A Sunday Follow-up: More Work found in God's Word

This Sunday under the big top we had a chance to examine a brilliant passage on living Christ where we work from Colossians 3:22-4:1 (sure, we had get through the whole 'slave' part of the passage & determine if one can legitimately apply a 1st century passage about slavery to 21st century work - which I argued one can!! - geez, thanks for slowing us down, SLAVERY!!).


For those interested or who'd like to do a little Bible Study/Devotion, here are some critical biblical passages on work:


Genesis 2:2 - God works...and then rests...but mostly, He works. [And considering Genesis 1:27 says we are made in God's image and, thus, purposed to imitate God...we also work].

Genesis 2:2   ² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

Genesis 2: 7-9, 15 - Even before sin and evil enter the world, man works.

Genesis 2:7-9, 15   ⁷ The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.  ⁸ And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.  ⁹ And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ...¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Genesis 3:17-19 - Man decides not to trust God. God, being perfectly just, must punish. He punishes (or curses) man through his work.

Genesis 3:17-19  ¹⁷ And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;  ¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." 

Exodus 20: 8-11 - Even still, work goes on in the pattern of it's genesis (ha...ha...get it? Homonym!)

Exodus 20:8-11   ⁸ "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,  ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

Psalm 8:3-8 - God works which is evidenced in creation, and he has given us dominion to work his creation (notice: vv.7-8 contains most common Ancient Israelite jobs - shepherd, farmer & his oxen to plow, fisherman).

Psalm 8:3-8   ³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,  ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?  ⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  ⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,  ⁷ all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,  ⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 

Psalm 90:16-17 - A prayer of praise for God's Work and a prayer of petition to establish the work we do (ie. make it 'matter').

Psalm 90:16-17  ¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.  ¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! 

Colossians 3:22-4:1 - Do what your boss says, but work for the Boss of bosses.

Colossians 3:22 - 4:1   ²² Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  ²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,  ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.  ²⁵ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.   4:1 Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. 

Proverbs 6: 6-11 - The foolishness of a sluggard, whose usually rationalizing a little laziness/me-time here and a little there.

Proverbs 6:6-11   ⁶ Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.  ⁷ Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,  ⁸ she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.  ⁹ How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?  ¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,  ¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. 

I Timothy 5:8 - Working at any job is better than remaining unemployed while holding out for your dream job (or that upper management position).

1 Timothy 5:8  ⁸ But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

II Thessalonians 3:10-12 - Working is essential to eating. 

II Thessalonians 3:10-12  ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.  ¹¹ For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.  ¹² Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 

I Corinthians 3:9-15 - The quality of some work is better than others - work done, by faith, for and with God.  

1 Corinthians 3:9-15   ⁹ For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.  ¹⁰ According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.  ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-  ¹³ each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 

Ephesians 4:11-12 - In God's economy, we don't clock out of work when we clock out at our job (cf. II Timothy 3:16-17, II Corinthians 9:8, I Thessalonians 1:2-3). 

Ephesians 4:11-12   ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,  ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Isaiah 65:21-22 - Work continues in eternal life, but this time we'll enjoy perfect rest while doing it through the full enjoyment of the fruit of our labors. 

Isaiah 65:21-22  ²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  ²² They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 

Revelation 14:12 - One day the toil will be taken out of work. 

^NLT Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from all their toils and trials; for their good deeds follow them!"

Tattoos & the Christian

Greek for "It is finished"

As our own kids and those of some good friends romped around our yard this past Sunday afternoon looking for plastic eggs, they discovered inside them your mainstream sugar supplements coated with colored dyes (each which are like a russian roulette of allergic reaction to our children) but also a copious amount of -- removable tattoos. Katie had stumbled upon a bunch of these and thought they'd be great for easter egg prizes. They also sparked a question with which I've been confronted frequently lately:


"By the way, what do you think about tattoos?" OR "What do you think about Christians getting tattoos?"


I don't have tatts myself, but next time I preach on Christian Liberty from 1 Corinthians 8, Romans 15 or otherwise, I hope/dream to wear those tattoo sleeves on my arms just to see how the church reacts. 


I do think, as Christians, we can be too quick to either say: "GRACE" and just assume the substitutionary death of Jesus automatically creates/entails a more relaxed outlook on all of life that permits pretty much anything; or say: "STOOPID" and demonize tattoo-wearing while either quoting a verse from Leviticus or just condescendingly giving someone the "Why would you do that?!" look. 


Let's instead engage with God's Word as we do some critical thinking on this subject. I managed to finally do so and I started to formulate a response - but then ran across a really helpful & biblically-serious old article I read in a Christianity & Culture publication called Critique (ed. by Dennis Haack)... and then managed to find that article on the interweb, which I've posted below. 


"Decorating or Desecrating the Temple?" by Travis Scott


Some quick thoughts on the above article:
(1) Don't click on the link if you ain't prepared for some serious engage-your-mind reading and reflection on this subject. This is not the one-minute read followed by "now I can get a tattoo!" sort of thing. He covers all the potential bases, some of which you likely never knew existed.
(2) I found fascinating the history of how various kinds of bodily marking and tattoos have been viewed by Christian cultures throughout history. Admittedly, Scott probably should reveal that there's more ebb than flow (more of a negative view toward the practice throughout history) - nevertheless, that there is even some very positive views taken by Christian leaders in different historical periods is interesting. 
(3) I also appreciated that this is written by someone who is inked. I think he is particularly fair, asks good questions of the reader, and the insights he shares at the end re: his experience with tattoos was revealing to yours truly. 

When I am God

I recently had a fellow pastor send me this short little thought/faith provoker. It's written by a guy named Tim Challies, who is a pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto. I'm pasting it below & then following up with a challenge as to how you might practically grow in putting God back on the throne of your life.

When I am God    by Tim Challies

Sin is inherently anti-God, inherently pro-self. Each time I sin I make a statement about myself and a statement about (and against) God. Each time I sin, I declare my own independence, my own desire to be rid of God; I declare that I can do better than God, that I can be a better god than God. Recently I took some time to think about how life changes when I am god. The results were not pretty.

When I am god, it is against me, me only, that you may sin and do evil in my sight. This world exists for my pleasure, for my glory, and the gravity of your sin is measured according to how badly it interferes with my sovereign will. My wrath falls upon those who do their will instead of mine.

When God is God, your sin against me is light when weighed against its offense to God. This is the Father’s world and it exists to bring glory to him. Sin is any lack of obedience to God or any lack of conformity to his just and holy ways. For such sinners I have sympathy, and love, and hope in the gospel.

When I am god, worship of God interferes with my plans, with my slumber, with my loyalty to pleasure, to socializing, to sport, to amusement. I hate the thought of worshipping another, but long to worship myself or have others worship me.

When God is God, worship is joy, it is nourishment, it is life. There is no greater joy than to gather with God’s people to bring glory to the Creator, to give thanks to the Redeemer.

When I am god, sexual fulfillment is my right; sex exists to bring me pleasure and the value of other people is measured only in their ability to fulfill what I am convinced that I need.

When God is God, sex is a gift given to strengthen my marriage through service to my spouse. It is guarded and treasured and hallowed and motivates me to joyfully give thanks and praise to God.

When I am god, love is directed to me, the one most worthy of it. True love, meaningful love, meets the desires of my heart right here and right now. It grants peace when I long for peace, silence when I need silence, attention, affection, whatever it is that I demand. This is love. Greater love has no man than this—that he lay it all down for me.

When God is God, love is directed outward. Love for another is simply a means of expressing love to God; it is loving much as one who has been loved much. Love is not asking “What do I need?” but “What does God desire?” Greater love has no man than this—that he lay down his life for a friend, just as Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, has done for me.

When I am god, I myself am the source of all wisdom. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child or in the heart of anyone who contradicts or contravenes me. I am good and do good and long to teach you my statutes.

When God is God, wisdom flows from a source outside of me; wisdom is extrinsic and other-worldly and infinitely, eternally good. This is wisdom from above, wisdom from a book.

When I am god, I am enslaved. When God is God, I am free. I thank God that God is God. 

How God helped me practically grow from a simple exercise. After reading this, I sensed the Spirit slowly nudging at me as to what I would add to this list. Doing this really helped me call out the specifics of my self-centeredness, see the glory & freedom of God-centeredness, and helped me, well, repent.  


Here's mine: "When I am god, I have credit due to me for the good or important deed I've done. I will not give my credit or glory to another. I am offended when another would rob me of my credit or glory."


"When God is God, my left hand forgets about what my right hand just did,  anything I give is remembered and stored up by God as treasure in heaven, and I view my righteous deeds like filthy rags compared to the gracious, immeasurable, and radically persistent deeds (He just keeps doing them even when I don't notice!!) of my Father."


You. What would you add to the list? Beginning with "When I am god..."

Free Audiobook for March: A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards

It has often, yet sadly, been said that the church is "the only army that wounds it's own." 


Perhaps you or someone you love has been hurt by a church, perhaps even our church - Sunrise Community Church. While church leaders are called by God to do so willingly and in order to serve the flock (see 1 Peter 5:1-4), that hasn't always been the case. If the pain is still exercising a paralytic effect on you - perhaps slowing you from getting more involved in a church or from even attending a church at all - I highly recommend this Audiobook: A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. And it's Free: Click Here to Download. 


It's a thirty-year-old book that chronicles the relationship between a rebellious leader and lover of God and then a godly king and his rebellious son/follower. Three kings in all: Saul, David, & Absalom. It reads like novel (and is only around 90 minutes by the way) while taking brief pauses to dispense sound wisdom for responding in a godly manner to abrasive leadership and how, as a leader, to respond to abrasive congregants. 


May God Bless your listening!

Paul's advice: Look around for reasons to Hope

Former U.S. first lady Laura Bush visits with Karen Refugees
in Thailand (Aug 2008).

I can't wait to tell you a (true) story. But first, a little context to help grasp its relevance to our lives. This Sunday under the big top, I had the privilege to continue to preach through Paul's letter to the Colossians. Paul reminds the Colossians of how good judgment day will be if they continue to with a rooted and steadfast faith "not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard" (Colossians 1:23b). One of the most reliable evidences of a genuine faith is an ongoing hope in the gospel over performance. When you mess up, screw-the-pooch, jump the shark (a.k.a "sin against a Holy God"), the habit of how you respond is perhaps the most critical inward series of decisions one makes in the Christian life. 


Really there are two roads to take: Hope in the person & work of Jesus Christ expressed through the gospel to forgive you of sin, restore you to God, and change you OR hope in anything else (your own performance and so in failure spiral into guilt & shame; next time - as in convincing yourself to work harder next time; plans & checklists you make so it won't happen again; the rationalization that "everyone makes mistakes")? 


Look Around for Hope. But hoping in the person and work of Christ can be challenging so Paul follows up "not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard" with an interesting statement:

which [the gospel] has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister (Colossians 1:23c-d).

Seems to be one of those verses you just read, acknowledge and go on. But having studied this a bit, I believe what Paul is doing here is saying: "Here's how you can begin to reinforce and access hope. LOOK AROUND and see the gospel spread before you. It made me - the persecutor/killer - into a someone who loves it & would give his life for it and it's influence is spreading universally ("in all creation under heaven")." It's for hope that Paul mentions 500+ persons who witnessed the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 15:6 - Paul mentions this for those who doubt: "Hey, they are still alive, go ask 'em yourself"). It's for hope that 10 out of 12 apostles - simple men from different backgrounds die for the gospel (the 11th is permanently exiled...and the 12th, well, after betraying Christ he dies a death worse than anything in the opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan"). We garner a little hope in the fact that their are an estimated 2.5 billion persons in the world trust the person & work of Christ as we do.


"But Christianity is the norm." One of the major objections I hear to all of this, especially by folks from the UK, U.S., Canada, South Africa, and Cayman, is that we were merely "born into it." Christianity is the dominant religion in each of the cultures and so we were culturally conditioned to adopt and accept that "Jesus Christ died for my sins." The anomaly, the radical act is when people choose not to believe that into which they are born. That's a fair point. However, it overlook the hundreds of documented cases in which people from cultures/tribes/societies who previously had little to no Western/Christian contact were radically, supernaturally, & providentially prepared to both hear & receive this gospel. I didn't get a chance to share an example of this on Sunday and it's what I wish to share over the blogosphere today. This particular story (though there are, remarkably, many like it) radically reinforced & breathed new life into my hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ and is an example of what Paul means with regard to the gospel's influence "in all creation under heaven" (Col. 1:23c). May it likewise renew or reinforce your hope.


The Karen of Burma: People of the Lost Book. (Recounted from Don Richardson's book, Eternity in Their Hearts). In 1795, a British diplomat was visiting Burma (In 1824, Britain would launch a series of attacks against this country which borders Southeast China and for about a century ruled this otherwise closed and reclusive nation as one of its colonies). While in the more rural parts of Burma, the diplomat ran across a different group of people known as the Karen (pronounced "Carian"). The Burmese hated the Karen because they had stuck with their own "folk religion" and refused to adopt the national religion of Buddhism. 


The Burmese guide explained to the British diplomat, "This is most interesting. These tribesmen think you may be a certain 'white brother' whom they as a people have been expecting from time immemorial!...This 'white' brother is supposed to bring them a book. A book like one of their forefathers lost long ago." Upon returning, the diplomat reported this bizarre experience to his superior, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Symes. Symes in turn mentioned it in a manuscript entitled An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava in the Year 1795, published 32 years later in Edinburgh, Scotland. 


In 1816, a Muslim traveller happened upon a remote Karen village about 250 miles south of Rangoon. He was "light-skinned" and thus, according to this 'prophecy,' examined thoroughly. In a bizarre twist, he ends up giving them a book he claims contains writings about the true God ("What?! The Koran???!!"...wait for it...). The village sage kept the book wrapped in a muslin and it was venerated. Years later a anthropologist named Alonzo Bunker would live among the Karen and he reported that their sages would teach the people ancient truths through songs/hymns and stories. First, an example of a hymn:

Y'wa formed the world originally.                                                                             He appointed food and drink.                                                                                    He appointed the "fruit of trial."                                                                                  He gave detailed orders.                                                                                    Mu-kaw-lee deceived two persons.                                                                                               He caused them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial.                                                         They obeyed not; they believed not Y'wa...                                                                        When they ate the fruit of trial,                                                                                               They became subject to sickness, aging, and death...                          

Um...wow!  They believed that because of the people of Karen transgressed the commands of Y'wa (I mean how much closer can you get to Yahweh?!), they were specifically cursed with no books. So all of their sacred truths are passed on through centuries of oral tradition. Listen to another such truth that involves the temptation of Mu-kaw-lee. Having gone through a scene already strikingly reminiscent of Genesis 3: "Then Mu-kaw-lee replied: 'It is not so, O my children. The heart of your father Y'wa is not with you. This is the richest and sweetest...If you eat it, you will possess miraculous powers. You will be able to ascend to heaven." 


There are also songs of hope. Here's just an excerpt from one (think the Book of Isaiah): 

When the Karen king arrives,                                                                                There will be only one monarch.                                                                                        When the Karen king arrives,                                                                                          There will be neither rich nor poor. 

Despite the ubiquitous, pervasive and sometimes violent influence of Buddhist idolatry in Burma, the Karen held fast to the hope of these prophecies fulfilled - of a Book & a King.


In 1817, an American Baptist missionary, Adoniram Judson, journeyed and settled near Rangoon, Burma. After diligently learning the Burmese language, he found little response to his attempts to share with them the gospel. One day, a tough-as-nails Karen man approached the household where Judson was staying. Gradually Judson began sharing with him the gospel. At first, he didn't seem to be able to make sense of it all. But then this man, Ko Thah-byu, began asking questions about the origin of the gospel and these "white strangers" who had brought the message (and the book that continued it) from the West. Suddenly, it all fell into place for Ko Thah-byu, and he trusted his life to Christ. Concurrently, a newly recruited missionary couple - George and Sarah Boardman, arrived to assist Judson. George Boardman opened a school for illiterate converts. Ko Thah-byu quickly enrolled. Soon he realized he was the first among his people to read "the lost book." When the Boardmans were to leave for southern Burma, Ko That-byu begged them to take him with them. There, they baptized Ko That-byu and immediately commissioned him for a journey into the hills of Southern Burma.


Villages flocked to hear Ko Thah-byu until finally he and the Boardmans encountered that sage who had received that precious book from the 'light-skinned' Muslim just years before. They carefully unrolled the Muslin and opened the cover of the book, which proved to be: The Book of Common Prayer and the Psalms. Turns out it was the only book the Muslim man happened to have on him. "It is a good book," remarked Boardman, "I will teach you to worship the God whom this book reveals and of the greater book from which this is written." The sage consequently became a humble, godly man, having trusted his life to Jesus Christ. 


Well, you can guess what happens from here. Having clearly but mysteriously prepared a people to hear and receive it, God spread His gospel like a brush fire among the Karen. Hundreds of thousands trusted their lives to Christ. Within 90 years, 250,000 Kachin people (neighbors of the Kachin people) professed to trust Christ. 


A really cool "little-thing-through-which-God's-reminds-us-of-His-awesome-soveriengty-over-all-things," happened to me this past Friday -- I received in my inbox an update about the Karen people from Voice of the Martyrs Ministries. The email came to my inbox before I learned about the Karen people but didn't open and read the email until after learning about them. A local Buddhist monk recently drove 300 Christians from their homes after they refused to participate in Buddhist-sponsored activities & rituals. Voice of the Martyrs has helped them buy land, pay taxes, and already build five new homes. Seems that this is a people whose faith has endured, "not shifting from the hope of the gospel" (Col. 1:23c).


So when you begin to doubt the power of the gospel and start to hope in people, plans, pleasures that seem to provide at least a temporary balm amidst a cruel world, remember the gospel isn't just for Westerners, for the country of which you're a citizen, for the church which you grew up in, or the family in which you were raised, it is, in the Paul's words, "the power of God for salvation" (Rom. 1:16) and is effective everywhere - even in the most remote place - you might look. It goes far beyond anything our puny hearts or minds could dream up as a reliable hope - it was global before globalism and the age of internet and it will be the only global message when all is said and done. 


To the praise and glory of Jesus Christ!

Leaders that Lead, willing 'followers' and everyone in between

Let me immediately open by saying, one, the concept of leadership in the Christian setting has been exploited for so many ill-gotten purposes that we should first remember that the greatest leader is the greatest servant (see Mark 10:43). Second, any good leader is a good follower. As the apostle Paul exhorted one church: "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). The best leaders are those who follow Jesus while happening to be in the midst of others. To put it another way, you can't be a good shepherd until you're a good sheep.


But I ran across a verse and chapter in Scripture yesterday that made me grateful for both faithful leaders and equally as faithful non-leaders amongst the people of God, in families, and especially in local churches. I wanted to share it. It's from the Book of Judges. Deborah - the acting judge - and Barak - Israel's acting military leader - have just been used by God to achieve a great victory over the Canaanites in this new land. Having won, Deborah & Barak release a patriotic duet on LP and the following is the opening line:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,                                                                    that people offered themselves willingly,                                                               bless the LORD!   (Judges 5:2).

Grateful for the faithfulness of "non-leaders." Remember, at this point, God's people have just inhabited this new land and really began to identify with this "each tribe gets a piece of the pie" thing. Was like everybody being in a new little clubs with fancy rights & privileges and then left to figure out how not to be "clique-ish." Isn't this so easy to do as a Christian? We throw around terms like "child of God" because we are through trust in Christ. Also terms like "heir," "priest," "gifted" because we are in Christ. However, we begin to worship the status, prize it above all possessions to the point where we can, frankly, act like spoiled brats (yours truly included). We don't just want the privileges of being part of a family (and its primary expression through the local church) but we want to receive the privileges the way we want (most preferable, most comfortable) and without cost. Many, however, take time to grapple with a leader's vision and, most importantly, take time to look to Christ - the leader - and are thus able to recall the burden and responsibility of leadership that stems from Him. That's what happens here in Judges. Many among the tribes band together to ally & defeat a force and culture which perniciously threatened their faithfulness to Yahweh. How easy it would've have been to stay home playing with their new toy! To take their gift and stay home. I'm so grateful to God for Sunrise Community Church where, for the most part, people have by-and-large taken the time to listen to, grapple with, & get excited about the vision God has imparted for our context and look to Christ, whereby they are able to sympathetically pray and support myself and other leaders. People rarely ask: "Why should I serve?" but, "Where can I be most helpful?" So willing! 


Grateful for leaders who lead. Bless Yahweh for leaders who take the lead! That seems obvious, right? Leaders lead. But reality is that there are many who call themselves "leaders" but don't step out to make the hard choices and endure pain as well as criticism along the way. They issue their informal version of a "gallup poll" & each time take the path of the prevailing tide. I remember Stuart Briscoe once saying, "Every pastor needs to have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of an elephant." It's true. I'm grateful for leaders who keep plodding along especially in the midst of pain and, at best, partial success (as all ministry is - not everyone will trust Christ, not all marriages will be saved, not everyone will get 'on board' in love & unity, and, for families, not every child will soon respond in faith & obedience). Deborah and Barak endured this. There were some tribes who decided to play with their new gift and stay home when their brothers were at war. Deborah & Barak wonder: What happened, Reuben? Where were you? (see vv.15-16). They pine: Gilead, Dan, Asher, what gives?! (see v.17). I can't tell you how many times as a leader where significant persons didn't show up - yes, I've been tempted to text/call the person: "where are you?" and have even given into this temptation. But, oh, for the leader who carries the pain as a response to Christ's carrying his pain and keeps moving forward and then encourages those present who do step up (as Deborah/Barak do - see especially v.9: "My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people"). 


Response. The threat for Israel both grave and obvious. The Cannanites had wealth, cities, politics, art which were far superior to the Israelites all of which was under the guise of worship that promoted materialism and sensuality. What's the grave & obvious threat in your context? To your church? To your family? Let's be grateful for, pray for, and plan for (what do I need to do/change?) leaders & faithful people who exemplify the first line of Deborah and Barak's hit track:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,                                                                    that people offered themselves willingly,                                                               bless the LORD!   (Judges 5:2).

Why Sermons? Reason #3

This Sunday under the Big Top, we started our new series - Colossians: Learning, Loving, Living Christ. At the very beginning and very end of this letter, Paul gives occasion for us to consider why hearing the Word in the context of community is so important. Thus, in this week's sermon I asked: Why sermons? Because while I really love to teach & preach (even slightly more than my people enjoy listening to it...slightly), after 6, 7, even 8 consecutive weeks of it, even I sometimes ask: Why am I doing this? 


Reason #1: Re-introduce hearing & thinking to a generation of seeing & cataloguing. 
Reason #2: Because it's written to grow a church primarily not an individual exclusively. 


I ran out of time to give the 3rd reason that Paul hints at in Colossians 1:1-8, so I'm giving it via blog. 


Reason #3: Because we need someone to tell us more than once.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel  (Colossians 1:3-5).

When Paul says, this is something you've heard before, the "this" is referring back to: (1) faith in Jesus which leads to (2) love for others as you realize He keeps forgiving you and which helps you put your (3) hope, your identity, your sense of satisfactio in being with Jesus forever. In other words, Paul to church: "I know you've heard this before (ie. the gospel - faith, love, hope) and you may not have noticed, but I just told you again." 


A human being is prone to trust his/her own abilities, (and since they are on their own) love his/her own needs, and shift his hope toward something or someone that seems to more immediately fill those needs. We do this even though it never works & our sick hearts testify to the wisdom of Proverbs 13:12:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

God our pastor: God has always been preaching this sermon both in word and deed. I was reading in the Book of Joshua, ch. 3 this morning. The Israelite people are just about to cross over the Jordan River into the land promised to their parents. But God, knowing how we as people are prone to self-sastisfaction at an accomplishment (even when it's clear that God is the One really accomplishing it), sends them what I think is a reminder as they cross over: 


And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan River, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down shall stand up in one heap.


So people walking across a body of water, God parts the water, and causes it to stand up as a wall or in "one heap." Sounds familiar...and if it does to us, it certainly was meant to for them also. Just one generation removed from God's radical and gracious deliverance from slavery and promise of a land (which culminated with the parting of the Red Sea), God sends to His people a little mini-reminder of His faithfulness through a mini-parting of great waters. We forget quickly, God is gracious to remind us even though in church, in small groups, amongst friends we are quick to say or think: "I know, I know" or "I've heard this before."


Today's pastors. A good pastor reminds more than innovates. Notice how Peter conceives of his pastoral & apostolic role as he writes to God's people towards the end of his life. He has just communicated to them that it is not their own efforts but God's grace that makes them grow:

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that they putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things (II Peter 1:12-15).

An old (but effective) story I've heard a couple times goes something like this: A new pastor preaches his first sermon to his new congregation and seems to go well. So he preaches the same sermon the next week. People respond: "That was nice, but interesting that it was the same sermon." The next week, he preaches the same sermon. And after the fourth week of the same sermon, finally a member of his congregation confronts him: "Look, that is a good sermon, but can you move on to another message." To which the pastor responds, "I'll stop preaching it when you start living it."

The Point. When you're in church and are tempted to say/think, "Is he honestly re-using old material?," "Heard him say this a hundred times," "Yes, we know you love the story of the sinful woman of Luke 7," or you are just generally inclined to check out: Recall that God our Pastor thought we needed reminders, Paul thought they were needed in Colossae, and Peter thought likewise. Each seemed to have a pretty good pulse on a common struggle - namely, we are all prone to depend on self and our own resources instead of on the God of this good news - that through Jesus Christ He has given & surely will continue to give us all good things!


That's something I know I need to hear more than once.

News Article about one of Sunrise Missionaries' to Georgetown Primary

As I've mentioned before, I really consider each of these volunteers who work weekly with at-risk students at Georgetown Primary to be missionaries in the purest since (crossing socioeconomic, cultural, even national lines to care for people practically & with the ultimate aim of caring for them with the gospel).


A prime example of that is this article written about one of these SCC missionaries!


Please visit our GT Primary Page if you are interested in finding out more or getting involved.

A 4th century encouragement for a 21st century job

This past Sunday under the Big Top, I taught from 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 on God's Calling. The  sermon in a nutshell was basically: When it comes to questions of "God, where do you want me?", "What do you want me to do?", "With whom do you want me to do it?", the biblical, God-speaking to you default is to remain. Though walking with God daily, prayer/discernment, & good counsel may lead you elsewhere, remaining where you are, what you're doing (vocationally/job-wise), with whom you're already doing it is God's starting line. 


Of course, the place, the people or the job (especially) isn't necessarily what we would choose in the Game of Life (or in the elementary/primary school Game involving those do-dads constructed out of notebook paper where you start by choosing a number, open up a leaf, and eventually find out who you marry, what your job is, and how much money you make - what were those things called?? Please don't say 'do-dads').


Jobs we wouldn't pick. I was reading some older church history and came across this. A prominent fourth century church father, Basil, informed his young brother, Gregory of Nyssa, that he was to become the bishop of Cappadocia (in the middle of nowhere...a.k.a. middle of modern day Turkey).  To which Gregory objected! He didn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere away from friends and family ministering with and to a strange people where there is little prospect for distinction & advancement. His older brother replied:

I don't want you to obtain distinction from your church but to confer distinction on it.

Cappodocia is now best known in history for being the center from which the so-called Cappadocian Fathers (Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, & Gregory of Nazianzus) fought the heresy known as Arianism (the rising belief growing in popularity that Jesus was inferior to God the Father and was, in fact, created by the Father...a similar belief to modern-day Jehovah's Witnesses). Indeed, through his service there, Gregory conferred distinction upon the place and the the people.


Jesus conferring distinction like it's going out of style. When the incarnate Christ walked this earth, all he did was confer distinction upon places, people, jobs that otherwise had none. Consider the places. Jesus was raised in the runt among places, Nazareth. One of Jesus' future disciples even confessed when first being told about Jesus: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). He conferred distinction upon the hated territory of Samaria (see Luke 10:33 and 17:16) - where, from the Jewish perspective, a bunch of 'half-breeds' lived whose worship of God was considered a joke (cf. John 8:48). Among the many examples of people upon whom Jesus conferred distinction, perhaps the one who stands out is the woman of ill-repute who interrupts dinner to wash Jesus' hair with oil: "And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her" (Mark 14:3). Consider the jobs. Jesus chose for his cabinet: Fishermen (a poorly-regarded, blue-collar job), a zealot (someone who was organizing radical, militant religious rallies), and a tax collector (symbolically stood for all things evil & traitorous in the eyes of God's people). But all legitimate positions from which to begin following Jesus. 


You and your job. For those who have trusted their lives to Jesus, Paul states the following: "To [us] God chose to make know how great are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Christ still exists to confer distinction upon jobs, including the locations and the people who work there. All the riches of glory which are contained in His person is in you, who have believed.


The temptation of course is to think: Which next place, which next people, which next job will bring me distinction, will finally set me apart. You already are set apart, friend, because of Christ in you. Such is the hope of glory! And he wishes, through YOU, to now bring distinction upon whatever you do, wherever you are & whomever you are with.  

Free Audiobook for January: Knowing God by J.I. Packer

After a month-long blogging hiatus, I hopped on my laptop today stoked to write something about Church Ministry/Ministry to one another as Commissioned Chaos. I was pretty geeked about it and still may write some more later...but every other blog entry needed to be put aside to showcase a far superior feeding trough. 


The free audiobook of the month at Christianaudio.com is J.I. Packer's Knowing God. 


We have this classic in supply out at our book table in church and I would recommend any and every one give it a serious read or listen. If you are young in your faith, it will challenge you as to the crucial importance of knowing about God in order to know Him better relationally (and do so in a way that's accessible - focusing on the Bible as you would read it - passage-by-passage as opposed to reference-by-reference in parenthesis like this one). If you are relatively mature in your walk with Jesus, Packer's book will help crystallize some of your beliefs, expound upon doctrine about which you've given only a passing thought and draw out the importance of it all for your life. 


My least favorite chapter: Chapter 4 on "The Only True God." Packer clearly has a bone to pick with regard to religious art (specifically images of God) and, in this reader's opinion, goes too far in devaluing depictions of Christ in art through his application of the second commandment. No surprise that in his newer editions there is an "Additional Note (1993)" in which Packer clearly softens his stance. However, the twenty-one other chapters are brilliant. Hardly a word wasted.


Favorite Chapter: Chapter 21 "These Inward Trials." His counsel on God's dealing with & purposes for man through suffering are illuminating and have helped transform both my understanding of what He's doing through suffering and my own response to it (both in my life and in the lives of others).


Plus, it's FREE!! 


We are people who live from the inside out. The core of who we are is what we believe. What we believe (about God especially) radically affects what we value/love and what we value radically affects how we live. We see this even in the most mundane decisions we make each day. Beliefs >> Values >> Behavior. Start with Core-Training in 2012!!!