The Incarnation of Jesus tells me that this body life matters to God. What Jesus accomplished in the flesh has eternal and spiritual significance. God could simply have said to someone what it meant to believe and be saved but He didn't, He took the form of a middle eastern man 2000 years ago called Yeshua and lived among His creation for thirty years before revealing Himself and then only to a relatively few people. He got crossways with the people who were supposed to be his leading representatives and then ended up dying on a cross.
The miracles Jesus did were physical and temporal, healing, feeding, even raising from the dead. These all fixed problems related to this life but they were pointing to that other life, God-life as the source. People frequently remarked that nothing like what Jesus was doing had ever been done before in the healing of the blind man in John 9 and in the raising of Lazarus in John 11 for instance. They also noted that He didn't teach like others and that even His teaching had an authority they hadn't seen. All that should have pointed to that other realm.
We owe thanks for our lives to the one who created us. This life matters to us and the incarnation tells me that it matters to Him as well. We care about pain and suffering and we cry out for answers and the incarnation tells me that my pain matters to Him enough that He suffered more pain than I am ever likely to know, physically, emotionally (betrayal by those close to Him) and spiritually (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?). He did all of this for us and to save us from eternal death and separation because we and our lives matter to Him enough to suffer in the flesh. We are but dust and to dust we shall return but what happens in between is incredibly important on an eternal and cosmic scale.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Lent
Last night in my Ash Wednesday sermon I talked about the great paradox of Lent. It is odd that we are called to physical disciplines in observance of the season, fasting, self-denial and the like on the same night that we are told we are dust and to dust we shall return. Why bother with the life of the body if we acknowledge that it is all passing away anyway? The answer to this riddle is provided in the incarnation of Jesus. In taking on flesh God tells us that the life in the body matters immensely and can have extraordinary impact on the world if that body life is a Spirit-filled life.
In order to have a Spirit-filled life requires work to empty out the wrong spirit, that spirit of rebellion which we call the sin nature that desires to be in charge rather than under authority. We need a period of self-examination rooted in the Word of God which we are also called to read and meditate upon in this Lenten season. Lent in some ways asks the question, "Who's in charge here?" Over the past year or so of working out my body regularly for the first time in about 15 years, I have been paying the price for neglecting to ask and answer that question for too long. In this past year I have seen also the benefit of taking charge and caring for my body in increased stamina and the ability to do much more than I could a year ago. In the process I have realized that passivity towards the body isn't a zero-sum game, my body has a mind of its own tending to gluttony and laziness. The same is true of our hearts and minds if we neglect their discipline, just different results, greed, covetousness, envy, jealousy and the the like.
We get only one chance at this life, and when it is done we return to dust, who's in charge here is an important question with eternal significance. Do we want our lives to matter? If the answer is yes, the journey to significance could begin this Lent.
In order to have a Spirit-filled life requires work to empty out the wrong spirit, that spirit of rebellion which we call the sin nature that desires to be in charge rather than under authority. We need a period of self-examination rooted in the Word of God which we are also called to read and meditate upon in this Lenten season. Lent in some ways asks the question, "Who's in charge here?" Over the past year or so of working out my body regularly for the first time in about 15 years, I have been paying the price for neglecting to ask and answer that question for too long. In this past year I have seen also the benefit of taking charge and caring for my body in increased stamina and the ability to do much more than I could a year ago. In the process I have realized that passivity towards the body isn't a zero-sum game, my body has a mind of its own tending to gluttony and laziness. The same is true of our hearts and minds if we neglect their discipline, just different results, greed, covetousness, envy, jealousy and the the like.
We get only one chance at this life, and when it is done we return to dust, who's in charge here is an important question with eternal significance. Do we want our lives to matter? If the answer is yes, the journey to significance could begin this Lent.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Fear and faith part 2
Gideon must be the only person who has an angel suddenly appear to him who isn't afraid. Listen to the conversation: "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor." And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian."
I love that exchange, it sounds like my prayer life sometimes, knowing the truth, the Lord is with you, but knowing the truth of circumstance as well and not being able to reconcile the two truths. The one the angel calls a mighty man of valor is beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites, hardly a scene of valor or the acts of a mighty man, but what he has been reduced to in order to survive.
Gideon's theology isn't wrong, he just believes if the Lord is with you there should be some tangible evidence of that presence and what he sees doesn't match up to what he believes. Have you ever had that experience? Everyone does, can you imagine how the disciples felt as they watched the one they believed to be Messiah as he died on the cross?
I love that exchange, it sounds like my prayer life sometimes, knowing the truth, the Lord is with you, but knowing the truth of circumstance as well and not being able to reconcile the two truths. The one the angel calls a mighty man of valor is beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites, hardly a scene of valor or the acts of a mighty man, but what he has been reduced to in order to survive.
Gideon's theology isn't wrong, he just believes if the Lord is with you there should be some tangible evidence of that presence and what he sees doesn't match up to what he believes. Have you ever had that experience? Everyone does, can you imagine how the disciples felt as they watched the one they believed to be Messiah as he died on the cross?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Fear and faith - part 1
As my church prepares to move into a building that is much bigger and more expensive than where we are now and doing that in a terrible economic climate, I find great comfort in knowing that my fears aren't unnatural or un-godly. We tend to believe that if anyone has heard from the Lord and yet doesn't have complete peace about a situation then they lack faith but that isn't what I find in scripture, even with Jesus in the garden the night of his arrest.
One of my favorite stories is the story of Gideon. Gideon is a guy living in a miserable time in Israel's history. Their enemies, the Midianites, would lull them into a false sense of security, letting them plant their crops but when the harvest time came, they would swoop in and devour and destroy everything. This had been going on for seven years when we meet Gideon in Judges 6.
The people had cried out to the Lord and He had sent them a prophet who reminded them of all the Lord had done for them and then said, "'I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice." Thanks for the reminder, but what we really wanted was a little help with our problem, not for You to place the blame for the problem. Have you ever had such an answer to prayer? Sometimes we have to own our responsibility for the mess we're in before we can move ahead into God's preferred future. If not, we are likely to end up there again. We have to realize that the way forward begins with changing our behavior that got us where we are in the present.
One of my favorite stories is the story of Gideon. Gideon is a guy living in a miserable time in Israel's history. Their enemies, the Midianites, would lull them into a false sense of security, letting them plant their crops but when the harvest time came, they would swoop in and devour and destroy everything. This had been going on for seven years when we meet Gideon in Judges 6.
The people had cried out to the Lord and He had sent them a prophet who reminded them of all the Lord had done for them and then said, "'I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice." Thanks for the reminder, but what we really wanted was a little help with our problem, not for You to place the blame for the problem. Have you ever had such an answer to prayer? Sometimes we have to own our responsibility for the mess we're in before we can move ahead into God's preferred future. If not, we are likely to end up there again. We have to realize that the way forward begins with changing our behavior that got us where we are in the present.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Jesus' remarkable integrity
The integrity of Jesus as a leader is an amazing thing to watch. As I have been thinking about this issue of authority for the last couple of weeks what I continue to return to is how does Jesus use his authority. The source of that authority comes day by day and not in presuming on His identity. Constantly we see him in prayer and frequently that time of prayer allows him to respond to others in a way that shows his independence and integrity.
When the crowds desire him to do their bidding, Jesus is willing to let several thousand walk away disappointed because the Father had not commanded him to do something. He isn't being difficult, and he isn't asserting his independence, he is simply listening to one voice alone to direct his steps and in that he frequently disturbs people. At times we see the loneliness of Jesus and I only mean that in the sense of being apart from the crowd, He was never alone because He was constantly abiding in the Father. It is lonely sometimes to walk alone in obedience.
Jesus' integrity as a leader is based in His abiding. It allows Him to praise Peter for his confession of Jesus and then to immediately rebuke him. He is able to do both these things for the same reason, He is attempting to please that audience of One. That allows Him to maintain integrity before men, not being inconsistent in any way, because all is done for the glory of the Father. That which is in alignment with that aim is praised and that which is out of alignment is rebuked, no matter who it hurts. I realize that I spend more time trying to please people than trying to please God and you would think that after 40+ years of trying and failing I would get it right.
When the crowds desire him to do their bidding, Jesus is willing to let several thousand walk away disappointed because the Father had not commanded him to do something. He isn't being difficult, and he isn't asserting his independence, he is simply listening to one voice alone to direct his steps and in that he frequently disturbs people. At times we see the loneliness of Jesus and I only mean that in the sense of being apart from the crowd, He was never alone because He was constantly abiding in the Father. It is lonely sometimes to walk alone in obedience.
Jesus' integrity as a leader is based in His abiding. It allows Him to praise Peter for his confession of Jesus and then to immediately rebuke him. He is able to do both these things for the same reason, He is attempting to please that audience of One. That allows Him to maintain integrity before men, not being inconsistent in any way, because all is done for the glory of the Father. That which is in alignment with that aim is praised and that which is out of alignment is rebuked, no matter who it hurts. I realize that I spend more time trying to please people than trying to please God and you would think that after 40+ years of trying and failing I would get it right.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Spiritual Authority
I was working on some things today that required me to look at my job description in our by-laws. All it says is that I am the spiritual authority of the church. I wanted to run from my own job description and re-write it immediately. I am not the spiritual authority, the Word is the Spiritual authority in the church, the Word as Jesus and the Word as the Bible.
The goofy thing is that on Sunday I preached about authority, particularly Jesus' authority as it related to the passage from Mark 1 where He is in the synagogue in Capernaum. The word itself is a legal term that refers to something like power of attorney, it isn't an independent authority but a delegated one. In that sense I am, in our context, the Spiritual authority in the church but that word feels scary and over the top to me but I think it has much to do with the abuse of authority in both society and in the church that I feel that way about it.
If I understand the Biblical concept of authority properly, I can better be the spiritual authority in my church because it also implies that like the Roman centurion in Matthew 8, I am a man under authority, the authority of the Word. So long as the people in the church see me acting under or within that authority, they have reason to accept my authority, but if not, they need to call me on it. How do we create a culture of accountability to make sure that happens?
The goofy thing is that on Sunday I preached about authority, particularly Jesus' authority as it related to the passage from Mark 1 where He is in the synagogue in Capernaum. The word itself is a legal term that refers to something like power of attorney, it isn't an independent authority but a delegated one. In that sense I am, in our context, the Spiritual authority in the church but that word feels scary and over the top to me but I think it has much to do with the abuse of authority in both society and in the church that I feel that way about it.
If I understand the Biblical concept of authority properly, I can better be the spiritual authority in my church because it also implies that like the Roman centurion in Matthew 8, I am a man under authority, the authority of the Word. So long as the people in the church see me acting under or within that authority, they have reason to accept my authority, but if not, they need to call me on it. How do we create a culture of accountability to make sure that happens?
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