Therefore...

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit … “

~ Jesus the Christ

“Therefore” – One of the most important words in the New Testament. In the original language it’s a simple conjunction comprised of three letters. Within this simple conjunction, however, the key to discipleship is found – within the simple little word the key to God’s plan for the nations is found. The word translated therefore, points us back to the bold assertion Jesus exclaims in verse 18: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Jesus’ words recall a significant prophetic vision recorded in Daniel 7.14.

And to Him was given dominion.

Glory and a kingdom,

That all the peoples, nations and men of every language

Might serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

Which will not pass away;

And His kingdom is one

Which will not be destroyed.

This prophecy tells the story of the world from God’s perspective and at the center of God’s story is a King. Any King “worth his salt” must have a kingdom and the King at the center of God’s story receives His kingdom from God Himself. Aside from the fact this kingdom is God’s, two other elements of this kingdom are worthy of our attention. 1) This kingdom will not pass away. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall but not this kingdom. It is everlasting. It will not pass away. It will not be destroyed. This kingdom is worthy of our life’s devotion 2) This kingdom is for all peoples. Daniel’s vision announces the reason the Ancient of Days will give dominion to the Son of Man; that all the peoples and nations of every language might serve Him. And it is this King that we encounter in Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus declares I am the Son of Man. He asserts that all authority in the cosmos is being given to Him. What is the appropriate response? Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” In other words, the process of gathering men, women, girls and boys to serve the Son of Man has begun. If you are a Christian – if you believe that Jesus Christ is the risen and ascended Lord, there is only one acceptable response. “Go therefore and make disciples.” It is to the obedience of Jesus’ command that we have dedicated the month of October at SBC. Especially during our Make Disciples! conference with Tim Catchim, we are offering relevant resources that will equip us to obey the One who commands us, “Make disciples!" Linked below is a talk given by Tim which should whet your appetite for how God will use him among us. 

http://vimeo.com/35944513

          

Manna from Monday: When I am weak...

What makes you weak? Overwhelming grief? Chronic physical pain? Emotional turmoil? Anxiety? Consistent disappointment? The weighty memory of tragedy? I have been thinking quite a bit about weakness lately, because frankly I have not been feeling as strong as I’d like. This got me to thinking about how the Bible addresses weakness. The Apostle Paul wrestled with what Marva Dawn calls, “A Theology of Weakness.” Here are a few things I’ve learned from Paul in 2 Corinthians 11-12 and especially from Marva Dawn who has helped me read him well.

1) Be bold in confessing your weakness.

“The work of restoration cannot begin until a problem is fully faced.”

“Too often we think sharing our weaknesses will cause us to lose respect. We think making our weaknesses known will cause us to lose the honor to be able to proclaim the Word of God in our congregations or our businesses. I no longer believe that is true … The more you tell of your own failure of character, the more God will use that for His purposes.”

Dan B. Allender

These words from a writer I greatly admire square well with the inspired words of the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 11-12. Paul understood the value of declaring boldly what is wrong with you.  False teachers had derided Paul to the Corinthians as foolish and weak and whose speaking ability left a lot to be desired. Guess how Paul responded to their criticism.

“I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness but indeed you are bearing with me” (2 Cor 11.1, NASB).

“To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold – I speak in foolishness – I am just as bold myself” (2 Cor 11.21, NASB).

Paul responded to the contempt of his opponents with a hearty – Amen! He boldly declared a certain measure of worldly foolishness and he boasted in his weakness. As Dan Allender reminds us, the initial step toward healing is to face completely the real problem. Sadly, religious leaders often only encourage what Ed Friedman calls “skin deep healing.” When a physical wound occurs two kinds of healing must take place, the connective tissue below the skin and the protective tissue, the skin itself. If, however, the protective tissue heals before the connective tissue, the healing of the latter will not be complete causing more serious issues to arise later. The wound, in its entirety must be “faced fully” for healing to occur. Just because the wound is no longer visible, does not mean it is no longer there. For reasons I am still seeking to understand Pastors sometimes facilitate skin-deep healing by working to only make symptoms disappear. What we are doing is just “kicking the ball downfield” so someone else will have to pick up the pieces at a later date. This often results in further and unnecessary pain for the “wounded.” Jeremiah confronted this poor leadership more than 2,500 years ago.

“They have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying, “Peace, peace,” but there is no peace” (Jer 6.14, NASB).

As those in need of healing and as those who are dressing others’ wounds, may we have the wisdom to face all problems in their fullness.

2) Be eager to receive power through weakness.

            Why does Paul encourage such a positive posture toward weakness? He offers at least two reasons. 1) Weakness pushes us toward true power. Paul says this. 

“And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for [your] power is [brought to its end] in weakness, so that the power of Christ may tabernacle in me (2 Cor 12.9).

Paul has just described three times God denied his request to end Satanic torment in his life. The reason God said no is because God’s power is most vividly displayed when our power is exhausted. This tells us that one of the reasons God allows us to be weakened is so that he can display his power. God’s power shows up when our power runs out. This is why Paul can boast about his weaknesses, because weakness can become a catalyst for the “tabernacling” of the power of Christ within him (12.9). Don’t run from weakness. Absorb it as a way to receive Christ’s power. 

            Furthermore, Paul has a positive attitude toward weakness because 2) the Cross redefines weakness. Paul is explaining to the Corinthians why Christ has proved powerful within their midst and the reason is because of Paul’s weakness. Did you catch that? There’s a connection between the power of Christ within a local church and the weakness of its leader.

“For indeed [Christ] was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you (2 Cor 13.4, NASB).

Paul endeavored to know nothing among the Corinthians except Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2.2). The cross of Christ shaped how Paul understood his own suffering and weakness. He understood all of life through a cross-shaped lens. The suffering of Christ revealed the power and glory of God. Moreover the suffering of Jesus’ followers will necessarily reveal the power and glory of God. This reality is what made Paul comfortable with his own weakness and suffering. Paul was not eager to pursue comfort. He was eager to make much of Christ among the Gentiles and this would be accomplished the same way Christ accomplished his mission, through weakness and suffering.

The world most of us inhabit teaches us to flee suffering and chase comfort. This world leads us to believe that the comfortable have all the power and the weak can accomplish nothing. The world in which Jesus and Paul dwell, however, proclaims that the greatest power of all is demonstrated when our power comes to its end and then the power of Christ dwells within us. When we have been emptied through weakness, the gospel promises to fill us with the power of Christ. When I am weak, God’s Word teaches me to be bold in confessing my weakness. When I am weak, I can be eager to receive God’s power through the very weakness this world teaches me to fear. What is making you weak? Don’t be too hasty in running away from it. Face it. Press on toward it. And may the power of Christ rest on and within you through weakness.

               

Welcomed Sinners Welcome Sinners

What do Zaccheus, the Woman at the Well and Mary Magdalene have in common? I can think of at least two things. 

1. Each is a person for whom Jesus broke a rule in order to love. 
2. Each is a person Jesus loved enough to set them free from their sin. 

The world is full of sinners. Our church is full of sinners. Jesus loves the sinners that populate the world and our churches and desires that his love would transform them.

We can sometimes create sad rules that prevent people from encountering the transforming love of Jesus that is found within our church. When we create silly rules that block “sinners” and welcome the “righteous,” we have ceased to follow Jesus, the Head of the Church, and the transforming love of our Savior is on its way out.

Paul teaches us the problem with us sinners is not our sin (see Romans 1.19-21). Sin is rather a symptom of our greater problem of not knowing God accurately. The greater problem of not knowing God is what needs to be emphasized. Furthermore, the God who is one loving community of persons within himself longs to be known within the community of persons called the church (see John 17.20-21). Jesus made room within his community for sinners like Zaccheus, the Woman at the Well and Mary Magdalene.  If Jesus welcomed sinners, and it is Jesus whom we profess to be following – If Jesus, who welcomed sinners, is the Head of the Body then we as individuals and as a church family should endeavor to welcome sinners in Jesus’ name, because we are sinners and he welcomed us. Sinner, you have been welcomed. Sinner, will you welcome other sinners? 

Jesus expressed a loving welcome to all he encountered. Will you do the same? Will our church family do the same?

God Behaving Badly: Part One

On Thursday of this week I will begin my third year teaching Senior High Bible at Somonauk Christian School. Our Bible curriculum indicates that this year I will teach Old Testament Survey. I love the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. I especially love the consistency of the narrative that begins with Genesis and “concludes” with The Revelation. It has become common amongst our church family for me to lift up my copy of the Scriptures and ask, “How many books am I holding?” And the answer, “One!” will resonate through the pews. I love the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, because within its pages I encounter the one God, my heavenly Father as I understand the Bible through the Spirit to testify of Christ, the only Begotten Son of the Father.

An Ancient Struggle

Nonetheless, I also understand the unity of the Bible is not easy to grasp. Certain aspects of God’s Word are indeed difficult to interpret in a way that leads to Christ and his unique and full revelation of the one God. From as early as the Second Century, the Church has struggled to read the Bible without describing the God of the Old Testament and the God and Father of Jesus as “other than one.” Marcion infamously professed the existence of two “gods” – One god is Yahweh, the creator and god of the Old Testament, while the other god is the Father of Jesus, the god of the New Testament. The good Bishop from Lyons, Irenaeus, came to Marcion and said something like this, “You’re free to believe that Marcion, but don’t call yourself, Christian.” More specifically, Irenaeus wrote this.

Marcion divides God into two, and calls one God good, the other just; and in so doing he destroys the divinity of both. For he who is just is not God if he is not also good; for if he lacks goodness he is not God; while he who is good without being just is similarly deprived of divinity (Against Heresies, III. xxv. 3).

Marcion fell in the all too common trap of understanding the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament as somehow different. Some folks may believe that, but they may not call themselves “Christian.” As Christians we believe in “one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” The God who made heaven and earth and who is the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is one.

Within this ancient struggle to understand the Old and New Testaments as testifying to the reality of one God, David Lamb offers the Church his helpful book, God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist?  David loves the Bible and is committed to the orthodox confession of the oneness of God revealed through the words of Scripture within both the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, however, he is honest with the struggle many of us have to understand the Bible to support such a confession. Because Lamb’s book will be required reading for the Juniors and Seniors in my Old Testament Survey Course, I thought it would be helpful to blog/email my way through it.   

But also …         

It doesn’t take long for Lamb to subvert the false assumption that God is nice in the New Testament and not so much in the Old Testament. In fact, he likes to begin the class he teaches by posing this question to his students.

How does one reconcile the loving God of the Old Testament with the harsh God of the New Testament?

You see there are many false assumptions behind the all too common perception that the God of the Old Testament is full of wrath and the God of the New Testament is full of love. The plain truth is there are many places in the Old Testament that describe God as overflowing with love and there are many places in the New Testament that describe God as acting out of wrath. For example the word, “hell” does not occur in our English translations of the Old Testament. In the ESV, “hell” occurs 14 times in the New Testament and 12 of them are from the lips of Jesus. Furthermore, when the apostle Paul begins to articulate his gospel message for the Roman Christians, he begins in this way:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Romans 1.18, ESV).

Furthermore, it is often asserted the God of the Old Testament is judgmental and unforgiving and the God of Jesus is quicker to forgive. This is plainly not the case. Just this morning, I read these words.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared (Psalm 130,3-4, ESV).

Also notice these words from the Psalmist.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, not repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him (Psalm 103.8-11, ESV).     

Obviously a few Scripture citations will not resolve a struggle the Church has endured for more than 1,800 years. These references should remind us, however, to get in the habit of saying, “BUT ALSO.” You see almost anyone can find a proof text for anything. Stringing together proof texts does not good theology make. We arrive at “good theology” by interpreting the biblical text. Do difficult texts exist? Yes! But difficult texts must be interpreted like all texts. And I hope that David Lamb’s book can help the Church interpret both the Old and New Testaments in a way that is good and true and faithful and edifying and above all, Christian.

So I want us to get into the habit of saying, “BUT ALSO.” In other words, the God of the Bible can become really angry, BUT can ALSO be extraordinarily patient. In the Old Testament, God seemed to view women and wives as property, BUT he ALSO selected women as spiritual and political leaders over Israel. God commanded the Jews to “utterly destroy” the Canaanites, BUT ALSO commanded them to care for the poor, the widows, the orphans and the Canaanites.

Bottom Line: A Hermeneutic of Humility

In one of his final concerts Rich Mullins talked about the peril of proof texting, and then he said this: “When God gave us the Bible it was to prove that God is right and the rest of us are just guessing.” I appreciate those words from the late singer/songwriter because they are a humble acknowledgment that understanding God’s Word can only take place within the humble confession that God is God and we are not. This is what I call a hermeneutic of humility. In other words the Bible will not be understood by those who seek to master it but by those who seek to be mastered by the God who gave us the Bible. I believe that God wants to be known and one of the ways he wants to be known is through the Bible. We need to be motivated by a humble desire to know God as we open the sacred text and that text will be over abundantly full of complexities – kind of like the God who gave it to us. Amen.      

Grace Takes the Blame ...

According to former Miami Dolphin Receiver, Chad Johnson, his wife head-butted him. According to Mr. Johnson’s wife, he head-butted her. Following these most recent troubles, the Dolphins terminated the controversial NFL wide receiver’s contract. And the narrative of passing the blame that started in the Garden of Eden goes on and on.

This morning I looked out the front window and thanked God for last evening’s rain. A few moments later I looked out the kitchen window into our backyard and noticed the toys and games my kids had left out in the rain. In this moment, I felt less than thankful for the evening rain. Next I noticed two books I have been reading that had also been left out in the rain. Please believe me when I tell you, this is the thought I had!! “Why didn’t those kids bring my books inside?” Immediately, I thought to myself my kids shouldn’t be responsible to pick up after their daddy. As I retrieved my treasured books, now saturated, I had this thought, “Why didn’t Yulinda bring in the books?” And the narrative of passing the blame that started in the Garden goes on and on.

There is something within our fallen nature, when confronted with our sin, that “naturally” elicits a response that passes the blame to someone or something else. It wasn’t me Lord, is was “the woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Don’t blame me, God. It was “the serpent [who] deceived me, and I ate.” It wasn’t my negligence, Lord. It was those kids you gave me – they distracted me! It wasn’t my forgetfulness. It was the wife you gave me – I thought she was collecting my books! And the narrative of passing the blame that started in the Garden goes on and on.

As we begin another week, I would like us to contemplate another narrative about blame in another Garden. The narrative goes something like this. Jesus, the Second Adam, is in the garden of Gethsemane. He is undergoing unimaginable temptation to not trust his Abba and work for his own will on earth. He doesn’t want to obey, but in this moment, instead of trusting his own resources, he asks for help from some trusted friends.

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me (Matthew 26.38, NIV).

He doesn’t like the direction obedience is taking him, but in this moment, instead of trusting his own feelings, he prays.

My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26.39, NIV).

Jesus went away yet another time and proclaimed to his Father that no matter what he would always utter these words, “may your will be done.”

When the first Adam was tempted in a similar Garden, he said to God, “my will be done.” And when he was confronted with his sin, he passed the blame. When the second Adam underwent a Garden temptation, he said to God, “your will be done” and full of grace and truth, he took the blame that the first Adam and all his sons and daughters deserve.

Thanks be to God for the Lord Jesus, our second Adam, who instead of passing the blame, took the blame for our sin, that we might enjoy union with him as sons and daughters of God. Often times we are encouraged to “own what’s ours.” That is all well and good. When we hear those words, however, we should be reminded that Christ owned what was yours and mine, so we could be free from the burden of sin’s consequence. When someone tells you to own what’s yours, say thanks to Jesus for owning it for you! 

Furthermore, the narrative of the Second Adam in the Second Garden must give us our identity. We identify with the First Adam when we pass the blame. We were meant to live for so much more. The Grace of the Second Adam takes the blame, because I don’t have to be burdened by it anymore. Jesus took it for me. Thanks be to God!!  

Fasting for Guidance

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

We are often faced with a decision for which there is no clear answer. So we follow the wisdom of Proverbs and seek advice from a few trusted counselors. How do we proceed, however, when the wisdom of our counselors proves contradictory? It is in these moments I believe our kind Father is pleased to allow the conceptual fog to remain that we main learn at least two lessons. 1) God is God and we are not. When I fail to come to grips with how exactly to proceed in a complicated situation I must learn to trust my heavenly Father as I tentatively advance down the path I think I believe he is opening for me. It is during these times our trust muscles get their greatest workout. The discomfort of the disorientation created by the fog of uncertainty can sometimes cause us to hastily choose the path of surety when God has really provided no indication of the direction we should take. Sometimes the fog is a gift from which we must not flee.

The second lesson these complicated decisions can teach us is 2) Life is ambiguous and God never intended otherwise. I went through a period in my Christian and pastoral life when I thought there was a verse for everything. Every decision … every conviction … every practice must have clear biblical precedent and if we couldn’t find it we simply had not searched hard or long enough. This led to a quasi-form of Bible Deism. In other words, God had given the Bible to us as the definitive word for all time and now there really was no need for him to communicate with or be involved in the lives of his people. Aside from the many Biblical reasons (!) this perspective is wrong-headed, my first six months in ministry were enough to teach me that the Bible does not address every possible scenario. In other words, there will be many times when we are faced with a decision for which there is not clear Biblical direction. The Bible may offer applicable principles – the Bible may establish a trajectory that we must follow together in order to learn what is the wise choice to make. However, this reality requires us to live our lives in community, in active dependence upon the wisdom Christ has granted to the Church.

Scot McKnight reminded me this morning that God’s people have traditionally fasted during times when they yearned to know God’s will. I believe God desires to communicate with his people. He does not want us waver helplessly – wondering what to do. He exhorts us to live in active dependence upon the Spirit of God by engaging in disciplines that open us up to the Spirit’s movement. In Ezra 8, the people of God were on the verge of returning to the Promised Land after staying in Babylon far too long. They knew it was God’s will for them to return home. Under the leadership of Ezra, they paused, however, at the river Ahava and fasted in order to seek guidance and protection from Yahweh. The word, “paused,” is chosen intentionally. Don’t you think they would have been in a hurry to get home after spending so much time exiled? The wisdom of God’s prophet led them to wait – to wait in order to deny themselves of comfort and pleasure in order to seek what they desired more –  the presence and guidance of Almighty God. The early Church followed this same tradition. In Acts 13 prophets and teachers had gathered with the Church at Antioch shortly after Herod had died.

While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13.2-3, ESV).

We are provided here, with an excellent example of the ministry the Holy Spirit longs to accomplish within the worship life of the local church. Based upon this example in Acts, I believe the Holy Spirit intends to work and speak and move within our midst when we worship together and when we engage in the sacred discipline of fasting together.

Do our Spiritual desires have a bodily response? How desperately do we long to know God’s will? How much do I desire greater union with God? Is my enjoyment of fellowship with God greater than the satisfaction provided by Subway’s Spicy Italian sandwich?

Father, awaken with us a greater yearning for communion with you.  Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God of the Living God, have mercy on me a glutton.  

               

Fasting as Body Training

“Fasting is a person’s whole-body, natural response to life’s sacred moments.” Our exploration together of the mysterious discipline of fasting has been unpacking this definition by Scot McKnight. Personally I have been struck by the truth that fasting is a whole-body act. In other words there are times when we feel out of sync – times when our “soul” desires one thing, but our body desires another. Our soul desires to have the sin of lust defeated. Our body longs to surrender to lust. All too often, the body wins. This is related to fasting in that fasting is not only a turning of the body toward the soul, but it is also a training of the body by the soul. The Apostle Paul says something similar in his first letter to the Corinthians.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor 7.24-27, ESV, emphasis added).

Self-control, this last aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, is one that our culture does not value. Sadly, the church has followed the values of the culture. When was the last time you heard a sermon on self-control? Gluttony? Fasting? Moreover, notice some of the aspects of the fruit of the Flesh that the Apostle records in Galatians 5.19-21 – sexual immorality, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, envy, drunkenness and orgies. Each of these is in direct opposition to self-control. Aspects of the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of Spirit both involve bodily actions. Thus, the transforming work of the Spirit will involve the syncing of the body and the Spirit – the training of the body to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5.25). 

God’s Word encourages us to engage in practices of faith (i.e. spiritual disciplines) that will enable us to live by the Spirit and to keep in step with him (Gal 5.25). It is within this context that we should understand all the spiritual disciplines and especially fasting. Because we desire to inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5.21), we must engage in practices that will open our souls and bodies to the transforming presence and power of the Spirit. Because the Apostle Paul did not want to be disqualified (1 Cor 9.27), he disciplined his body to keep in under control.

I have come to learn that fasting is a gift to God’s people to train the body to listen and obey what the Holy Spirit is saying to the soul. We are embodied persons.  Therefore, God desires his saving work of transformation to not only include the soul but also the body. The “Spiritual” life includes “bodily” actions. Have you ever considered fasting in this light?