One of the questions I've puzzled with is why doesn't God just zap us and make us perfect? When we see a spot on the floor, we spray it with some 409, and wipe it clean. It's clean, simple, and easy. God's way of cleansing us seems to have been the total opposite. From the hymn, How Great Thou Art, "And when I think that God his Son not sparing, sent Him to die - I scarce can take it in." Why is the means of God's righteousness transferral so devastating that God's own Son died for us?
Perhaps its one thing to clean the surface of a floor. But to clean a human soul is a completely different story. Like apples and oranges. A spot on the surface of the floor is fairly simple. If there was something awry with the foundation of the floor, or even of the house itself, the matter would be different. This is more like what is wrong with humanity. We may often look good on the outside, but what is inside is absolutely killing us. We are complex spiritual beings - made to know one another deeply, reading immense significance in the smallest glance, becoming terribly offended by words that aren't spoken to us. Part of sin's devastation is that if we see it too clearly, despair can ensue. We know that the problems of our lives and communities are too great for us. We can be tempted to give up and become cynical. And when this happens to someone spiritually, they are like a plant that has died. Pretty soon, what happens inside makes its way through the whole plant. We stop caring. We sit around. We don't build ourselves up physically, intellectually, or emotionally. Parts of our lives that are only a part - our jobs for instance - can become our only focus.
I think the best way to put it is that while we are procrastinators - running from the problem areas of our lives where we meet resistance - God is not. When His creation went astray, He didn't avoid us, finding solace in some other cosmic wonder that hadn't fallen into disarray. He worked to redeem our life in our life. Not away from our world, but right in the middle. In his death, he carries the weight and the guilt of all of our original sin. In our baptisms, we are baptized into the death and burial of Jesus Christ. He rises from the grave. We do too. It seems nothing has really changed. In fact, everything has. Through faith in Christ, we have also risen from the grave with him. At this point, in answer to the question, "why didn't God just zap us and make us instantaneously perfect so we don't have to screw up and learn things the hard way anymore?", God is interested in more than our cleanliness. Eternal life is more than a long life. It is a good life. Righteousness is more than the absence of sin. It is a life where the full, dazzling array of God-likeness is shining out of our lives through our united-to-Christ hearts.
Thank God this is already ours in Christ! This keeps us from the mistake of thinking God expects us to earn his favor. We can live freely, trusting in his love. But there's more. With that assurance, we learn. We develop discipline. We grow. Because salvation isn't only a new status. It is a relationship. This is what we were made for. Out of this relationship with Christ, our other relationships are all healed.
This is so liberating. We want to know God loves us. And we want to know that we can become more like Christ with each passing day. This is why Paul's passage in 3:12-17 is such good news. With our lives united to Christ through the Holy Spirit, we can stock the virtues of Christ in our lives, as in a wardrobe and we can wear them everyday.
Reflection Questions:
1) Verse 12 mentions compassion, humility, meekness, and patience. Which of these is most lacking for you in your daily life?
2) Do you see this quality in Christ's life? Think about how freely it is on display in his life to glorify God. Ask him in prayer for this quality to grow in your life.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Following the Rules (May 12 Message)
When Christian philosopher Dallas Willard died last week, I enjoyed reading remembrances from individuals whose lives had been touched by his ministry. One of them recalled how Willard believed that there were four great questions that human beings must answer: 1) what is reality? 2) What is the good life? 3) Who is a good person? 4) How do you become a good person?
People will give radically different answers beginning with question 1, depending on whether the God of the Bible exists. Tim Keller writes in his book, Every Good Endeavor: "If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God's calling, can matter forever." (Keller, 29)
If this is true, then what has God told us of the good life? The good life is to obey God and to keep covenant with him. Exodus 20:1-17 shows what God commands of his covenant partner, Israel: having no other Gods but He alone, not making a physical image of God for the purposes of worship, not making wrongful use of the Lord's name, remembering the sabbath day, honoring mother and father, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no bearing false witness, and no coveting anything belonging to your neighbor. This was summarized later by Jesus as "love God...love your neighbor." This is the good life.
Who is the good person? Clearly the one who does the whole law. But what does that look like? Author A.J. Jacobs tried this and wrote a book about it - The Year of Living Biblically. Somehow this experiment seems more like running an especially good marathon or staying faithful to your diet. Is there more to it than personal performance? Some say that good intention is all God is really looking for. He'll grade on a curve if he sees we're really trying and not messing around too much. But this doesn't take God's holiness very seriously. As the Apostle Peter writes in his letter, "As he who calls you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct." We should take it seriously. But how seriously can we take it without becoming legalistic?
I think the quote Jenn included in the bulletin from former MPC pastor, Jack Watson, is very helpful in pointing us through this gridlock. "There are many in our society today who hardly are in danger of seeking to live too rigorous a life, who certainly are not addicted to rules and regulations in abundance. There is much all around us that is not too tight, but too loose. But it is nevertheless a fact that I am sure we have all encountered that many need to be freed from the tyranny of a rigid religion...we are freed from all false ties, including ourselves, so that we may be firmly bound to Christ."
Indeed, there is much around us that is too loose. And there is no refuge in what is too tight. Being bound to Jesus Christ is our only refuge. Neither holding tightly to rules nor insisting that they don't apply is the mark of a good person. With Martin Luther, we say, "Of myself, I have no righteousness. But I have another." We can't be good people. Created very good in Genesis 2 - we were very bad by Genesis 3. Jesus? He is very good. Proclaiming, healing, raising from the dead, storytelling, debating. As the people of the Decapolis put it, "he does all things well." He even dies well. One of the first Christians is the Roman centurion who, upon seeing Christ crucified, calls out "Surely this man was the Son of God."
Keller's point still stands from the beginning. If the God of the Bible is real, the good life and the good person are both shown to us in the law-fulfilling, God-glorifying life of Jesus - a life that was bulls-eye precise with regard to holiness and grace alike, and with regard to the latter, generous, spacious, and abundant. He is both the good life and the good person.
What about the fourth question? If he is both, how do we become like Jesus? Much of human wisdom insists that we can become good and wise people and not think much about God. We all have wandering eyes and wandering minds that will find goodness all over the place and not connect it with God. But for each of us, for all that we have, the time will come, maybe today and maybe next week, maybe decades from now, the question will come - "do you love this more than me?" And whether it is our spouse, our son, our daughter, or our own concept of goodness, of wisdom, of what God owes us or of what we owe God, we will have to answer, even if we choose not to give any answer at all, that will be our answer. The opportunity, from my experience, seems to be this: if we merely choose to allow him, Jesus will make us like himself. It will take a long time. It won't be easy. It will often feel like we are really walking to the cross with him. Jesus has done the rest of it once and for all, if we will only take stock of our heart and allow the master to work.
1) I took awhile to write this, but I invite you to take just a few minutes: how would you answer Willard's four great questions?
People will give radically different answers beginning with question 1, depending on whether the God of the Bible exists. Tim Keller writes in his book, Every Good Endeavor: "If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God's calling, can matter forever." (Keller, 29)
If this is true, then what has God told us of the good life? The good life is to obey God and to keep covenant with him. Exodus 20:1-17 shows what God commands of his covenant partner, Israel: having no other Gods but He alone, not making a physical image of God for the purposes of worship, not making wrongful use of the Lord's name, remembering the sabbath day, honoring mother and father, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no bearing false witness, and no coveting anything belonging to your neighbor. This was summarized later by Jesus as "love God...love your neighbor." This is the good life.
Who is the good person? Clearly the one who does the whole law. But what does that look like? Author A.J. Jacobs tried this and wrote a book about it - The Year of Living Biblically. Somehow this experiment seems more like running an especially good marathon or staying faithful to your diet. Is there more to it than personal performance? Some say that good intention is all God is really looking for. He'll grade on a curve if he sees we're really trying and not messing around too much. But this doesn't take God's holiness very seriously. As the Apostle Peter writes in his letter, "As he who calls you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct." We should take it seriously. But how seriously can we take it without becoming legalistic?
I think the quote Jenn included in the bulletin from former MPC pastor, Jack Watson, is very helpful in pointing us through this gridlock. "There are many in our society today who hardly are in danger of seeking to live too rigorous a life, who certainly are not addicted to rules and regulations in abundance. There is much all around us that is not too tight, but too loose. But it is nevertheless a fact that I am sure we have all encountered that many need to be freed from the tyranny of a rigid religion...we are freed from all false ties, including ourselves, so that we may be firmly bound to Christ."
Indeed, there is much around us that is too loose. And there is no refuge in what is too tight. Being bound to Jesus Christ is our only refuge. Neither holding tightly to rules nor insisting that they don't apply is the mark of a good person. With Martin Luther, we say, "Of myself, I have no righteousness. But I have another." We can't be good people. Created very good in Genesis 2 - we were very bad by Genesis 3. Jesus? He is very good. Proclaiming, healing, raising from the dead, storytelling, debating. As the people of the Decapolis put it, "he does all things well." He even dies well. One of the first Christians is the Roman centurion who, upon seeing Christ crucified, calls out "Surely this man was the Son of God."
Keller's point still stands from the beginning. If the God of the Bible is real, the good life and the good person are both shown to us in the law-fulfilling, God-glorifying life of Jesus - a life that was bulls-eye precise with regard to holiness and grace alike, and with regard to the latter, generous, spacious, and abundant. He is both the good life and the good person.
What about the fourth question? If he is both, how do we become like Jesus? Much of human wisdom insists that we can become good and wise people and not think much about God. We all have wandering eyes and wandering minds that will find goodness all over the place and not connect it with God. But for each of us, for all that we have, the time will come, maybe today and maybe next week, maybe decades from now, the question will come - "do you love this more than me?" And whether it is our spouse, our son, our daughter, or our own concept of goodness, of wisdom, of what God owes us or of what we owe God, we will have to answer, even if we choose not to give any answer at all, that will be our answer. The opportunity, from my experience, seems to be this: if we merely choose to allow him, Jesus will make us like himself. It will take a long time. It won't be easy. It will often feel like we are really walking to the cross with him. Jesus has done the rest of it once and for all, if we will only take stock of our heart and allow the master to work.
1) I took awhile to write this, but I invite you to take just a few minutes: how would you answer Willard's four great questions?
Thursday, May 9, 2013
What Are You Full Of? (Reflection on May 5 Message)
I've been reading a book called Miraculous Movements. It is about Muslims in Africa who have confessed Jesus to be Lord. New Christians spend hours together in prayer. Hours. How do they do this? Don't they get distracted and bored? Everytime I picture them gathering in someone's home for hours on end in prayer, I struggle to wrap my head around it.
Jesus' last words to his disciples before he ascended to heaven were these: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20) Reading about Muslims becoming Christ-followers teaches me this: they are doing this, and they are doing it by praying 600% more than I do.
Our hearts are stubborn. This is why Paul preached to the heart in his letter, going after the astrologies and deceitful philosophies that had the Colossians by the throat. This is why Kevin preached to our hearts, going after the materialistic hearts we all have.
Good heart-preaching reveals our idols. The light shines on us. We are guilty. We are too proud, selfish, arrogant, and busy. But we are this way because we have deeper needs. We are ashamed, fearful, confused, and inadequate. Heart-preaching doesn't allow us to merely "be ourselves." It clears the way and allows us to be honest with God. Maybe for the first time in our lives, we can be completely honest with him about how much we need him.
If we are still interested in keeping control of our own lives, honesty won't be a priority. But if we start to get real with God, Colossians 2:9-15 has the strength to get us over that hill. Because we shouldn't be afraid of becoming nothing. In our sin and transgressions, we already are. But Christ nailed it to the cross. (2:14). When the world mocked him for becoming nothing and dying for us, he rose from the grave, showing these impressive rulers and authorities to be ridiculous. In emptying ourselves, we become full through Christ.
Dallas Willard died yesterday. He was a great Christian philosopher, often quoted by Kevin in the pulpit. I absolutely devoured his massive tome, The Divine Conspiracy over the summer. In the last day, I have enjoyed reading what many wise Christians loved about Dallas. Here is one that I've been thinking a lot about:
"[Willard's] books all call out, in one way or another: Come on over. It's going to be okay to die first. You have to do it, and you can do it. Not even Jesus got a resurrection without a death, and he'll be at your side when you surrender your old life. Trust me on this. If you die with Jesus Christ, God will walk you out of your tomb into a life of incomparable joy and purpose inside his boundless and competent love."
Faith is all about surrender. It is not easy. It is not something we can do on our own. We need God. We need each other. We need heart preaching. Above all, we need the Gospel. Paul is telling us, "you can't just decide to be better. Christ is your good, your better, and your best. He is the death of the old you and the new birth of the real, eternal you. It is no longer you who live. Christ lives in you."
1) When was the last time you surrendered everything in your life to Christ? What did that mean for you at the time (was it really hard?) What has it meant for you since?
2) Who is the person in your life most in need of this kind of surrender? Ask God to give you the resolve to pray for this person until he or she is able to give control to God.
Jesus' last words to his disciples before he ascended to heaven were these: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20) Reading about Muslims becoming Christ-followers teaches me this: they are doing this, and they are doing it by praying 600% more than I do.
Our hearts are stubborn. This is why Paul preached to the heart in his letter, going after the astrologies and deceitful philosophies that had the Colossians by the throat. This is why Kevin preached to our hearts, going after the materialistic hearts we all have.
Good heart-preaching reveals our idols. The light shines on us. We are guilty. We are too proud, selfish, arrogant, and busy. But we are this way because we have deeper needs. We are ashamed, fearful, confused, and inadequate. Heart-preaching doesn't allow us to merely "be ourselves." It clears the way and allows us to be honest with God. Maybe for the first time in our lives, we can be completely honest with him about how much we need him.
If we are still interested in keeping control of our own lives, honesty won't be a priority. But if we start to get real with God, Colossians 2:9-15 has the strength to get us over that hill. Because we shouldn't be afraid of becoming nothing. In our sin and transgressions, we already are. But Christ nailed it to the cross. (2:14). When the world mocked him for becoming nothing and dying for us, he rose from the grave, showing these impressive rulers and authorities to be ridiculous. In emptying ourselves, we become full through Christ.
Dallas Willard died yesterday. He was a great Christian philosopher, often quoted by Kevin in the pulpit. I absolutely devoured his massive tome, The Divine Conspiracy over the summer. In the last day, I have enjoyed reading what many wise Christians loved about Dallas. Here is one that I've been thinking a lot about:
"[Willard's] books all call out, in one way or another: Come on over. It's going to be okay to die first. You have to do it, and you can do it. Not even Jesus got a resurrection without a death, and he'll be at your side when you surrender your old life. Trust me on this. If you die with Jesus Christ, God will walk you out of your tomb into a life of incomparable joy and purpose inside his boundless and competent love."
Faith is all about surrender. It is not easy. It is not something we can do on our own. We need God. We need each other. We need heart preaching. Above all, we need the Gospel. Paul is telling us, "you can't just decide to be better. Christ is your good, your better, and your best. He is the death of the old you and the new birth of the real, eternal you. It is no longer you who live. Christ lives in you."
1) When was the last time you surrendered everything in your life to Christ? What did that mean for you at the time (was it really hard?) What has it meant for you since?
2) Who is the person in your life most in need of this kind of surrender? Ask God to give you the resolve to pray for this person until he or she is able to give control to God.
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