Christian Pt 8 – LEVERAGE

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            Welcome to everyone today and those who will watch a listen later this week. Today is the conclusion of our 8 week series called, “Christian – It’s Not What You Think.” And, if you have just stepped in for the first time, you’ll be glad to know we are reviewing the entire series for the first few minutes and then we will get down to the one, final thought I want us all to contemplate and, hopefully, implement both individually and as the body of Christ-followers known as Creekside Community Church.

            We started this series by acknowledging that Christianity and Christians have a bit of a branding problem. If you pay attention to what the cultures and world around you think, you’d have to admit the reputation of Christians is pretty bad. So many terrible things have been done in the name of Christianity that most of the world has written it off as a desired way of life. This is so true that Christians have become known as “judgmental, homophobic, moralists who think we’re the only ones going to heaven, and secretly relish the fact that everyone else is going to hell!” That’s what the world around you, the culture around you and probably some of your neighbors or even YOU think of Christians. And unfortunately that shoe fits…a lot!

            The second week we listen to famous author, Anne Rice, summarize the Christianity she had rejected, rejoined, and then quit again, by calling it “quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious and hostile.” That was a good week, because it allowed some of you to stop and say, “Hey, someone else thinks the same thing about Christians as I do. Someone else understands.” Anne went on to tell us that though she was giving up being called a Christian, she was holding onto her personal relationship and followership of Jesus, saying HE was really the center of it all and she could trust and hold onto HIM without having to grab onto the baggage of the “group.” And most of us agree with her.

            Part of the problem with the branding of Christians and Christianity is terminology, though. The word Christian only appears 3 times in the Bible, and is never used by Jesus or any of his followers to describe themselves. Christian was a label put on Jesus’ followers by those who didn’t like them. But over time, the Church, Christianity at large, adopted the terminology without clarifying any definition for it – the Bible certainly didn’t define it. Consequently, to this day, a person can call them self a Christian and do or believe anything they want. And that’s why we find people who call themselves Christians on every side of social, moral, political and religious issues. You can believe just about anything and still be a “Christian” according to our culture.

            But then we discovered the key to this whole mix up, and the impetus for not wanting to be known anymore as mere Christians. We discovered what Jesus called his followers, and what, consequently, his followers called themselves and each other. And that word is “disciple.” Unlike the word “Christian,” disciple can be defined and is defined in a very narrow way. A disciple is a pupil, a student, a learner, who is actively following and imitating their master, seeking to emulate the master in everything. Well, Jesus was obviously the Master, so all they had to do was follow what Jesus taught and did. Pretty easy, right? Wrong? Hard! Difficult! Challenging! But they tried it anyway. And Jesus boiled down all that he wanted them to know and do and be in this one statement,

John 13:35


“By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”


            Jesus was not concerned with all the depth of his disciple’s knowledge. He wanted them to be known because of their love. And he hammered that over and over again to them and everyone else who would listen. Religious leaders came to him and tried to trick him into denying the usefulness of the 10 commandments of such, but Jesus wasn’t fooled. He knew the key. He simply told them this,

 

Matthew Mateo 馬 太 福 音 22:37-40
³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ The second is equally important:

But, we only asked for one!
I can’t give you just one, these two are tied together.

³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

            And before they could interrupt, before they could ask another dumb question, Jesus finished it off with words that would ring through the Apostle Paul 25 years later and from the Apostle John some 30-40 years later:

 

 ⁴⁰ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

            Do you know what that means? It means that all of their laws – 613 in all, the 10 Commandments – don’t steal, don’t lie, obey your parents; all the New Testament teachings – do your work for the Lord, husbands love your wives, care for the poor, the orphaned and the widowed; all of these fall on these two commandments to LOVE. And last week we learned to begin thinking about a filter through which all of our activities should flow through. And we put that filter in a form of a question “What does love require of me?” What does loving God require me to do in this situation? What does loving my neighbor as myself require of me in this situation? It goes beyond the Law and beyond my beliefs and lands flat on the feet of love. And Jesus kind of chastises these religious leaders over and over again throughout his ministry and basically says to them, and to us, “Don’t you dare use my Father’s Words to hurt, disenfranchise, or condemn anyone. Don’t be looking for loopholes to get away with NOT loving others. You just LOVE them.” What does love require of me?

            So today I want us to tie this all together in a somewhat controversial (surprise, surprise) but solidly biblical way. There are several issues at work here. First, is the issue of legalism on the part of the religious leaders. We’ve also seen that in modern time, right? They thought their calling was to make people behave to the letter of the Law or laws. They thought they should regulate the behavior of everyone and they told everyone that God loved them the more they behaved. There is a point to behaving, but this was not God’s point of giving the Law of the 10 commandments. The Law and commandments were given to protect God’s people from the natural consequences of selfish living.

            Fast forward about 250 years past Jesus’ resurrection and church history tells us there were lots and lots of discussion about what everyone should believe. There were still behavioral expectations, of course, but the focus became who did or didn’t believe correctly. And I think that mentality followed us into the 21^st century. This was a big shift from behave to believe. But, as you know, believing doesn’t really change anything without action, behavior, to back it up. This was actually more like a huge, theological pendulum. What Jesus was aiming for was behavior that came out of a belief that He had given us the key to godly behavior; a belief in Jesus command to “love” that was so strong the world would be changed.

            Notice Jesus never said, “A new command I give you, believe correctly. By this will all men know you are my disciples: if you believe correctly.” Jesus did not come to the earth to make some theological point, he came to make an eternal difference. Christians are often content to believe correctly, to learn more and more and more ABOUT God and which theologian is right. That’s why so many Christians like to make lots of points about issues and such. But as disciples of Jesus, we should never be content until we have made a difference. And Jesus said we WOULD make a difference when we loved like he loved us.

            There are two kinds of people that have made a lasting impact on your life: those who hurt you and those who loved you – those who hurt you deeply, and those who loved you profoundly. Why is this important to consider today? Well, there are many people who know all the right religious answers. There are plenty of people who believe all the right theology. But these same people have behaved in ways that have hurt people deeply. Then there are those who have loved you deeply. They have been there for you in thick or thin. They could be a parent, a close relative or friend. They may even have been a stranger. And you may have never known exactly what they believed about most things. All you know is that they loved you deeply, and their love permanently impacted your life. In counseling these are two key areas to giving someone back their life. If we can’t get down to the source of our hurt, we often cannot help someone open themselves up to love. So much hurt and pain in the world, and far too much of it caused by those who would call themselves Christians.

            So what does this have to do with us today? I think the question “what does love requires of me” asks us to consider three steps. The first step is this “Don’t do anything that will hurt you.” You already know this, but God created you and loves you with everything He is. So, if you do things that hurt you, you are hurting your heavenly Father that loves you. Just like my children, your children, cannot hurt themselves without us hurting, so it is with God. When you hurt you, you hurt the people that love you. When you hurt you, you hurt those depending on you. Do you know what love requires of you? That you take care of you so that you can care for the ones depending on you. Do you hear that moms and dads? Do you hear that children? Adult children?

When you hurt you, then you will inevitably break this next step – love requires that I “Don’t do anything that hurts others.” It starts like Jesus told the Pharisees, never use God’s Words, Christianity, theology, as an excuse to hurt someone. There is never an excuse to do that. It’s a practical as don’t lie to people. Don’t gossip, pressure people, deceive or tempt others. Look out for other’s best interest and trust God to honor you and take care of you. Now I know that real love confronts wrong or unhealthy actions. And sometimes love does have an edge. But God’s love is a scalpel, not a knife. Confession and confrontation in love hurts, but it doesn’t stab and gouge. They are expressions of love. And, while love can be threatening and uncomfortable, love will never, never, never be self-serving. Love may wound in order to heal, but love never destroys. Don’t do things that will hurt others.

This last one ties right in with the other two – “Don’t be mastered by anything.” God is your Master. You are a disciple of God the Son, Jesus, so nothing else should be allowed to control you. God knows that if you are mastered by something, you will find it hard to love SOME ONE, you may even find it impossible to truly, transparently love someone. Allow the Holy Spirit within you to rule your appetites, don’t let your appetites rule you. I know that when a group of people think about this the first thought is moral purity. The kids are in here so I won’t say the three letter word – s.e.x. But Jesus was actually more concerned about money becoming people’s master. He talked about that more than almost every other subject. When we let material things master us we are owned by the things we own.

When something owns you it has your attention, it gets your time and passion. And we all know this one. I know this one. We have all be ruled by something other than God in the past. But as disciples of Jesus – pupils, followers, imitators of him, love requires that we NOT be mastered by anything other than God. And, just as a way of personal transparency, let me just say I struggle with this as much or more than anyone else. I fight the need to be in control and be master of things in my life, too. But let’s not give up. Let’s not be discouraged by our failures or setbacks. This is so, so important.

Here’s the practical side of this one: no one should have to compete with your past. No one should have to compete with your alcohol, your gambling or your porn. No one should have to compete with your anger, your depression, or your material stuff. Your hobby should not be the thing that keeps you from loving your family they way you should. Your job should not keep you from loving God and giving Him the time He deserves. Don’t be mastered by anything other than God. And, if you are, you should know that there are loving, caring, and experienced people in this body of Christ, who have been there, done that and are willing to walk with you through the fight to overcome. And we won’t judge you. We won’t beat you down, because we’ve been there. We all struggle, too. But we will love you; we will challenge you. We will keep you as accountable as you will allow, because that’s what family does. That’s especially what God’s family does, because that’s what love requires of us.

Love is the leverage that will change your family. Love is the leverage that will restore you marriage. Love is the leverage that will save you from self-destructive behavior. And love is what will change the world. It happened 2000 years ago, and I believe it can happen again here in Katy, Texas, as a committed group of Jesus’ disciples leaves this place each week and goes out on mission to love every single person we meet – to love them like Jesus would. And then do you know what happens? People begin to notice that something different is going on. People will begin to wonder, “what’s do different about that group of people?” What’s so intriguing about those folks? Why am I drawn to them? How is it that I’m not condemned or feeling guilted into something? And the answer is simple – it’s love, real love, unselfish love, unhindered love – the love of Jesus through the disciples of Jesus reaching out to one another and to God’s lost people. That’s what love requires of you…and of me. Let’s bow our heads for a moment.

You may be here today and have no idea what we are talking about. You may have never even considered that there was a God who loved you, or people that would ever love you. But I’m here to tell you there is. God loved you so much that he sent his only son, Jesus, to die for your sins and mine. And the simple truth is, if you believe in Him, if you will simply accept his forgiveness, you will be forgiven… forever… and you will be a part of his family. God will call you his child for all eternity. That is God’s gift of love to you.

You may be sensing the love of God for the first time…today. You may feel drawn to say, “I want to be a follower of Jesus. I do believe and I do accept his free gift of forgiveness.” Do you want to do that today? While everyone else is bowing their heads, will you look up at me to say, “I want to accept Jesus’ forgiveness.” Right now, just look up at me and I’ll know…more importantly, God will know. He knows your heart and is just waiting to forgive you.

 

Christian Pt 5 – Grace and Truth

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We have spent the last four weeks talking about why we don’t want to be known as “Christians” anymore. Each week has challenged many if not all of our concepts of what that word means. What we have discovered together is that “Christian” was a word use to describe anyone who followed this Jesus guy, or Jesus the Christ as we know him, so they called them “those little Christs.” It was not meant as a compliment. In fact, it was the equivalent of many racist, sexist and elitist terms people throw at each other today.

Since about 300AD or so the “Church,” that is people who claim to have the authority of the Christian religion, has adopted the term. Unfortunately, so much bad stuff has been done with the claim of being a “Christian” or in the name of “Christianity,” that it’s hard to get past all the wars, murders, torturing and cultural decimation of the past. So much so, that today in America especially, you can call yourself a Christian (and over 75% of Americans still do) and believe and do just about anything. No matter what the issue, whether theological, sociological, political or moral, there are people who call themselves “Christians” on every side. How can this be? The problem is that there is no clear definition of the word. The Bible only mentions it three times and never defines what a “Christian” really is. It was just an insult – “those little Christs.”       I’m glad that America is becoming less and less of a “Christian” nation. Because I hope people are really looking at Jesus’ teaching and his example and becoming what Jesus and his followers called one another – disciples – a nation of disciples would be completely different.

Being a disciple is a lot harder than being just a “Christian.” By definition, and it is a narrow definition, a disciple is a pupil, a student, a learner; one who puts himself/herself at the feet of the Master/Teacher; one who emulates the teachings and example of their leader. Disciples ask questions like these – given my current situation, Jesus, what would you do? I’ve got this decision I just have to make today, Jesus, what decision would you make? / So, these people have asked me to come with them to an event but I’m not sure it’s the best thing to do because of what happens there – would you go, Jesus? / This is what a disciple does, asks questions and seeks direction from the Master.

And Jesus gave those who would dare to call themselves his disciples one, main, focused and undeniable directive – “love one another.”

Jesus said this, “By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” That’s what he told the Apostles right before he was crucified. And after the miraculous resurrection and a surge of people believing in him, Jesus added this one “Go to all nations and make disciples” – lead them by your example of love to follow my teachings and my example. That seems like a pretty simple and clear command. Still, people want to start arguing and justifying their preferences and values and so they interpret and reinterpret Jesus’ teachings to fit their own agenda. But there’s a way to know what it means to love like Jesus and be a disciple of Jesus. If you want to know what Jesus meant by what Jesus said, then look at what Jesus did. If you want to know what Jesus meant by what Jesus said, then look at what Jesus did. You will not go wrong in understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus if you read what he said and then follow what he did. You can’t go wrong! You may not be popular. You may get harassed or made fun of, but you will NOT be just a “Christian,” you will be a disciple. And that’s been the driving force our messages these last four weeks, observing what Jesus did.

Now last week we had some fun. I think it was fun. We talked about judging others. For 200 years in America the most memorized and most quoted Bible verse was John 3:16 – “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believed in him would not perish but have eternal life.” Yeah, most of you know that one.

But about mid-way through the 80’s a shift began to happen in our “Christian” nation and even in the churches. People began to think more about themselves, their freedom and personal expression. So much so that, even among faithful, devout, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists and all the rest, the most popular verse became “Judge not that ye be not judged.” “Don’t judge me.” You all know the drill.

Looked at that verse from the book written by Matthew and discovered that Jesus was talking to his followers and warning them to “be careful how you judge others, because you will be judged by the same criteria.” Then we looked at the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. He very clearly told them to “stop judging those outside of the church.” But, DO JUDGE, DO hold one another INSIDE the church accountable for living out the love of Jesus!

With that in mind we gave each other permission and encouraged everyone to be accountable to someone else who follows Jesus for our attitudes and actions, because that will make us stronger in our ability to love others, and thereby be a better example of God’s love to our community. “Love one another.” As we’ve said before, if we don’t get that right, nothing else we say or do will matter.

I know that was a long introduction, you can catch the whole series on iTunes or on TheCreekside.org, but recapping all those important teachings about love are necessary for today’s lesson. We are going to read from the Gospel of John chapter one. You can turn there if you wish or just watch the screen. The Apostle John wrote down these memoirs about 30-40 years after Jesus resurrection. John was a very deep thinker. He never wrote anything “just because,” there was always a purpose and a point.

John’s introduction of Jesus is just incredible. In fact, the word picture of the first chapter of John’s book is as if Jesus painted a beautiful picture and walked into it, but the other people in the painting didn’t acknowledge him as the artist and threw him out. Jesus lived with that conflict and, by word and action, loved them anyway, and loves us anyway.

John Juan 約 翰 福 音1:1-5

1 In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 He made all things. Nothing was made without Him making it. 4 Life began by Him. His Life was the Light for men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness. The darkness has never been able to put out the Light.

John says, “So here Jesus came…from heaven to the earth he created…God in flesh, to be the light for all people.” In other words – “you may want to pay attention to him.” Skip down to verse 14, this is where we land today –

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“We have SEEN his glory. And it’s the kind of glory that could only happen because he is God and from God the Father. Not only that, we have seen and heard and witnessed firsthand something that no one else could possibly display or accomplish – Jesus was full of both grace and truth. For some of you this may not seem like a big deal. But there is a tension here that people of faith, from every generation since Jesus, have wrestled with. Every church, every denomination, every person wanting to be a disciple of Jesus wrestles with this. This tension is why people say, “Don’t judge me.” This tension is why some churches tend to be really legalistic and rules oriented and others just kind of let “anything go.” The tension between grace and truth will always be with us, but Jesus was a complete embodiment of both. Our challenge is to learn to express both as well.

When you define truth and grace it looks something like this –

Truth is the facts of reality from God’s perspective…

Grace is God’s gift of love despite the truth…

Truth is the facts of reality from God’s perspective…

Grace is God’s gift of love despite the truth…

Truth says: you’re accountable                     Grace says: you’re forgiven

Truth says: you’re broken                             Grace says: I’ll make you okay

Truth says: work on it                                    Grace says: I’ll help you through

Truth says: you owe me                                Grace says: I love you, and I’ll pay

The fact is, all of us fall one way or another, living out lives of mostly grace OR mostly Truth. We switch back and forth, waiver in our decisions, treat people like we are confused every other day. There’s just a tension in trying to love people and offering them truth AND grace. We need to embrace both. We need to live with the tension of loving deeply and offering deep grace, too, by following Jesus’ example. I don’t know about you, but I like Jesus talking about Truth when it pertains to other people. But I sure like Grace when it applies to me. It’s like, “Oh yeah, God, dump the Truth on the person who hurt me the other day. But, hey, could you lighten up a little about my attitude and give me a little more grace?”

The Apostle John said, “I saw Jesus interact for years and watched him deal with this tension. And he was absolutely FULL of grace AND Truth.” Verse 16 - 

¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

I’m sure John wants us to know that this was not a mistakenly repeated word. He KNEW Jesus offered grace and grace, and grace and grace, and then more grace. John would say,

“I know what Jesus meant by what Jesus said because I saw firsthand what Jesus did!”  So here are a few stories from the Bible that John witnessed firsthand. They give us a clue sa to how we should treat everyone around us.

              There’s a story of a Samaritan women who was drawing water at a well. She was there during the day because of her “not so reputable” lifestyle. Jesus sent his disciples into the city while he spoke to this woman. Now the Samaritans were despised by the Jews because they were of mixed ethnicity. No Jewish person of reputation, especially not a teacher/Rabbi like Jesus would be caught dead talking to a Samaritan man, much less a woman. But Jesus was full of grace and he spoke to her kindly. He asked her for some water and offered her an eternal gift in exchange.

But Jesus was not ignorant of her story. He sent her to get her husband only to be told she had none. And this is where Truth came out – Jesus knew she had been married several times and was living sinfully with a man to whom she was not married. Did he condemn her for lying? NO. Did he belittle her for her sin? NO. He lovingly confronted her and said, “Go and sin no more. I will give you living water that will quench this void in your life you try to fill with these men.” He lived with the tension and offered her grace AND Truth. And do you know what she did? She became his biggest witness of love and grace and truth in that whole town.

How about this episode in Jesus’ life – do you remember when Jesus asked Matthew to be his disciple? All the other disciples sure remember it. You see Matthew was a tax collector; he worked for the Roman IRS. And they weren’t honest like the IRS today. He collected a certain tax for Rome, but he had permission to collect anything extra he could – it was basically legal extortion. Back in that day there were different classes of people. The bottom two were tax gatherers and sinners, and tax gatherers were considered the lowest. Yet Jesus called Matthew and said, “Come follow me.” You can just hear the other disciples moaning, “No way. What the?”

And if that weren’t bad enough for the other disciples, Jesus said, “Hey, we’re going to a party at Matthew’s house later. And guess who’s going to be there? Right, other tax gatherers and sinners, because no one else will hang out with them. But WE are going to hang out with them, because that’s what I’m here for. And now, that’s what you need to be here for, too. Forget your reputation. Everyone WILL see you going there. I need you to love everyone like I have dared to love you!”   That’s a lot of tension for followers of Jesus. That was grace. Matthew went on to become one of the greatest writers of Truth and a martyr for Jesus.

One final illustration of Jesus’ life of grace and Truth happened while he was hanging on the cross: tortured, beaten, and stripped of all dignity. The Roman’s placed Jesus’ cross between two others. Some translations of the Bible say these guys were thieves, but we know that the Roman’s didn’t bother to kill anyone that might be useful a slave. So, these guys were either murderers or insurgents, or perhaps both. This was not a legitimate place to crucify the Son of God.

One of these criminals hurled insults at Jesus and told him, “If you’re the Son of God then free yourself and us as well!” But the other reprimanded his fellow criminal saying, “Have you no shame? We are crucified for what we HAVE DONE. He is being hung here as an innocent.” Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Please remember me when you enter your Kingdom.” In other words, I know the Truth – I deserve my death, but you don’t. So, if you can find it in you, if you really embody God’s grace, please forgive me and remember me today.
And what did Jesus say to him?

“Too late. You got what you deserved.”

“Nope, sorry, the Truth hurts!”

No, Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in heaven.”

This guy didn’t have a chance to prove anything to Jesus. He couldn’t get down off his cross and go make restitution for his crimes. He couldn’t go to the Temple and sacrifice something. In a few minutes he would be dead. But he’d also be in heaven because he accepted the truth, and Jesus offered him grace. That’s just like Jesus. And, as his disciples, that should be just like us as well.

Our minds and moral compass often yell at us, “Truth, truth, truth, truth.” And other times our sensitive hearts scream, “Grace, grace, grace, grace,” and there’s a tension. But like Jesus, we are probably better off not resolving it and falling prey to the tyranny of either.

We need to learn to offer truth – with all of its ramifications and all of its painful consequences; and grace – with the promise of love, healing and forgiveness. Learn to live in the tension, just like Jesus’ did. Because if you want to know what Jesus meant by what Jesus said, then look at what Jesus did – and do the same.

Jesus did not shy away from calling “sin” “SIN.” Like he told the adulterous woman, “I don’t condemn you. But I’m calling you to ‘go and sin no more.’ And if you don’t – I STILL love you; I hate to think of you not being with me in heaven, but that’s your choice. / And if for some reason you CAN’T give up your sin because the emotional and psychological toll of your past just grips you like talons – I love you. Just know there are natural and spiritual consequences to every choice you make.” Then he died on a Roman cross to pay for the sins of the world. THAT is Truth AND grace.

So do you understand now why being “just a Christian” is so much easier than being a true “disciple” of Jesus? Having a label is so much easier, but there’s no love in it. There’s no grace in it, and there’s no Truth in it. Being a disciple of Jesus means loving others like Jesus would love them. Being a disciple means loving our neighbor, no matter what their color; no matter what their socio-economic status; no matter what their mental or emotional condition. It means loving God with all our heart, our mind, our strength and doing everything we can to shine that love around our spheres of influence. No condemning. No second guessing. No ‘greater than thou’ attitudes – just the love of Jesus filled with grace and truth. And that’s your challenge for this week. Will you decide to be a true disciple of Jesus, and love with grace and truth?

Let’s pray.

God of grace and truth, we have so far to go as disciples of your Son, Jesus. It’s so hard for us NOT to resolve the tensions in life, but rather to leave them in your hands and simply live like Jesus lived. Help us in our weakness. Strengthen us with your Holy Spirit. Shine your light and your love through us this very week. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Blessing:

May the love of Jesus overwhelm your heart with truth and grace this week. And may those around you receive the blessing of God’s love because you dared to live it out. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Apartheid and Jesus

Today we were privileged to tour a little bit of Johannesburg, South Africa. We took a guided drive to Soweto, the home of Nelson Mandela, and a tour through the Apartheid Museum. This museum is a reminder of how debase everyone can be when they view themselves as superior to another. It took a young man like Nelson Mandela, and the senseless deaths of some school children, to push this beautiful country together. I admire the qualities of Mr. Mandela that led him to lead such a movement.

There are still detractors of the movement as illustrated by several Twitter replies I received from someone known as @whiterefuge in South Africa. But I think from a laypersons standpoint the museum pointed out the good and the bad of the movement against one groups supremacy over another. The final hallway even lists quotes from Nelson Mandela himself regarding some of the mistakes he and the movement made. The fact is, there are no pure movements, since each one is led by a human being who is intrinsically flawed with self.

One of the things that impacted me about the exhibit was something I had been reading earlier in the day about, of all things, building a great Church. A movement to overcome injustice or a movement to help others see the love of God is rarely a quick and easy thing – it is most often a feat of cultivation and patience. Jesus talked a lot about planting and cultivating the truth in people. This is a life long journey for all of us; for ourselves, for our families, our communities and our world. It takes time – lots of time – and a lot of commitment to the Truth.

I cannot speak to all the positive or negative things in either the development of Christianity or the fight against Apartheid. But I can say that I am inspired to patiently do those things to which I am called, to seek out the answers as best I can and to join with others to accomplish great works of faith and forgiveness.

Happy Birthday Mr. Mandela. And thank you.

Pastor TIm

 

@specialassignment

“Jonah – the big fish story” Characters pt. 8

The Bible is full of great stories about some pretty interesting characters. We have already studied a lot of them this summer – Nehemiah, Moses, Joshua, Jacob, Rahab, Ruth and Judah. And there are many, many more to cover. Some of the stuff these people went through or caused is pretty incredible, at times unbelievable. These stories were recorded by some of the best oral traditions the world has ever known – that of the Jewish people. Many people believe that these stories are exactly that, just stories, written to bolster the claims of several major world religions. But I, and billions of other Christ followers, believe that these historical stories, as recorded through the eyes of faith, were inspired and directed by God so that everyone could know the Truth of God’s love.

There are many reasons I believe this to be true. One of the reasons is that the Bible says this very thing, “All scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, reproof, correction” etcetera. There is also the evidence of ancient science and archaeological research the continually affirms the accuracy of beliefs about life and locations of places once thought myth. Another major reason that I believe the Bible and try to live life by the truth in it is found within the study of these characters. Their flaws are evident, their perfection non existent, their character lacking. These are not the makings of your average religious thought, system or inherent truth.

If you wanted to start a world religion, if you really wanted to make people believe your truth, it would be prudent to write down the great, effective things that happened from the very beginning. “Let me tell you how to have a perfect life. Or can be successful at everything by believing in ____”, you fill in the blank. Most people tell the stories of their history or that of others like their at a funeral. “Wasn’t he the greatest friend you could ever have?” “She was so loving, all the time, no matter what.” “I didn’t get to know him well, but everyone really like him.” You rarely hear about the terrible person that should have done more for their family, or the secret addiction that kept them from really being productive with their life. You seldom hear about their selfishness or irritability. What we get at funerals is the “gloss over.” Everyone gets a pass. And much religious literature, even that claiming to be Christian, is written with this glossy coat.

But this is not how the Bible is written. The Bible is written down from an oral tradition that believed everything that happens in the history of God and humanity is valuable. So, instead of a bunch of perfect people following great leaders into a perfect life, we have a bunch of misfit, rebellious, selfish, whining children and their families throughout the whole Bible. We see murderers, adulterers, mockers, drunks, whiners, prostitutes, manipulators, thieves, rapists and warmongers accomplishing the work of God. And this is not with God’s blessing, but rather, despite God’s constant display of miracles, extraordinary mercy and awesome, cosmic power – as well as God’s call to obey rather than rebel! No, this is not your ordinary revisionist version of history. This seems to be the nitty, gritty truth made palatable by the way we can each identify with it in real life. History, as played out in the Bible, convinces me even more of God’s truth, God’s example and God’s purpose for us – God’s desire for us is to live a redemptive life. And we are going to see that again today.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Jonah. You’ll find this is the last half of the Old Testament, several hundred pages past Psalms, which is in the center of the whole Bible. Jonah is not a very long book. It is probably one of the most translated books in all the Bible because of its brevity. Seminary and Bible college Hebrew students translate this book first because of it’s ease of reading and understanding. Most are shocked by the subtleties and satire present in the language that make them rethink their childhood recollection of the seemingly simple story. But these moments of humor in the middle of tragic disobedience actually give us a better picture of a God who likes a good laugh and subtlety. For now, though, let’s read Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1

1 The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

So Jonah gets on this boat to run away from God, goes down into the hold and goes to sleep. Meanwhile the Lord sends a terribly violent storm to get everyone’s attention. Everyone notices but Jonah, who’s asleep in the cargo bay. Finally someone finds him and tells him to plead with his God to stop the storm. That’s when Jonah spills the beans about running away and tells them the only way to stop the storm is to throw him overboard. Well they don’t want to do that, it would spell certain death for Jonah and perhaps anger his God who caused the storm. Eventually though –

15 Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! 16 The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.

I can understand their reticence to throw another human being to certain death. If this God of Jonah did cause the storm it certainly would not take much to knock off some pagan sailors for killing. On the other hand, look what happened. Jonah was trying to circumvent God’s path straight to Nineveh. Nothing good should have come from that. But something great did happen – these sailors who once did not know of the one, true God, now experienced God first hand. And that experience was so influential they vowed to serve God and offered sacrifices to him. Why is that such a big deal?

Sometimes we get caught in thinking that we have either caused God’s plans to stop in their tracks, or we think that God can only accomplish the plans with our help. Both of these mindsets are equally WRONG! God does have  a plan for each of us -  a perfectly straight path to find love, light, fulfillment and forgiveness. But we all tend to wander over and under, around and through that path.

God does care how we fulfill his plan for our life, but he does not manipulate us or cajole us into doing it. God is the perfect Father, Mother, Shepherd, Guide, Leader. He willingly lets us wander and gently tries to nudge us back onto the path. (There’s a lesson for us parents there). God is willing to let us suffer the consequences of our own choices. Yet he never condemns his children or disowns them. (There’s another lesson there). His goal is always the 3 R”s – as I call them – redemption, reconciliation and restoration. So we should not think too little of ourselves when we screw things up. And we should not think to greatly of ourselves when we do the right thing. That’s what’s amazing about what happened to these sailors despite Jonah’s disobedience.  Verse 17

17 Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Do you wonder at what point Jonah started thinking, “What the heck am I doing?” Was it when they picked him up OR threw him overboard?

Was it as he was sinking down into the sea? Or maybe it occurred to him as this enormous fish engulfed him with it’s jaws.

Certainly there must have been an epiphany when he found himself, ALIVE, inside this odorous fish, surrounded by all the other lovely ingested and slightly digested chickens of the sea. “What’s for dinner? Sushi? Again?” Do you think he finally stopped and asked, “Why did I run?”

Well Jonah is not so different from the rest of us. As with every other character we have studied, there is a element of his life or his thinking process with which each of us can identify. As the old adage says, it’s easy to see the “log in the eye” of these characters because we are all experts in logs. Oh, some of us think we can roll on top of the logs and control them. But we ALL know the truth – eventually that log, that issue, will slip you up and you will find yourself splashing in the water or drowning in despair. So instead of giving Jonah grief and making too much of his stupidity let’s ask some questions and learn something – starting with:

I. Why does everyone tend to run away from God?   The answer is obviously – FEAR.

Now the Bible does say to fear the Lord, but that is reverence and awe rather than complete, gut wrenching worry. The kind of fear we have comes in several components.

a. What God thinks of us – I’m not worthy, I’m not good enough

b. What God might ask us to give up – money, power, position, family, comfort

c. What God might ask us to do – go to Nineveh, forgive our enemies, resolve our conflict, admit our issues, be something new, go somewhere new

Fear is a very real thing. And anytime there is change we will at least have some stress if not all out fear. There is no need to minimize the fact that fear is a reality and sometimes keeps us out of trouble. But sometimes, or even often times when we are talking about God, our fear is just silly and selfish, as we will see later with Jonah.

The second thing I want us to think about is this:

II. What do most people do when they find themselves in deep trouble or distress? Pray! And Jonah was no different. Turn to chapter 2 of Jonah.

Jonah 2:1, 6-10

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. (No kidding)

6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
I was imprisoned in the earth,
whose gates lock shut forever.

Jonah was a prophet of God and knew God very well. If not, he would have never heard God’s voice in the first place. Jonah knew, like every person on earth inherently knows because we were created in the spiritual image of God, that only God can help us, only God can effect lasting change, only God can forgive and grant new life in the face of death. His prayer of despair is not rooted in ignorance and fear of the unknown. He knew he screwed up. He knew he sinned against God by disobeying. His prayer was rooted in what he knew of God AND what everyone ultimately wants and needs to know about God. Jonah continues verse 6.

But you, O Lord my God,
snatched me from the jaws of death!
7 As my life was slipping away,
I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
in your holy Temple.
8 Those who worship false gods
turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
and I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

III. What is it that everyone ultimately wants and needs?

1. The mercy of God

2. The freedom to leave the jaws of our issues and sin

3. And forgiveness – For the fish to spit us out

Jonah knew these three things were available. Jonah used that knowledge to repent in humility. And God granted him all three things. This is not out of character for God, and Jonah knew it. He knew that God’s number one goal for people is redemption, reconciliation and restoration.

That is why we do what we do here each week. That is why we try to impact our community by offering them the love and hope and help in the name of Jesus. That is why we meet together to grow in our relationship to God, others and the world around us: because we all have issues, we all need the mercy of God and we more than definitely all need forgiveness. None of us want to get swallowed up by a big fish, or by life or by our own issues and insecurities and fears. Unfortunately, it often takes a huge whack up side the head for us to pay attention and finally answer the call of God to a whole life. Here’s what happened with Jonah. Jonah chapter 3 –

Jonah 3:

1 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”

3 This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 4:1 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive….”

Did you hear that? Did you catch what Jonah’s BIG fear was? How petty! How selfish! How insensitive! “I knew you wouldn’t kill ‘em. You’re just tooooo nice. You’re too merciful. Just kill me instead. Yeah, kill me now Lord!”  Sound like Fred Sanford from Sanford and Son – “Kill me now, Lord. I’m coming ‘lizbeth, I’m comin’!” Jonah’s biggest fear was that he would be inconvenienced to travel all that way to Nineveh, warn the people to turn from their sins just so God could change his mind about destroying them. He wanted justice for “those” people. He wanted them to get what they deserved. If they’re going to act like that then they deserve the consequences: they deserve AIDS, they deserve cancer, they deserve emphysema, they deserve it!

Isn’t it amazing how much WE want justice for everyone, except us? Oh, not the justice that means we are all equal. Not the justice that we would give willingly of ourselves or our resources to help another human being in trouble. No, we want the justice of punishment for “those” people. They caused their own demise. They were the reason for such and such. Because we’re better than they are. Because we worked so hard to help and THEY took advantage of our generosity, or time, or whatever. They DESERVE it. But I only make little mistakes.

I’m so glad God doesn’t think that way. And over time, I’ll be glad when we don’t think that way. When I don’t think about inconvenience or analyzing all the reasons and making excuses not to interact with people. Only when God’s people really get to know him will we really care about others and about what God wants to do in the world. That’s what our journey together is all about – growing up to be more like Jesus. And here’s how God answers Jonah’s whine-fest.

10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. 11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

III. What does this story tell us about God and about us? – people matter to God, so they should matter to us

A. Many haven’t heard the truth

B. Many are living in spiritual darkness

C. God empathizes with the plight of all people and all of creation

We may have come here to the end of this lesson and still wonder, “What was THAT all about?” Here’s the point I want to make. If you remember nothing else please, please, please get this. We are being called to live a redemptive life. We need to answer that call. What exactly does that mean? I think it means this:

What does it mean to live a redemptive life?

1.  Give your life unselfishly to others, especially those who need it most – dare to see (build relationships with) people that others avoid seeing, or those people can’t see because of their own bias, distaste or inconvenience.

2. Commit yourself to serving to your family, friends, neighbors and community at large in life changing ways

3. Share the story of God’s work in history and in your life with anyone who will listen – everyone needs the hope God offers through Jesus.

Dear God,

I admit that I am far to often worried more about my convenience and comfort than about other people. I have lived a long and privileged life with the blessings of knowing you, but I have not shared nearly enough of that with others. Open my heart and my life, open our hearts and our lives to make life worth living for others. Help us to do those things which will shine your light and love the brightest. In Jesus name, Amen.

Y2KX

One thing the New Year seems to bring out in most people is the sense of beginning again. And that is a wonderful thing. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday or in the rest of 2009. It’s over. Put a fork in it, it’s done! What really matters is what each of us will do with the 365 days ahead of us in 2010. What do you look forward to in 2010? I, for one, look forward to hope. I look forward to possibility. I’m looking for a banner year of God doing super cool things and the privilege of watching and helping.

The New Year is much like a Christmas present. We can see it coming, but we don’t know exactly what it holds. We feel the positive tension and yearning for the unknown. We want to unwrap it quickly, and yet we don’t, knowing that once the event occurs the adrenaline dissipates far too fast. So, instead of ripping open the year and “getting on with it,” why not live each day in new anticipation? Why not look for and live in the hope of what God will do rather than trying to figure it all out at the beginning. The Bible says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things we can’t see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is living in anticipation without fear. Faith is knowing that God is in control and living each day with this in mind. Faith is being clearly convinced that the best is yet to come whether we can see it or not.
Finally, the Bible also says that “faith without works is useless.” (James 2:18-26) We show our faith in God and God’s plan by taking actions. We cannot love people without action. We cannot help people without action. We will not accomplish anything of substance without action. That means that 2010 must be a year of faith AND actions. The Kingdom of God is built on these two things. So, here is the challenge to us all -  a challenge of faith and action for 2010:

Where there is sadness, offer joy.
Where despair, offer hope.
Where there is hurt, offer comfort.
And where there is searching offer God!

What actions of faith do you plan on accomplishing this year? Are you brave enough to share them with others?

May your faith and actions grow exponentially for God, others and the world around you in 2010.

Pastor Tim