Jesus' Table

David Fitch writes these helpful words regarding the role Jesus' table is intended to play in our broken world:

We are a mass of disconnected souls with too many tasks to do and too much stress to do them. Nonetheless, our world starves for presence. After work is over, after we arrive home on the train, we swarm to restaurants and bars just to share a beverage or a meal in hope of making contact. Whole train cars on the Chicago Metro commuter train are segregated for those who want to bring a beverage and share a conversation at the end of a long day. It's not much but it's something. People everywhere long to be known. Our culture bears the signs of people wanting to share life meaningfully with one another. The world longs for Eucharist.

In our exploration of Jesus' Table in Luke 5.27-39, we learned that one of the things that got Jesus in trouble with the religious authorities was his table habits. It wasn't only his preaching that led to Jesus' crucifixion, it was also his eating. More specifically, the cast of characters with whom he chose to eat. Tables, you see, tell stories. They tell the story of who's in and who's out - of who belongs with whom - and the basis of our mutual acceptance. Think for a moment about the cafeteria tables in high school. The jocks sit with the jocks, the cheerleaders with the cheerleaders, the FFA students with the FFA students, the preps with the preps, the gothic with the gothic, etc. Jesus' table tells quite a different story. "For Jesus the table was to be a place of fellowship and inclusion and acceptance" (Scot McKnight). According to Jesus, if you have recognized your ultimate need, forgiveness and restoration to God and others, and have turned to him to meet that need, then you belong to Jesus, to God, and to all who have likewise turned to Jesus. This means that Jesus doesn't require purity or certain earthly identity markers before he will share a meal with us. Rather, when we share a meal with Jesus, the meal has a mysterious way of creating purity within us, of shaping us into the image of what God created us to be.

Indeed, "we are a mass of disconnected souls," What evidence of disconnection do you see in your life? Are you feeling disconnected in your relationship with God. What human relationships fee disconnected? Jesus responds to disconnection by inviting us to a meal. Most often that meal is what we call communion - bread and wine shared by Christians after the Word of God has been proclaimed. If you sense a disconnect in your relationship with God, Jesus is inviting you to this sacred meal that he longs to share with you (Luke 22.14-16). If you feel a disconnect in relationships with others, Jesus is inviting you to share a meal with those persons so that his healing touch can restore connection to those relationships. At both tables Jesus is present to forgive, heal, and restore. What's more, it is at these tables we learn to sense where Jesus is present elsewhere in this world. Be encouraged to perceive the restoring presence of Jesus among this mass of disconnected souls.

The next time you walk down the street, take a good look at every face you pass and in your mind say, "Christ died for thee." That girl. That slob. That phony. That crook. That saint. That damned fool. “Christ died for thee.” Take and eat this in remembrance that “Christ died for thee” (Frederick Buechner)

Click here to download and listen to our message, Jesus' Table. 

        

   

Gentleness Rules the World

Jesus was a gentle king.

In our text this past Sunday, Luke emphasized the authority of King Jesus who came into the world and through words wrestled this world back to God. As Jesus proclaims the reign of God in the synagogues of Nazareth and Capernaum, Luke reports again and again that the people were "amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority" (Luke 4.31-32). For our purposes it is important to note that in the same context Luke records that Jesus' authoritative words - words that can exorcise demons and restore life to an older woman on the verge of death - are also words that are full of grace (Luke 4.22). Brothers and sisters, Jesus' words changed the world. His life and ministry divide history into B.C. and A.D. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. And he was gentle. 

In the second half of Isaiah's ministry he promises a Spirit-anointed Servant who will bring justice to the nations in a quite unexpected way. Listen to the prophet's promise. 

He will not shout or cry out,
    or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
    he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
    In his teaching the islands will put their hope (Isaiah 42.2-4, NIV). 

Did you catch that? This King who will bring justice to nations like Assyria, Babylon, Persia, North Korea, and the United States, will do so through gentleness. In Matthew 12, this chosen and Spirit-anointed King is being chased down by religious leaders who want him dead (See Matthew 12.15-21). What does Jesus do in response to this threat? He withdraws. Why? In order to fulfill Isaiah's promise recorded above. 

Each of us inhabits a certain sphere of authority. Maybe in home, or school, or work, or a baseball diamond, each of us is blessed with the opportunity to influence others from a place of power. As followers of Jesus we are called to inhabit this place of power with gentleness. And that doesn't mean less influence. In fact, it means more, better, stronger, and more lasting influence. Dallas Willard helpfully writes: 

Is gentleness an absence of power or a power born through the spirit and found in wisdom? Matthew 12.20 says Jesus would not even break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, and yet his gentleness launched a worldwide revolution. In many ways, Jesus' impact seems to be not in spite of his gentleness, but because of it.

May each of one us gently influence each one we encounter today.

Click here to download and listen to our message, "Words That Heal."

 

Deep Compassion for the Poor

Good News for the Poor

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

- Jesus Christ 

How do we feel toward people we would label as poor? I am not asking do we give to the poor or whether or not we have ever dropped a quarter into someone's metal coffee cup. I am not wondering whether or not we have purchased a Big Mac for someone who told us they needed money for food. How do we feel towards them? What emotion rises up within us as we encounter the beggar outside Wrigley Field, when we have just spent several hundred dollars to watch millionaires compete in a sport? If we are honest, we often feel a strange mixture of fear, judgment, and disdain. To be a bit more specific, we sometimes feel thankful - thankful that "we are not like such men" (See Luke 18.11). These feelings reveal that we still have parts of us that need to be transformed by the Gospel. When we are being transformed by the Gospel, we will begin to notice the Spirit of God working within us a deep compassion toward all people, especially the poor. Jesus himself reveals God's heart of deep compassion for the poor. In fact, Jesus' entire message can be summarized in the text he chose for his first sermon - a text he proclaimed was being fulfilled through him.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4.18–19, NIV)

How can we follow Jesus in proclaiming a message and embodying a lifestyle that is "good news to the poor?"

Remember that in the most important sense each of us is poor.

In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul is exhorting his readers to show generosity to the church in Jerusalem. Before he makes his request, Paul leverages the Gospel so the Corinthians will be generous to the poor. 

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:8–9, NIV)

Instead of resorting to guilt (Look at all the food you have and let me show you a picture of a hungry little boy from Jerusalem.), Paul leans heavily on the Gospel. Jesus, who in the most important sense was "rich," set those pleasures aside that he might come to us in our poverty to raise us up with him to enjoy the utmost pleasure, communion with the Triune God. So we can find compassion toward the poor when we remember our impoverished state were it not for Jesus.

Fellowship with those in need. 

In Philippians 4, Paul is joyfully thanking his readers for the generosity they have shown him through the gifts sent to him through Epaphroditus. 

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only. (Philippians 4:14–15, NIV)

When Paul says it was good of the Philippians to "share in his troubles," he uses the word koinonia; a word we normally translate fellowship, deep communion, or even, kinship. Many of the friendships we developed in Seminary were some of the most significant we have ever known. I am convinced the quality of our connection with those people was due to the fact that we were all struggling together toward the same goal. Likewise, the Philippians were so committed to partnering with Paul for the spread of the Gospel, that they were willing to enter into suffering with Paul, if it meant relief for him that enabled him to spread the Good News of Jesus around the Mediterranean world. While there is nothing wrong with many of the ways we share resources with the poor (relief funds like the Salvation Army, Compassion International, and Operation Christmas Child), Paul is calling us here to a kinship with the poor. He describes a willingness to give to the point of suffering, so that the poor's burden can be relieved, and the Gospel can be proclaimed.

Worship Jesus who always showed compassion to the poor.

Finally, because we become like the God we worship, we must remember that King Jesus always showed compassion to the poor. In the writings of Luke, Jesus and the Church always have a compassionate posture toward beggars. In Luke 16.19-31 Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a beggar named, Lazarus. Of the many things this parable teaches, one of the most important is that when the reign of Jesus finally comes in its fullness, the wealthy who abused the poor in this life will be judged. Furthermore, the poor will finally enjoy the healing this world never provided. What's more in Luke 18.35-43 Jesus encounters a blind beggar. Notice that Jesus doesn't try to get the man to leave him alone - something we all have done along as did Jesus' disciples. Instead, Jesus has the man brought to him, and after a conversation, Jesus, full of mercy, heals the man. Furthermore, the early church continued to approach the poor with the same merciful heart of Jesus. See Acts 3. 

Jesus is calling the church to proclaim and embody a message that is good news to the poor. Paul wrote to the Galatians: "All they asked was that we continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do" (Galatians 2.10, NIV). Are we eager to remember the poor? If we remember the poor, we will encounter the presence of Jesus. Did Jesus not say that when we show compassion to the least of these, his brothers and sisters, we are showing compassion to him (Matthew 25.31-46)? Speaking of Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats, we conclude with a compelling commentary from Gary Anderson in his book, Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition.  

If almsgiving funds a heavenly treasury, then the hand of the poor provides a privileged port of entry to the realm and, ultimately, the being of God. In short, there is a deeply sacramental character to the act. The poor become a necessary and indeed nonnegotiable point of access to the kingdom of God (Gary Anderson).

Will you remember the poor?

Click here to download to listen to our message, Good News for the Poor.

The Reversal of Adam's Sin and the Cross

One Theory of Atonement

During this Lenten Season we have been exploring different aspects of the atonement. We have been examining images from Scripture that help us understand Jesus' death for sin. Over the past 6 weeks we have learned from the cross that the heart of God is full of justice for the oppressed: the heart of God overflows with forgiveness: and that the cross of Christ defeats evil. These are all aspects, motifs, or theories of atonement. To understand Jesus' death we must seek to grasp these essentials. During our final message we wrestled with this question: Is there one theme that captures all the essential aspects of the Cross? Do the Scriptures present one grand summary of atonement? I would say the recapitulation theory of atonement summarizes as good as any other theory, all that Jesus did to make atonement for sin. The doctrine of recapitulation teaches that Jesus came to earth to reverse the sin of Adam and its consequences.

Jesus and Adam

Romans 5.12-21 describes recapitulation by comparing and contrasting Adam's disobedience and Jesus' obedience. In other words, this text teaches that Jesus comes behind Adam to restore what the sin of Adam destroyed. In every place where Adam disobeyed, Jesus obeys. In the Garden of Eden, Adam says to God, "Not your will, but mine be done." In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says to God, "Not my will, but yours be done." It is this kind of contrast between the first and second Adams that Paul is emphasizing. Permit me to point out this contrast.  

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (Romans 5:15–16, NIV)

In these verses Paul highlights how the first Adam and the second Adam are different with respect to their disobedience and obedience. Adam's one act of disobedience led to condemnation. God's gift, on the other hand, followed many acts of disobedience, but led to justification.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Romans 5:17, NIV)

Paul is teaching here that Adam's trespass resulted in the reign of death. The grace of Christ, however, produced the reign of life.

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18, NIV)

Finally, Paul summarizes Jesus' work of atonement by showing that just as Adam's one trespass led to condemnation for all, so Jesus' act of righteousness leads to life and justification for all.

Brothers and sisters, Adam's disobedience resulted in death. Jesus' obedience resulted in life. Adam's trespass resulted in condemnation and exile. Jesus' righteousness resulted in justification and homecoming. Jesus' work of atonement is best summarized as undoing all that Adam did. Furthermore, when the Spirit unites us to Jesus as the second Adam, all that he accomplished is ours by grace.

Jesus and Adam and Us

Up to this point atonement theories can remain impersonal. We can confess that Jesus "undid" all that Adam did and carry on with our day. In Romans 5.1-11 Paul is describing how we, who were God's enemies have become reconciled to God. What's more in Romans 5.12 Paul says that in dealing with Adam's sin, he was also addressing our sin problem. Therefore, Jesus obedience unto death was not only the undoing of Adam's sin, it was also the undoing of my sin and yours. We no longer have to be defined by our trespasses. We were born united to Adam and his/our sins defined us. By faith we have been united to Christ by the Spirit and have been given a new identity. Each of us has an element of our story that we are tempted to receive as an over-arching identity. What painful scene from your story threatens to define your life? In Jesus, this doesn't have to be the case! When we are united to Christ we become those "who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness" and "who will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Thanks be to God.

Listen to our final message from our Lenten Journey, Understanding Jesus' Death, The Last Adam and the Cross.

The Cross and the Defeat of Evil

What need does Jesus death on the cross address? One of the most significant summaries of what the cross accomplishes is called Christus Victor. This understanding of Jesus' death emphasizes that on the cross God was working to defeat evil. The Scriptures address this theme in many places. Here are two of the more common texts. 

**And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered (Mark 3.26-27).

Indeed, these verses describe Jesus as the Stronger Man who came to bind up Satan, the strong man, and plunder his property! 

**The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3.8b). 

So the Scriptures are clear. Jesus came to defeat Satan and rescue the world from his evil grasp. The question is, how did Jesus defeat the enemy? Take a listen to our most recent messages that describe how God defeated Satan and his domain through Jesus' death and resurrection. Thanks be to God. 

How is Satan defeated by Jesus on the Cross? Click here to download and listen to our message, The Defeat of Satan and the Cross. 

Was Jesus' death a descent into hell? Click here to download and listen to our message, The Defeat of Hell and the Cross. 

Jesus, Our Older Brother

Relationships between siblings have the potential for incredible grace and extraordinary pain. This is why there are so many many stories in Scripture that revolve around the relationship between brothers and sisters. Think about it. If we were to remove all the sibling stories from the Bible, some of our most favorite moments would disappear. Indeed, a Bible without Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus would be no Bible at all. What's more, the person and work of Jesus would be described in a much different way, if not totally meaningless without the theme of Jesus as the older brother coming to rescue his younger siblings and restoring them to the Father. Because sin has powerfully dominated the sibling relationship, Christ had to come to us that our sibling relationship with him might be healed along with all other sibling relationships. Paul Zahl is helpful in this regard.

Almost all sibling problems have to do with a child's feeling that the affection of his parents was unevenly distributed. The middle child thinks the eldest is favored, but the youngest is really the favored one. The youngest basks in the affection of his less-uptight parents, who have become wiser in their child-rearing. ... Grace demolishes this idea of proportional loving, It demolishes it ... because God's love is one-way, removed from any relation with the receiver, there is no "rivalry." This grace of Christ is the first stage of the healing of siblings who are furious at one another.

Is it not maddening when an author we don't even know seems to describe our reality as if he is a member of our family? Brother and sisters, our sibling relationships are unparalleled in how they reveal the reality of the fall. The good news is Jesus came into the mess of our sibling relationships as our good and loving and rescuing older brother (Hebrews 2.11-13).

In the early 90s, Robert Redford directed and narrated the well-known film, A River Runs Through It. More than being a film about fly fishing with amazing scenes of trout fishing in the rivers that run through the Montana Mountains, this was film about family. More specifically about the love and pain that brothers often share. Norman and Paul Maclean are brothers whose father is a stern Presbyterian minister. Norman is the firstborn son who does nothing but satisfy the cold expectations of Reverend Maclean. Paul, on the other hand, is the younger rebellious son who abuses alcohol, gets into bar fights, and becomes "overly involved" with too many women. Nonetheless, Norman has deep and abiding affection for Paul. He wants to help his brother, but is unable, because he fails to understand his brother. Norman explains this loving struggle to want to help Paul, even though he is unable.  

Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding. 

Paul's life ends after being brutally beaten and left for dead in a back alley. This devastates Norman and he responds by doing what he and Paul used to always do together, fly fish. To return to the river without his brother was more loneliness than Norman could bear.

In the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand, but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brother's keepers," possessed of one of the oldest and possibly one of the most futile and certainly one of the most haunting instincts. It will not let us go. 

The good news is that Jesus as a faithful older brother is willing and able to come and save us because he does understand our plight. He is the true brother's Keeper. This is why Hebrews says: "he had to be made like [his brothers,] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people (Heb 2.17, NIV). As N.T. Wright says,  

Jesus is the older brother of a much larger family and he did come to where his siblings were. He wallowed in the land of sin and death. He identified with them, shared their fate, and thereby rescued them from it (N.T. Wright). 

Click below to download and listen to our exposition of Hebrews 2.10-18.

Sin, Substitution, Sacrifice, and the Cross

The Justice of the Cross

Why were Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden? When God responds to our sin we often only think of him in terms of punishment. We are therefore led to believe that God was punishing our first parents by casting them out of the Garden because he couldn't stand the sight of them. He couldn't tolerate their presence as sinners, so they had to go! Is that what the text says? No! Instead, God's Word describes God as seeking them out, even in their state of sin and shame. Furthermore, Genesis 3.22 describes why they were exiled.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. (Gen 3:22–23, ESV)

Love for Adam and Eve motivated the LORD God to send them out from the garden of Eden because if they were to eat from the tree of life, they would remain forever trapped in their sinful state. God's love would not allow this. This is why God exiled Adam and Eve. Furthermore, God knew what this exile would cost him and that costly sacrifice is what we encounter in Isaiah 53. As this second full week of Lent begins let's meditate on one truth from this text.

On the cross God suffers with us.

Often the cross is described as Jesus suffering something instead of us. It goes something like, "Jesus endured the cross so we wouldn't have to." While themes of substitution are apparent in other texts, this is not the emphasis of Isaiah 53. Instead of suffering in our place, Yahweh's servant suffers with us in the place of exile we have created. "He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors" (Isa 53.12, ESV). The suffering of Yahweh's servant described in Isaiah 53 fulfills the promise of Isaiah 43.3-7.

For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. (Isaiah 43:3–7, NIV)

In Isaiah 53 Yahweh has sent his servant to every place you and I can imagine in order to bring us home. Specifically he must enter into our place suffering in order to rescue us from it. Indeed, Jesus' suffering is why God can say:

But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." (Isaiah 43:1–2, NIV)

N.T. Wright summarizes well the way some have misunderstood the cross in a unique paraphrase of John 3.16. "For God so hated the world that he killed his one and only Son." N.T. Wright rightly identifies this as a misunderstanding of Jesus' work of atonement on the cross. Instead of this distortion the Word of God reveals that the suffering love of God sent the Son of God to the cross that we might bring us home. Thanks be to God!

Click here to download and listen to "The Justice of the Cross," our second message in our Lenten Series, Understanding Jesus' Death.  

    

  

 

The Weakness of God

"The weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor 1.25b, NIV). What does that mean? One of the truths we meditated upon yesterday was this. It was in weakness that God was mighty to save. For the Apostle Paul, the cross of Jesus calls us to a wholesale  transformation. Jesus' cross must transform our understanding of God. A more literal translation of 1 Corinthians 1.25 would go like this: "For the foolish thing of God is wiser than humans, and the weak thing of God is stronger than humans." What is the foolish thing? What is this weak thing? The foolishness of God and the weakness of God is the cross. This is why Richard Hays writes: "This foolish and weak thing is the event of the cross itself. The cross is the key to understanding reality in God's new age. Consequently, to enter the symbolic world of the gospel is to undergo a conversion of the imagination, to see all values transformed by the foolish and weak death of Jesus on the cross." Have we been converted by the cross? What does it look like to be converted by the cross?

A Transformed View of God

To be converted by the cross is to have our understanding of God transformed. Most of us seem to be born into this world with a theology that goes a bit like this. God is very big and very powerful and very high up on something like a mountain. His natural mood is disappointed and I must summon as much strength as I can to neutralize his opinion of me. I firmly believe Jesus came to destroy this idolatrous understanding of what God is like. Indeed, Jesus reveals a God who humbles himself in order to save his enemies! John 17 defines for us what the one true God is really like. Before his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion, John records Jesus' final prayer. Listen to how Jesus' prayer begins and ends.  

Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ... Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world's foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them (John 17.1, 24-26, CSB).

In this passage Jesus uses words like glory, know, and name, so we may understand him to be speaking of what is essentially true about God. He prays the Father will glorify him, the Son, so that the Son can in turn, glorify the Father. In other words, the glory of the Father and the Son will be made visible through what is about to happen. Furthermore, Jesus declares that as the Son, the one who knows the Father, he has come to make the Father known and will continue to make him known, so that the love the Father has loved the Son with, may be in us! How will this sharing of love happen? What will be the means by which the Father is made known and the love of the Father and the Son is shared with us? The cross is how. Yes! As the blood and water flowed from the wounds of the Son, the love of the Trinity was being shared with the world. Jesus opens his prayer with these words: "Father, the hour has come." Throughout John's gospel it has been declared that the hour has not yet come (See, John 2.4, 7.30; 8.20). But now, Jesus knows the hour has come for him to leave this world and return to Father (See John 13.1). This means, "the hour has come," means it is now time for the crucifixion. You see it is through the weakness and foolishness of Jesus' death that we learn of the inner love of God and it's through the cross that love the Father and Son have shared for eternity is poured out for us. This means that our understanding of what God is like must be shaped by the cross. This is why Paul argues in Philippians that because Jesus existed in the form of God, "he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death - even to death on a cross" (Phil 2.7-8, CSB).

What does the "god" in our heads look like? According to Christianity the one true God looks like Jesus pouring himself out for his enemies on the Cross. Let us confess with the Roman soldier one of the most essential truths of our faith.

When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15.39, CSB)! 

It is Jesus' dying breath that reveals Jesus' true identity. The cross calls us to a transformed understanding of God. Not just Jesus, but God! God is like Jesus dying on the cross. There is no other God behind the cross. God was in Christ on the cross reconciling the world to himself. This is summarized well by Plantinga.

“The Son of God just does what he sees his Father doing. He empties himself and takes the form of a servant because that’s the way they do it in his family” (Cornelius Plantinga Jr.). 

Click here to download and listen to yesterday's sermon, The Curse of the Cross.

   

Holiness and the Spirit: Part One (Galatians 2)

When was the last time you spoke TO someone ABOUT a difficult person? Maybe your supervisor spoke disrespectfully to you in front of your colleagues and during lunch that day you had several conversations ABOUT your supervisor instead of speaking WITH your supervisor. Perhaps you had a strong disagreement with your spouse and instead of working things out WITH your husband or wife, you hashed it out with a friend. Edwin Friedman calls this "an emotional triangle" - speaking ABOUT a difficult situation to an uninvolved person rather than speaking to the actual person in a way that could lead to resolution. These triangles form because we are uncomfortable with one another and this discomfort MUST work itself out in some way. In families, churches, neighborhoods, and businesses these "triangles perpetuate treadmills, reduce clarity, distort perceptions, inhibit decisiveness, and transmit stress." Triangles may feel good for a moment, but they are bad news. They will not make the situation better. In fact, triangles affect communities like a virus. They attack. They spread. They compromise the health of the entire system. Likewise, a virus was threatening the church in Galatia and Paul's letter is medicine that is designed to boost the Galatians' immune system so the virus can be eliminated. This virus was a distortion of the Gospel as it required Gentiles to submit to Jewish Law in order to be fully accepted members in the Christian community. Interestingly, in his book A Failure of Nerve, Edwin Friedman argues that to remain immune to emotional triangles, what a leader needs is a healthy sense of self. This is exactly what Paul helps us build in Galatians - a Gospel sense of self that is rooted in the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah (Galatians 2.16, 2.20). This message speaks directly into our exploration of Holiness. We will realize a Gospel kind of holiness, only when it is rooted in the faithfulness of another, namely, Jesus the Messiah. Here's how Paul's message of Gospel holiness works.

The Gospel is about our sense of self.         

Peter's sense of self was wobbly and this is understandable. When we follow Peter's story in the book of Acts, we notice that Peter had a number of run-ins with Jewish leadership (see Acts 4 and 12). What's more, this conflict always surrounded how the Apostolic Gospel welcomed Gentile believers. Peter's conviction regarding the inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God was rooted in the word of God that was spoken to him in Acts 10.9-16. Not too long (God had to say it three times!) after the vision, Peter visited a Gentile man named Cornelius.  Peter had this to say. 

You know it's forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner, but God has shown me that I must not call any person impure or unclean. That's why I came without any objection when I was sent for (Acts 10.28-29a, CSB). 

This was quite a transformation of identity for Peter who had previously responded when God was telling him to eat something that used to be considered unclean: "No , Lord! I have never eaten anything impure and ritually unclean" (Acts 10.14, CSB). It took a while, however, for Peter's identity (his sense of self) to be fully overwhelmed by the Gospel. Paul records Peter's struggle in Galatians 2.11-14. Peter was faithfully obeying the Gospel and did not have any objection to regularly eating with Gentiles (2.12). He wavered, however, when pressured by Jewish leaders who came from Jerusalem and objected to Peter's new found identity. In this moment, Peter forgot what the Gospel says about him and others and out of fear "he withdrew and separated himself." Because Peter's identity was not strongly rooted in the Son of God who loves Peter, who gave himself for Peter, and who was faithful unto death on Peter's behalf, Peter forgot who he was and listened to others' evaluation of him rather than the evaluation of God. Paul calls this heresy. Indeed they were deviating from the Gospel. Tom Wright's translation is helpful. He writes: "When I saw that they weren't walking straight down the line of gospel truth." Did you catch that? Prejudice and favoritism are gospel issues. RACISM IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE GOSPEL! Prejudice is a denial of orthodoxy! Brothers and sisters, may the voice of God drown out the loud competing voices that try to make us forget that the Son of God loves us (and them), that he gave himself for us (and them), and was faithful unto death on our behalf (and their behalf). What gospel consequences will God produce through this truth in our lives?

Two Gospel Consequences

First, the gospel will necessarily create hospitality in us toward those who are different from us. What is your posture toward those who are clearly different from you? What about the person whose yard hosts a political sign for a cause or candidate you do not support? What about the cashier or waitress who just seems too different from you to establish a connection? What about the person at work with whom you just experienced conflict this morning? What about your infuriating spouse? If we have truly been changed by gospel, we will find ourselves supernaturally drawn to connect with these people. This is why "welcoming the stranger" is one of the things that will distinguish between sheep and goats "when the Son of Man comes in his glory" (Matthew 25.31-46).

Secondly, we must return, again and again to who the gospel says we and others are. A good summary of the Gospel is found in Galatians 2.20. "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (NET). When the world seeks to name us - that is, when the world seeks to give us our core identity, we must remember that we are not who the world says we are. We are not first and foremost, American, Republican, Democrat, Married, Single, Divorced, etc. We are first and foremost the ones in whom Christ lives because he loves us and gave himself for us. One of my favorite films is The Help. In this movie, Viola Davis plays Aibileen, a Nanny to "little white girls" who are mostly neglected by their mothers. Aibileen loves these girls like her own and wants to "give them a chance." At pivotal moments in the story, Aibileen will repeat these words to these neglected children: "You is kind. You is special. You is important." Aibileen understands the good news. She grasps what Peter was failing to grasp and what had turned Saul of Tarsus' life upside down. In order to become what God has gloriously planned for us, we must have a Gospel sense of self. We must believe a different self-narrative than the world is giving to us. Beloved, if we are in Christ, we live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loves us and gave himself for us. Nothing else matters! Thanks be to God. 

Click to here download and listen to our message, Holiness and the Spirit: Part One  

Holiness and Hope: 1 Peter 1

1 Peter 1 describes one primary way God develops holiness among his people. Hope. Hope is one of the principal means by which the Spirit of God does his sanctifying work. At this point, it is important to understand what the New Testament means by the word often translated, hope. Some difficulty is found in the fact that our English word, hope, does not carry the same meaning as the Greek word often translated, hope. In English, hope necessarily implies uncertainty. I hope New England doesn't win another Super Bowl. I hope the Bears find a good quarterback. I hope the milk isn't sour. I hope I find my wallet. In each of these sentences, uncertainty is assumed. In the New Testament however, the idea of uncertainty is NOT present in the Greek word. In fact, the standard New Testament lexicon defines our word as "The looking forward to something with some reason for confidence respecting fulfillment" (BDAG). When we take a long drink of milk that doesn't quite taste right, and we respond: "I hope that milk wasn't sour," we are implying that there is a reasonable chance this experiment might not end well. This is exactly what the New Testament does NOT mean when we see the word, hope. Notice the element of confidence in 1 Peter surrounding the concept of hope.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3–4, NIV) 

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. (1 Peter 1:13, NIV)

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:21, NIV)

Brothers and sisters, our hope is our confident expectation. It is an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Our hope is guarded in heaven for us. The New Testament doesn't teach us to think Jesus will probably return, but he might not. No! The one who was raised from the dead will come back to earth and raise all who are in him. Beloved, this is our hope and we confidently expect it to happen.

What's more, the Scriptures teach that when we confidently expect Christ to appear again, this confident expectation makes us holy.

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure (1 John 3.2-3, CSB).

Did you catch that? When we confidently expect to see Jesus again, we will be like him and this hope purifies us. Expecting to see Jesus in the future and expecting to be transformed when we do, has a purifying effect in the present. The New Testament is calling us to imagine the holiness of Jesus, and the holiness we will then experience, and the Gospel promise is that we will begin to develop holiness now.

One of my first non-Chicago baseball memories was game one of the 1988 World Series between the Oakland A's and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Oakland was heavily favored to win the World Series and the lowly Dodgers weren't even expected to put up much of a fight. It was the bottom of the ninth and the A's were leading 4-3 with Dennis Eckersley on the mound, who was at that time the best closer in the game. With a runner on first and two outs, Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda rolled the dice and called Kirk Gibson to pinch hit. Kirk Gibson was the leader of that team, but was also dealing with severe injuries - a bum knee on one leg and a pulled hamstring on the other. With the count 3 balls and 2 strikes, Gibson launched Eckersley's back door slider into the right field bleachers to which Vin Scully responded: "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!" Jack Buck's call was even better: "I don't believe what I just saw!" Oakland never climbed up off the mat and the Dodgers won the Series in five games. In an interview shortly after his iconic home run, Kirk Gibson described his approach. "I mentally imagined hitting a home run and it happened just like I imagined." Gibson had hope. He confidently expected success and success was his. Likewise, we are called to hopefully imagine the holiness that will be ours in the age to come and by the Spirit, holiness will become ours.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13, ESV)

Click here to download and listen to this morning's message, Holiness and Hope.

    

How Love Overcomes Evil: Luke 4.1-13

Very few things - maybe even nothing is more important than knowing the love of Christ. Ephesians 3.14-21 serves as a hinge between the the two major sections of Paul's letter. In Ephesians 1.1-3.13 Paul tells us what is true. To over-generalize, his is the "doctrinal" section of Ephesians. Ephesians 4.1-6.20 comprises the "practical" section of the letter. In this portion, Paul tells us what to do. Paul transitions between what is true and what we must do, by praying in Ephesians 3.14-21 that we "may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" (3.18-19). Did you catch that? The foundation upon which obedience is built, is knowing the love of Christ. The only hope we have for obeying the commands of Ephesians 4-6 is to comprehend the love of God in Christ described in Ephesians 1-3. This directly relates to this morning's study of Luke 4.1-13. Only because Jesus had absorbed the unconditional and affectionate words of his Father at his baptism (Luke 3.21-22), was he empowered to defeat evil in the wilderness. This is the same truth Paul teaches in Ephesians 3. Comprehending the love of God in Christ is the indispensable key to seeing sin defeated in our lives. What's more, we must believe God loves us before we begin to obey God in the way God desires. This is counterintuitive for most of us, because we accepted a false narrative about love. Indeed, we have reduced the definition of "love" to an emotion that is on display when Jerry Maguire says to Dorothy Boyd, "You complete me," to which she responds, "You had me at hello" (insert eye roll). Brothers and sisters, love is so much more than this sappy and emotional sentimentalism. It is love that gets a parent out of bed at 2:30am to comfort a feverish child. It is love that leads aged parents to rush to the side of their daughter whose husband has just suffered a major heart attack. It is love that drives an eighteen year old soldier to storm the beaches of Normandy. It is love that smothers a live grenade to save fellow soldiers. Beloved, the biblical concept of love is so much more potent than the fickle emotions on display in most romantic comedies. C.S. Lewis is helpful when he writes:

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

To love is dangerous. To love is to take a risk. To love necessarily includes pain. To love means your heart might be torn apart. And this is what God was doing in Christ on the cross. And thanks be to God this act of love defeated the Devil forever. May we never underestimate the evil-defeating power of sacrificial love.

Click here to download and listen to our message, How Evil Is Defeated. 

   

Advent Week Three: The Tender Mercy of Our God

“Love is the fundamental divine attribute in that God is love apart from the creation of the world, love characterizes God. Love is the eternal essence of the one God.” These words from the late Baptist Theologian, Stanley Grenz, capture the central truth of the songs that come from the lips of Mary and Zechariah. Jesus’ mother and his uncle declare that the saving deeds of God are driven by the inward compassion of God. Let’s take a closer look at the central section of Zechariah’s prophecy. 

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:76–79, ESV)

As Zechariah holds his promised firstborn son in his arms, he declares over him the plans our promise-keeping God has for him. Zechariah’s son will be the Most High’s prophet whose preaching will prepare God’s people to receive what the Lord is giving them. According to Zechariah the Lord is offering two gifts. First, the Lord is giving salvation. This salvation, announced and embodied by Jesus, includes an announcement of forgiveness. In other words, our debt has come due, but God is paying it it on our behalf. Secondly, the Lord is giving light. We who are rendered helpless by darkness and the shadow of death, are being given the Light of the world. What’s more the Light of the world came into the darkness but was not overcome by the darkness (John 1.5-9)  To summarize, the God of Christmas is a generous Giver who gives himself. 

Who is this generous God who gives himself? If we were to ask Zechariah to peal back the layers in search of the most fundamental essence of this generous God, he would show us the tender mercy of our God. This is similar to what Paul says in Romans 11.32. After exploring the mystery of Israel’s unbelief, the gracious in-grafting of Gentiles into God’s one vine, and the thorny issue of divine hardening, Paul states rather clearly, “God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (ESV). The story of salvation is intended by God to display his mercy. This is who God is and what he wants to be known for. Jesus’ uncle proclaimed the tender mercy of God. Jesus’ mother sang the mercy of God. Jesus’ servant, Paul told the story of God’s mercy. 

Against the backdrop of God’s mercy we are prepared to understand the judgment of God, or more forcefully, God’s wrath. The most basic thing that can be said about God is: “God is love.” “There is no God but the Father and the Son throughout eternity bound together by love, a relationship concretized by the Holy Spirit” (Grenz). The answer to every question that starts with, “What was God doing” (Before creation? Before sin?) is experiencing divine love. Furthermore, the purpose and goal of creation is the formation of one human family to share in the eternal love of God. Sin (see Genesis 3) enters the scene and love demands a response. This is what we call the wrath of God. It is the loving response of God to preserve, protect, maintain, and avenge that which threatens his relationship with his beloved. Brothers and sisters the Bible has much to say about God’s wrath, just as it says much about his love. We must believe all that the Bible teaches about God’s love and God’s wrath. However, we must also speak the way the Bible speaks about God’s love and God’s wrath. With the Bible we must assert that the love of God is primary. The wrath of God is secondary. The wrath of God is temporary. The love of God is eternal. Brothers and sisters, if we are asked to describe what God is like, and if our answer claims to be biblical; we must declare without qualification that God is love. Love is God’s most basic disposition. 

Advent Week Two: The Incarnation

Probably my favorite English speaking theologian is Thomas Torrance. His writing about the doctrines of Christ and the Trinity never cease to stimulate within me deep thought and sincere worship. Incarnation refers to the eternal Son becoming human, for us and our salvation. Referring to this incarnation, Torrance writes:

"The very fact that God became man in order to save us, declares that the humanity of Christ is absolutely essential to our salvation … The virgin birth tells us that here in the midst of our humanity God is recreating our humanity as an act of pure grace." 

Theologians call what Torrance is describing the hypostatic union. This ten-dollar word describes what the Bible teaches about Jesus. Jesus is "the miraculous bringing together of humanity and divinity in the same person, such that he is both fully divine and fully human" (Stanley Grenz). Brothers and sisters this is the beautiful miracle of Christmas. Jesus Christ is God coming all the way to us.

Jesus Christ is God coming all the way to us. 

Jesus is fully God. He is one with God in his God-ness. He fully possesses the divine essence. These statements attempt to declare what the Bible teaches. Jesus is visible display of the invisible God. 

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ...  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Colossians 1.15, 19, NIV). 

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ...  

But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom (Hebrews 1.3, 8, NIV).

Jesus Christ is God coming all the way to us.

Jesus is fully human. He is one with us in our humanity. He fully possess the human essence. These statements describe what the Bible teaches. Jesus fully possesses the human nature we possess.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1.14, NIV).

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2.5, NIV).

Brothers and sisters, this is the theological reality that Christmas is. The baby in the manger is eternally begotten of the Father. He is fully God. This same baby, however, is a human descendant of Mary. From the Father he eternally receives his divine nature and from his mother he received his human nature. Jesus Christ is what God has planned for humanity forever - oneness between God and mankind forever. Joy to the world! The LORD has come.

Listen here to our exposition of Luke 1.26-56 in which we hear the narrative of the announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the eternal Son of God.

Here's what I'm reading. The Prodigal: A Ragamuffin Story by Brennan Manning.

Advent Week One: Zechariah and Elizabeth

The extraordinary story of redemption happens through ordinary people who believe the promises of God. This is what Luke emphasizes as he begins his account of what was fulfilled through Jesus. Throughout the story Luke tells, Jesus is the quintessential friend of sinners. In fact, more than any other Gospel, Luke describes Jesus as seeking and saving those who have been pushed to the fringe of society (Luke 19.10). What's more, the "all kinds of people," Jesus comes to save, include ordinary religious folk like elderly  Elizabeth and her aged husband, Zechariah. As this first week of Advent gets started, let's consider two appeals from their story.

We should follow faithful routines. 

Just like us, Zechariah and Elizabeth were waiting for the promises of God to be fulfilled. They were waiting for God to act - to do something about the oppressive Romans government. They were praying with the Psalmist, "How long, O LORD? How Long?" Can you relate to Zechariah and Elizabeth's longing? What emptiness leads to longing deep within your soul? What situation is causing the words, "How long?" to form in the back of your throat? The people of God have always been waiting for God to keep his promise. This is why God's people have always allowed their lives to be disciplined by routines that shape them to wait. Disciplines such as regular prayer, corporate worship, Scripture study, and fasting and feasting with God's people are designed to help us patiently wait for God to make good on his ancient promise. Even more, these regular routines are intended by God to help us discern what God is up to, even when it seems like he is doing nothing. Brian Zahnd is helpful when he writes: 

Waiting for God to act is actually waiting for your soul to become quiet enough and contemplative enough to discern what God is doing in the obscure and forgotten corners, far from the corridors of power or wherever you think the action is.

Brothers and sisters, there is never a time when God is not active. However, his action is not always easy to discern. May we learn with Elijah that God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. Rather, the voice of God came as a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19.9-18). Zechariah and Elizabeth were disciplined by faithful routines so that when God acted in the "obscure and forgotten corners" they had ears to hear.

We must discern God's promises to the weak. 

The story of the eternal Word of God becoming human on our behalf is full of all kinds of people, the powerful and the weak. Throughout the Christmas story it is the weak and vulnerable who receive the good news of God's promise. In fact, it seems the ones who occupy the position of power are unable to receive the news of the birth of Israel's humble king. Brothers and sisters, we are preoccupied with power (at least I am). Within the past few days, I have spent mental energy contemplating Donald Trump's latest tweet, whether or not Hillary Clinton is calling for a recount of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and whether or not the referees in the Ohio State-Michigan game were biased toward the Buckeyes. On the other hand, the story of the incarnation reveals that the mental energy of heaven is directed toward the weak, the humble, the empty, the downtrodden, the immigrant, the elderly, those regarded by the world as losers. In other words, the good news of Christmas according to Jesus' mother is that God is filling the hungry with good things and the rich are being sent away empty (Luke 1.53). May the same Spirit who brought God's Son into the world through Mary lead us to give our attention to those who occupy the mind of God.

Once again, Brian Zahnd helps us:

We have been seduced by an idolatry that deceives us into thinking that God is mostly found in the big and loud, when in fact, God is almost never found in the big and loud. The ways of God are predominantly small and quiet. The ways of God are about as loud as seed falling on the ground or bread rising in an oven. The ways of God are almost never found in the shouts of the crowd; the ways of God are more often found in trickling tears and whispered prayers. We want God to do a big thing, while God is planning to do a small thing. We are impressed by the big and loud. God is not. We are in a hurry. God is not. We want God to act fast, but Godspeed is almost always slow.

Listen to here our exposition of Luke 1.1-25.

      

Monday Morning Thoughts about Sunday: Pastoring toward Unity

How can the words of the Psalmist become our words?

I will walk before the LORD                                                                                              in the land of the living (Ps 116.9, ESV). 

In a world overflowing with "the snares of death ... the pangs of Sheol ... distress ... anguish ... death ... tears ... feet that stumble," how can we confidently assert that we will walk before the LORD in the land of the living? The world described by Psalm 116 is not some Pollyannaish vision of a life without struggle. Instead it is Gritty. Difficult. Painful. In the words of Eugene Peterson, the world of Psalm 116 "adds up to a lot of trouble. ... The land of the living is dangerous country. A lot goes wrong. There is a lot of trouble brewing out there and in here. Resurrection takes place in the country of death." This is good news because it is honest. The worldview of Psalm 116 is honest, but at that same time, hopeful. Resurrection will take place in the country of death! The concern of Ephesians 4 is how to walk with the hope of resurrection while we still call the country of death our home.

If our hope is resurrection, humility will be our reputation. 

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:1–3, ESV)

Paul has already gone to great lengths to describe the implications of Jesus' resurrection in the first three chapters of Ephesians. Specifically, Paul teaches us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is the same power he is working among us who believe (1.19-20). What's more, the God who is rich in mercy and love for helpless and hopeless sinners has "made us alive together with Christ ... and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (2.4-6). Within the context of the risen Christ wielding his power in the country of death, Paul describes the Church as a colony devoted to the risen Christ. Did you catch that? The Church exists to testify in word and deed to the risen Christ. We draw this responsibility from Paul's teaching in Ephesians 4.7ff. Here Paul tells the story of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Having accomplished his divine work, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father and immediately began sharing the rewards of his triumph. As the risen and ascended King, Jesus gave gifts and these gifts are people (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers) who are empowered to equip the saints for the work of ministry that will lead the Church to unity. For unity to be possible, we must live in humility. And as we express humility and patience by bearing with one another in love, we testify that the power of the risen Christ is enabling us to remain humble, patient, and tolerant. Brothers and sisters, if we truly believe Christ is the risen King, we will humbly draw near for Gospel ministry to all who are in him. This is how we walk before the LORD in the land of the living, in humility with each other.

In what relationship is the risen Christ inviting you to inject humility? Many of us have relationships in need of restoration. Brothers and sisters, the risen Christ is calling and equipping us to seek reconciliation and humility is the indispensable key. By the Spirit of Christ, may the risen Christ gently bring healing and unity to all that sin has torn asunder. In Jesus, may it be so.

Listen to our exposition of Ephesians 4.1-16, Pastoring toward Unity.

I'm reading, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ, by Timothy Keller .

Monday Morning Thoughts about Sunday: The Gentle Way to Transformation (2 Timothy 2.24-26)

Our approach to 2 Timothy 2.24-26 can be boiled down to two statements and one conclusion. 1) The way we represent Jesus must correspond to what Jesus is like. 2) Jesus is gentle. Therefore, we must be gentle in the way we represent Jesus.

How and why is Jesus gentle?   

Consider the approach Jesus took with the following characters. Zacchaeus was a Jewish man who worked for the enemy. Moreover, he used his friends' money for his own selfish gain (Think Bernie Madoff.) Before this surly character repented of his sin and made restitution, Jesus invited himself into Zacchaeus' home to share a meal. This was Jesus' way of saying to Zacchaeus, "I like you. I want us to be friends." The Roman Centurion would have been a Gentile, the commander of a division of the occupying imperial troops, theoretically one hundred in number" (Craig Blomberg). The Jews of Jesus' day would have considered this man unclean because he was a Gentile. What's more, this man was a powerful symbol of all that the Romans were doing to make life horrible for the Jews. Just like he was with Zacchaeus, Jesus was willing to enter this man's home to help meet a desperate need. This was Jesus' way of saying, "Just because the world tells us we should be enemies, I see your need and I want to help." The Syrophoenician woman was from Jezebel's hometown. Moreover, her daughter was possessed by a demon. Nonetheless, Jesus responds to her faith by miraculously, and from a distance delivering her daughter from the clutches of Satan. This was Jesus' way of saying, "the hospitality of the Kingdom of God will not be limited to a certain type of person from a certain type of place." Beloved, these narratives, and many others like them consistently describe Jesus as gentle toward and transforming of those different from him. In each of these scenarios, the recipients of Jesus' gentle hospitality encountered Jesus in a saving way. This is why Paul exhorts Timothy to correct his opponents "with gentleness," because it is through quarreling and disrespect that Satan accomplishes his goals. But when those who have been captured by the devil encounter the gentleness of Jesus on display through his servants, the enemy does not stand a chance. Do you want to see others transformed? It will not be through power, control, and winning arguments. It it will be through the gentleness of Jesus. 

Listen to Gentle Shepherd our exposition of 2 Timothy 2.24-26.

Here's what I'm reading. 

Death by Living: Life is Meant to Be Spent by N.D. Wilson. 

Monday Morning Thoughts about Sunday: The Courage of a Shepherd (2 Timothy 2)

Here’s the deal with 2 Timothy 2. A leader is not the smartest person in the group. A leader is not the one with the most experience, or the most charisma, or the best communication skills. Rather, a leader has enough courage to take the first step into the unknown space into which the group must go. For the group to follow the leader, trust must exist between the team and the leader. Furthermore, the leader creates and maintains that atmosphere of trust. Paul is challenging Timothy to lead the Ephesian Church out of their difficulties and toward, “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4.13, ESV). For this change in direction to occur, trust must develop between Timothy and the congregation. Simon Sinek is correct when he writes: “Trust is like lubrication. It reduces friction and creates conditions much more conducive to performance.” When a group of people trust each other, they morph into more than just a group of people, they become a team. God has given the Spirit to the Church that we may trust each other as a team with one goal. These assumptions lie underneath much of what Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. So that the Spirit may transform the Ephesian congregation into a unified team that exists for the purpose of declaring and displaying the Good News of Jesus, Paul gives Timothy multiple instructions, each of which is based upon one foundational reality. 

Timothy, know who you are.

This is what Paul getting at when he instructs Timothy, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 2.1, ESV). Timothy must strive to be a leader who is distinguished by the Gospel, not by his failures or successes as a leader. This is critical because as a Christian leader, we must be connected in a healthy way with those we lead. Like Jesus we must dwell among those we lead (John 1.14). At the same time, however, our identity must be distinguishable from those we are charged to lead. In other words, when folks aren’t following so well, we must resist the identity crisis that can emerge when who we understand ourselves to be is wrapped up with how people respond to our leadership. Timothy’s most basic identity is not Pastor. His most essential understanding of himself must be one who is strengthened by the grace of being in fellowship with Jesus. No matter what our occupation, no matter what our task at the beginning of this week, we must allow our identity to not be determined by that task or occupation. Ironically, the freedom that comes from entrusting our identity to who we are in Christ, sets us free to perform well at the tasks we have been given. Before Timothy can engage the difficult task of Shepherding the Ephesians away from dangerous false teaching, he must be confident that identity is secure in Christ. No matter what Jesus requires of us this week, if you’ve been united to him by faith in the good news about him, your identity is secure in him. Thanks be to God. 

Listen here, to our exposition of 2 Timothy 2.1-13. 

Here’s what I’m reading. 

The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus, by Fleming Rutledge. 

Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church, by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin.