Burning Baskets and Beds

I have always been prone to extremes.  It's something I work on daily.  Pendulum swings.  I'm a passionate kind of guy, I get really excited about things, I have a "jump in with both feet" kind of personality.  I don't see this as a bad quality, just one in need of tempering, balance.

I don't think I'm alone, though.

I think this is a very human kind of trait.  Specifically, a western world human trait.  Even more specifically an American human trait.  We like black and white.  We have a very difficult time with shades of grey.  We get very uneasy with the unknown and so jump to hard and fast assumptions in many areas of life (science, religion, relationships, politics, humanitarian efforts, etc.).

Their is One who called us to a very important extreme in this life though, His name was Jesus.

The extreme He called us to was with two very simple words, "Follow Me."  That's it.  Follow Him.

Interestingly enough we have jumped to all sorts of other extremes as to what He meant by this.  We have spent so much time hammering out and arguing over the meaning of "Follow Me" that for many of us we have failed to actually just do it.

In Matthew chapter 4 the bible begins to tell the story of the start of Jesus' ministry while here among us. We see that Jesus began to call followers, disciples, with those very words, "Follow Me..."  The picture that we get is that He must have been calling everyone that He came into contact with to follow Him, because their was this huge crowd that was doing just that.  In Matthew 5 we see Him address this large crowd of followers, disciples, and begin to share with them the benefits, the troubles, the joys, the pains of following Him.  At one point He says, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Then He immediately goes on to say, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

A candle under a basket is a bad idea in any one's book.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you don't but a flame under something flammable...unless you're looking for it to ignite.

Jesus adds to this in Mark 4 when He uses the analogy again, "And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light."  ...made manifest, to come to light.  What did He say again, "...you are the light of the world."

These sayings of Jesus are not just nice sayings.  He wasn't merely a wise sage whom we can listen to a saying and then sit back rubbing our chins saying, "Awww yes....very true, very true..." much like we might the sayings of Confucius or Ghandi.  When Jesus spoke, He intended for us to listen and then to actually act on what He said.  "Whoever hears these words of mine and then does them is like a man who built his house upon the rock...", "Why do you call me Lord and yet do not do what I say?", "Go into all the world and make disciples...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..."

When we take in the teachings of Jesus, and then argue over what He meant, or how He meant it, or how it does or does not apply to us today, rather than putting His teachings into practice in our lives; then we end up with burning baskets and beds.  When we don't apply Jesus' teachings in our lives in the manner for which they were intended (to bring light and love, and true morality and goodness, transformation of our inner character into His very likeness, to receive and extend forgiveness, and so much more...), then we end up destroying ourselves and others around us.  We end up burning down the house.



Now in the exercise of balance... there must be time spent learning Him in order to put His teachings into practice.  There is as much danger in running ahead of Jesus as there is in not following Him at all.  Peter proved this when he hacked the ear off of the high priest's servant.  Jesus also said, "My sheep know My voice..."  If we do not spend time learning Him, getting to know Him, listening to His voice, we will only start more crusades.  We will only take His name in vain.  But, merely learning of Him is not following Him.  We must hear and do.

Jesus had strong warnings for those who chose not to follow, "And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4)


So, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  Amen.

The Trade

...time for a little confessing...

It's been a rough couple of months.

Do you ever have those times when you look at your life and say, "Seriously!  This too???"  I consider myself to be a pretty strong person, I rarely get rattled by life, I generally am able to keep a clear head through most situations and circumstances of life; but every once in a while I hear myself breathe that one word, "Seriously?"

It's been a rough couple of months and I have been trying to be strong for others around me.

It started with an unforseen and unexpected confrontation with some friends whom we loved (love) deeply, and suddenly the friendships were over.  My mind is still trying to wrap itself around what exactly happened.

A close friend of ours went suddenly missing and after much searching her body was found in the river.

Some individuals in our community have taken it upon themselves to expose me and our church as the preachers of a false gospel and purveyors of heresy that we are.  They do this in conversations, blogs, public withdrawals of community events and so on.

We are involved in a major project in our community for the youth that we believe God has been leading us in which suddenly has been hitting brick wall after brick wall...and God has been largely silent on the matter.

An incident which I assumed would just be a matter of clarification exploded in my face with another church in the area which we have a close working relationship with (...well, close relationships with period), that threatened to end the relationship.  Again, still trying to wrap my mind around that one...

We almost lost my mom in a particularly scary and gory reaction to a failing liver (genetic condition, not do to bad lifestyle choices on her part).  Through this we became aware of just how seriously her health is at risk right now.

We went for a family camping trip to just try and relax and regroup...and our dogs ran away.  I know, I know, they're dogs, but tell that to my sobbing daughter.   Another one of those "Seriously!?" moments. (We did find them a few days later, thank you Skip!)

Ok, I can hear some saying "Really?  That's it?"  I know, many people go through much worse things all of the time.  The death of loved ones, children; debillitating and costly illness; personal betrayals of infidelity in marriage; persecutions that could actually cost lives; physical and brutal attack in rapes, murders and assaults of many kinds.  Comparatively the last couple of months pale in comparison.

I think that has been my problem, comparing.

Over the last couple of months I have been evaluating every one of these circumstances as they come and saying to myself, "Well, it could be a lot worse, in fact a lot of people do have it a lot worse!"  Then I would buck myself up, dust myself off, and tell those around me, "God is good, He knows what is going on and He will turn all this for good.  I trust Him."  I have said that many times over the last couple of months.  I have meant it every time.  I believe it.  It is true.  I have also been using all of those sentences as weapons to beat back the sadness of the situations; weapons to beat back the frustrations of being misunderstood, misrepresented, and things not working out the ways in which I really thought they would; weapons to not allow myself to truly grieve and hurt over losses and wounds.

My wife calls it "internalizing".  I have been internalizing, stuffing things down deep that would like to rise up.  I have been refusing to acknowledge the reality of the last couple of months; choosing instead to claim a reality in which things are really not that bad; where things could be much, much worse and so do not deserve to be given place; choosing a reality where my emotions are my enemy.

In reality, to call it as it is, I have been running my own life.  I have been dealing with myself in the only way I know how, because God has bigger things to deal with.  I have not been trusting Him.  I have not been trusting my relationship with Him, that He just might not care about my comparisons to others "worse" problems.  This is sin.  Not the heavy guilt, condemnation, soul wrenching sense of worthlessness kind of sin; just sin at the core of what sin really is kind of sin, I have not been trusting God with my relatively (comparably) insignificant problems.

I think this is a pendulum swing that happens; I go from a place of desiring all that the world can offer (wealth, power, fame, success, sex, immediate and wanton gratification) to desiring all that is available in the Kingdom of God (knowing God, intimate relationship, love, forgiveness of sin, no guilt or condemnation, and so much more), that I become overwhelmed with the big picture of God and His interaction with the entire world and I lose perspective that I have been adopted as His son, and as such, I am intimately and specially known by God (I Cor. 8:3).

Peter sums it up this way in I Peter 5:6-7, "Be humble then, under God's mighty hand, that He may be the one to lift you up in due time, and give to Him all of your anxieties because He cares about You."

So then, this is the trade, I can continue in a form of pride to think that my day to day, comparably insignificant problems are of no concern to God and He should not be bothered with them; or I can humbly recognize that God is not only capable to handle all of life's circumstances and issues and problems, big or small, but that is exactly how He desires to interact with me, His son, because he loves me, He knows me intimately and specially, and He really and truly cares about me.

It's time to trade in my old thought for a new, it's time to repent, it's time to trust again.

Freedom...

I saw this cartoon on another blog the other day.  I thought it very relevant to the world we live in today.


Fear is the lock that imprisons our lives.


Think about it, let's just start with how we raise our kids to follow the American dream:

• You've got to study hard in school.  Why?  Because if you don't you will never get into a good college.  Fear.
• You've got to get into a good college even if it means a hundred thousand dollars (if not more) of debt.  Why?  Because if you don't you have no chance of landing a good paying job.  Fear.
• You've got to get a good paying job.  Why?  Because if you don't you will never be able to live in a safe neighborhood.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will never be able to drive a reliable car and you will get stranded some dark night on a lonely stretch of back road.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will never be able to provide for a family and your wife will run off with a guy with gold chains and a porsche and your kids will become gang bangers and sell weed to buy guns.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will never look successful and when you go back to your 25 year high school reunion everyone will see that your life has been a waste.  Fear.
• You've got to have good insurance.  Why?  Because if you don't then some medical tragedy will come and you will go bankrupt or not be able to afford the right doctors.  Fear.
• You've got to give as much as possible to a good retirement plan.  Why?  Because if you don't you will have to work your good paying, but miserable job, until you keel over at your desk.  Fear.  Because if you don't you won't be able to live your "golden years" driving the coast in your RV collecting various kinds of sea shells, rocks, stamps, ceramic cat figurines, etc.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will find yourself old and having to rely on other people.  Fear.

The padlock of fear has fastened itself to our churches as well:

• You've got to have strong programs in your church.  Why?  Because if you don't then people will be bored and think you don't care about them.  Fear.
• You've got to go easy on people from the pulpit, you can't expect too much of them.  Why?  Because if you don't go easy on them then they will leave and won't hear any good news at all.  Fear.
• You've got to drill your people from the pulpit.  Every week tell them how sinful they are.  In the words of Jonathan Edwards, "The pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive the wicked: the flames do now rage and glow. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much in the same way as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked..."  Why?  Because if you don't then people will think they can do whatever they want to.  Fear.
• You've got to kick bad people out of your church.  Why?  Because they will infect everyone else and people will think you accept and condone their behavior.  Fear.
• You've got to be careful what books you read, or what preachers you listen to.  Why?  Because people might think you agree with all that.  Fear.

A couple of passages come to mind:

• "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." - I John 4:18
• "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." - Jesus, John 10:10

The key to the fear padlock is love.  It is the love of the Father poured out on us His children.  It is the love of Jesus that caused Him to don a human skin in order to show us the way to the Father.  It is the love of Jesus that drove Him to willfully be hung on a cross for us.  It is the love of a triune God who chooses not to hold this against us but be eager to adopt us as sons and daughters, heirs of His Kingdom, and all that is required is to believe in Him, to place our confidence in Him, to allow Him to deal with the condition of our frail and broken humanity to experience His new life from above.  His abundant life from above.  Life filled with Him.  Life filled with relationship with Him.  Life filled with love.  Eternal life.

All fears have some base in reality.  All fears have some truth in them.  If they weren't even remotely possible then there would be nothing to fear.  But there is something greater than fear, love.  There is someone greater than fear, God.  We must not allow life to be imprisoned by a padlock of fear.  Embrace love, embrace God, trust Him for everything and experience His abundant life from above.

It's All True...

You will need your bible for this one...go ahead...I'll give you a minute to find it.  (You can google passages too fyi.)

Please take some time and read Psalm 103.  This is one of my favorite passages in the bible.

Amazing, right?!

I’ve grown up in church.  I can’t remember a time when my family didn’t attend church.  I’ve been to loud churches, I’ve been to quiet churches, I’ve been to churches that have been everything in between. 

In all of these different church experiences I was taught that God is holy, and I am not.  God is perfect, I am a sinner.  I deserve hell, Jesus suffered and died a brutal and horrible death so that I would not have to spend eternity there. 

I was told that it was my sin who put Jesus on the cross.  If I were the only human being to have ever lived, Jesus would still have had to die for my sins.

These things are very true.

I carried the burden of this reality with me everywhere.  Maybe you do too.  Maybe you are one of those who live with the realization of your sinfulness every single day.  Maybe you are like me who was so crushed beneath the weight of my own guilt that I wanted to hurt myself for my failures.  It is a great burden indeed to know your own heart.

But…there is good news.

Read vs. 2-4 again.  Now vs. 8 & 9.  Now vs. 10, pause on this one for a moment, let it sink deeply into your soul.  Now vs. 11-14,… “He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust.”  Wow…

God, our father, remembering how He formed us out of dust, remembering our frailty, remembering to be patient with us, remembering to shower us with grace and mercy, remembering to not deal with us as we often deserve, remembering to forget our wrongs…

God, our father, love for us as deep as the heavens are from the earth.

Think about the expanse of the universe just for a moment; not too long, it will melt your brain!  The volume of the universe is the comparison for the volume of God’s love toward us…  Pause again…  Let that saturate your soul for a moment.  Fill yourself up with that thought.

Now read vs. 17-19.  How does this work with everything we have just read?  Isn’t that the point, I don’t keep his covenant!  I don’t do His commandments!  That’s why I need Him to be gracious and merciful and slow to anger and remember that I am just dust!

This is where Jesus comes in.  See, Jesus did not come to simply pay the penalty for our sinful lives, He came to show us how we can begin to live otherwise all together.  In Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7, several times we see Jesus say things like, “you have heard it said, but I say to you…”, and “Truly, truly I say to you…”, and “unless your righteousness is even more than the scribes and Pharisees (religious leaders), you will never enter God’s kingdom.”  Jesus called us to follow Him to learn another way altogether.  What is this way?  The way of transformation.  Transformation of our hearts, transformation of our character, transformation of our passions and desires.  The way of a stream naturally flowing with good water (John 7:38).  The way of a tree naturally bearing good fruit (Matt. 7:16-18).

So how do we walk this way of transformation?  John 3:16, that’s how!

“For God so loved the world (there’s that infinite expanse of His love!) that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus coming to provide a better way) that whoever would believe in Him (this word “believe” could literally be translated “to place one’s confidence in, to place one’s trust in”) would not perish (here we are back to Ps. 103:4, “He redeems your life from the pit”, this word perish can be translated “to come to ruin”) but have eternal life (this is not eternal as in very long, but eternal as in John 17:3 (look it up)). 

So can I paraphrase?  Thank you!

God’s love is so infinitely deep and wide for the entire world that He sent us His Son to put His life and love on display for us to see, so that anyone at all who would choose to live trusting Him with their entire lives would not come to lives of ruin, but would instead live His very kind of life, lives full of relationship with Him!

This is good news!

You no longer need to focus on your unworthiness, but instead you can choose to live God’s very way of life; fueled and empowered by His infinite love to choose to trust Him with your very life.  Every area of your life.  Even your sin.

Take some time to just bask in the overwhelming reality of His infinite love for you.

Try not to pray, try not to be distracted, try not to read, try not to think about anything else, just sit saturated as if in a pool of His love.

Now, release your life into His very capable hands.  He can handle it better than you.  Follow Him.

Baking A Batch Of Salvation

I saw an ad for a church on my Facebook page this morning.  I clicked it.  I couldn't help it.

It said a lot of the usual stuff, in the usual ways, but all the while saying they were the church for people who didn't like church anymore but still liked Jesus.  I can appreciate that.  I think there is a little too much of this language everywhere you look in the church world these days, but I get it; a lot of people are burned out on the whole "church" scene.  So, there is a move underway, by some, to recast the church in a new, "hip" light.

Now, I like "hip" a lot!  I don't think of myself as "hip" at all, but I like it when I see it!  What I'm not real fond of is trying to be "hip" for the sake of "hip-ness".  I mean, if you are "hip", let your "hip" flag fly!  But I don't think "hip" is a good thing to work at...especially in church.  It just looks a little off.  Kind of like Tom Hanks' multiple characters in "The Polar Express".  You knew that train conductor was Tom Hanks, but something was just not quite right...

Sorry...tangent...

So on one of the pages of this church's website I saw "Becoming A Christian.  It's As Easy As ABC".  It then went on to spell out the ABC's:

1. Admit you're a sinner...
2. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for you to pay for your sins...
3. Choose to accept His free gift of forgiveness, by accepting Him as your Lord and Savior...

...and that was pretty much it.  Presto, Magico!  We just baked up a batch of salvation!  We have the list, we've checked it twice.  We followed the directions...Yep!  We're all saved now!  Doesn't it feel good?!

The problem is...Jesus never said any of this...

1. Jesus called us to repent, to rethink our entire way of living our lives, not just the bad things we do.
2. Jesus called us to believe in Him, literally to place our confidence in Him, not just something He did.
3. Jesus never asked permission when He forgave, no one ever had to accept His forgiveness, He just freely gave it whenever the opportunity presented itself.
4. Jesus said "...I am Lord...", "...I have come to save..." He is Lord and Savior whether one accepts it or not, it is who He is.

The question then becomes "Will I continue to fight for my own way, or will I recognize that His way of life is far superior to my own?"

This question is relevant both without and within our churches today.  Too many church attendees (either full time or part time) today have settled for an ABC christianity.  We have traded the beautiful, loving, adventurous, passionate, interactive relationship with the Creator of everything (both seen and unseen), and changed it for a three part formula that when mixed together and baked in the oven of human life, someday comes out smelling of fresh baked salvation from hell and into everlasting heaven.  

I'm sorry, it's just not good enough news for me.

Why do we do this?

Because it's easy.

It's easy to understand a formula; relationship is hard.  It's easy to believe three things, say a prayer and then wait for heaven; it's hard to develop a new life passion.  It's relatively easy to work hard to break a bad sin habit; it's impossible to become a different kind of person on my own.  It's easy to show up to church every Sunday, read some bible verses, pass out some tracks to people on the street; it's hard to become involved in people's messy lives, to meet people's needs, to be interrupted from something I want to be doing to spend time with someone else.  It's easy to give 10% of my money; it's hard to not want anything.  It's easy to feel guilt and condemnation; it's hard to get on with living His life.  It's easy to study doctrine; it's hard to love my enemy.

The real beauty of salvation is when we choose to follow Jesus (become His disciple) and we begin to learn to trust Him for everything, He saves our live's now!  We don't have to wait for heaven!  The glorious, beyond our wildest imagination, reality of a future heaven will take care of itself!  And where else would we go??  We've followed Him with our whole lives, of course we will follow Him into the next!

The real beauty of salvation is that we are invited by God (by way of gentle, loving command) to participate with Him in His great saving (reconciling) work in this life.  Jesus called this being salt and light.  Jesus said our good deeds would bring glory to God.  Jesus commanded us to love one another.  Jesus invited us to follow His example and make disciples, immersing these ones (through their interactions with us) in the reality of the triune God.

The real beauty of salvation is intimate and passionate relationship with Creator God.  It is not a formula.  It does not always make sense.  It is certainly not without danger.  It does require much effort, although I cannot trust in that effort.

The real beauty of salvation is it is truly good news.  Right here, right now, and for eternity!

Do You Have Your Jesus Camo?

I know, it's a gruesome image, but we use some gruesome language.

Consider the hymns we sing on Sunday mornings:
"There Is A Fountain <Filled With Blood>"
"Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus"
"There Is Power In The Blood Of Jesus"
"Are You Washed In The Blood"
"Covered By The Blood"

I watched a message on YouTube the other day of a preacher talking about the "gospel".  The gospel by definition is "Good News", this was what he was proclaiming is the good news:

"Jesus went to the cross so that you don't have to!  He took your place.  When you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, when you are covered in the blood of Jesus, then when God looks at the cross He doesn't see His Son, Jesus, He sees you!  And when He looks at you, He doesn't see you, He sees His Son, Jesus!"

I understand that might sound like some good news at first, not having to be crucified ourselves (...wait, didn't Jesus talk about us taking up our cross and dying daily?  Didn't Paul claim to be "crucified with Christ"?  Anyway.....), but really, the good news is I can hide from God by drenching myself in Jesus' blood?  Jesus' blood camouflages who I am so God can no longer see me?  Let's not even take into account that what appeases God is His eternally bloody Son.  And how long do I have to keep up this charade?  Is there any point in eternity where I can stop wearing my Jesus camo and God will be ok with me being in Heaven?  Do I just sneak by Him at the pearly gates as He's reading the paper, hoping that He doesn't look too closely as I walk by, "Oh, hey Son, be sure to wipe your feet so You don't track too much blood on the carpet."

Jesus went to great lengths to communicate the love of the Father, not His blood lust.  He went to great lengths to communicate how we are infinitely special to Him, how we are His sons and daughters, so much so that yes, He did send His Son to die a horrible death by crucifixion.  But is that moment in history frozen for all eternity?  Is God always looking for a bloody Jesus?  Are we to perpetually live with eternal Jesus camo?

Jesus communicated a loving Father, not just in the act of the cross, but towards us His children.  Paul understood this and communicated it over and over again in his letters.  James understood this.  Peter understood this.  John understood this possibly more than any one.

When God sees us, He isn't looking for His bloodied Son, He sees us, warts and all, and loves us just as we are.  That love is what will wash us.  That love is what will cure our sin disease.  That love is what will transform us into His very likeness, His image.

Let's trade in our Jesus camo for His very way of life, only accesible because of the cross, His eternal life.

Following the Historical Jesus?

I was talking with someone today who claims to be unsure of God's existence.  Of the existence of any god for that matter.  The interesting thing is he grew up in the church, his parents are in ministry in the church, he's been a part of our youth group, he's played for our worship gatherings, and unsure of God's existence.

We've known each other for a year now, a year this Easter.  I love this guy.  He's special to me.  I don't believe him.

We've been having this conversation for a while now.  The one about him not believing in God.  He's been told about God for much of his life, believed for a period of time, and then one day began to ask the question, if God is actually real, why won't He just show Himself?

He asked this in church one day...they told him that he couldn't play the drums in the church service anymore if he was questioning the existence of God.

His question became a decision.  If this is how christians are going to react to a question I have, then I don't want to believe in their god.

Done.  Just like that.  God doesn't exist.

So our conversations have morphed a bit now.  Like I said, I don't really believe him.

Today we were talking again and I told him that I didn't think he struggled with the reality of God so much as he struggled with the picture of God that has been presented by those who claim His name.  He said he thought I might be right...

I encouraged him to follow Jesus, there is no questioning His existence.

Is it possible to follow Jesus and question the existence of God?

Is it possible to follow Jesus and not know that He is God?

I'm thinking of the story in Mark 2 where the four men bring their friend who is lame to a house that Jesus was teaching in.  The house was packed so they climb to the roof, tear a hole in it, and lower their friend down.  Mark tells us that Jesus saw their faith, and said to the man "Your sins are forgiven."  Then He heals him.  Not once do we see the man, or his friends for that matter, say anything at all.  What was their faith?  Was their faith that Jesus was God?  Was their faith that Jesus was the Messiah?  Or was their faith simply that Jesus had a reputation for healing people, so chances are He could heal their friend too?

The interesting thing is Jesus was ok with whatever their faith was, they had come to Him with their need.  So he forgave the man's sins...and He met the man's need.  He healed him soul and body.

Oh, and Mark says that Jesus claimed to do this so that all present would know that He is the Son of Man, a direct reference to being divine.

It's as if Jesus were ok with the friends bringing the man to Him with no claim of recognizing who He really was.  He then used that as an opportunity to clearly state who He is.

I really hope my younger brother will choose to follow the historical Jesus.  I'm not even concerned that He may not be able to recognize Him as divine.  I don't think Jesus is concerned with it either.  I do think it won't take long for any disciple of Jesus, under any circumstance, to begin to recognize that there is more to this One, He is no mere human.

Redefining Sin (part 2)

The scene opens on a beautiful, sunny spring like day.  Every flower is in bloom, the smell of the pollen on the breeze is intoxicating, but not assaulting.  A wolf and a lamb are grazing side by side on the lush grass in the meadow.

A stir in the brush and the man and the woman step into view, hand in hand.  A lion lopes forward and nuzzles his mane nto the man's bare chest.

All is as it should be.

There is no fear, for none would do harm.
There is no pride, for all have been created by God.
There is no anger, for all are living in perfect harmony.
There is no selfishness, for all is God's and God has given all.

Yet a thought begins to tickle at the edges of the woman and man's thinking; might there still be more?

Why has God said not to eat from that tree?
What must that fruit taste like?  Might it be better than the other fruit of the other trees?
Why is this tree here if not to be eaten from?

Then the serpentine voice begins to speak; there must be a reason God does not want you to eat...
Maybe there is something about that fruit that God does not want you to know...
Maybe that fruit tastes better than all the other fruit and God wants to keep it from you...
Maybe God is afraid that if you have that fruit you will no longer want Him...
Maybe that fruit will make you like God, and He is afraid that you will no longer need Him...
Maybe God is holding back on you...
Maybe God cannot be trusted...

...and sin entered the world, and they took a bite.

---------------------------------------------

I have spent much of my life viewing many of my actions as sinful.  I have spent many years trying to purge sin from my life by stopping bad actions, bad thoughts, bad emotions, bad reactions and so on.  As many would probably agree with me, it is a long and hard and uphill battle fraught with guilt and sometimes despair and only brief moments of joy at success sloughing all to quickly back into pits of despair at how little ground is actually won.  All the while painfully burning in the radiance of Jesus' call to "...be perfect as Your Father in Heaven is perfect."

It was only when I began to question what was at the core of my sin, my "sin nature", that I began to see things change in my life.  But it got worse before it got better.

I was reading in Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus is calling out those who believe themselves to be righteous on their own merit.  Jesus says,  "You have heard it said 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment...You have heard that it was said 'You shall not commit adultery'.  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Honestly, my first reaction to this was, great...I'm even worse off then I thought.

What I began to realize though, is that Jesus had no interest in making things easier on us; He had no interest in assuaging our guilt over sin.  He lived to show us another way, a way to be completely free from the power of sin once and for all.

What is this way?  It is a way to become someone different all together.

I began to realize through the creation story, through Adam and Eve, through the multitude of stories shared throughout the Old Testament, through Jesus message while physically here with us and the writings of all those who followed him, that love is the answer to the question of what is a life that is pleasing to God; love is the answer to sin.

Jesus summed it up beautifully in Matthew 22:37-40 when asked what is the greatest of all the commandments. He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (here Luke adds, "with all your strength") and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."  All the Law and the Prophets, all of the scriptures to that day, all of it summed up in Love God, Love each other.  You want to live a life that is pleasing to God, love.

Sin, I think we could all agree on, is not pleasing to God.  Sin, then, would be the choice, the decision to not love God, to not love each other.

Love, in this passage, is the greek word Agape.  It is defined in the Strong's Greek concordance, among other things, as "to wish well to, to regard the welfare of".  We could also say to desire another's good, or to want what is best for another.  What is it to desire God's good, to want what is best for God?  Interestingly enough it is inexplicably tied to our own good, to what is best for us.  What is good for God, what is best for God from us, is that He is followed, that He is obeyed.  The root of all this comes when He is trusted above anything or anyone else.

So let's look back at the garden.  What happened?  When did things go so wrong?  It wasn't when they took the bite, things were already broken then, it was when they decided that God could not be taken at His word.  God ultimately could not be trusted.

What happened next is very telling, God came looking in the garden...and they hid.  Why?  Because they were afraid.  One does not fear what is trusted.

Trust and love are inseparable from one another.  Look what John says in I John 4, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."  

One does not fear what is trusted.
One who loves has no need to fear.

I began to see how sin is not found in my wrong actions, but rather my wrong actions are a direct result of sin, a direct result of not trusting God.

Not trusting God leads me to do my own thing, find my own way, seek my own peace, my own joy, my own pleasure, my own safety, my own security, my own success...and we can go on...

Biting into the fruit only comes as a result of deciding that God cannot be trusted.

My sin nature then can be defined as my distrusting nature.  It is what we are all born with.  A baby cries because if he does not then you might forget about his need for milk.  A child lies because if you knew the truth then you would reject her.  A teenage girl has sex because if she doesn't her boyfriend will find another.  A man cheats on his taxes because if he doesn't then the government will try to take too much of his money.  A dictator indiscriminately kills because if he does not the people will rise up and overthrow him.

It is in our nature to distrust, it is our sin nature.

How then do overcome our sin nature?  How do we overcome sin?  How do we start living lives with no room for sin, lives that result in doing good rather than wrongdoing?  How do we be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect?

By choosing love.

Listen to what Jesus says just before He calls us to perfection, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons (and daughters) of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (so just trust Him, He's got it all worked out).  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore (for this reason) must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  ...and how is our Heavenly Father perfect?  He causes His sun to rise and rain to fall on the evil and the good, the just and the unjust.  He desires the good of everyone alike.  He wants what is best for everyone alike.  He loves everyone alike.  He is perfect in love.  Now you, you be perfect in His way of love.

Overcoming sin is not accomplished by attempting to overcome my own wrong actions, overcoming sin is accomplished in the day by day, moment by moment choosing the way of love, which leaves no room for wrong actions.  So when wrong actions are a part of my life, I quickly recognize them as the result of sin in my life, I am choosing not to love, I am choosing not to trust God's way.  I am choosing to not be perfect.

My goal now is to be perfected in His way of love.  My goal now is to choose to trust Him through and through.  My goal now is to grow in His love, to love Him with my heart, mind, soul and strength and to love my neighbor as myself.  As I grow in this I am finding less and less room for sin all the time.  I am leaving sin behind and in the words of King David I have picked up new traveling companions, Goodness and Mercy.

Have I stopped all wrongdoing in my life now?  No, but it is no longer the goal either.

That goal of stopping something in my life has become too small in light of a larger passion of moving forward into new life with Christ (that comes from following Him to His death, but I've talked about that before).  This new growing passion for being consumed with His kind of life will eventually leave me with no room for anything but His way of life.

...and I think that's some pretty good news.

Redefining Sin (part 1)

I remember the day as if it were a movie.  Not shot particularly well, more like security camera footage, only in color.  For some reason this is the way most of my memories from my childhood work, a photograph, a silent video, somewhat sepia toned but with spots of color.  I can always see myself in my memories, almost as if they are someone else's of me.  Someone videoing and taking still shots of my life all the while knowing exactly what it is that I am thinking, what I am feeling.

So I am walking home from school, and I hate myself.

I've always had a strong conscience.  I had fought with it for a long time.  I tried not to care, I even tried to be a little bit of a "bad kid," but that conscience...  My mom used to tell me that if I ever did anything wrong then I was going to be caught.  No 'ifs', 'ands' or 'buts' about it, I would be caught.  She said something about God loving me...

What I started to realize was that she was right in the worst imaginable kind of way, I was always caught, but not always by someone else.  I was always caught by myself.  That stupid, overactive, never sleeping conscience!  Maybe this was why I always viewed my memories as if from the outside, maybe because I was always spying on myself, and I hated what I saw.

I grew up in church hearing about the evils of sin in our world.  How we all have a "sin nature" that causes us to want to sin.  How there are forces of darkness in our world that would try and cause sin to become the accepted way of life.  How sin entered into the world when Adam and Eve first bit the forbidden fruit.  I understood this in my own life.  I could see it as if from the outside.  I was filled with this blackness.

So I am walking home from school, and I hate myself.  I know who I really am.  I walk in the front door and no one is home.  I am so sick of myself.  I don't want to die, because I am certain God will throw me in hell, but I really hate me.  I'm fuming with it.  I walk into my bedroom, I shut my door, I pull off my shirt, I take out my belt and I begin to whip myself.  Over and over again, welcoming the pain, not holding back.

I deserve this.

I have been caught.

I have been found out for who I really am.

I cannot hide from me.

I had come to understand sin as an outside force, a black cloud in a sense.  Something ever looming on the horizon, praying on the weak, causing me to want to party, and look at porn, and break things.  But I also saw it as an infecting force.  And how do you deal with an infection?

So I took my daily inoculations of reading my bible, and praying, and going to church, and lifting my hands in worship.  I went on a mission trip, I shared my beliefs with my classmates; all this in an attempt to hold the force of sin raging in my body at bay.  But I wasn't fooled, God wasn't fooled, we both knew who I was.

I began to hold tightly to Paul's statement in Romans 7, "I do not do the thing I want, but I do the very things that I hate!  Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from myself?"

So I whipped myself.  I punished myself so that God would not have to later.  Maybe if He saw how much I hated that I was sinning, He would take that into consideration when determining my eternal destiny.

I was so broken.  I was such a mess.  How could I ever move beyond this?

The change came when I began to redefine sin.

(To be continued...)

Turning the Scope Around

When I was a kid I used to love looking through my dad's binoculars backwards.  I would hold the large lens opening up to my eyes and then hold out my hand.  It was like my arm stretched out in some eery kind of way and then my hand was so small.  I'd wiggle my fingers and feel very long.  I could entertain myself for hours just looking backwards through those lenses.

Telescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, scopes of all kinds fascinate me still.  I still find myself turning them around at times.  What's interesting is the image is the same image no matter which way you look through the scope, it's the depth that changes.  Looking through the scope backward leaves much blackness in your field of vision, removes the image far from you and keeps you from seeing much detail in it.  Looking through the lenses as they are intended to be looked through fills your vision, gives you much to look at, much detail and brings the image in very close.

In the bible we are given two primary lenses in which to view God, who God is and what God does.  Both lenses give us much information about God, allowing us to see Him as He really is, allowing us to look on the physically unseen reality of God.

In one lens we see who God is, His character and person are revealed, God is named:

El Shaddai - God almighty, or God all sufficient
Jehovah Rophe - The Lord who heals
Jehovah Shalom - The Lord our peace
Jehovah Rohi - The Lord our Shepherd
Abba - Father, Daddy
Emmanuel - God with us
Holy Spirit - Named as Comforter, Counselor, Spirit of Truth, Sanctifier and more
God is:

• Love
• Good
• Kind
• Faithful
• Righteous
• Just
• Wise
• Sovereign
• Omniscient (able to know everything)
• Omnipresent (everywhere)
• Omnipotent (able to do anything)

...and many, many more.

The other lens is what God does, what He engages in in the world:

• God pours out His wrath
• God exercises judgment
• God will heal all peoples
• God sent His one and only Son
• God is the giver of good gifts
• ...we could go on and on with this as well.

How we look through the lenses, which is placed in front of the other, greatly affects how we view God.  Are we trying to understand who God is through the lens of what He does, or are we trying to understand why God does what He does through the lens of who He is?  Which way we look through our scope greatly affects how we view God.

If I see God's wrath and judgment first, then I struggle with Him being a good and kind and loving Father.  If I see Him as being the giver of good gifts then I struggle with His omniscience and omnipotents when it comes to evil in the world.  In this view, God looks distant, far away, small, limited in His actions.

However, if I am looking through the lens appropriately, understanding what God does in light of who He is, then I will understand that His wrath can only be exercised in His love and kindness and goodness.  I will understand His plan to heal all peoples in light of His omniscience and omnipotence (in other words I will trust that He knows what He is doing and will not hold him to my time frames or my limited understanding).

Looking through the lens appropriately does not mean that I will all of a sudden have full clarity in my knowledge and understanding of God, He is infinite after all.  What it will help me to do is trust Him when some circumstance in life does not seem to add up.  (God, I may not understand why you allowed such devastation in Japan, but I do know that You are Good, that You are Kind, You are Love, You are capable of doing anything, You are capable of knowing everything and You are our Father.  Because I know who You are, I will choose to trust what You are doing, and even maybe what You are not doing when I think You should be doing more.)

I heard it said once, you cannot fully understand the depths of God's love if you do not first understand the magnitude of His wrath.  I think that is a backwards scope.  How can I possibly understand what God is doing if I do not first seek to understand who He is.  

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." - John 17:3

Starving the Cancer

Last night was our monthly ONE Gathering, a gathering of most of the local youth ministries of our community once a month to celebrate our unity in Christ.  This is what I talked about:

Several months ago a friend forwarded me an email.  I hate forwards...I loved this one.  It was someone's discovery of Zephaniah 3:17 painting a beautiful picture of an incredibly loving God.  I was moved by it.  I had to check it out for myself.

Zephaniah 3:17:
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by His love;
He will exult over you with loud singing.

Language interpretation can be an interesting thing in that it sometimes is not an exactly exact science.  The best that can be done sometimes is to find the best words to communicate a concept that can only truly be understood in the the context of the original language.  Here are a few examples of some other colorful words that could be possible interpretations to use in this Zephaniah passage:

Rejoice - to leap, to jump up and down
Gladness - joyful cries
Quiet - be speechless
Exult - dance
Loud singing - a ringing cry

So indulge me, if you would, in a paraphrase using some of these other words:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty One who will save;
He will jump up and down over you with joyful shouts;
He will be struck speechless in His love for you;
He will dance over you with a ringing cry and loud singing.

So a question, can someone like this be trusted with your life?

The ruler of the universe, who is not far away, but right here with you.
The mighty and heroic One who will rescue you.
All this and yet when He thinks of you He:

• can't keep from jumping up and down with joyful shouting
• becomes speechless in His love for you
• dances and sings loudly because of you

Can you trust someone like this with your life?

At first I think the ready answer would be yes, but strangely enough, the process begins with following Him to death.  Death? 

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." - Luke 9:23

The cross was a Roman execution tool.  One would carry their own cross that they were about to be nailed to down a processional for all to see to the place where they were to be executed.  It was an effective means used by Roman soldiers to put an end to rebellious types who would fight the ruling Roman government.  So, Jesus says to embrace your cross; don't fight submitting to the ruling authority; embrace the giving up of your own life.

What is the ruling authority that Jesus is referring to?  God's ruling authority.  He is the creator and ruler of the universe.  His Kingdom, His rule and reign, is present right now, and we can either fight for our own way, our own life, or we can take up our cross, submitting our very lives to Him.

Why would anyone ever choose to do this?  Because Jesus also said, "For whoever would save His life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." - Luke 9:24.  In other words, everyone who is born also dies.  you can fight to stay young, fight disease, fight natural and even unnatural disasters, you can kick and scream and fight, but eventually you will die.  So Jesus says the only way to save your life is to give up trying to save it.  Lose your life for His sake, then your life will be saved...

How does this even make sense?  Because of a thing called sin.  Sin is a cancer that feeds on life.  It consumes life, never satisfied, always needing more and more.  The more you feed it, the hungrier it becomes until it consumes your very soul and leaves no trace of your humanity.  We see examples of this all throughout history; Jeffery Dommer, Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, to name a few.  Ruined souls with little to no remnants of humanity left in them.

We were designed for life with God, never intended to live solely on our own.  We were designed to live in community, in relationship, with God and with each other.  Sin is the inherit desire in all of us to look out for #1, to seek my own desires no matter the cost to myself or someone else.  When we walk down this road, when we try and rule our own lives, the cancer of sin runs rampant through us feeding on our lives, feeding on our very souls.

The only way to stop sin is to starve it to death.  When we embrace dying to our own passions, desires, ways of living, being in charge of our own destiny, then we die to this life and embrace God's new and perfect way of life, and sin starves, the cancer stops spreading.

Jesus, Himself, led the way when He willingly went to the cross when He was already sin free.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life."  That word "believes" can literally be translated"to place one's confidence in".  So whoever places their confidence in Him, whoever trusts Him, will not be consumed by the cancer of sin and perish, but will have eternal life, God's new kind of life, the kind of life you were intended to live.

You, on your own, are powerless against the spread of the life and soul consuming sin cancer.  One writer in the bible says we are in slavery to it.  When we choose to place our confidence in Jesus, when we choose to trust Him with our lives, then we die to our own self preservation, our trying to save our lives, our own way of living, and the spread of the sin disease is stopped.  We are free.  Free to live the lives we were intended to.  Lives consumed with the goodness of God.

I don't know about you, but I would call that good news.

Dying To Live

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
Then I said, "Here am I!  Send me."  And He
said, "Go, and say to this people:

  "  'Keep on hearing, but do not
               understand;
     keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'
     Make the heart of this people dull,
          and their ears heavy,
          and blind their eyes;
     lest they see with their eyes,
          and hear with their ears,
     and understand with their hearts,
          and turn and be healed."
     Then I said, "How long, O Lord?"
     And He said:
     "Until cities lie waste
          without inhabitant,
     and houses without people,
          and the land is a desolate waste,
     and the Lord removes people far away,
          and the forsaken places are many in
               the midst of the land.
     And though a tenth remain in it,
          it will be burned again,
     like a terebinth or an oak,
          whose stump remains
          when it is felled."
     The holy seed is its stump.

-Isaiah 6:9-13

At the risk of being run out of the church, I have to confess, I have come very close to hating this passage.

What kind of God is this?  What kind of God is it that would not want His people, His children to turn from their self destructing ways back to Him so that He might heal them?  Why bother sending Isaiah in the first place?  Why give them the message they need to hear and then hope they don't get it so they will be destroyed?  What kind of God is this?

A frustrated God?
An angry God?
A righteous, vengeful, holy, vindictive God?

These are some of the explanations I've been given.  God in His awesome holiness and righteousness decided to deal with the wickedness and idolatry of Israel...but He was legally obligated to give them one more chance first.  Fairness demands an opportunity to repent.  So God in His omniscience devised a plan satisfy the demands for fairness, an opportunity to repent, while secretly hoping they would not take it, and then He could act on His frustrations, releasing His pent up anger, and unleash mountains of justice and righteousness on His children, dealing them a devastating blow.

This is the God of the Old Testament.  This is the God whom Jesus came to restrain with love.  This is the God whom Jesus could convince to let Himself take the beating that God was so eager to give all of humanity.

My problem was....this is not how Jesus talked about the Father.

How was I to reconcile the frustrated, angry, vindictive God image seemingly on display here with Jesus' explanations of Abba...daddy.

Oh, this ate at me...

How many times I have prayed, God, what am I missing here?...

In John 12 we see a story of when Jesus returned to Jerusalem towards the end of His ministry.  He had done so many things among the people, touched so many, the people were becoming convinced that He was indeed the long awaited Messiah.  They met Him at the entrance of the city with palm branches, laying them down in front of Him as He rode a donkey into the city fulfilling yet another of a long list of prophecies foretelling His arrival.  The cries of "Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" reverberating off of the walls of the city; it was a powerful moment indeed.  But that was verse 13...

Starting at the end of verse 16 we read:

When Jesus had said these things, He
departed and hid Himself from them.
Though He had done so many signs before
them, they still did not believe in Him, so
that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah
might be fulfilled:
  
     "Lord, who has believed what he heard
               from us,
          and to whom has the arm of the
               Lord been revealed?"

Therefore they could not believe.  For again
Isaiah said,

     "He has blinded their eyes
          and hardened their heart,
     lest they see with their eyes,
          and understand with their heart, and
               turn,
          and I would heal them."

Isaiah said these things because he saw
His glory and spoke of Him.  Nevertheless,
many even of the authorities believed in Him,
but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess
it, so that they would not be put out of
the synagogue; for they loved the glory that
comes from man more than the glory that
comes from God.

What in the world happened between verses 13 and 36???

Jesus called them to die.

Verse 24:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of
wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains
alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves His life loses it, and whoever
hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life.  If anyone serves me, he must follow
me; and where I am, there will my servant be
also.  If anyone serves me, the Father will
honor him.

This is when it hit me, in order for their to be life, true life, real life, abundant life, eternal life, then I must let go of the shadow of physical life and all it's trappings.  What was true for Israel is still true today, as long as I am pursuing physical existence then I will provide for physical existence, I will be consumed with physical existence.

What will I eat?
What will I drink?
What will I wear?
Where will I live?
Where will I work?
What kind of car will I drive?
How can I best manage my 401(k)?
...and I begin to look for a god that I can hold, that I can touch, that I can feel.  I look for an idol.

What will set me free?

Death.

Jesus said if you want to serve me, you must follow me, and I'm on my way to the cross.  I'm about to show you how to die.  It is the only way for you to live, and I am dying for you to live.

Where does this leave us with Isaiah 6?

What if God, Abba, daddy, Father loves His children so much, and He knows that the only way for us to live is to die, but sometimes we get so entrenched in chasing the shadows of life that we just can't seem to break away on our own?  What if God, Abba, daddy, Father loves us so much that if we turn around even for a moment with our big multi-colored eyes and hold out our arms to Him He will run to us and sweep us up in His ever reaching arms, saving us from all manner of harms?  What if God, Abba, daddy, Father loves us so much that He knows He can't help it, even though He knows that for us to really live we must die?  Might He then say,

     "I have blinded your eyes

          and hardened your heart,

     lest you see with your eyes,

          and understand with your heart, and

               turn,

          and I would heal you."

It would be the hardest thing for God, Abba, daddy, Father to do, to not save the day, to not rescue, to not heal, to watch die.  But this is the only way to live, and so it must be done, and Jesus says follow me, I will show you the way.  I will show you how to die so you might live.

I don't know about you, but I am dying to live.

Not always so nice and pretty....

In the beginning there was a couple named Adam and Eve.  They lived a perfect life in Paradise.   That is until one day they ate the wrong piece of fruit and God kicked them out of Paradise...forever.

There was a man named Noah.  God told him to build a really big boat (but it was smaller than some boats we build today).  He told Noah that his family could come on board as well as two of most animals and more of some others, everyone and everything else would die in a flood.  That's right, every dinosaur, every bird, every animal, every man, every woman, every smiling, cooing, newborn baby...all dead.  And now this story is used as a decoration motif for infant's nurseries.

There was a man named Abraham, God told him he would have a son with his wife Sarai.  Abraham married Hagar also and had a son with her, Ishmael.  God told Abraham that wasn't the son He had in mind so he was to send both of them into the desert...alone...they could not return...

There was a man named Moses.  One day God told Him to speak to a rock in the desert and it would give water for all the children of Israel.  Moses hit the rock with a stick instead.  God said, now you can't go into the promised land, but I will let you look at it from the top of a mountain.

There was a man named Joshua.  God told him to march around the city Jericho for seven days and then the walls would fall down.  He was then to march in and kill every living creature.  Death by sword for every single animal, man, woman, and baby.

There was a man named Job.  God told the devil that he could take all of Job's possessions, kill all of his children and give him painful boils.  When Job asked God why, God responded, who are you to question me?  The end.

There are some things I wish weren't in the bible.

I think we haven't known how to deal with these stories and so our mental preservation instincts have kicked in and we have dealt with them as exactly that, stories.   We've turned them into crib sheets.  We've turned them into cliche answers for the pain in our other's lives, but somehow we have a hard time swallowing those cliches when it comes to our own pains.  The one thing that has become very evident to me is that there are some things that simply must be wrestled with.  Some of these stories have no simple, quick, nice and neat, wrapped in a package with a pretty bow answers.  God is not that simple.  God will not be contained in niceties.

But He is good.  He is love.  He is kind.  He is just.  He is righteous.  He is light and in Him is no darkness.  He always does what is right.  He is the good shepherd.  He is the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes down from above.  And we are His children.

So what are we to do with these stories then?

First we must lay aside our preconceived notions.  We must stop looking at these stories in the fully colorized, comic book version of the bible.  We must take down the Noah's ark quilts from our babies nursery cribs.

Second, we must stop looking for answers.  We must lay aside our quick and simple one paragraph solutions for the stories (i.e. God did this because....).  Many of these stories are left with no moral, with no resolution, it is simply an account of what happened.

Third, we must wrestle with the stories.  We must begin to allow them to unsettle us, to make us uncomfortable, to force us to question.  We must allow our discomfort to grow us.  Not once in the bible are we shown an instance where a true seeker of God questions Him and is destroyed for it.

Fourth, we must hold fast to what we know to be true of God in these journeys.  He is good.  He is love.  He is kind.  He is just.  He is righteous.  He is light and in Him is no darkness.  He always does what is right.  He is the good shepherd.  He is the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes down from above.  And we are His children.  We must let these truths guide us through the fog where things are not clearly seen or understood, through the murky waters of uncertainty.

Fifth we must always keep in mind the purpose of these stories; they have been given and preserved through the millennia to teach us much of who we are, who He is, what our world is like and our place and purpose in it, and His readily available and eternal kingdom.

So wrestle, accept no easy answers, and discover who God really is.  Discover who you really are.  Discover your place and purpose in this life.  Discover His kingdom.

My next post will be one of my recent wrestling journeys.  May you be blessed with much discovery.

Climbing Out Of The Rut

I hate bumper stickers.

Not only are bumper stickers tacky, in my humble opinion of course, but their only intention is to poke you in the eye with a statement.  There is nothing engaging about a bumper sticker, there is nothing inviting.  I have not ever seen a bumper sticker that reads "Follow me if you need a friend and a free cup of coffee!  I'm a great listener!"

Christians have participated in the eye poking too.  Pastor Brian called it "Bumper Sticker Theology", the quick quip statement that is designed to put an end to a conversation.  We love these especially when it comes to the problem of sin:

• "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven!"
• "Just a sinner saved by grace!"
• "Christians ain't perfect, but Jesus is!"
• "T.G.I.F. Thank God I'm Forgiven!"

I am eternally grateful that my sins are forgiven, that God has chosen to not hold my wrongs against me, that Jesus once and for all ransomed my life from a living and eternal hell to life with Him for eternity; but what I am reading in the bible is causing me to wonder if I am still stuck in a rut of seeing myself for who I once was, and not who I now am.

Isaiah 6 gives us a glimpse of powerful interaction between God and Isaiah.  Isaiah was taken in a vision to the throne of God.  The language is powerful and captivating, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Above Him stood the seraphim.  Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke."  Isaiah's natural response was, "And I said: 'Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'"

I must say this as a profound understatement, I can identify with Isaiah.  Were I to come face to face with the unveiled glory of God, "Woe is me!" would not even begin to communicate the intensity of the situation.  The bible is full of stories of encounters with God where this is the exact response in every instance; when God reveals Himself, I too am revealed.  But listen to what happens next, "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

Wait........THAT'S IT????  I know there is some deep significance in the burning coal that I am still wanting to understand, but that's it???

"Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

One thing that has become extremely evident to me is that God is quick and eager to forgive sin and not hold it against us, it is us who hang on to the memory of who we once were, and by staying in this rut we have a tendency to continue repeating the same mistakes over and over.  Look at these verses:

• The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities...as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us...For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. - Psalm 103
• And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." - Mark 2:5
• I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. - I John 2:12

It is time to climb out of the rut.  It is time to embrace the new life that has been made available to us.  It is time to begin to learn to see ourselves as new.  Paul put it this way in II Corinthians 5, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

So what is waiting for us out of the rut?  Back to Isaiah 6, "And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  Then I said, "Here am I!  Send me."  And He said, "Go..."

What is waiting for us out of the rut is new life, life from above, the life of the ages, eternal life.

I may not be perfect, just forgiven, but that is not the point, and it certainly is no excuse to not be living the life from above.  I am done with that rut.

I am a new creation in Christ.

The gospel according to.... (revised 1-22-11)

Being the glutton for punishment that I often am, I was reading through someone's blog today who seems to believe that their calling in life is to find and point out what is wrong with people.  I used to read these posts and boil and fume and wonder why with all the good that God is hard at work at in our world, would someone need to make it their life focus to try and point out all that is wrong?  I don't really get angry anymore, it's more of a sadness...anyway...

This blogger made a statement,
"(Insert name of semi-popular pastor/author here) makes me mad because he preaches an anti-gospel. He craftily does this by portraying the essence of Christianity as following Jesus and treating people the way Jesus did. While this is important, living the “Jesus life” is not the essence of Christianity and neither is obeying the commands of Jesus (as important as that is). The essence of Christianity centers upon the work of Christ on behalf of sinners (i.e. substitutionary atonement)."


This hit a little close to home as I too have been accused of preaching an 'anti-gospel' in our little community, and for the same reasoning.  It also hits close to home because if you have ever listened to pastor Brian on a Sunday morning or been a part of a bible study that he has led then you will have clearly heard him present the gospel as simply, and I quote, "Trust Jesus."


"The essence of Christianity centers upon the work of Christ on behalf of sinners (i.e. substitutionary atonement)."


The difference in these views comes down to a 'limiting' of the gospel as opposed to an 'anti' gospel.  Understanding the gospel in terms of it centering upon the work of Christ on behalf of sinners is to take one element of His life, albeit a profoundly important and beautiful element, and saying this is all that matters; this, I would say, is a limiting of the gospel.  Understanding the gospel in terms of "Trust Jesus" is to not merely look at His work, but instead to take the entirety of His life into account, including, of course, His work on behalf of sinners.  This is by no means an "anti-gospel," and by no means a limiting of Christ's gospel to one event in His life (however profoundly important, crucial and beautiful it may be).  There is no room to denigrate and play down the importance of the cross in our lives; there is however, much room to elevate the entirety of Christ's life, including His death and resurrection, in all of our lives.

I have to say that this is very clearly the language of the entire New Testament also.  If you look, there are only eleven references to the cross from Acts through Revelation; ten from Paul in the entirety of his writings, and one in Hebrews.  There are only 19 separate references to the death of Christ from Acts through Revelation.*

The rest is about His life, His resurrection, the lives we are meant to live in Him, stories of those who are and who are not living His abundant life, how we are to interact with one another in His life, what His life looks like in us, what His life produces in us, and on and on and on.

In the beginning God created a heaven and a earth just as He wanted it.  He created a man and a woman just as He wanted them to be to live in and experience this heaven and earth.  He called this "Very Good!"

Not long after, this man and woman decided that they knew better than Him.  They chose to follow their own way and not live in His abundant life.  This has been the choice provided to all of mankind ever since.

There is a new beginning in Jesus.  Jesus came to show us how to have life and live it abundantly.  He overcame the power of sin and death by way of His own death and resurrection and we can now identify with Him by dying to our selves, our own way of living and instead trusting Him for new life, a new way to live; eternal life.

Jesus' gospel is to trust Him, the entirety of His life, so that we might return, starting now and for all eternity, to the abundant life that He created in the beginning.

This is the gospel according to Jesus, according to Paul, according to the entire New Testament, according to God's plans set in motion throughout the Old Testament...Trust Jesus.


(*I had to revise my first post as I found more references, although the few more I found do not change the truth of the statement.  I must insist again, this realization does absolutely nothing to denigrate the cross!  It is, without question, one of the most beautiful and powerful moments in all of human history.  What it most certainly does demand though, is for us to reconsider whether we have given enough attention to Jesus' life, both before and after the cross.  


I would be happy to discuss the specific passages that I am referencing, and there is much more additional insight that can be gained from the context of these passages (how His death is referenced, what surrounds the reference to His death, the purpose of His death, the benefits of His death.)  In every reference, the point always returns to His available life.)