In Such a Way

12.05.11

Psalm 119.24 24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors. NIV

If there is anything I need these days, it’s counsel. Seems like the older I get the more I need counsel. Things I used to just accept I now question; ways that I used to walk in now seem foreign and/or faulty. Things I used to believe in and take for granted I no longer do. The past six years have been a part of my journey that I never anticipated. I think I’m wiser in some respects but these days I have more questions than answers.

It could be age and stage: maybe everyone gets to this point in life where what was once such a sure thing is no longer. Maybe it’s the place our nation is in, economic uncertainty and loss for so many people. Maybe it’s our culture which seems to only want to be entertained while our dire financial situation only gets worse. Maybe it’s our leadership which seems only to want to tell us what we want to hear rather than deal with the issues at hand. Maybe… Perhaps it’s just what has happened to me and now I see thing differently than I did 10 years ago. All I know is life is different and what I think I thought I knew is now sort of nonsensical.

I need counsel. I need wisdom. And whether this makes sense to you or not, I need certainty in a time in life when there seems to be precious little. And what makes this all so weird is life seems to be going so well. I have a decent job. My health is good, but I don’t think that it’s going to last forever like I once so thoughtlessly used to think. I need counsel.

I usually pray this way: Lord, touch so and so’s life today in such a way that he can understand. Help him to have thoughts of You today. I’m big on interactions with God that happen in ways that I go, Oh yeah! That was the Lord! I figure that when the Lord wants my attention He’ll do it in such a way that I get it that He wants it, and I know it’s Him.

Yesterday was the first time I’d been to my church in a month. We moved in November (I’ll try not to do that again) and so because of job and time, we just couldn’t afford to get there and get all the other stuff done we needed to get done because of the move. But as I listened yesterday, I heard the Lord speaking to me through my pastor’s message. He spoke in such a way that I got it. Somehow everything seemed to fall into place for me because of where I was and what I heard. Up to that point I was about to… I don’t know but it wasn’t pretty. So as I read this brief little verse this morning, I realized that I have an infinite abundance of counsel available to me in God’s Word. I just need to avail myself and take the time to listen.

God will and does speak to us. Sometimes He does it through the natural world around us, Psalm 19.1-4; sometimes He does it through other people, Ephesians 5.18-19. And sometimes it’s His word: Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors (Psalm 119.24).

Wherever we are on the journey or in the process, here’s something we can count on: God has our back. He also has our front; and our above and below; and our left and our right. And the counsel we need is right there if we but submit ourselves to the One who leads us in times of great joy and peace and also in times of great pain and uncertainty – to Him be the glory and may our response always be: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Thank You Lord! He always does it in such a way that we’ll get it…

The Outcome of Attaining

12.04.11

Ephesians 4.13 13 …until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. NIV

If I’ve ever seen a purpose statement, the above is one! I hear Ephesians 4.11-12 quoted all the time: So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… This is usually quoted as a motivation to help church goers to understand that the work of the ministry is to be carried out by Christ’s people and not just the leadership of the denominations or the local clergy. But why serve anyway?  So, we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. What would our churches look like if that was the accepted goal of everyone who came there?

Many see the local Church for its social merits: to them it’s almost like a club (except without the bar… they’ll go there later). They go because it’s an opportunity to interact regularly with others and get caught up on what’s happening in each other’s lives. Others see the church as some sort of academy where they are taught about Christianity and how Christians are supposed to behave. Some see the local church as an ad hoc political force, helping to change the hearts and minds of the local residents to accept the Religious Right’s agenda.

But what if… what if we saw the church and our faith as a way of life until we all reach unity in the faith (not uniformity) and in the knowledge of the Son of God and [became] mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ? You see, the social club, academy, and political force are only ways of getting people to think – attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ is a way of life! Much of our problem in the modern church is that we don’t understand what we’re called to: attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ!

The outcome of this “attaining” is this: Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4.14-16 NIV)Who wouldn’t want to be part of a church like that!? Only those who misunderstand the purpose of the church…

The call on the modern church is to grow up! The call on the modern church is to forsake infancy and embrace maturity; and this is only accomplished through opportunities of serving one another in love. When we begin to value one another at a higher level and seek to really serve and help one another, then the complexion of the church becomes less complex and people are truly led into following Christ with the specific goal of attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ: so full of Jesus that change in the world truly begins to take place.

This is where we’re to go and we’ve much to go through to get there, but watch out if we ever do!

Prayer Request

12.03.11

Romans 15.30-33 30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, 32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen. NIV

This was Paul’s prayer request – he asked them to pray for him as he struggled for the Lord. To me prayer is one of the most mysterious things: when we pray, what does it do? Prayer is a form of communication with God. Another is praise. And because God is infinite and knows our every thought before we even think it, why even pray? Again, when we pray what does it accomplish?

Prayer builds our faith because when we pray we are, through our action, admitting that God is our Supreme Benefactor from Whom all blessings flow. When we pray, we are actively acknowledging God’s provision, His faithfulness, His indescribable power, and really, all of His attributes. Prayer is a form of communication with God that builds our faith in the One who accepts us and cares for us. Prayer gets us in the game, so to speak. As Paul asked for prayer in his ministry, the ones who prayed, actually actively took part in that ministry.

And prayer honors God because it is also one way we come to Him for all of Who He is, and all of what He does. God is honored in front of the host of heaven because they all see the honor offered by those who believe, by hearing their prayers. I think the prayers of the saints are audible in Heaven. And prayer honors God because by its very action, pray is the way we ask God for help.

Now then, I can’t say how it shows up – the help that is; all I can attest to is that it does. The circumstances of our lives give us some indicators of how prayer is answered. But again, I am quick to admit, I don’t know how prayer works, I just know that it does. If we look at the particulars of Paul’s prayer request we see that he asked to be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea. That happened. Yes, he got arrested and went through that whole ordeal, but Paul was kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and he eventually got to Rome to share the Gospel with Nero. Hmmm, go figure that one out.

Asking God for help is a very good thing. Demanding God act in a certain manner is not so smart. God loves His people on a level that defies reason, logic and our natural order, and praying to Him is just as mysterious. But something happens when we pray because in it and by it we have God’s ear and His provision. It may not show up the way we think (or want) in our puny preconceived notions, but God actively answers our prayers…faithfully.

One of the greatest things we can do is pray. One of the greatest gifts we can give is prayer. How it works and why it works is a mystery to me but that it works is something I’ve come to believe. Prayer is a holy sacrifice of our time and energy and it honors God Who answers prayer. It also helps those in need. Why pray? Because it works!

Behavior that Benefits

12.02.11

Romans 12.1-2 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV

The hinge word is, “therefore” and it is there for this reason: the statements Paul makes after the word therefore, tie directly to the statements he made previous to this point. Therefore is the word he used to get us to see the magnitude of what he was going to say next. Therefore, any time we see the word therefore in the Scripture, we know what is going to be said next is based on what was said just before, and it is very important.

Therefore, Paul makes application for us starting in chapter twelve and it is all based on our behavior, for Israel chose to try to impress God with their behavior and the elect choose to please God by walking in faith. Behavior is directly tied to both, but way different in its objectivity: the behavior of works-based religion is all about me; the behavior of faith-based relationship is all about the other person. Paul’s instructions in most of his letters can be boiled down to this: do good – and don’t just do good to impress but, to please God and help others; Christianity is an others-based religion.

That’s why the call in Romans 12, is to offer ourselves as living sacrifices – we’re to do so to help others and to please God as a result. And pleasing God is simply obeying Him and living according to love. Sacrifices are always for the benefit of someone else. And that’s why the word therefore is there: our lives are to be lived not with ourselves in mind but for the benefit of others.

The rest of chapter twelve can be summed up in the words humility and faith. Sacrificial living dies when arrogance enters the picture; and humility is the true foundation for the free gift of love with no strings attached. There is no such thing as an arrogant sacrifice: there is such a thing as arrogance. Love without humility is not love but arrogance – a clanging cymbal. Therefore, the necessity of our lives being living sacrifices calls us always to walk in humble love. Our behavior is beautiful and pleasing to God when it is based in what His is based in: humble love. That’s when our behavior benefits…

Father in Heaven,

May this day find me in Your love and walking humbly by Your side for the benefit of others – amen.

The Last Battle?

12.01.11

Romans 8.37 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. NIV

What could be more than a conqueror? I was watching the tube (do we still get to call it that?) the other night and saw a commercial for Russell athleticwear and the narrator of the commercial said in one brief scene in the 30 second piece: “we are more than conquerors.” And I thought to myself what could be more than a conqueror? Sorry, my mind just works that way.

Could we be more than conquerors in that we have the victory and character? That would be a start. How about if we have the victory and never have to face another battle - like the battles are all ended; the lessons are all learnd? What constitutes more than conquering? It made me think.

Personally, I kinda lean toward the no-more-battles aspect. I mean what does a conqueror do when there are no more battles? Does he retire or does he move on to more pressing issues? Of course that begs the question, to a conqueror what is more pressing and important than the next battle? More than conquering has to include some kind of conquering doesn’t it? Or does more than conquering mean that every battle has been finally vanquished? You see, I get all weird (in my mind) when it comes to verbal concepts like: more than conquerors.

I wish I even had some clever alternative or answer to what I think more than conquering actually is. More than conquering is obviously more; I’m just having a hard time quantifying what that more looks like… I guess I’ll just have to settle for the fact that it’s more and more is indescribably better than just being an idle conqueror waiting around the next foe to conquer. You see, being more than a victor is more and I suspect infinitely more, and to me, that’s worth having. Battles are a nuisance and take up time and resources. More than anything, battles require total focus – one brief glance in the wrong direction could cost you the whole enchilada. Battles are meant to be fought and meant to be overcome but when overcome is done does more mean the next one is already won? I suppose it could happen…

So, more than conquering implies, at least to this tiny mind, that even after the last battle is won there is still more to be done; and in the doing is the use of our time, talents, and energy to focus on the everlasting horizon of opportunity and potential that stretches out infinitely before us in every direction.

Today, vocationally I wish to be more than a conqueror – I want to win the battle that I face every day on the job. You’d thing at fifty-something I’d give up the conquering thing but with each passing day and pressing agenda there are still some battles that need to be fought. Maybe more than conquering means the battles are all finally subdued – at this age and stage of life that has a very appealing ring to it…

Pardon me, I have some armor to don…