my Bible (the one with half the book of Revelation and all the concordance falling out) and realized I'd skipped the final event in chapter five. A man, the ruler of the local synagogue, comes to Jesus with a request that Jesus come and minister to his twelve year old daughter who is deathly ill. On the way Jesus is pressed by the mob. A woman reached out in faith and was healed of a disease she's suffered with for twelve years. Jesus stopped to minister to her soul and her position in the community, and there are so many lessons in grace, and compassion, and mercy to be gained from their interaction. But while he was ministering life to this woman, news came that the young girl they were headed to see had died.
That's where my thoughts picked up this morning. People come from the synagogue leaders house. They say to him, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any further?" I have so been there, haven't you. I haven't lost a daughter, but I have seen a long time dream die before my very eyes. I have seen hopes dashed. I have seen confidence and security terminated. You have too, haven't you? Some of our most precious things, dearest to our hearts, come to an end and are taken from us unexpectedly. And what advice do we hear? "Let it go. Move on. Get over it." Without realizing it these advisers diminish the value of our dreams AND the value of Jesus and his love for us and the things that are precious to us.
Jesus, however, gloriously, does not support these worldly advisers. He says, "Do not fear, only believe." At the end of our dreams, in that moment when hope teeters at the edge of the abyss, Jesus offers himself as our eternal hope. "Do not fear, only believe." Loss makes us afraid. Loss makes us aware that death lurks in the shadows and nothing we hold in this world can bear the passage with us. Loss makes us afraid not only of its coming, but of its repeated return. So Jesus says, "Do not fear." Why? Why, "do not fear?" Because he is permanent, unchanging, eternal. He won't get lost and he won't lose those who trust and believe in him. In Jesus loss no longer threatens, for what is gained through faith cannot be lost. So he says to fear-filled us, "Do not fear, only believe."
I think it is reasonable to ask, "Believe what?" It is a question to which Jesus responds, "You believe in God, believe also in me." Believe in Jesus' love. Believe in his good intent. Believe in his plan. Believe in his power. Believe in him and let your hope be in him. Believe not merely in what Jesus can do, as you might believe a trip to Walmart will stock the pantry shelves, but believe in him, the Savior, the Son of God, very God in human flesh full of grace and truth and fully committed both to revealing God the Father to us and drawing us through that revelation into the Father who loves us and sent his Son to die for us.
"Do not fear, only believe," and keep walking in faith. Jesus spoke the words to a man who had just received the most life jarring news a father can receive. I see that scene in my mind. To my heart's eyes Jesus lays his hand upon the man's shoulder and looks deep into the eyes now brimming with tears. The pressure of his hand urges the man homeward. The look from his eyes steadies the man's heart.
They arrive at the ruler's house where Jesus finds a crowd of people and great commotion, people "weeping and wailing loudly." You just have to love the audacity of Jesus that is born out of his relationship with the Father. "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping." Stop a minute and consider what Jesus has just done. Jesus enters a room and describes the reality not as perceived and experienced by the gathered crowd, but from the wise, thoughtful and loving perspective of heaven. These people know death. They've seen it, experienced it, suffered from it, and survived it, but no one's come back from it. They know death. Jesus knows life.
The people laughed at him when he said the girl was sleeping, but they weren't laughing when that little girl emerged from her room sound and well a little while later sound and well. How wise we would be if we would just let Jesus describe our realities from his perspective rather than assuming that whatever we perceive is final. We see death. He sees rest. We see hopelessness. He sees opportunity. We see defeat. He sees victory. We see things as we think they are. He sees things as they really are. We perceive through limited experience. He understands through infinite wisdom. We see things that are not as though they cannot be. He sees things that are not as though they are. Why then do we laugh when Jesus challenges our perception of our life experience? Why do we put forth no faith when he offers great grace? Why do we assume we must "bury our dead" when he appoints us to life?
Do you think you cannot have hope? Why? Do you think that conditions and situations cannot change? Why? Have you discerned Jesus' perception? Do you know the Father's mind? Do not say, "Well, this is how things always are," because Jesus may very well respond, "Do not fear, only believe."
Today there are several situations in my life under which I have written the caption, "I don't know." I don't know what to do. I don't understand the real nature of some circumstances. I don't know how to respond, or if the responses I imagine are appropriate or not. I race around in my mind trying to conceive every contingency and I arrive time and again at the starting point under the banner, "I don't know." Jesus, I need you to describe the reality of my situation for me, because I am not confident that I see clearly. Please help me know. Please help me fear not and believe.Take ahold of my distress, and brokenness, and fear, and concern, and ignorance, and selfishness, and let Your resurrection power flow into them.
Jesus offers resurrection power which flows from God through him. He took the little girl by the hand and spoke the sovereignty of God into her life. "Little girl, I say to you, arise." I expect he had to speak definitively to her or else every little girl that ever died would have come forth at the power and authority of his word! In fact, had he simply said, "Arise!" (which he will one day) every person that ever lived would have answered the call!
In this instance, though Jesus calls one little girl back to life, he demonstrates the power and the love that brings forth hope and life and dreams that have died in me and in you but still have the potential to to serve his purposes and bring him glory. The girl's parents, and the disciples who were there, were "immediately overcome with amazement." When was the last time you were amazed with Jesus? I want to be amazed with him. I do not want to be one of those pragmatic people who dismiss him as someone who should not be bothered with my deepest hurt or greatest need. I don't want to reject him as unable to understand my current heart experience. I want to be amazed because my heart and life are open to him and he proves himself amazing. I want to be amazed with Jesus every day, not because he constantly has to prove me wrong, but because he proves himself so loving and willing to one whose life is a constant battle to "fear not and believe"
So that's what I'm going to do here. I'm going to just sit and be with Jesus, and, Lord willing, I'm going to do it "out loud," so if you want to, you can come and sit here with us and enjoy him too. I'll record my thoughts, my prayers (some of them), the struggles of life that I so much want Jesus to enter into with the eternally adequate wisdom he offers. But in the end, my desire is that Notes from the Northland will not be about me, or about you, but about Jesus.
This morning I was sitting in Rooster's Coffee and Cafe in Arab, Alabama (where my wife's parents live). I've been trying to lay out a preaching schedule through the book of Mark for this summer. I opened my Bible (the one with half the book of Revelation and all the concordance falling out) and realized I'd skipped the final event in chapter five. A man, the ruler of the local synagogue, comes to Jesus with a request that Jesus come and minister to his twelve year old daughter who is deathly ill. On the way Jesus is pressed by the mob. A woman reached out in faith and was healed of a disease she's suffered with for twelve years. Jesus stopped to minister to her soul and her position in the community, and there are so many lessons in grace, and compassion, and mercy to be gained from their interaction. But while he was ministering life to this woman, news came that the young girl they were headed to see had died.
That's where my thoughts picked up this morning. People come from the synagogue leaders house. They say to him, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any further?" I have so been there, haven't you. I haven't lost a daughter, but I have seen a long time dream die before my very eyes. I have seen hopes dashed. I have seen confidence and security terminated. You have too, haven't you? Some of our most precious things, dearest to our hearts, come to an end and are taken from us unexpectedly. And what advice do we hear? "Let it go. Move on. Get over it." Without realizing it these advisers diminish the value of our dreams AND the value of Jesus and his love for us and the things that are precious to us.
Jesus, however, gloriously, does not support these worldly advisers. He says, "Do not fear, only believe." At the end of our dreams, in that moment when hope teeters at the edge of the abyss, Jesus offers himself as our eternal hope. "Do not fear, only believe." Loss makes us afraid. Loss makes us aware that death lurks in the shadows and nothing we hold in this world can bear the passage with us. Loss makes us afraid not only of its coming, but of its repeated return. So Jesus says, "Do not fear." Why? Why, "do not fear?" Because he is permanent, unchanging, eternal. He won't get lost and he won't lose those who trust and believe in him. In Jesus loss no longer threatens, for what is gained through faith cannot be lost. So he says to fear-filled us, "Do not fear, only believe."
I think it is reasonable to ask, "Believe what?" It is a question to which Jesus responds, "You believe in God, believe also in me." Believe in Jesus' love. Believe in his good intent. Believe in his plan. Believe in his power. Believe in him and let your hope be in him. Believe not merely in what Jesus can do, as you might believe a trip to Walmart will stock the pantry shelves, but believe in him, the Savior, the Son of God, very God in human flesh full of grace and truth and fully committed both to revealing God the Father to us and drawing us through that revelation into the Father who loves us and sent his Son to die for us.
"Do not fear, only believe," and keep walking in faith. Jesus spoke the words to a man who had just received the most life jarring news a father can receive. I see that scene in my mind. To my heart's eyes Jesus lays his hand upon the man's shoulder and looks deep into the eyes now brimming with tears. The pressure of his hand urges the man homeward. The look from his eyes steadies the man's heart.
They arrive at the ruler's house where Jesus finds a crowd of people and great commotion, people "weeping and wailing loudly." You just have to love the audacity of Jesus that is born out of his relationship with the Father. "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping." Stop a minute and consider what Jesus has just done. Jesus enters a room and describes the reality not as perceived and experienced by the gathered crowd, but from the wise, thoughtful and loving perspective of heaven. These people know death. They've seen it, experienced it, suffered from it, and survived it, but no one's come back from it. They know death. Jesus knows life.
The people laughed at him when he said the girl was sleeping, but they weren't laughing when that little girl emerged from her room sound and well a little while later sound and well. How wise we would be if we would just let Jesus describe our realities from his perspective rather than assuming that whatever we perceive is final. We see death. He sees rest. We see hopelessness. He sees opportunity. We see defeat. He sees victory. We see things as we think they are. He sees things as they really are. We perceive through limited experience. He understands through infinite wisdom. We see things that are not as though they cannot be. He sees things that are not as though they are. Why then do we laugh when Jesus challenges our perception of our life experience? Why do we put forth no faith when he offers great grace? Why do we assume we must "bury our dead" when he appoints us to life?
Do you think you cannot have hope? Why? Do you think that conditions and situations cannot change? Why? Have you discerned Jesus' perception? Do you know the Father's mind? Do not say, "Well, this is how things always are," because Jesus may very well respond, "Do not fear, only believe."
Today there are several situations in my life under which I have written the caption, "I don't know." I don't know what to do. I don't understand the real nature of some circumstances. I don't know how to respond, or if the responses I imagine are appropriate or not. I race around in my mind trying to conceive every contingency and I arrive time and again at the starting point under the banner, "I don't know." Jesus, I need you to describe the reality of my situation for me, because I am not confident that I see clearly. Please help me know. Please help me fear not and believe.Take ahold of my distress, and brokenness, and fear, and concern, and ignorance, and selfishness, and let Your resurrection power flow into them.
Jesus offers resurrection power which flows from God through him. He took the little girl by the hand and spoke the sovereignty of God into her life. "Little girl, I say to you, arise." I expect he had to speak definitively to her or else every little girl that ever died would have come forth at the power and authority of his word! In fact, had he simply said, "Arise!" (which he will one day) every person that ever lived would have answered the call!
In this instance, though Jesus calls one little girl back to life, he demonstrates the power and the love that brings forth hope and life and dreams that have died in me and in you but still have the potential to to serve his purposes and bring him glory. The girl's parents, and the disciples who were there, were "immediately overcome with amazement." When was the last time you were amazed with Jesus? I want to be amazed with him. I do not want to be one of those pragmatic people who dismiss him as someone who should not be bothered with my deepest hurt or greatest need. I don't want to reject him as unable to understand my current heart experience. I want to be amazed because my heart and life are open to him and he proves himself amazing. I want to be amazed with Jesus every day, not because he constantly has to prove me wrong, but because he proves himself so loving and willing to one whose life is a constant battle to "fear not and believe"
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
What Makes You Pray?
The fiery furnace and the lion's den were yesterday's news when Daniel found a precious answer to a heart wrenching question. The question was one many of us have asked at one point or another, perhaps in a moment of weakness or hopelessness or discouragement or despair. It is the question of slaves who know no kindness; exiles who know no future; champions who know no end. "How long, O LORD, how long?"
Reading through the books he had with him, Daniel found within the writings of the prophet Jeremiah the number of years that "must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years." God set a limit to the exile! God set parameters on punishment! God circumscribed the circumstances! The events that propelled Daniel and the people of Israel from their native home to once again dwell as aliens and strangers in a foreign land had quantifiable limits set by the hand and heart of the Almighty Himself!
Daniel 9:3 records Daniel's response to this revelation, "Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God . . . ." It was not the situation of his times but the revelation of his God that drove Daniel to prayer. Daniel prayed because he understood from his reading of God's word that God is merciful, that the judgment the Lord declared for Israel was not permanent, nor without compassion. It was necessary and it was bounded, limited by God, and thus revealed God's merciful inclination toward his beloved people. Daniel interceded for himself and his people not because of the desperate nature of their circumstances but because of the gracious nature of their God!
Daniel turned to God's word. What he found in God's word led him to turn to God. He did not begin to pray on the basis of the situation at hand. He turned to God's word as a response to the situation. He turned to God in response to the word.
The point here is this: how often do we pray and intercede for ourselves, our church, our community, our country, or our world based on our perception of the need rather than our perception of the One who meets our need? Do we seek mercy because we perceive we need mercy, or do we seek mercy because we perceive God is merciful? Do we seek peace because we are restless and anxious or do we seek peace because God is omniscient and omnipotent? Do we pray because of who we are and what we need, or because of who God is and what he desires? Is God both the source of our prayer and it's answer as well?
Your situation and circumstance is not irrelevant to God, but He is more relevant to you than your situation. Let the environment and events of your life lead you to find God in his word, then let the revelation you find of him lead you to pray.
Reading through the books he had with him, Daniel found within the writings of the prophet Jeremiah the number of years that "must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years." God set a limit to the exile! God set parameters on punishment! God circumscribed the circumstances! The events that propelled Daniel and the people of Israel from their native home to once again dwell as aliens and strangers in a foreign land had quantifiable limits set by the hand and heart of the Almighty Himself!
Daniel 9:3 records Daniel's response to this revelation, "Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God . . . ." It was not the situation of his times but the revelation of his God that drove Daniel to prayer. Daniel prayed because he understood from his reading of God's word that God is merciful, that the judgment the Lord declared for Israel was not permanent, nor without compassion. It was necessary and it was bounded, limited by God, and thus revealed God's merciful inclination toward his beloved people. Daniel interceded for himself and his people not because of the desperate nature of their circumstances but because of the gracious nature of their God!
Daniel turned to God's word. What he found in God's word led him to turn to God. He did not begin to pray on the basis of the situation at hand. He turned to God's word as a response to the situation. He turned to God in response to the word.
The point here is this: how often do we pray and intercede for ourselves, our church, our community, our country, or our world based on our perception of the need rather than our perception of the One who meets our need? Do we seek mercy because we perceive we need mercy, or do we seek mercy because we perceive God is merciful? Do we seek peace because we are restless and anxious or do we seek peace because God is omniscient and omnipotent? Do we pray because of who we are and what we need, or because of who God is and what he desires? Is God both the source of our prayer and it's answer as well?
Your situation and circumstance is not irrelevant to God, but He is more relevant to you than your situation. Let the environment and events of your life lead you to find God in his word, then let the revelation you find of him lead you to pray.
Monday, January 31, 2011
What's Your Context?
We've been focusing on Jesus' seven letters to the church in Asia Minor in this sermon series. I've found it interesting how the Spirit has led me to approach each letter and each sermon differently. I had originally thought I would apply the same structural considerations to each letter and use the structure to make it easier to understand the point of each letter, and the point of all the letters together. But that is not how it has worked out.
Yesterday, for example, we looked at Revelation 3:1-6, the letter to the church at Sardis. I had already entitled the message, "The Church That REVIVES From Sleep." Yet, in the message itself, I did little to describe either the condition of the church at Sardis or its application to the church of our day. I found myself simply assuming the application and building the sermon around a response to Christ's letter by a sleeping church willing to be roused by the warning of a loving Savior. Sleeping people, after all, don't need to know they're asleep. They need an alarm to wake them up.
I sat down at the coffee shop a little while ago to read over the next letter, the letter to the church at Philadelphia. It wasn't peaceful and quiet there this morning, and I did wind up in a very providential and beneficial discussion with another community leader, but before my attention turned elsewhere the Spirit raised a question with me. In each of the letters Jesus reveals something personal about his nature as God that both gives him the right to demand something of the church to whom he is writing and to provide a basis for an appropriate response from them. The One who "walks among the seven golden lampstands" tells the church at Ephesus to return to their first love or face having their lampstand permanently removed. This same One is the One "who died and came to life" and encourages the Christians at Thyatira to remain faithful even though their faithfulness may cost them their lives.
Each letter begins with a revelation of Jesus and that revelation provides the context for what Jesus asks of the church. The churches response to their individual environments and to Christ himself is set in the context of who Jesus is himself. They are to determine their values and responses in this world based not on their personal preferences or experiences, but upon the Person of Jesus Christ, his experiences and his sovereign preferences.
So that led me to ask, "What other contextual clues do we use to determine our values and responses when Christ is not our context?" I believe it is a fair and necessary question because Jesus is writing to churches who in one form or another have either abandoned him as their context for life or are in danger of doing so. And I believe that churches today, and Christians today, face either the same spiritual ailment or the same danger.
So, what other contextual clues do we use to determine our values and responses in life when Christ is not our context for living? I thought of five and would be very interested in knowing what others you can think of. My five are:
What do you think?
Yesterday, for example, we looked at Revelation 3:1-6, the letter to the church at Sardis. I had already entitled the message, "The Church That REVIVES From Sleep." Yet, in the message itself, I did little to describe either the condition of the church at Sardis or its application to the church of our day. I found myself simply assuming the application and building the sermon around a response to Christ's letter by a sleeping church willing to be roused by the warning of a loving Savior. Sleeping people, after all, don't need to know they're asleep. They need an alarm to wake them up.
I sat down at the coffee shop a little while ago to read over the next letter, the letter to the church at Philadelphia. It wasn't peaceful and quiet there this morning, and I did wind up in a very providential and beneficial discussion with another community leader, but before my attention turned elsewhere the Spirit raised a question with me. In each of the letters Jesus reveals something personal about his nature as God that both gives him the right to demand something of the church to whom he is writing and to provide a basis for an appropriate response from them. The One who "walks among the seven golden lampstands" tells the church at Ephesus to return to their first love or face having their lampstand permanently removed. This same One is the One "who died and came to life" and encourages the Christians at Thyatira to remain faithful even though their faithfulness may cost them their lives.
Each letter begins with a revelation of Jesus and that revelation provides the context for what Jesus asks of the church. The churches response to their individual environments and to Christ himself is set in the context of who Jesus is himself. They are to determine their values and responses in this world based not on their personal preferences or experiences, but upon the Person of Jesus Christ, his experiences and his sovereign preferences.
So that led me to ask, "What other contextual clues do we use to determine our values and responses when Christ is not our context?" I believe it is a fair and necessary question because Jesus is writing to churches who in one form or another have either abandoned him as their context for life or are in danger of doing so. And I believe that churches today, and Christians today, face either the same spiritual ailment or the same danger.
So, what other contextual clues do we use to determine our values and responses in life when Christ is not our context for living? I thought of five and would be very interested in knowing what others you can think of. My five are:
- cultural "norms" - these are values and responses broadly acceptable to the society in which we live and function;
- peer pressure - these are values and responses made specifically in reference to the people whom we feel most responsible to please;
- selfish inclinations - these are the values and responses that we are most likely to resort to for self-preservation and self-advancement;
- personal experiences / history - we naturally allow the results of previous choices to influence future choices, sometimes to our detriment;
- church traditions - these are values and responses that might seem more positive and beneficial than the previous list, but can nonetheless stifle an authentic, personal response to the word of God.
What do you think?
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Of Midnight Rain and "Soil"ed Hearts
The rain awakened me just a bit past midnight this morning. I think it was the rain. It could have been my wife as she finally crept into the bedroom using her little keychain LCD flashlight. Or it could have been the Holy Spirit using the prevailing conditions to make a point. I woke up thinking of one particular friend and the current state of his spiritual circumstances. I checked the clock, prayed a bit, closed my eyes, put in the ear plugs since the wind had loosened one of the vinyl panels at the top of the wall outside our bedroom (and it beats a funky but irritating rhythm in a storm.) I opened my eyes, turned over, closed my eyes, prayed a little more, listened to the rain, sang the refrain of "Revelation Song" in perfect pitch in my mind, listened to the rain some more, started thinking about that song that says, "Listen to the sound of the falling rain / telling me what a fool I've been," and then decided it was time to get up.
I made my way through the dark house and used a flashlight through the dining room doors to make sure the vinyl siding on the bedroom was not more damaged than it sounded, then descended the stairs to the office in the basement. The sleeve on my bathrobe caught on the steeple of the stained glass church on the little stand by the book shelves, but I was moving slow enough that catastrophe was avoided. I spent an hour or two at my desk studying the passage I've selected as for Sunday's sermon. I thought I might be ready to sleep after that so I settled into the overstuffed, green recliner. I closed my eyes. I started thinking about my friend and listening to the rain. That song came back, the falling rain one. I made the effort to pray for my friend, both because he needs me to pray for him and because I didn't want that song sloshing around in my brain all day.
I still couldn't sleep so I returned to the desk, picked up pen and put it to paper. Something was circumnavigating the cerebral hemispheres and I hoped by writing to identify it, connect with it, and resolve it so I could get some sleep. The first sentence I wrote was, "People don't want to make commitments, they just want to feel better." What I wrote next clarifies the sadness of that sentence.
"Once the crisis is past, people today rarely seem to follow through on the plans, strategies, or commitments that guided them through the critical moments. A desperate man claims he wants God in his life, but once the threat is passed begins to fill his life with other relationships and other activities that slowly displace God from his life once again. A troubled couple seeks counseling and gathers a few helpful tips from their first session but does not return nor follow through on the call to commit to a local fellowship for the health of their marriage and family and for their spiritual well-being.
"These are consumers looking for the immediate effects of spiritual Tylenol but unwilling to become true disciples of Jesus, those who leave all to follow him. Many, it seems, are called, but few are chosen.
"Jesus taught his disciples with a parable that describes this spiritual phenomenon. He spoke of a sower, a farmer, who went out to sow his seed. As the man cast the seed it fell on several types of soil. The seed fell on the hard packed soil of the well-trodden path where it never had a chance to germinate before the birds swooped in and scarfed it up. The quality and potential of the seed never stood a chance against the reluctance of the soil and the thieving avian hunger.
"Other seed fell on rocky ground. The seed, good and full of life as it was, rooted and sprang up, but the soil was shallow. It held neither water nor nutrient and when the sun rose to its midday height and began to beat down on the tender shoot, the inadequate root system failed and the young plant withered.
"Some seed fell on ground that was already very productive . . . producing weeds! Non-productive species extricated all the water and nutrients and crowded the space stealing more than their share of sunlight. The seed sprang up in this soil. It even grew, but it could not flourish, mature, reproduce because it was soon choked out by the competition. The seedling remained weak and puny, barely alive.
"At last some seed fell upon well prepared, fertile soil. The soil received the seed, nurtured the seed, sustained the seed, and assisted the seed to grow, flourish, mature and eventually, together, they offered a harvest as much as one hundred times multiplied.
"Each of these soils, Jesus taught, describes the spiritual condition of a human heart in relation to God's gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ. Some hearts are hard and even though the seed is good it cannot penetrate the resistance before outside influences steal away any impact the gospel might have had.
"Some hearts are shallow. They receive the word gladly. They recognize it has value for them and desire its benefit, but they lack the commitment, the surrender, the deep and abiding love for God and his word that yields a full spiritual harvest from the gospel. They are self-centered, self-absorbed, self-satisfied people who cannot last when the joy fades and the hard work of endurance commences.
"Some hearts seem fertile, but they are full of worldly concern. Culturally derived philosophies and worldviews choke out the counter-cultural message of God's love in Jesus Christ. Other things, other activities, other relationships quickly move in to move the gospel out. There are bills to pay, people to see, things to do. Prayer and personal worship fail first. Bible study gets abandoned, attendance at worship set aside. Soon there is nothing left but a fruitless stalk encumbered by the surpassing growth of useless things.
"Some hearts, though, are fertile. Some receive the gospel and fall in love. They take up their cross. They make the commitment. They follow Jesus as both their first and foremost priority. Their love for him fosters his love in them for others and the gospel is multiplied in many more lives."
The most pressing question of midnight rain and soiled hearts is this: which is my heart? God demonstrates his love for me in this, while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. Do I reject this good news? Do I received but do little to cultivate it? Do I receive it, but then leave my heart open to other things that will one day crowd this glory out of my life? Or do I love this good news, receive it, live with it, grow it, commit my life to its joys, bring forth its full potential in my life?
I, you, we are one of these. Each of us. It is the same good seed that comes to us all. God, please, prepare us to be good soil. Amen.
I made my way through the dark house and used a flashlight through the dining room doors to make sure the vinyl siding on the bedroom was not more damaged than it sounded, then descended the stairs to the office in the basement. The sleeve on my bathrobe caught on the steeple of the stained glass church on the little stand by the book shelves, but I was moving slow enough that catastrophe was avoided. I spent an hour or two at my desk studying the passage I've selected as for Sunday's sermon. I thought I might be ready to sleep after that so I settled into the overstuffed, green recliner. I closed my eyes. I started thinking about my friend and listening to the rain. That song came back, the falling rain one. I made the effort to pray for my friend, both because he needs me to pray for him and because I didn't want that song sloshing around in my brain all day.
I still couldn't sleep so I returned to the desk, picked up pen and put it to paper. Something was circumnavigating the cerebral hemispheres and I hoped by writing to identify it, connect with it, and resolve it so I could get some sleep. The first sentence I wrote was, "People don't want to make commitments, they just want to feel better." What I wrote next clarifies the sadness of that sentence.
"Once the crisis is past, people today rarely seem to follow through on the plans, strategies, or commitments that guided them through the critical moments. A desperate man claims he wants God in his life, but once the threat is passed begins to fill his life with other relationships and other activities that slowly displace God from his life once again. A troubled couple seeks counseling and gathers a few helpful tips from their first session but does not return nor follow through on the call to commit to a local fellowship for the health of their marriage and family and for their spiritual well-being.
"These are consumers looking for the immediate effects of spiritual Tylenol but unwilling to become true disciples of Jesus, those who leave all to follow him. Many, it seems, are called, but few are chosen.
"Jesus taught his disciples with a parable that describes this spiritual phenomenon. He spoke of a sower, a farmer, who went out to sow his seed. As the man cast the seed it fell on several types of soil. The seed fell on the hard packed soil of the well-trodden path where it never had a chance to germinate before the birds swooped in and scarfed it up. The quality and potential of the seed never stood a chance against the reluctance of the soil and the thieving avian hunger.
"Other seed fell on rocky ground. The seed, good and full of life as it was, rooted and sprang up, but the soil was shallow. It held neither water nor nutrient and when the sun rose to its midday height and began to beat down on the tender shoot, the inadequate root system failed and the young plant withered.
"Some seed fell on ground that was already very productive . . . producing weeds! Non-productive species extricated all the water and nutrients and crowded the space stealing more than their share of sunlight. The seed sprang up in this soil. It even grew, but it could not flourish, mature, reproduce because it was soon choked out by the competition. The seedling remained weak and puny, barely alive.
"At last some seed fell upon well prepared, fertile soil. The soil received the seed, nurtured the seed, sustained the seed, and assisted the seed to grow, flourish, mature and eventually, together, they offered a harvest as much as one hundred times multiplied.
"Each of these soils, Jesus taught, describes the spiritual condition of a human heart in relation to God's gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ. Some hearts are hard and even though the seed is good it cannot penetrate the resistance before outside influences steal away any impact the gospel might have had.
"Some hearts are shallow. They receive the word gladly. They recognize it has value for them and desire its benefit, but they lack the commitment, the surrender, the deep and abiding love for God and his word that yields a full spiritual harvest from the gospel. They are self-centered, self-absorbed, self-satisfied people who cannot last when the joy fades and the hard work of endurance commences.
"Some hearts seem fertile, but they are full of worldly concern. Culturally derived philosophies and worldviews choke out the counter-cultural message of God's love in Jesus Christ. Other things, other activities, other relationships quickly move in to move the gospel out. There are bills to pay, people to see, things to do. Prayer and personal worship fail first. Bible study gets abandoned, attendance at worship set aside. Soon there is nothing left but a fruitless stalk encumbered by the surpassing growth of useless things.
"Some hearts, though, are fertile. Some receive the gospel and fall in love. They take up their cross. They make the commitment. They follow Jesus as both their first and foremost priority. Their love for him fosters his love in them for others and the gospel is multiplied in many more lives."
The most pressing question of midnight rain and soiled hearts is this: which is my heart? God demonstrates his love for me in this, while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. Do I reject this good news? Do I received but do little to cultivate it? Do I receive it, but then leave my heart open to other things that will one day crowd this glory out of my life? Or do I love this good news, receive it, live with it, grow it, commit my life to its joys, bring forth its full potential in my life?
I, you, we are one of these. Each of us. It is the same good seed that comes to us all. God, please, prepare us to be good soil. Amen.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Treasures of a Single Word
The plan for fishing today got rained out, so I made a cup of Bohemian chocolate coffee and sat down by the picture window to read. I’ve been giving some attention to First Corinthians lately, so I picked up my Bible from the coffee table and turned to page 1266. The problem with reading the Bible, for me, is that often I don’t get past a word or two. It’s not that I’ve gotten so old I fall asleep or so jaded I get bored. I get caught up in the possibilities of words.
Today, for instance, I actually got to verse eight of the first chapter. I have to confess I barely made it past verse four, where Paul thanks God for the Corinthian Christians not because of how wonderful or obedient or faithful or generous they were, or for anything about them at all. Paul thanks God for these Christians because God has given them his grace in Christ Jesus. Paul always starts and ends with God and sees in God the reason to give God thanks for anything of worth or value in the Christian experience. For Paul, the life of faith and all its benefits and manifestations in Christians is about God and who he is and what he does in Christ. That a human being gets to experience the outworking of God’s will is a testimony to God’s greatest, not their’s.
I could have spent a few more hours just giving thought to the preeminence of Jesus Christ in the life of a Christian and the will of God, but decided to press on. Then I got to verse eight. And I stopped. In fact, I stopped in the New International Version of 1 Corinthians 1:8 at the third word: “keep.” The entire verse reads, “He [God] will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God will keep you strong. God who gives us grace in Christ Jesus— the grace that saves us, the grace that reconciles us to himself, the grace that forgives our sins and justifies us before God, the grace that transforms our hearts and lives—the God who gives that grace “keeps” the ones he graced strong until the end.
He “keeps” us. What does that mean, that he “keeps” us? It’s so easy to simply accept the fact and move on, but I had to stop and think, to toss around the question in my heart for a while. What does it mean from God’s perspective that he “keeps” us?
First, God keeps us by an act of his choice. He chooses us. Whether you believe that God elects people to faith and makes his choice before they choose him or after they choose him is not the issue here. The issue is that God chooses to save you and me from our sins and the death sentence those sins impose upon the soul. He keeps us strong and blameless in preparation for Jesus’ return by choosing us. Jesus said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” God chooses, and his “keeping” begins in his choosing.
But there has to be more than just his choosing. There is a sliver tone Chevy truck with the Z71 off road package sitting in the lot at Grand Marais Motors. It’s not the four door one. It’s the two door extended cab parked next to it, under the sign in the left hand corner of the lot as you face the front door of the dealership. That’s the truck I’ve chosen. The red one is nice, and newer, and has fewer miles. The four door four by four is more powerful and practically oozes testosterone. But, as we were driving by the other day, I said to my wife, “See that one. That’s the one I choose.”
She just rolled her eyes because she knows there’s no way we can afford to replace the truck we lost in an accident several years ago. She knows that my choice of that truck, or any truck, is meaningless because there is no transaction forthcoming that will make the truck mine.
God, when he chose us, extended his choice by an act of will. He paid the price to complete the transaction to make us his. God sent Jesus to die on the cross as the perfectly adequate sacrifice to pay the penalty for human sin. The death of Christ is infinitely as effective for forgiveness as sin is infinitely deadly and deserving punishment. God keeps us not only by choosing us, but by acting to make us his.
But that is not enough to describe how God keeps us. I’ve chosen my replacement truck. It is conceivable that someday God could provide a way for me to own the truck of my choosing. But choosing it and owning it without working to allow it to meet its full potential would be meaningless for me. I need to get in it and drive it and work it and maintain it in prime working condition.
God keeps us by choosing us. God keeps us by making us his own. God keeps us by filling us with his Spirit who empowers our potential to fully experience his joy and fulfill his will. God gets in us and maintains us by his Spirit present within us. He strengthens us by his might. He directs us by his will. He guides us by his wisdom. He enables us by his power. He transforms us by his mercy. He keeps us by his will.
God does all this and we are the happy recipients of his keeping. And the result of his keeping is a blameless life in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God chooses us, makes us his own, maintains us. He keeps us strong and blameless so that we can enjoy the eternal glory of Jesus Christ at his coming.
Now you know how I get hijacked by words. You know why I can spend a week reading 1 Corinthians and not have gotten past the third word of the eighth verse of the first chapter. May you discover the infinite depth of God’s word for you today!
Today, for instance, I actually got to verse eight of the first chapter. I have to confess I barely made it past verse four, where Paul thanks God for the Corinthian Christians not because of how wonderful or obedient or faithful or generous they were, or for anything about them at all. Paul thanks God for these Christians because God has given them his grace in Christ Jesus. Paul always starts and ends with God and sees in God the reason to give God thanks for anything of worth or value in the Christian experience. For Paul, the life of faith and all its benefits and manifestations in Christians is about God and who he is and what he does in Christ. That a human being gets to experience the outworking of God’s will is a testimony to God’s greatest, not their’s.
I could have spent a few more hours just giving thought to the preeminence of Jesus Christ in the life of a Christian and the will of God, but decided to press on. Then I got to verse eight. And I stopped. In fact, I stopped in the New International Version of 1 Corinthians 1:8 at the third word: “keep.” The entire verse reads, “He [God] will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God will keep you strong. God who gives us grace in Christ Jesus— the grace that saves us, the grace that reconciles us to himself, the grace that forgives our sins and justifies us before God, the grace that transforms our hearts and lives—the God who gives that grace “keeps” the ones he graced strong until the end.
He “keeps” us. What does that mean, that he “keeps” us? It’s so easy to simply accept the fact and move on, but I had to stop and think, to toss around the question in my heart for a while. What does it mean from God’s perspective that he “keeps” us?
First, God keeps us by an act of his choice. He chooses us. Whether you believe that God elects people to faith and makes his choice before they choose him or after they choose him is not the issue here. The issue is that God chooses to save you and me from our sins and the death sentence those sins impose upon the soul. He keeps us strong and blameless in preparation for Jesus’ return by choosing us. Jesus said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” God chooses, and his “keeping” begins in his choosing.
But there has to be more than just his choosing. There is a sliver tone Chevy truck with the Z71 off road package sitting in the lot at Grand Marais Motors. It’s not the four door one. It’s the two door extended cab parked next to it, under the sign in the left hand corner of the lot as you face the front door of the dealership. That’s the truck I’ve chosen. The red one is nice, and newer, and has fewer miles. The four door four by four is more powerful and practically oozes testosterone. But, as we were driving by the other day, I said to my wife, “See that one. That’s the one I choose.”
She just rolled her eyes because she knows there’s no way we can afford to replace the truck we lost in an accident several years ago. She knows that my choice of that truck, or any truck, is meaningless because there is no transaction forthcoming that will make the truck mine.
God, when he chose us, extended his choice by an act of will. He paid the price to complete the transaction to make us his. God sent Jesus to die on the cross as the perfectly adequate sacrifice to pay the penalty for human sin. The death of Christ is infinitely as effective for forgiveness as sin is infinitely deadly and deserving punishment. God keeps us not only by choosing us, but by acting to make us his.
But that is not enough to describe how God keeps us. I’ve chosen my replacement truck. It is conceivable that someday God could provide a way for me to own the truck of my choosing. But choosing it and owning it without working to allow it to meet its full potential would be meaningless for me. I need to get in it and drive it and work it and maintain it in prime working condition.
God keeps us by choosing us. God keeps us by making us his own. God keeps us by filling us with his Spirit who empowers our potential to fully experience his joy and fulfill his will. God gets in us and maintains us by his Spirit present within us. He strengthens us by his might. He directs us by his will. He guides us by his wisdom. He enables us by his power. He transforms us by his mercy. He keeps us by his will.
God does all this and we are the happy recipients of his keeping. And the result of his keeping is a blameless life in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God chooses us, makes us his own, maintains us. He keeps us strong and blameless so that we can enjoy the eternal glory of Jesus Christ at his coming.
Now you know how I get hijacked by words. You know why I can spend a week reading 1 Corinthians and not have gotten past the third word of the eighth verse of the first chapter. May you discover the infinite depth of God’s word for you today!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
God and the GPS
When Linda and I want to have a really crazy vacation, we take a road trip without maps. We drive to the nearest intersection and decide then, at that moment, which direction we're going to take. Then we drive to the next intersection, and decide then, at that moment, what direction we're going to take. At every stop we make the decision for the next step, never really knowing where we're going, where we'll wind up, but finding adventure in the uncertainty of our decision making process.
This last vacation to Alabama to visit Linda's parents was a road trip, but it wasn't crazy. We didn't use maps this time, but I did use a GPS. We call our GPS, "Kia." That's short for "know it all." Kia identifies our starting position, then, when I type in our destination, she calculates the route. "In 1.1 miles," she says, "keep left, then turn right." "Continue 197 miles," she says. "Turn right," she says. And when I fail to turn right? "Recalculating! Go .4 miles then turn left and make an immediate U-turn."
Kia is very nice about her job, but she's also very demanding. You see, she works on the assumption that I don't know where I'm going. Her programming assumes that she knows the big picture in regards to the available routes to get to the desired destination, and that I would not be using her if I already knew where I was going. So, I tell her I want to drive from Arab, AL to Lino Lakes, MN. At one point along the way, we turn off a perfectly reasonable interstate onto a two lane county road. The interstate is going the direction I think I want to go. Still, she demands the turn, so we make the exit.
It is a quiet little, beautifully shaded road in Missouri that follows along a river and has the most delightful little rises along the way that give that roller coaster effect when you speed up over them. It is not a very long drive, just a few miles, but it shaves nearly fifteen miles off the trip because it is more direct than the interstate would have been.
That experience happened a lot as I trusted Kia with the course of our journey. We took roads I would never have taken only to discover that there was less traffic, less aggravation, and less overall miles. She knew where we had come from, knew where we were going, and had the big picture of our journey in mind. She did not always make the choices I would have made. She never asked my opinion of her choices. She simply offered what she knew to be best and directed me to turn around and adjust my direction when I failed to follow her advice.
If this is not a great picture of what it means to trust Jesus Christ by faith then I don't know what is! If you want to spend eternity with God then you've got to trust your life to him and to the directions he provides. You have to trust his knowledge of the big picture. You have to trust that he knows the most direct, beneficial route from where you are to where he is, and you have to trust his leading along the way. Sometimes, he will lead you to make choices and follow him in ways you might not otherwise have chosen, but God has an advantage that "Kia" doesn't have. God actually knows it all AND is personally committed to doing what is best for you. "Kia" serves you, but God loves you! Those two facts, his knowledge and his love, make him
immeasurably, perfectly trustworthy for your life journey. God's ultimate trustworthiness makes him the perfect GPS ("Godly Positioning System") for your soul.
That's the Good News.
This last vacation to Alabama to visit Linda's parents was a road trip, but it wasn't crazy. We didn't use maps this time, but I did use a GPS. We call our GPS, "Kia." That's short for "know it all." Kia identifies our starting position, then, when I type in our destination, she calculates the route. "In 1.1 miles," she says, "keep left, then turn right." "Continue 197 miles," she says. "Turn right," she says. And when I fail to turn right? "Recalculating! Go .4 miles then turn left and make an immediate U-turn."
Kia is very nice about her job, but she's also very demanding. You see, she works on the assumption that I don't know where I'm going. Her programming assumes that she knows the big picture in regards to the available routes to get to the desired destination, and that I would not be using her if I already knew where I was going. So, I tell her I want to drive from Arab, AL to Lino Lakes, MN. At one point along the way, we turn off a perfectly reasonable interstate onto a two lane county road. The interstate is going the direction I think I want to go. Still, she demands the turn, so we make the exit.
It is a quiet little, beautifully shaded road in Missouri that follows along a river and has the most delightful little rises along the way that give that roller coaster effect when you speed up over them. It is not a very long drive, just a few miles, but it shaves nearly fifteen miles off the trip because it is more direct than the interstate would have been.
That experience happened a lot as I trusted Kia with the course of our journey. We took roads I would never have taken only to discover that there was less traffic, less aggravation, and less overall miles. She knew where we had come from, knew where we were going, and had the big picture of our journey in mind. She did not always make the choices I would have made. She never asked my opinion of her choices. She simply offered what she knew to be best and directed me to turn around and adjust my direction when I failed to follow her advice.
If this is not a great picture of what it means to trust Jesus Christ by faith then I don't know what is! If you want to spend eternity with God then you've got to trust your life to him and to the directions he provides. You have to trust his knowledge of the big picture. You have to trust that he knows the most direct, beneficial route from where you are to where he is, and you have to trust his leading along the way. Sometimes, he will lead you to make choices and follow him in ways you might not otherwise have chosen, but God has an advantage that "Kia" doesn't have. God actually knows it all AND is personally committed to doing what is best for you. "Kia" serves you, but God loves you! Those two facts, his knowledge and his love, make him
immeasurably, perfectly trustworthy for your life journey. God's ultimate trustworthiness makes him the perfect GPS ("Godly Positioning System") for your soul.
That's the Good News.
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