Category: Christian Life

God Remembers that we are Dust

God is interested in doing more than merely punishing people. … God desires for us to have a relationship with him.

I was reading this morning and Psalm 103 and I was struck by a section of the passage. It began in verse 10.

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgression from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. … 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s generation, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

Psalm 103:10-14, 17-18 ESV

What I found interesting about this passage is the way in which the author relates God’s dealing with us is the reason for the way he deals with us. In verse 10 he says, “he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” What I find interesting is that too often in the church we believe that God is punishing us because of our sin. And to some degree that’s correct, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. There is something else at work that the psalmist is trying to teach us.

God is interested in doing more than merely punishing people. A good father disciplines his children. We see that in Scripture. But there is something else that God is after as it relates to our relationship with him. And what is that? God desires for us to have a relationship with him.

God doesn’t deal with us according to our sins or iniquities because, according to verse 14, “he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.” God is not blind nor is he ignorant to who we are or what we are. This should not only give us comfort but it should remind us that there is something beyond our failures that God is interested in. What is that? It is our relationship with him. I want to repeat this point because I think it’s too often misunderstood or left unsaid.

One of the implications of this passage is that if we do not relate to God as he desires then there is a sense in which our sin and our iniquities and our frame and the fact that we are dust will have consequences on our lives. But if we relate to God as he desires, if we understand what is at stake and what it is that we’re supposed to be doing, then it becomes easier for us to not fear God in terror but to fear God in reverence.

Several times in the passage we see what it is that God is looking for, as a way of knowing that we understand what he is looking for.

In verse 11 we see him say that his steadfast love toward us is “toward those who fear him.”

In verse 13 it says that the Lord shows compassion “to those who fear him.”

In verse 17 the “steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.”

And then in verse 18, we see that this everlasting love is “to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.”

What can we learn from this? I think we can learn that we tend to put expectations upon ourselves about what God desires from us and for us that may not be consistent with who he is what he has said.

I think this is a healthy reminder as we begin the new year.

According To Your Word

Where will you be when God reveals to you what you are here for? What will you say? Will you be ready to say anything at all?

30Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

35And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37For with God nothing will be impossible.”

38Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:30-38 NKJV

Where will you be when God reveals to you what you are here for? What will you say? Will you be ready to say anything at all?

I think Mary’s experience is typical of many people who seek to do God’s will but are not waiting for God to speak. We pray, we plead, and we seek to know what God is going to do with us and yet we are stunned when he speaks. If we believe God speaks, we should not be so surprised when he actually does.

Where were you when he spoke the first time? Or are you still waiting?

I find that most people have become jaded with the notion that God is going to use us to do his will. We say it, but we don’t believe it anymore. We are sitting in our homes, offices, cars, and maybe in our churches and we want to believe. We want it to be true for us.

We see it in others and we desire to be an instrument of his will. His perfect will for us, but the notion that it will ever come to pass has become nothing but a dream for the foolish, the wishful thinking of the immature dreamer.

We have become “realistic” about God’s will for our lives. But we have actually done is given up on God we have lost a sense of expectation that God will speak. In a way, we have become disappointed with God. We wonder if we can trust him at all.

What at one time was a deep passion has become bitter and stagnant. It is a lingering resentment at God.

We don’t tell anybody, we don’t want anyone else to know the truth of it. We want to be God’s servant, but instead, we have become hatred’s slaves. What else could it be? We are festering inside wishing that we could know what God is going to do with us. But all we hear is that painful silence.

Where were you? Were you in the pit of some confusion? In the midst of circumstances beyond your control?

Or did you find yourself broken and bruised hiding in the shadows of a church despising God and trying your best to be rid of him, or maybe that was just me. But he just would not let me go.

Or was it that I just could not afford to let him go and so I recanted. I repented and found myself at the feet of Jesus.

There are so many names that the scriptures ascribe to the Messiah, but the one that really touches my heart is the one that the prophet gave to him—Immanuel, God with us. The eternal God chose to come down and enter time and to be one of us.

God in his eternal power and magnificence poured himself into the frail and limited body of a man? And for what? To take that which he created out for a test run? No. He came to understand us and to provide a way back to the Father. But how was this to be done? How was God going to make it here to this earth? He would come as all other men had come. He came as a baby. And like every babe born to men, there was the need for a mother.

I love Christmas because it is a continual reminder of that fact, the truth, that God came to dwell among us. He came to show us what it really means to be human beings.

Where will you be when God comes through the door of your heart and asks for a favor? The angel came into Mary and said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one…”

Rejoice? Are we the kind of people that when God comes he commends us for the way that we have lived our lives? Will God be able to say of us that we are blessed because of the righteousness and faithfulness that is present in our hearts? Because I have to believe that God would not have picked just anybody to be the mother of His Son.

I know that there are some within the Christian faith that elevates Mary much further than is necessary, but I have to concede that Mary was not just anybody. Of all the women, in all the world, through all of history, God chose her. That makes her special. That makes her unique. And even though no one else will ever have that opportunity extended to them again, we should strive to be the kind of people that God would trust His son with.

But in a way he has. Any man or woman who has believed in faith has taken a similar step, as Mary did. By saying yes to Jesus we are accepting the responsibility to care for Jesus. We have accepted the responsibility to love him and share our lives with him. We are in a way like Mary carrying him with us because he lives in us and through us. With each passing day, with each opportunity to share our witness and testimony we give him life in a world that is lost and in need of him.

There is Mary finishing the chores of the day, thinking of the wedding that is only months away now, when all of a sudden an angel comes bearing strange news. “You are going to have a son and you will call Him Jesus.”

Where will you be?

Mary was minding her own business and all of a sudden she must make a choice. There was no time to think about it. There is no time to make him wait. Mary is stunned and asks the only question that comes to her mind, “How can I have a son when I am still a virgin.” The angel answers that there is nothing that God can’t do. And the most remarkable thing happens, that response is sufficient for Mary and she makes her own faith-filled statement, “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

Where will you be when your faith is required of you? What will you do? How will you respond? The Christmas story is more than just the miracle of the incarnation. The Christmas story is a miracle of faith. It is a story of a young lady, struggling to make sense of life and marriage and without asking for it is chosen to bring the son of God into this world. Faith, whenever it is expressed, is a miracle because faith is the audacity to say, “According to your word.”

“According to your word” is the kind of faith that can move mountains.

“According to your word” is the kind of faith that can make kings come crashing to their knees.

“According to your word” is the kind of faith that touches the heart of God.

Let me tell you something, “according to your word” is the kind of faith that Mary taught to Jesus as he toddled around the house so that when Jesus stayed in the temple the teachers marveled at him. When Mary and Joseph came back to get him, Jesus responded that he was about his father’s business. We see a shadow of Mary’s faith in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus says to the father, “not my will, but thine be done.” Yes, he was a man, a man with a mama that taught him about faith. A man who understood that in order to live a life that is pleasing to God He must live “according to your word.”

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. Enjoy the lights and the family. Enjoy the gifts and the tree. Enjoy the festive nature of the year, but let us not forget the babe. Let us not forget that the joy we have comes and stays when our lives are lived “according to [His] word.”

Some people in this world may be frustrated with God because he has not said anything to them and they are waiting. Could it be that we have not said what God is waiting to hear? Where will you be when God sends his angel? I’ll be waiting. May you have a Merry Christmas.

Originally Delivered: December 19, 2004. It has been edited and expanded.

Words matter.

In just my relatively short time serving God’s people, I’ve grown weary of some of the language and categories that often times get used merely out of habit (or it’s just the inherited way people have always talked about things). Many times it is because of the burden that this language can produce, as opposed to what Jesus intends with an easy yoke or teaching (Matthew 11).

In my own life, I’ve spent countless hours learning to use correct language in order to help others do the same.

Because words matter.

You see, my undergraduate degree is in the study of communication, or rhetoric. And one major thing I learned, and now have seen time and time again, is how much we are shaped by the language and categories we use to describe our experiences. The way we talk necessarily “boxes us in.” Sometimes in good ways, sometimes bad. How you talk about things becomes how you think about them and experience them. And it becomes problematic when it then “boxes” God in – in ways that aren’t actually possible and yet happens because of how we talk.

In recent generations, many in the American Church have normalized modern “business language” and “leadership principles” as their baseline for discussing the organization of the church. This has also led many to use this same sort of language in order to understand their relationship with God as well. Overall, I must say, my assessment is it has de-personalized God – which is terrifying honestly.

Most times the language and categories being used are incomplete and unhelpful. They are modern attempts to describe things that have already been described in Scripture in ways that are far more complete and helpful.

Sometimes when I attempt to critique the use of modern language and suggest better ways to talk about things, I’m met by people who feel like I’m “nitpicking.” But since taking thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10) is what we are encouraged to do, it is an important work to look at how we think and talk about our relationship with God (or the church).

And so that leads to the need to discuss an important question: Why does it matter?

Words matter (especially when talking about our relationship with God and the church) because they shape not only our own outlook on faith, but also how we directly relate to God and to others!

When someone tries to explain their own experience of God to another person, it is always an interesting process for them to try and translate that experience in a way the other person will understand. So then, translating those experiences across groups of people, cultures, generations, etc. gets even more interesting. And since words are powerful enough to shape people’s understanding of a relationship with God – it means we must take the words we use seriously.

James talks about this very thing in his letter in the Scriptures actually (though you may have never applied it this way):

“When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”

James 3:3-5

Our words are very powerful. And so how we talk about God must be done carefully, and with great reflection. Even more so if you are someone others listen to! Because how you talk about faith will influence how others talk about it. Which also means we must be willing to try our best to give complete pictures of a relationship with God right out of the gate. And we also must be willing to evaluate how well we actually did – and correct that language if necessary.

I never fault people for attempting to use language they see as culturally relevant in order to explain faith, the church, etc. I’m constantly doing the same thing.

But what I do fault us for is when we perpetuate the use of language without looking at whether it has been helpful or not.

Much of the modern business language being used in church settings has bugged me for a long time. But over the last several years I’ve become more outspoken about it because of how much I’ve seen it hurt my own relationship with God, others’ relationships with God, and overall the expressions of God’s people – or the church.

Thus, this blog series will address specific language that I have found particularly troublesome and problematic. Phrases, metaphors, and categories that have been mostly harmful and not helpful in attempting to give people the words they need to navigate faith, their relationship with God, and the church.

Whether it’s categories like burn out or deconstruction, or language like “leaving the ministry” or “excellence culture,” I will look to the experience someone is attempting to describe and compare it with how the Scriptures (and at times mothers and fathers of the faith who have gone before us) have described it. And hopefully you will find that I am trying to offer a way of thinking about this relationship with God we are all navigating using the language God uses in the Bible to describe such things.

Words matter.

Mine included.

So with a great deal of humility, here we go…

Becoming More Christlike Than American: Part 6

Part 6: Spiritual family

“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock…You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:28,35 NLT

If you’ve never read Acts 20, or haven’t in a while, first go read it – especially the very end.

This chapter is the story of Paul’s last couple “stops” on his lifelong missionary journey before he heads to Rome, where he expects to be convicted, imprisoned and likely killed for his faith.

It’s in this context that he shares some final words in person with the elders in the church in Ephesus.

It’s good to note that “the church in Ephesus” was not a singular organization of people with a building and a pastor (how we conceptualize church most times today). It was an extended family of spiritual families. They were groups of people who became the church and met in homes. They remained connected across the city and were led by those referred to as “elders” (or spiritual parents). This is important in the dynamic of what he shares. These elders are receiving his message as encouragement to persevere as spiritual parents. Not thru the lens of the power dynamics of an organization that we too many times read things.

So it’s in these final words that Paul says “guard yourselves and God’s people.” He goes on to use the analogy of shepherding, and how shepherds must defend a flock of sheep from predators. It’s not as much an analogy about how people are like sheep, but that the caring for our own souls and souls of others is very much like the work of shepherding. And how those who seek to harm the family of God are like predators.

It’s also likely related that shepherding was a family business in their day. A shepherd’s sheep were a part of the lifestyle of their family. The whole family was involved in caring for the sheep. They knew the sheep by name. They cared for their sheep as a family cares for the things their responsible for.

Caring for a spiritual family’s individual and communal relationship with God is much like the work of shepherding.

In this part of Acts 20, Paul teaches from his own example of giving himself completely to those in need – both physically and spiritually. And you can tell the seriousness and weightiness with which Paul is talking.

There are several points that can be implied about Paul addressing the elders in this way and about these things:

First is that there had likely already been examples of wolves in sheep’s clothing that had come into the community of faith and attempted to gain a following. Paul had undoubtedly addressed this issue many times directly himself. And the elders of the church had probably relied on Paul to help them handle such occurrences. But now he is passing on that responsibility completely to them. So it’s not a new problem. However, it is likely the first time this responsibility is now uniquely theirs to fulfill. Paul will not be around to help shepherd any longer.

Second is the emotion evidenced both in Paul’s words and in their reaction to him. There are tears – both in Paul referring to his own handling of shepherding them and in their reaction to Paul handing off that responsibility. This is more important than maybe some would want to admit. This unashamed acknowledgment and display of emotions communicates a reality about the work of shepherding that is too often overlooked – the deeply emotional connection with those you shepherd.

There’s a deep level of connection that goes into becoming the spiritual family of God.

In Acts, these spiritual families go thru a lot together, much of it caused by external pressures – persecution, being disowned by their earthly family, the general hardships of life, etc. And we read in the New Testament letters a constant encouragement to persevere together thru those things.

But alongside that, there is also a constant challenge for them to correctly handle the internal pressures that cause hardship. There’s no sense of “rose colored lenses” in Acts (or the New Testament letters) about the difficulties within the church.

The external and internal hardships are expected. It’s how the people are being called to handle those things that the Spirit cares about and the Scriptures address.

Too many times we are formed by the world and culture around us in how to handle hardship. But the Spirit seeks to re-form those of us who follow Jesus into new ways of handling those things as God’s family.

God desires us to become a display for the world of what a true family is like. Many of us grow up in earthly families where not all of these things are displayed well. And so the Spirit is forming the church into a people who are willing to persevere the external hardships (resilient relationships and advocates for justice/righteousness) and also a people who seek to form healthy relationships in the midst of internal hardships as well (communities of character and spiritual intimacy).

This work of becoming a spiritual family is not easy. It means dealing with conflict directly. It means being patient with people’s personal growth. It means giving ourselves away to others, knowing that potentially we may receive from the Spirit alone.

That last part is important. And it is what Paul ends his address to the elders with: “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

This mentality is in direct competition with the consumer mentality of our world (a mentality that is unfortunately perpetuated in many ways in how the church today attempts to do ministry). And some times, even those of us who recognize this reality (and even say we are not consumers) have been so shaped by consuming that we struggle to truly embrace this generosity mentality. We run our Christianity thru the framework of a hedonistic consuming, and end up missing the importance of the shared life we read about in Acts.

Let’s also not over-spiritualize this calling to shared life.

Becoming spiritual family requires a wholistic approach. There are certainly elements that are expressly spiritual – eternal things that deal with the soul. But there are definitely elements that are related to our humanity – that are simply a part of the reality of life on earth.

In Acts we see people selling things they own and giving away all of that money to share with those who have need among God’s people. This should be a part of our normalized reality in the church (whether it rubs against our American sensibilities or not).

This is not about politics. This is about family.

This us not about economics. This is about generosity.

This is not about people’s ideological beliefs. This is about their souls.

For the sake of your soul and the souls of the family of God you are a part of (and maybe even help shepherd), you must truly believe it is more blessed to give (sacrificially, without expecting anything in return) than to receive (even potentially receiving attention for your giving).

Shepherding is tiring work. Forming a spiritual family can bring the same difficulties as an earthly family. Both deal with real life circumstances. Real hurts. Real needs.

It will mean giving things up for others. It will mean sharing your money, your stuff, your time, and your life to a higher degree than you might have thought you ever would have.

It’s the work of Jesus. And it’s the work of Jesus’ disciples.

It’s what we see the church in Acts living out. It’s what the church in America usually struggles with the most.

We must become the spiritual family the Spirit longs to form, not just an organization we are strategic enough to create.

We must encourage our leaders to be elders (spiritual parents/grandparents), not merely those who can run programs or speak in public.

And we must do the hard work of shepherding those who come behind us – and allow ourselves to be shepherded by those who go before us – not try to constantly chart our own pathway “in the faith.”

The church is not a startup company to be launched. It is a family to be formed in the midst of the joys and the hardships of life.

As we are seeking to become more Christlike than American, we will have to deal with conflict that arises among God’s people. There will be those who want to promote all kinds of things that are not the true Gospel. And we cannot ignore our responsibility to deal with those attacks accordingly – all the while caring of the souls of those who are hurt in the process.

May we guard our souls and the souls of those in our spiritual family with vigilance and courage.

May we care for our souls and the souls of those in our spiritual family with virtue and compassion.

May we become more like Jesus and less American in how we handle conflict and how we handle with care the souls of those in our spiritual family.

May we become more like Jesus and less American in how we hold open handedly our money, stuff, and time to be used by God to care for the lives of those in our spiritual family.

Previous Posts:

Why Do we Weight Ourselves to Death?

We too often carry the weight of wounds inflicted too early in life to know how to properly cope with them. When we were wounded, something changed in us. We can’t always describe it, or even explain how we were affected. But it is there.

As a pastor I have heard some of these stories of these old wounds. They linger in our memory and come to the surface when we least expect them to. When I sit and hear these stories, I wonder, “What can I do to help ease the weight of this burden?”

Recently, the thought has come to mind that one of the most important realizations any of us can have is learning we don’t have to carry these burdens forever. We don’t have to carry these memories wondering if we can ever lay them down.

It is not necessary to hide our pain because we don’t want to overburden others with our suffering. Someone may have violated our trust and are now hesitant to try again. I understand that feeling.

But we can’t allow that to stop us from seeking healing and spiritual health. It is scary being vulnerable. It can be frightening to open up to someone else. But it is the path toward freedom. The path away from an unhealthy way of living.

There are people who can help us. We have to ask God to help us find them!

The process of spiritual awakening and ultimate surrender to God’s grace is the only path toward lasting peace. Not because it makes us holier, but because it makes us whole.

This is the promise offered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He does not promise to eliminate the scars or even the memories.

What he promises is the healing touch of redemption. By taking what we give to him, broken and tattered as it might be, and uses it to fashion something new, and dare we say beautiful.

In the span between lost and found is searching. Our search for purpose, meaning, and salvation. His search for the lost, broken, and longing.

And then, in a moment we did not plan, on a road we did not chose, in a place we never expected to be in, he shows up and sets right what was wrong. Not necessarily in the world around me. But in me.

I become new.

I am changed.

My perspective shifts.

My heart feels hope, as if for the first time. But not like in the way I tried before. Not in my own strength. But as naturally as a sail catches wind. Because that is what it was made to do.

This is the journey of transformation we should seek. This is the path of spiritual health we must not give up on.

There are many who are on the “fake it ’til you make it” plan. May I encourage you to cancel that plan. It is the path of self-deception. It only makes the burden heavier and the hope we desire harder to find.

We must seek those who do not operate out of pretense or a competitive nature. Not those who have hidden motives and transparent agendas. Or those who saw what we want to hear but who are never able to unlock the chains that keep us bound. These are the marks of those still operating out of a system designed to mask what is true and good. These are the signposts of those who are just lying better than the rest of us about what’s really going on in our souls!

Freedom, the kind we need more than anything else, comes at a cost. But if it is real; if it is genuine; if it is lasting, it will be worth whatever it takes to get it.

Becoming More Christlike Than American: Part 3

Part 3: Communities of character

“Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard…All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.” Acts 4:19-20,32 NLT

If you’ve never read Acts 4, or haven’t in a while, first go read it.

After Pentecost in Acts 2, we read that the personal encounters with God where the believers are filled with His Spirit continue. Peter is filled with the Spirit and speaks publicly. The believers meet to pray for boldness and the meeting room shakes as the Spirit fills them.

So the deeply personal (and miraculous) “God within them” experience doesn’t stop after the upper room in Acts 2. But rather it continues.

And as it continues The Church begins to form. The earliest expressions of these gatherings of believers (churches) are described in both Acts 2:42-47 and again in Acts 4:32-37. And what is described are communities of character.

Devotion. Boldness. Transparency. Generosity. Unity.

Those are all words we could use to describe the communities of character that formed.

They became full of people who lived out in public who they were in private – speaking about the things God was doing in their midst as their lives were interconnected together.

They displayed for the world around them integrity as they gave themselves fully to a very personal and yet communal relationship with God.

They followed in the example of the apostles as they apprenticed in the ways of Jesus and committed themselves to friendship with one another.

They sacrificially shared with anyone in need – in simple ways like shared meals and in extravagantly generous ways like selling all they owned – and faithfully spent consistent time together in prayer and celebration.

The stories we read in these early chapters of Acts are so simple, and describe profoundly transformed lives.

It’s one thing for someone to say they’re an imitator of the way of Jesus – who had no where to lay his head and taught people to turn the other cheek – and another thing to actually live it amidst a world that celebrates self-centeredness and greed.

If we are honest, self-centeredness and greed are far more common than we would like in an Americanized version of Christianity. We see too many times that those who call themselves Christians use their faith to garner temporary, earthly success. They use it as something to grow their own self-importance rather than growing their humility.

God becomes a means to an end, instead of an end Himself. Working for God ends up merely being about oneself. And the fruit of that labor ends up being money, material things, and even the approval of others.

It’s completely the opposite in the early church. What we see in Acts is the evidence of people who pursue the desires of the eternal Spirit and not the desires of the temporary world. They experience the presence and love of God so deeply that they are then able to be fully present with and fully loving toward those around them.

This sort of life can only happen because of an on-going personal and communal experience of the presence of God.

When that happens, it begins to form a community of character – a people who devote themselves to apprenticeship to Jesus thru the example of the apostles, thru genuine friendship with one another, thru the sacrificial sharing of one’s life with those friends, and thru the consistent rhythms of prayer and celebration both personally and collectively.

What we see form in Acts is undeniable. And it is so very simple.

Have we overcomplicated the Christian life as we’ve “Westernized” it and eventually “Americanized” it?

Have we attempted to take control of the things we should be letting go of and thus remained in our comfort zones instead of living by faith?

Have we pursued dreams Jesus never gave us and built things the Spirit never led us to construct?

Have we become a people that call ourselves “The Church” but would be unrecognizable to those who formed the very first Church on earth?

Have we formed organizations, systems, and processes that produce communities of character or in how we’ve created those things are they potentially working against it and keeping us from seeing the “results” we verbalize that we want?

May the same Spirit in Acts once again fill us, that He might lead us to stop complicating, controlling, and constructing and re-form us into devoted communities of character.

May The Church in our country today begin to look more like Acts than America.

Previous Posts:

Becoming More Christlike Than American: Part 1

Part 1: Questions about why

“Why are you standing here staring into heaven?” Acts 1:11 NLT

If you’ve read Acts 1, this is such a pointed and powerful question. [If you haven’t read Acts 1, go read it now]

The disciples have just finished 40 days with the resurrected Jesus, which concludes with one “final” recorded conversation with him about the kingdom of God. This is where he reminds them that they will be his witnesses [martyrs is the Greek word] all over the world after they receive the Holy Spirit.

And then he ascends. Right in front of them.

And there they are. Standing. Staring into heaven. When two “white-robed” messengers ask them this simple, and yet profound, question: Why?

This “Why?” question has always gripped my attention every time I’ve read the story. And it makes me wonder if I too have found myself staring up to heaven instead of looking to what’s right in front of me – to people right around me and most of all to God who is with me.

This “Why?” question centers me upon potentially the most important part of the Gospel: the incarnation – that God “took on flesh” in Jesus, and is still “taking on flesh” today thru His Spirit within His people. This truth of the Gospel really changes everything.

This “Why?” question sets the trajectory for the disciples living out this reality of incarnation in their day. And it can do the same for us today.

And it’s really less about answering the question (I’m sure we could psychoanalyze why we think the disciples were staring into heaven) than it is about that asking of it to bring about awareness – awareness to what we find ourselves doing.

If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of questions being asked right now in our culture. Especially among the younger generation of Christians in America.

Questions about faith. Questions about life. Questions about how faith works itself out in the midst of life.

Questions about the church. Questions about society. Questions about how the church lives out it’s values in the midst of society.

And on we could go.

Almost everything is being questioned. And most of the questions are really “Why?” questions.

And that scares some people, or at least unsettles them. But I don’t think it does God. Jesus himself asked many questions. And God fields questions constantly from those we read about in the Bible.

Questions are important. Questions can bring awareness. Questions can cause self-reflection. Questions can set a trajectory for the journey ahead.

And the questions being asked right now – especially the “Why?” questions – will shape the way forward for many people.

And even more so, the posture of asking questions – and the journey to understanding that comes from asking them – is shaping the church for the next generation more than even the answers themselves will.

As I observe the questions that are being asked today, they all seem to be about identity.

Which really relates to what this question in Acts 1 is getting at.

Are we people who are standing and staring toward the heavens? If so, why?

For many of us, it feels like much of our lives have been shaped by a teaching that says God is personal (God is with us) but also by practices that depersonalize God (“staring into heaven”).

Does being invited into a “relationship with God” in a non-relational context where you “pray a prayer” during an “altar call” really connect us with a personal God?

Does prayer being treated as how we “talk at God” and Scripture being used for how we “receive a word from God” really connect us with a personal God?

Does the church being so concerned with attendance and attraction, with buildings and budgets, and with numbers and nomenclature, really connect us with a personal God?

As myself and others have been asking these kinds of questions, I’ve found myself returning consistently to the book of Acts. Which always brings me to this question: “Why?”

And as we look to the stories of Acts as our guide, we will find the answers to so many of the questions we’re asking.

But, even more so, as we look to the stories of Acts, we will rediscover the posture of disciples and of a church that concerns itself far more with “God with us” than the desires and scorecards of this world – or even just our staring up to heaven.

The simplicity of the question asked of the disciples in Acts 1 is only matched by the simplicity of the community we see God form throughout the rest of the book.

And it’s that simplicity – that clarity – that questions like “Why?” can bring to our lives, to our faith, and to our churches. 

If we let them.

If we don’t run from them.

And it’s those sorts of questions we will be exploring as we navigate thru the stories in Acts in this blog series.

Let’s become more Christlike than American together.

*This post is the beginning of a series of reflections I have written that focus on “Becoming more Christlike than American.” They are based specifically upon the examples of the disciples of Jesus we read about in Acts. It is a follow-up series to one I did previously asking the question: “Do we look more American than Christian?” [Click here to read the first blog in that series]

I’ve spent over 15 years with that question, and have also walked with people who have been asking similar questions as well. I’ve found that the “crisis” we are in is really about our definition of Christlikeness. Many of us grew up in a church culture that gave us a lot of information about Jesus, and taught us to live moral lives, but we were mostly formed by religious programming more than a personal relationship with Jesus. A relationship that works itself out in personal relationships with those around us.

In my own journey with the questions in this series, I’ve found that ultimately I had learned to depersonalize God. And I find many are struggling with the same experience – and thus, why they are “deconstructing” with their faith and “disconnecting” with the church. For them (and for me) too many times the church has not “put flesh on” Jesus, but has just been a “place” (a building or time during the week) of looking to the heavens.

I hope this series will help others, who are on the same path as I am, to see God be fully “incarnate” in our lives once again.

God is with us. May we have the eyes to see Him and the ears to hear Him.

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Gamaliel’s Wager: When you Risk Making God your Enemy

A Startling Realization

Several years ago, I read the passage below and was startled by what it said. I had not considered the implications of it because I had not seen them before. I’ll explain more as we go. But first let me set the stage for what is going on.

The story begins with the arrest of the apostles for teaching and preaching the Gospel in the public square and in the Temple. There is the added wrinkle of the jealousy of the Pharisees because the disciples were performing signs and wonders, and many people were being healed (Acts 5:17). The Pharisees were no longer the cool kids. Their influence was shrinking. And they did not like that at all.

In an attempt to silence the apostles, the high priest had them all arrested and put in prison. But, during the night, an angel of God came and freed them, and instructed them to go back to the Temple and continue teaching and preaching.

Imagine the surprise of the high priest and the council when they could not find the apostles in the prison!

As they were trying to figure out what was going on, word got back to the council. The apostles were back at the Temple doing what got them arrested in the first place.

So, the guards went to go get them, but with great care. These simple soldiers knew something was different about these men. No need to stir things up with the people either.

Gamaliel’s Wager

It is into this context we find the speech given by one of the members of the council. A Pharisee name Gamaliel. Who, not uninterestingly, may have very well been the Apostle Paul’s teacher in the rabbinic tradition.

Luke records what was said for us in Acts 5.

33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Acts 5:33-40

The sentence that caught my attention was at the end of verse 39: You might even be found opposing God!

I was floored by the both the wisdom and challenge of what Gamaliel said. As human beings, we are limited in our abilities to see beyond the moment. We have to be careful not to suppose we know more than we do.

Gamaliel was calling for a deeper wisdom. A wisdom grounded in humility rather than pride. We could all benefit from listening to his words.

But there is also a challenge. It is what I have called Gamaliel’s Wager.

A wager is a gambling term. It describes the risk a person takes in the hopes of gaining more than what is at stake.

If you have watched any casino movie in your life, you have probably heard some version of these statements. “Don’t bet against the house.” Or, “the house always wins.” Why? Because in the long run, the casino has also made a wager, that you, in all your cunning, will not be able to outlast the house’s patience in winning their money back.

The reason the house has this confidence is because they understand one thing about people. People, given enough time, will get greedy. They will think they are invincible and try to continue maximizing their returns.

The problem is the game is rigged. This is how you get reeled in. You are enticed by small gains so you are tempted to bet everything you have. Not realizing that by this time it’s too late. You have become the victim of your own hubris.

Refrain from Speaking for God

What does this have to do with making God our enemy? It’s this. The wager the high priest and the Pharisees made put them on the opposite side of God!

What’s worse is they thought they WERE on God’s side. They are not unique in making this mistake. We are capable of doing the exact same thing.

Let me give you a little secret: The one thing we should avoid more than anything in this world is to bet against God!

We don’t always know what God is up to, so we should be extremely careful when we start saying where God is working or is not working. Who God is using and who he is not using. That is a bet we should never take.

To make the kind of declaration the Pharisees were making is to assume access to information not available to any of us. To many of us think ourselves counselors to God and capable of predicting his actions. But we are mistaken to ever take that position.

This is the wager the Pharisees were making by how they were treating the apostles. They were the religious leaders. They were the ones trained and educated. They were the ones who were responsible for knowing what God was doing.

It just did not make sense to them that those silly apostles of Jesus could ever be a part of God’s plan.

And that is the wrong bet. That is the wrong wager. And that is exactly what Gamaliel was warning against.

Because, what if God, in his sovereign wisdom, WAS using people we would not normally consider “worthy” of the honor? Or doing something we had never seen God do before? What then?

Well, at that moment, we will be found “opposing God!”

We will have put ourselves on the wrong side of the battle line.

And like in any good casino movie, we will lose because the house always wins!

An Ancient Vision for a Present Need

Psalm 133
KJV

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

The Divine Unity

The first time I heard this song, I felt the Lord impress upon me the fact that what we, the Church, need today may not be something new. We may need something as old as God himself.

It has become fashionable to go after the new thing. And this fad has been reigning large in the contemporary church strategy circles. There is nothing wrong with exploring the opportunities and options we have available to us. It is both wise and prudent to evaluate tactics in the work of Gospel ministry. What can get us distracted, however, is thinking the “new thing” is the right thing no matter what.

In a similar way, when we consider the mystery of the Godhead, how God exists within God’s own being, we are challenged to consider what we think we know about God. Everything God is helps us to understand how things should be in the world and in our lives. It may not always be easy to see or discern, but it is possible. We just have to be willing to take the time to spend with God. To hear what he is saying. To obey what God is commanding us to do.

The unity of the Godhead is a mystery. Of that there is no doubt. However, Jesus tells us that his desire for his followers is that we would experience the same kind of unity as he has with the Father (John 10:30, cf. John 12-20-23).

When this unity is achieved, then most, if not all, of the problems and issues facing the Church, and by extension the world, can be addressed. It is the unity of the Church that provides the proper framework for the world’s reconciliation to God.

And just to be clear, by “achieved” I don’t mean perfectly. When we are actually working toward the kind of unity Jesus described, and making steady progress towards it, then we will be on the path toward actually seeing the fruit the unity we seek.

The work of Gospel-centered unity cannot be achieved through the mechanisms of the world. The temptation to try can be quite enticing. But any and every attempt to circumvent the Gospel path will inevitably end in ruin.

It is the unity of the Church that provides the proper framework for the world’s reconciliation to God.

I believe the primary obstacle many of us face is understanding the nature of the unity Jesus sought is we have internalized the perspective of immediacy as evidence of God’s activity in the world. So when there is a delay between request and response we question God’s faithfulness to come through.

The Unity Described

There are several passages in the Apostle John’s gospel that are helpful here. We find clarity of what this unity looks like as Jesus’s words are recorded in several places.

42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

John 8:42 ESV

And again in chapter 12 we see Jesus say,

49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

JOhn 12:49-50 ESV

And again in the chapter 15:

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 15:26 ESV

What I find curious about what Jesus is saying is that there is a clear unity of mission within the Godhead. The Father sends the Son, the Son speaks what the Father commands, and the Holy Spirit points back to the words and work of Jesus.

There is not only a harmony of purpose, but there is a clarity of assignment. Each divine person working together, accomplishing their specific assignment as determined within the council of their own being.

Let’s not pretend to understand how this was all decided. What we know, through a gift of revelation, is that this happened.

This is not only an example of unity, it is our model for working toward the kind of unity that will change the course of those who’s lives will intersect with ours. And who, by the grace of God, will come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

True Unity is Possible

The simplicity of the Psalm upon which this song is based points to the blessing that shall cover all of life when God-glorifying unity is achieved. This blessing is grounded in the commitment of God’s people to live together in unity.

It can be difficult to envision a world with this level of commitment. In particular when we see the internal strifes and challenges in the Church. However, the problem is not whether this unity is possible. The question we have to answer is are we willing to seek the unity God has promised according to God’s plan.

If we are not willing to follow the way we should not be surprised when the unity doesn’t materialize.

There is not a single instance I can think of in the Bible where someone decided to substitute their own wisdom for God’s where the events turned out well. Every single time we choose to deviate from God’s plan, we risk everything we desire to see.

This is why when we work for unity, we have to make sure to guard against any influence, any system, any methodology, any metric, or any alliance that does not harmonize with the character of God.

Yes, this means we may have to slow down. And yes, it may mean that we will have to be more cautious with how we proceed. But in the end, working in congruency with God and his purposes should be more important than expediency.

When God Tells You to Hush

Some Context

A couple of days ago, my oldest child and I went to worship with a friend of mine at the church he serves as Rector. He is a priest in the Anglican tradition.

The liturgy for the service was The Great Vigil of Easter. (If you are interested in reading the liturgy for yourself in starts on page 582 of the Book of Common Prayer 2019)

It is the service that ends the season of Lent and the corresponding fast and initiates the season of Easter. It was a beautiful service and was actually the first time I was able to participate in one.

The general format of the service follows a series of lessons from the Old Testament, each accompanied with a psalm and a prayer. The lessons are followed by a message and then the celebration of the Eucharist (or Lord’s Supper). It’s a simple structure, but it can certainly pack a punch when we stay engaged and pay attention to what is happening!

The purpose of the lessons is to lead us from creation through the fall and then through the story of deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt. From there the promises of God for salvation are shared as we get ready to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

With each lesson, we are given a clearer picture of the story of God’s redemptive plan.

One story in particular stuck with me. It is the retelling of God’s deliverance of the people as they stand with the Red Sea on one side and the Egyptian army on the other. The selection is a bit longer in the service, but here is the paragraph that really captured my imagination.

A Text

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:10-14 ESV)

A Curious Problem

The part of the story that stood out was verse 14: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

As I was listening to the reader, when they said this line a thought popped into my head.

"How many times do I talk back to God rather than be silent as he fights to deliver me?"

When we are talking it is very difficult to listen. When we are talking we are also not able to pay attention to what is happening around us. Our minds are so engaged and focused on what we are doing it is difficult to see or hear anything else.

It can be tempting to try and figure out everything God is working out. The biggest issue with this is that it just isn’t possible. But that temptation is also a trap.

When we are not able or willing to trust God to do what he has said, we are exposing a deficiency in our faith. That deficiency being that we have a hard time trusting God at all, at least in the area that we are questioning God about.

A Dangerous Attitude

I am not saying that we can’t consider and wonder what God is up to. That is not it at all. What I am saying is that our desire to know every aspect of God’s plan is thinking we can sit in his chair and make the “big” decisions. This attitude is a childish form of hubris and it’s a mistake.

If we know that God is going to do something, we need to let God do it. How he is going to make it happen is not really our problem. And we should not make it our problem. But too many of us do.

The number of variables that God is considering and dealing with would literally make our heads explode. But that doesn’t stop some of us. We rush right in and we question not only God’s motives but his affection. We even go so far as to question God’s competence.

A Time to Hush

I don’t have a tendency toward telling God how to do his job. I never have. But I felt the weight of this story and the verse in particular.

For better or worse, I know there are times and places in my life where I speak when I should be silent. Not because what I would say or do would be wrong or a sin.

I should be silent because God is going to do something that will be remembered and celebrated for all eternity.

My silence gives me the space I need to see the wondrous works of God in the world around me and in my life.

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