Been doing a lot of learning, via Bible study, listening to sermons, small group discussions, etc regarding the abundant life that Jesus promises His followers... here are some thoughts:
I am fairly convinced that the abundant life is multifaceted as a diamond, and one of these facets is regarding the fact that there is much of the abundant life that isn't really about me at all... the abundant life Jesus is promising is a life lived to the full. It is not about material gain or anything that I can amass in this world. The abundant life is defined by the eternal life that we are promised when we choose to answer the call of our True Shepherd and take up our cross, denying ourselves daily, and follow Jesus. Jesus tells us that the eternal life He promises is found in the full knowledge of God, and the belief in the One He sent. In other words, the abundant life is a life that is lived in the fullness of the glory of God. When we choose to surrender ourselves to the work of Christ in us and through us, then we get to gather glimpses of the full glory, and the eternal Kingdom. The abundant life exists for the same reason that we all exist, for the glory and enjoyment of God. Its not about us, its about God, and His infinite glory.
We get brought in through another facet... The more we grow in our knowledge and belief, the deeper we get into the understanding of God, the more of these glimpses we will find. Living in the fully glory of our Father and His Son is the abundant life. It is a life that breeds full contentment and joy in way that cannot be attained by the means of this earth. It is a craving that grows within each of us that we will try to satisfy or quiet by the methods of the world... we will try to gain deeper understanding of life, truth, science, anything... or we will tempt the craving on with success, money, material wealth, food, sex, whatever... and yet we will lack lasting joy, peace and contentment until we surrender to the abundant life.
Another note, I don't think there is a limit to the abundant life. We try to quantify things, try to make it a manageable size, so we can study, examine, and understand. We do it with God all the time, and we do it with the abundant life. I've done it in this post, stating that it is the fullness of the glory of God. I put a limit on it... sure the limit is God's fullness, but ultimately God is limitless. We are reminded in other verses of scripture that God is capable of accomplishing all that we ask, and abundantly more than we can fathom. The abundant life of God is a joy, peace, and contentment that reaches to unfathomable depths. It is unshakeable, unbreakable, unending, limitless... just like God Himself... and why? Because the abundant life is the fullness of God's glory!
When Jesus tells His disciples that He will give them life, and give it more abundantly, or to the full... it is a promise that a life lived for the glory of Christ is not a life without fruit. We are promised that, as followers of Christ, that we will experience the fullness of God's glory. We have the ability to, now, live under the authority of Christ, as an agent of subversion, to live radically bent against the rebellion of this world. We are no longer citizens of a fallen world, but we have been adopted into the family of an eternal father. We are no longer identified by who we are, but alone by who Christ is within us. And when we walk ahead boldly confident into the face of the world, into the fallen disgrace of humanity, we do so under the authority of God's glory. The abundant life is also a promise of freedom. Freedom from the chains... freedom to declare that we were once slave to our master of sin, but we choose now to be a slave of the one true Christ... to be, as Paul and others declared, a bondservant of Christ. An abundant life is a life spent in the service of Christ, doing the work of the ministry that Jesus calls each of us to.
The abundant life promises me that I am a vine of the branch of Jesus, and that if I will abide in Him, He will make His home in me, and through me He will bear much fruit. The abundant life is a promise of a life with purpose. The purpose to live for the glory of God alone, by the name of Christ alone, knowing that you were bought by the blood of Jesus. Knowing that you were saved by grace through faith... but that you were saved to good works because faith without works is dead. So many books have been written to help mankind find his purpose in this life, to answer the question of "why am I here?" The answer is simple, the chief end of man is the glory of God. That is your purpose, that is why you are here... to glorify God, to reflect His glory, and enjoy His love.
If you say that that makes no sense to you, thats fine, it doesn't need to right now. We are also promised that so many of the words of Jesus will be seen as foolish by those whose eyes God has not opened. If you wish you could experience the abundant life, to feel the peace and contentment that was promised by Jesus, but it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense... take comfort in knowing that your desire to understand is the first step. Pray for God to open your eyes and your mind, seek Him, seek those who have found Him, let us help you to understand... If you feel like you managed to find peace, joy, or contentment without having need of God... you need to know that there is even deeper, more lasting, and perfectly better versions available.
Anyway, just some of the thoughts I have had lately...
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
I know the Bible!
"God helps me, I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13:6"
If you have spent much time around my daughter in the past month or so, chances are, you have heard this verse... it was her memory verse from VBS this year... and she nailed it
Her memorization of this little (great) passage of scripture has lead to a renewed awareness of something for me though. A week or so ago, my wife and I were reading to the kids from our family devotional. At the top of each page, there is a theme verse for the day's lesson. My wife was reading it and thought that it seemed like a good, short verse, and a chance to challenge the little lady with a new verse. As we tried to teach her this new verse, she stated, "No, I already know my verse! God helps me, I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13:6"... we tried to tell her that there are more than just the one verse in the Bible, but she didn't want to hear it... she has her verse, and shes good with it.
Its one thing for a 3 year old to have trouble with this concept, but at what point, as adult (supposedly more mature) Christians, did we hit the wall and decide we knew enough of God's word to no longer have to search it for more? Its sad how little time we spend with God. Its even sadder when we refuse to deepen our understanding of God's word, because we already know the Bible. When asked, most people in church will say that they don't spend enough time in the Word. They admit they should be reading it more often... some will even go so far as to say that they should meditate on it more frequently, reaching beyond just reading it, but actually studying it... so, why don't we do it?
I say a large amount of things through the day, many times I say them because its what you are supposed to say... but why put up the front of saying that I know I need to spend more time with God, when I know I won't actually do it? Do I, or you, actually believe that God is pleased because we simply acknowledge our need for more of Him? Why not start today, take just 5 minutes, seek the face of God.
The way that this was best described to me was to close your eyes, and picture the throne of God... picture the seat in the front row, with your name on it... have a seat, and just sit there. Don't speak, don't do anything, just bathe in the glory of God... 5 minutes... then, go get in His word, read a verse, a chapter, a page, the whole thing if you'd like! But do it.
There is more in there than any of us have ever considered, and the moment that we feel like we are good, that we have learned our Bible, thats when we start to become stagnant... that moment when we utter the words, "I know the Bible!" we are just asking for something to test that knowledge... our pride will be used for our humiliation. Hopefully that would lead us back into the Word, but wouldn't it be better to just stay there instead?
If you have spent much time around my daughter in the past month or so, chances are, you have heard this verse... it was her memory verse from VBS this year... and she nailed it
Her memorization of this little (great) passage of scripture has lead to a renewed awareness of something for me though. A week or so ago, my wife and I were reading to the kids from our family devotional. At the top of each page, there is a theme verse for the day's lesson. My wife was reading it and thought that it seemed like a good, short verse, and a chance to challenge the little lady with a new verse. As we tried to teach her this new verse, she stated, "No, I already know my verse! God helps me, I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13:6"... we tried to tell her that there are more than just the one verse in the Bible, but she didn't want to hear it... she has her verse, and shes good with it.
Its one thing for a 3 year old to have trouble with this concept, but at what point, as adult (supposedly more mature) Christians, did we hit the wall and decide we knew enough of God's word to no longer have to search it for more? Its sad how little time we spend with God. Its even sadder when we refuse to deepen our understanding of God's word, because we already know the Bible. When asked, most people in church will say that they don't spend enough time in the Word. They admit they should be reading it more often... some will even go so far as to say that they should meditate on it more frequently, reaching beyond just reading it, but actually studying it... so, why don't we do it?
I say a large amount of things through the day, many times I say them because its what you are supposed to say... but why put up the front of saying that I know I need to spend more time with God, when I know I won't actually do it? Do I, or you, actually believe that God is pleased because we simply acknowledge our need for more of Him? Why not start today, take just 5 minutes, seek the face of God.
The way that this was best described to me was to close your eyes, and picture the throne of God... picture the seat in the front row, with your name on it... have a seat, and just sit there. Don't speak, don't do anything, just bathe in the glory of God... 5 minutes... then, go get in His word, read a verse, a chapter, a page, the whole thing if you'd like! But do it.
There is more in there than any of us have ever considered, and the moment that we feel like we are good, that we have learned our Bible, thats when we start to become stagnant... that moment when we utter the words, "I know the Bible!" we are just asking for something to test that knowledge... our pride will be used for our humiliation. Hopefully that would lead us back into the Word, but wouldn't it be better to just stay there instead?
Sunday, July 28, 2013
A thought on missional living
I have written 2/3 of a couple of different posts this morning, but they ultimately were not coming from a pure heart, and they were much too focused on me. So, I am going to try again...
I have been (slowly) reading through the book of Daniel as I continue trekking through the Bible, verse by verse, book by book... last night, as I was falling asleep, following a time of ministry brainstorming and planning (which is incredibly exciting!) I was conflicted by some feelings of intent and motivation. The group that was together was a collection of folks from my wife's small group and my own, we group together for an outreach ministry with one of the local apartment complexes and try to love on the people who are out there as best we can. We are hoping to expand what we are doing, as well as bring in more small groups reaching out to more complexes. The problem that we often run into is this feeling that we are not a charitable organization who is just there to give stuff to them, to meet their physical needs, and then go away until the next event. We are there to allow God to work through us and demonstrate His love for them not only through the provision of needs, but also through the investment of time with them. That relational investment is the difference between being good people doing good things, and being God's people, doing God's work. God has gifted us so mightily with inroads and connections with this particular complex, and has supplied us with fertile soil. It is our job to make sure we are planting seeds. If all we ever do is add more to the soil, through gifting of physical things, but we never plant the seed of investing in their lives, then they will never grow! It is a large burden to try to sit and discuss how we manage to balance the two... giving material things is so easy!
So, I was struggling with how to discern the difference, and I began reading in Daniel 2... following King Nebuchadnezzar's (I almost spelled that right without looking! Who puts 2 Z's??) dream, and the inability of the wise men to explain it to him, and the decree to kill all of the wise men because of it (dramatic)... Daniel goes to the king and asks him to put a hold on the killings so that his dream could be explained.The king asks if Daniel can do it, in verse 27, Daniel begins to explain that no man can interpret this dream, but that there is a God in Heaven who gave this dream to the king, and gave the king a gift of the knowledge of things to come, and that it was not up to Daniel to explain the dream, that it was a matter of seeking God, in verse 30, Daniel captures exactly the heart of missional living:
"But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind."
Daniel's heart here is one that says, "I am no different from anyone else, apart from the gift and revelation of God I am no more good or wise than they." Daniel knew that anything he did was by the grace of God alone, for the work of God alone, that through him God could reveal himself to those he was serving. That is the difference between meeting solely physical needs, and making a deeper, heart changing connection with people. The intentionality of doing all things to the glory of Christ. It requires the humility to say that we are nothing outside of Christ, with the faith that through Him, great works can be accomplished; the willingness to lay ourselves down and allow Christ to work in us, leading us into obedience to His calling; a position of reverence and worship to the God who has given us the opportunity to serve in His name; and a focus on the advancement of His Kingdom. Faith, Obedience, Reverence, Kingdom.
If we are seeking these principles in all we do through the outreach opportunities that Christ has ordained for us, we will be more than just a nice group of people who do nice things... we will be subversive agents of the Gospel, seeking the glory of Christ.
I have been (slowly) reading through the book of Daniel as I continue trekking through the Bible, verse by verse, book by book... last night, as I was falling asleep, following a time of ministry brainstorming and planning (which is incredibly exciting!) I was conflicted by some feelings of intent and motivation. The group that was together was a collection of folks from my wife's small group and my own, we group together for an outreach ministry with one of the local apartment complexes and try to love on the people who are out there as best we can. We are hoping to expand what we are doing, as well as bring in more small groups reaching out to more complexes. The problem that we often run into is this feeling that we are not a charitable organization who is just there to give stuff to them, to meet their physical needs, and then go away until the next event. We are there to allow God to work through us and demonstrate His love for them not only through the provision of needs, but also through the investment of time with them. That relational investment is the difference between being good people doing good things, and being God's people, doing God's work. God has gifted us so mightily with inroads and connections with this particular complex, and has supplied us with fertile soil. It is our job to make sure we are planting seeds. If all we ever do is add more to the soil, through gifting of physical things, but we never plant the seed of investing in their lives, then they will never grow! It is a large burden to try to sit and discuss how we manage to balance the two... giving material things is so easy!
So, I was struggling with how to discern the difference, and I began reading in Daniel 2... following King Nebuchadnezzar's (I almost spelled that right without looking! Who puts 2 Z's??) dream, and the inability of the wise men to explain it to him, and the decree to kill all of the wise men because of it (dramatic)... Daniel goes to the king and asks him to put a hold on the killings so that his dream could be explained.The king asks if Daniel can do it, in verse 27, Daniel begins to explain that no man can interpret this dream, but that there is a God in Heaven who gave this dream to the king, and gave the king a gift of the knowledge of things to come, and that it was not up to Daniel to explain the dream, that it was a matter of seeking God, in verse 30, Daniel captures exactly the heart of missional living:
"But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind."
Daniel's heart here is one that says, "I am no different from anyone else, apart from the gift and revelation of God I am no more good or wise than they." Daniel knew that anything he did was by the grace of God alone, for the work of God alone, that through him God could reveal himself to those he was serving. That is the difference between meeting solely physical needs, and making a deeper, heart changing connection with people. The intentionality of doing all things to the glory of Christ. It requires the humility to say that we are nothing outside of Christ, with the faith that through Him, great works can be accomplished; the willingness to lay ourselves down and allow Christ to work in us, leading us into obedience to His calling; a position of reverence and worship to the God who has given us the opportunity to serve in His name; and a focus on the advancement of His Kingdom. Faith, Obedience, Reverence, Kingdom.
If we are seeking these principles in all we do through the outreach opportunities that Christ has ordained for us, we will be more than just a nice group of people who do nice things... we will be subversive agents of the Gospel, seeking the glory of Christ.
Monday, July 15, 2013
live as a human
God created man and woman, He did so in His image and His likeness, He did so in order that we might reflect His glory across all of creation. We were created as, not part of creation, but to be set as the crown of creation, to be over creation. We bear no real, physical difference that clearly sets us apart from all that has been created, but we do contain both flesh and spirit, we bear that image and likeness of our Creator. We were created and set apart as humans, and when He had finished His created work on the beings that would reflect His light more fully than all of creation, God declared that humans were very good.
Why do we often blame our humanity for the struggles we have? When we fins ourselves struggling with our sins, when we see terrible things happening, we often brush it off in saying that we can't help it, we are merely human. At the Kingdom Advance conference this past week, Micah Fries made this point, and it has so far stuck with me... when created, humans were very good, humans were the image bearer of God, so then to blame our "fleshliness" on being human is to point the finger at the wrong source. Being human is of God, we allowed Satan to pervert our flesh at the fall, when we allowed sin to enter the world through Adam. At that time we ceased being humans, set above creation to reflect the Glory of our God, and we became sub-human.
As our lives continue in this new state of being, as we struggle through living in a sub-optimal capacity, there is a longing to get better, to fill the gap, to better ourselves. Our self-induced imprisonment defeats us and we begin to accept that we are living as well as we can. Enter grace, the free gift of God, enter Jesus...
Jesus came to the earth, as a human, He showed up and was as we were created to be, and lived in a way that we were created to live, and did so in order to remind those who were willing and able to recognize it, that we were (to steal the Switchfoot lyrics) meant to live for so much more. To those whom the Father had granted the eyes to see and the ears to hear, what they saw in Jesus was not merely a good moral man, and a good teacher, not just a prophet, but what they saw was the true Son of Man who was what we were meant to have been from the time we were created, a human! A human, untouched by sin, never having compromised His place as an image bearer of God. God became human in order to remind us of who we were created to be, so that we could return to Him and fulfill the purpose for which He created us! Now, obviously, Jesus was also 100% God in this as well, because otherwise, He might have succumbed to the same temptations and pitfalls and would have traded His humanity and joined us as a sub-human.
The life of Jesus is a study on being human, in the sense of what was intended by our creation. It is not our "human-ness" that separates us from God, it is our unwillingness to be human. But in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are able to exchange our sub-human life for His human life. We are able to accept that the wrath of God, owed to us for not living as He created us to live, was poured out on Jesus as a sacrifice. We are able to repent of the life we have lead, and say to God that we want to live as humans, as we were created, very good.
As it stands now, we are further descending from our place above creation, as humans, we are deepening the divide between how we were created to live, and how we are choosing to live. As the world continues down this path, the life and example of Christ becomes more obscure to us. But to those whom God still grants the eyes to see and ears to hear, we recognize the truth in the Word of God. It doesn't have to all make sense, it doesn't have to really make any sense at all... but we recognize that there is something different, that surely there must be more to this life than what the world has to offer. Even as muddled and twisted as the path may seem, the words of Jesus still hold true that He, and He alone, is the way, the truth, and the life... the only way back to a life that is lived as God intends it to be lived is through Jesus Christ, and that life is a life lived to the glory of Him alone. The Bible promises that the world will continue to fall deeper and more desperately away from its created purpose... but it also promises a way to escape.
Why do we often blame our humanity for the struggles we have? When we fins ourselves struggling with our sins, when we see terrible things happening, we often brush it off in saying that we can't help it, we are merely human. At the Kingdom Advance conference this past week, Micah Fries made this point, and it has so far stuck with me... when created, humans were very good, humans were the image bearer of God, so then to blame our "fleshliness" on being human is to point the finger at the wrong source. Being human is of God, we allowed Satan to pervert our flesh at the fall, when we allowed sin to enter the world through Adam. At that time we ceased being humans, set above creation to reflect the Glory of our God, and we became sub-human.
As our lives continue in this new state of being, as we struggle through living in a sub-optimal capacity, there is a longing to get better, to fill the gap, to better ourselves. Our self-induced imprisonment defeats us and we begin to accept that we are living as well as we can. Enter grace, the free gift of God, enter Jesus...
Jesus came to the earth, as a human, He showed up and was as we were created to be, and lived in a way that we were created to live, and did so in order to remind those who were willing and able to recognize it, that we were (to steal the Switchfoot lyrics) meant to live for so much more. To those whom the Father had granted the eyes to see and the ears to hear, what they saw in Jesus was not merely a good moral man, and a good teacher, not just a prophet, but what they saw was the true Son of Man who was what we were meant to have been from the time we were created, a human! A human, untouched by sin, never having compromised His place as an image bearer of God. God became human in order to remind us of who we were created to be, so that we could return to Him and fulfill the purpose for which He created us! Now, obviously, Jesus was also 100% God in this as well, because otherwise, He might have succumbed to the same temptations and pitfalls and would have traded His humanity and joined us as a sub-human.
The life of Jesus is a study on being human, in the sense of what was intended by our creation. It is not our "human-ness" that separates us from God, it is our unwillingness to be human. But in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are able to exchange our sub-human life for His human life. We are able to accept that the wrath of God, owed to us for not living as He created us to live, was poured out on Jesus as a sacrifice. We are able to repent of the life we have lead, and say to God that we want to live as humans, as we were created, very good.
As it stands now, we are further descending from our place above creation, as humans, we are deepening the divide between how we were created to live, and how we are choosing to live. As the world continues down this path, the life and example of Christ becomes more obscure to us. But to those whom God still grants the eyes to see and ears to hear, we recognize the truth in the Word of God. It doesn't have to all make sense, it doesn't have to really make any sense at all... but we recognize that there is something different, that surely there must be more to this life than what the world has to offer. Even as muddled and twisted as the path may seem, the words of Jesus still hold true that He, and He alone, is the way, the truth, and the life... the only way back to a life that is lived as God intends it to be lived is through Jesus Christ, and that life is a life lived to the glory of Him alone. The Bible promises that the world will continue to fall deeper and more desperately away from its created purpose... but it also promises a way to escape.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
not for my sake
Reading in Ezekiel this morning, as I continue to complete reading through the Bible completely, and was struck by a truth that I know, but that was still refreshing early this morning...
In chapter 36, starting in verse 22, Ezekiel is given a message from God concerning the salvation that is to come for His people. Its a wonderful promise that tells us that even though we have strayed, and trampled upon all that He has given us, even though we have profaned His name among the world, even to whatever level of uncleanliness that we have achieved on our own, no matter how deeply we have allowed our evil desires to root within us... despite all of this, God promises that He will cleanse us of all of our filthiness. He even goes deeper to promise that He will give us a new heart, that He will remove our heart, that we have turned to stone, and give us a heart of flesh, He promises to place within us a new Spirit. God goes so far as to say that this new spirit is not simply a cleansed, renewed version of our old spirit, but in verse 27, He says that it is His own Spirit that He will place within us, a Spirit that will allow us to walk in a manner to which He has called us, and a Spirit with a desire to live in obedience, under His authority. In doing so, God promises to restore His children, not just a restoration back to who we were before it all went wrong, but to make us a new creation, with a new Spirit, and new life, promising to multiply His grace upon us, and promising that we will never again receive ourselves into the eternal disgrace of our evil desires. His promise is an eternal cleansing, and a new life walking in concert with His will.
As amazing as all of that is, the part that truly floors me this morning is best emphasized at the beginning of verse 32, God concludes by saying that He is NOT doing this for OUR sake! He states it first in verse 23, His motivation in this revitalizing work is to vindicate the holiness of His great name! He is saving His people in such a complete and miraculous way, not for our own sake, but that by doing so in the sight of the world, that He will prove Himself holy among us in their sight! God promises that it is not for our sake that He is choosing to begin His saving work, but for the glory of His holiness.
This passage shows the mission-minded, evangelical focus of God... and hopefully places us, rightly, in a place of worship, desiring to accept that our salvation was not for us, but for others to be able to see the glory of God, and for others to desire to experience that glory through the birth of a new life, the gift of a new heart, and the exchange of a new spirit. God was promising this before Christ came to earth, before we knew the Way, Truth, and Life through which this great promise would be carried out. God spoke of His children whom would be cleansed, not of unknown persons who might come to Himself. This passage leads straight to the heart of what it is to be in Christ, called by name, knowing that you are saved by grace, through faith, that it is not of yourself, so you shall not boast. The passage is also a promise that when we are cleansed and revived by God in this way, that He will take the desolate wasteland of our life, and fill it with fruit so plentiful that it will cause others to remember back to the Garden of Eden, and our true home. People should be able to look into a believer and follower and see that what used to be empty is now being cultivated, changed, and producing good fruits. And again, in verse 36, God reminds us that the intent of this is that the people who remain around us will know that it was God that rebuilt our being, and God that planted that which was desolate... and He leaves it with another promise, "I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it."
This is a passage is a promise spoken by God the father, foreshadowing the saving work of God the Son, and promising the sustaining work of God the Holy Spirit. It speaks to the Doctrine of the Elect, it speaks to the need of Grace, it speaks to the futility of a works-based system for salvation... it speaks of the depravity and desolation that we have managed to attain by forsaking God's word and commandments. It speaks to our need for cleansing. It promises the fruits of the Spirit that will be present in the lives of those who have experienced a new birth. It speaks of the exchange of our heart for the heart of God. It speaks of all of this, 570 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, the earliest manuscripts of this text were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, predating the birth of Christ! This is the word of God, promising salvation to those He calls unto Himself, promising new life to those He calls His children. But it is not a promise to glorify us, it is a promise that He does these things to ensure that His glory is visible among His people, that the world will know that He alone is God.
Amazing stuff from an old book that means everything to us today
In chapter 36, starting in verse 22, Ezekiel is given a message from God concerning the salvation that is to come for His people. Its a wonderful promise that tells us that even though we have strayed, and trampled upon all that He has given us, even though we have profaned His name among the world, even to whatever level of uncleanliness that we have achieved on our own, no matter how deeply we have allowed our evil desires to root within us... despite all of this, God promises that He will cleanse us of all of our filthiness. He even goes deeper to promise that He will give us a new heart, that He will remove our heart, that we have turned to stone, and give us a heart of flesh, He promises to place within us a new Spirit. God goes so far as to say that this new spirit is not simply a cleansed, renewed version of our old spirit, but in verse 27, He says that it is His own Spirit that He will place within us, a Spirit that will allow us to walk in a manner to which He has called us, and a Spirit with a desire to live in obedience, under His authority. In doing so, God promises to restore His children, not just a restoration back to who we were before it all went wrong, but to make us a new creation, with a new Spirit, and new life, promising to multiply His grace upon us, and promising that we will never again receive ourselves into the eternal disgrace of our evil desires. His promise is an eternal cleansing, and a new life walking in concert with His will.
As amazing as all of that is, the part that truly floors me this morning is best emphasized at the beginning of verse 32, God concludes by saying that He is NOT doing this for OUR sake! He states it first in verse 23, His motivation in this revitalizing work is to vindicate the holiness of His great name! He is saving His people in such a complete and miraculous way, not for our own sake, but that by doing so in the sight of the world, that He will prove Himself holy among us in their sight! God promises that it is not for our sake that He is choosing to begin His saving work, but for the glory of His holiness.
This passage shows the mission-minded, evangelical focus of God... and hopefully places us, rightly, in a place of worship, desiring to accept that our salvation was not for us, but for others to be able to see the glory of God, and for others to desire to experience that glory through the birth of a new life, the gift of a new heart, and the exchange of a new spirit. God was promising this before Christ came to earth, before we knew the Way, Truth, and Life through which this great promise would be carried out. God spoke of His children whom would be cleansed, not of unknown persons who might come to Himself. This passage leads straight to the heart of what it is to be in Christ, called by name, knowing that you are saved by grace, through faith, that it is not of yourself, so you shall not boast. The passage is also a promise that when we are cleansed and revived by God in this way, that He will take the desolate wasteland of our life, and fill it with fruit so plentiful that it will cause others to remember back to the Garden of Eden, and our true home. People should be able to look into a believer and follower and see that what used to be empty is now being cultivated, changed, and producing good fruits. And again, in verse 36, God reminds us that the intent of this is that the people who remain around us will know that it was God that rebuilt our being, and God that planted that which was desolate... and He leaves it with another promise, "I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it."
This is a passage is a promise spoken by God the father, foreshadowing the saving work of God the Son, and promising the sustaining work of God the Holy Spirit. It speaks to the Doctrine of the Elect, it speaks to the need of Grace, it speaks to the futility of a works-based system for salvation... it speaks of the depravity and desolation that we have managed to attain by forsaking God's word and commandments. It speaks to our need for cleansing. It promises the fruits of the Spirit that will be present in the lives of those who have experienced a new birth. It speaks of the exchange of our heart for the heart of God. It speaks of all of this, 570 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, the earliest manuscripts of this text were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, predating the birth of Christ! This is the word of God, promising salvation to those He calls unto Himself, promising new life to those He calls His children. But it is not a promise to glorify us, it is a promise that He does these things to ensure that His glory is visible among His people, that the world will know that He alone is God.
Amazing stuff from an old book that means everything to us today
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Be a man
My daughter is a ballerina... just ask her, she'll tell you. She'll go so far as to twirl for you while providing her own soundtrack. She loves to dance, anytime, anyplace... it doesn't matter what else is going on, when she feels like dancing, dancing will happen.
This past weekend, we were at a motorcycle and car show (she also happens to love motorcycles and cars) at a local frozen custard joint. The show is part of a benefit and outreach event supported by our church's affiliated motorcycle ministry to help raise money and food for a local food pantry. While we were walking around looking at cars, and sitting on motorcycles, my lil lady decides that its time for some ice cream. So, we left my wife and son out perusing while we stepped into a much too crowded, filled with men (not just any men, but motorcycle and car men), custard shop. While in the middle of the crowd, this is the time when she decides its time to break into song and dance. She began singing the theme song to Angelina Ballerina and twirling. About 2 bars into the song she stopped, took my hand and said, "You twirl too daddy."
In these moments, I am reminded of the awesome privilege and responsibility that comes with being a father and a husband, but I am also saddened by the men I know who have no desire to serve in such a role. It is a catastrophic breakdown in the institution of family within our culture that men have been convinced that the job of husband and father is not manly. Through the scriptures, we are taught that the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of the husband is Christ. We are to be the spiritual leader of our home. I have recently heard it phrased that women are to manage the home, but men are to manage the woman... This is not some misogynistic, tarzan-esque call to belittle women. It is a call for men to be men. We are to love our wives as Christ loves the church. We are therefore to love our wives because Christ first loves us, we are to follow that example to first love our wives! Nothing else should matter in our relationship as much as that we will make the choice to first love her! The call to spiritual leadership is not a call to supremacy, it is a call to action, a call to servitude, a call to sacrificial love. It is a call to entrust to our wives the role they are called to, to be a mother and a wife, and to serve her through leadership in Christ-like love. Its a call to sacrifice everything we think we are in order to place our family above ourselves. Its a call to put down everything that hinders our family's growth, and pick up the reigns of the spiritual guidance that is our responsibility.
We choose, as men, whether we do so consciously or not, to take on the role of spiritual leadership. The moment we enter into the covenant commitment that is marriage, we are saying that we accept the role of spiritual leadership for our new family. You are accepting the responsibility of the spiritual condition of the woman. Your two fleshes are now joined into one, and you are at her head, while Christ is at yours, and when you choose to add children into that flesh, you are accepting the further responsibility for their spiritual condition as well. You are their leader, whether you accept it, or choose it, or ignore it. The responsibility is yours, and you will be held to it at the time of your judgement. They are each responsible for their own lives, but you are responsible for their leadership.
So, men, are we willing to sacrifice whatever claim we think we might hold on our manliness? Are we willing to accept that a true man lives his life in the example of the sacrificial love of Christ as our head? Are we willing to love our wives first, independent of her response? Are we willing to daily make a choice of our will to act in the promotion of the good of those to whom we are charged with leading, no matter the assumed cost? Are you willing to twirl with your daughter, while singing Angelina Ballerina, while surrounded by car dudes?
Are you going to do it perfectly?
No, you won't... I won't... I don't. But, at the end of your life, will you be able to look back and see that the progressive pattern of your life as the spiritual leader of your family was a consistent, persistent growth towards being more Christ-like?
When we choose to live as we have been called, we are men. Sometimes the most manly thing in the world is dancing and singing like a little girl. It was the other night for me. I hope that today, I will continue to move closer to God, and lead my family better than I did yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better still. I hope that maybe you will do the same, whatever that means.
Get a job, provide to the best of your current ability, love sacrificially, love unconditionally, do the dishes, scrub the toilet, sing songs, make a fool of yourself, pray, open the Bible in front of your kids, read it to them, teach them to pray, kiss your wife, hold her hand, make her laugh, lessen yourself, allow your family to see you struggle, allow them to see you grow, help your kids understand failure, help them embrace success, read to them, push them on the swing, catch them on the slide, take them to the ER, ask for their forgiveness when you do wrong, love them, punish them, hold them to a different standard than the world, pursue your wife, make her feel beautiful, go to church, serve, sing praise, cry no matter who is watching, be a man.
This past weekend, we were at a motorcycle and car show (she also happens to love motorcycles and cars) at a local frozen custard joint. The show is part of a benefit and outreach event supported by our church's affiliated motorcycle ministry to help raise money and food for a local food pantry. While we were walking around looking at cars, and sitting on motorcycles, my lil lady decides that its time for some ice cream. So, we left my wife and son out perusing while we stepped into a much too crowded, filled with men (not just any men, but motorcycle and car men), custard shop. While in the middle of the crowd, this is the time when she decides its time to break into song and dance. She began singing the theme song to Angelina Ballerina and twirling. About 2 bars into the song she stopped, took my hand and said, "You twirl too daddy."
In these moments, I am reminded of the awesome privilege and responsibility that comes with being a father and a husband, but I am also saddened by the men I know who have no desire to serve in such a role. It is a catastrophic breakdown in the institution of family within our culture that men have been convinced that the job of husband and father is not manly. Through the scriptures, we are taught that the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of the husband is Christ. We are to be the spiritual leader of our home. I have recently heard it phrased that women are to manage the home, but men are to manage the woman... This is not some misogynistic, tarzan-esque call to belittle women. It is a call for men to be men. We are to love our wives as Christ loves the church. We are therefore to love our wives because Christ first loves us, we are to follow that example to first love our wives! Nothing else should matter in our relationship as much as that we will make the choice to first love her! The call to spiritual leadership is not a call to supremacy, it is a call to action, a call to servitude, a call to sacrificial love. It is a call to entrust to our wives the role they are called to, to be a mother and a wife, and to serve her through leadership in Christ-like love. Its a call to sacrifice everything we think we are in order to place our family above ourselves. Its a call to put down everything that hinders our family's growth, and pick up the reigns of the spiritual guidance that is our responsibility.
We choose, as men, whether we do so consciously or not, to take on the role of spiritual leadership. The moment we enter into the covenant commitment that is marriage, we are saying that we accept the role of spiritual leadership for our new family. You are accepting the responsibility of the spiritual condition of the woman. Your two fleshes are now joined into one, and you are at her head, while Christ is at yours, and when you choose to add children into that flesh, you are accepting the further responsibility for their spiritual condition as well. You are their leader, whether you accept it, or choose it, or ignore it. The responsibility is yours, and you will be held to it at the time of your judgement. They are each responsible for their own lives, but you are responsible for their leadership.
So, men, are we willing to sacrifice whatever claim we think we might hold on our manliness? Are we willing to accept that a true man lives his life in the example of the sacrificial love of Christ as our head? Are we willing to love our wives first, independent of her response? Are we willing to daily make a choice of our will to act in the promotion of the good of those to whom we are charged with leading, no matter the assumed cost? Are you willing to twirl with your daughter, while singing Angelina Ballerina, while surrounded by car dudes?
Are you going to do it perfectly?
No, you won't... I won't... I don't. But, at the end of your life, will you be able to look back and see that the progressive pattern of your life as the spiritual leader of your family was a consistent, persistent growth towards being more Christ-like?
When we choose to live as we have been called, we are men. Sometimes the most manly thing in the world is dancing and singing like a little girl. It was the other night for me. I hope that today, I will continue to move closer to God, and lead my family better than I did yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better still. I hope that maybe you will do the same, whatever that means.
Get a job, provide to the best of your current ability, love sacrificially, love unconditionally, do the dishes, scrub the toilet, sing songs, make a fool of yourself, pray, open the Bible in front of your kids, read it to them, teach them to pray, kiss your wife, hold her hand, make her laugh, lessen yourself, allow your family to see you struggle, allow them to see you grow, help your kids understand failure, help them embrace success, read to them, push them on the swing, catch them on the slide, take them to the ER, ask for their forgiveness when you do wrong, love them, punish them, hold them to a different standard than the world, pursue your wife, make her feel beautiful, go to church, serve, sing praise, cry no matter who is watching, be a man.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
thoughts on searching for a pastor
Serving on the Pastor Search Team (notice we're a team, not a committee... we're a cool kind of Baptist church) has taught me a few things. We began our search a couple of months ago, and I am privileged to have been nominated and selected to serve our church by sitting on this team. I am serving in the role of Vice Chairman, mainly out of a kick in the teeth conviction in our first meeting in which I truly felt that God was telling me to volunteer for the responsibility of the position. To this point in the process I do not regret that move. I have learned more about leadership, networking, professionalism, prayer, and commitment in the last couple of months than I ever would have expected.
Among the biggest truths I have seen through this, the sovereignty and promise of God has been evident. We share at each meeting how God has been working in our lives over the past week, and I am never left without amazement at the unity of the Spirit. It seems each week that as we share our own personal walk of the week, that the message to each of us is a variation of the same message we each share. This past week seemed to be centered on the power of prayer and focus, and the need to keep the communication between each member of our team and God as open as possible. The ultimate point was that we can easily be led down a path that seems right and good, and a path that pleases us as men and women, but if we are not careful, diligent, and prayerful as we do so, we will easily find that the path that pleases us, does not please God. We must be willing, at intervals throughout this journey, to take a quick pause and examine the path we are on, and take stock of how we got to that point. One of the biggest fears for our committee is following our own, worldly desires. We know and trust that God has the man selected who is to be our next pastor, and that as long as we are serving obediently, that we will be blessed to find him. We have been and will continue to pray for this man, his family, and his church... we know we will be causing an uprooting and ultimately be causing a ripple-effect of change through many lives. It is not a task we take lightly.
For the sake of implicit confidentiality I will not share anything concerning the search process, and I really have no desire to. But I will share this, if your church is going through this same process, be in prayer for those serving in this capacity. For most of us, it is unfamiliar territory, a strange path, and daunting at best. If you are serving on such a team, maybe you can take some peace in a couple of thoughts that have come out of our times meeting together:
1) “I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.” Isaiah 42:16
Among the biggest truths I have seen through this, the sovereignty and promise of God has been evident. We share at each meeting how God has been working in our lives over the past week, and I am never left without amazement at the unity of the Spirit. It seems each week that as we share our own personal walk of the week, that the message to each of us is a variation of the same message we each share. This past week seemed to be centered on the power of prayer and focus, and the need to keep the communication between each member of our team and God as open as possible. The ultimate point was that we can easily be led down a path that seems right and good, and a path that pleases us as men and women, but if we are not careful, diligent, and prayerful as we do so, we will easily find that the path that pleases us, does not please God. We must be willing, at intervals throughout this journey, to take a quick pause and examine the path we are on, and take stock of how we got to that point. One of the biggest fears for our committee is following our own, worldly desires. We know and trust that God has the man selected who is to be our next pastor, and that as long as we are serving obediently, that we will be blessed to find him. We have been and will continue to pray for this man, his family, and his church... we know we will be causing an uprooting and ultimately be causing a ripple-effect of change through many lives. It is not a task we take lightly.
For the sake of implicit confidentiality I will not share anything concerning the search process, and I really have no desire to. But I will share this, if your church is going through this same process, be in prayer for those serving in this capacity. For most of us, it is unfamiliar territory, a strange path, and daunting at best. If you are serving on such a team, maybe you can take some peace in a couple of thoughts that have come out of our times meeting together:
1) “I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.” Isaiah 42:16
2) On their journey out of slavery, to the promised land, when the Israelites reached the Jordan River (at flood stage), God called a few of them to go out into the water, and stand. It was only after this act of obedience by a few that God stilled the waters, walled it up, and allowed the rest to cross on dry land. Take peace in knowing that If you are willing to obediently step into raging water, you can help lead your church closer to the place God desires you all to be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)