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This Made My Year
December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment
How Long O Lord?
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 13:1-2 (NIV)
How long O Lord?
It’s a gut-wrenching question that keeps turning up throughout the Scriptures, if not always explicitly, at least in spirit.
It’s the cry of Abraham and Sarah as they wait for 25 years for the child God has promised them.
It’s the cry of Israel in Egypt after Pharoah turns the people into slaves and forces them to chomp down on the bitter dust of oppression.
It’s the cry of Israel during the time of the Judges as they are pestered by the Philistines.
It’s the cry of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 as she sits at the tabernacle, brokenhearted because she is childless while her husband’s other wife is more fertile than the Amazon rain forest.
How long O Lord?
It’s a question of desperation, a cry of frustration, a plea to a God who has made a promise to be faithful. It’s asked by those who have reached their breaking point and can’t stand it any longer.
In the Scriptures, God repeatedly answers the question “How long O Lord?” by taking action at just the right moment. Usually this action is somehow related to the birth of a special baby who will grow up to do special things.
A child named Isaac is born to Abraham and Sarah. He’s living proof that God keeps his promises.
A child named Moses is born in Egypt. He’ll lead his people out of bondage.
A child named Samson is born in Israel. From his enemies he’ll take no sass, he’ll whip the Philistines with the jawbone of an . . .(nevermind).
A child named Samuel is born to Hannah. He’ll grow up to be a mighty prophet of God and a maker and breaker of kings.
One of the great tragedies of the holiday season is that we get so caught up in what has been dubbed by some as “McChristmas,”-a rushed, commercialized, mutation of the Christmas celebration-that we forget that Jesus was God’s answer to the question “How Long O Lord?”
For Centuries, Israel had been waiting for God to fully deliver them from their exile and to restore them to glory. How long would God allow their land to be occupied by pagan idol-worshipers whose king was named Caesar, instead of Messiah?
At precisely the right moment God took action. I love the way Paul puts it in Galatians 4:4-5:
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. (NLT)
God had been preparing his people for this moment for centuries, when the time was right, He entered history as Jesus of Nazerath, the Christ, and in doing so addressed all the evils that had inspired or would ever inspire the question “How long O Lord?”
As we look forward to the coming of Christ, let us look around and name the evil we see and let us pray, “How long O Lord?”
December 7, 2009 By 1 Comment
Do Not Worry
In Matthew 6: 31-34 Jesus says, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Jesus puts his credibility, and our faith, on the line with this teaching. For many of us, it’s easier to trust Jesus with our future resurrection than with our daily bread. Here, what Jesus says is so practical, so everyday, that he forces us to decide whether or not we really believe he knows what he’s talking about.
Is this really the way the world works? If so, then how does God go about dispensing food, drink, and clothes to those who have made his kingdom a number one priority?
When we read this teaching as individuals, it seems impossible. But if we read it as a community, a group of people gathering around Jesus, then maybe it’s not so unrealistic.
Could it be that the reason Jesus is able to makes such a bold promise is that he expects his followers to take care of each other in their time of need? Could one of the benefits of being a part of a community of faith be that we no longer have to worry about the things loners do?
In uncertain economic times like these, could members of a community of faith say to each other, “Don’t worry about losing your job. Don’t worry about going hungry. Don’t worry about keeping your kids in warm clothes this winter. We will take care of you in your time of need.
Maybe Jesus is right. If we’re seeking first the kingdom of God, which includes living in community with others, then what do we have to worry about?
November 29, 2009 By 2 Comments
What Kind of Church Do I Want to be a Part of?
In my last post, I listed two principles that are at work behind the scenes as we launch Fulcrum. I’m not claiming these are high-minded or theologically sound. I’m just saying they’re a part of the conversation. Unless a person has a strong gift for cross-cultural missionary work, they will probably always be a part of the conversation.
I think it’s important that I help start a community of faith of which I want to be a part (See, I can write this out in a grammatically correct fashion). Why? Because in the last nine months I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that if I weren’t a professional minister, I would have a hard time being a part of most churches.
If I weren’t the guy who gets to stand up each week and talk for 30 minutes, I don’t know that I would “go to church” very often. I’ve never really liked church very much. If God hadn’t called me to preach and given me the gift of teaching, I’m not sure how involved in church life I’d be.
In so many ways, I’m a typical guy who would rather stay up late on Saturday night, sleep in on Sunday mornings, and then ease into my Sunday football watching chair and stay there all day long. It’s never been my ambition to be on a committee of any kind. Small groups are hard for me. It’s probably the social environment in which I’m least comfortable, unless I’m the leader of the group, then I’m ok because I feel in control of my environment. (I have issues. I know this. My wife knows this. Now you know this.)
So when I say I want to help start a church that I want to be a part of, I’m not saying that I want to start a church that only a preacher would want to be a part of. Rather, I want to start a church that I would want to be a part of even if I weren’t a preacher. What would such a church look like? Well, here are three things that are important to me:
1. I want to be challenged intellectually. I want to have my comfortable assumptions poked and prodded. I want to be surprised, even unsettled, by a new insight. I want to have a strong reaction to what I’m hearing so that I’m either inspired to run through a brick wall for the cause or go back and rethink what I thought I already knew. I want to hear hot-button issues addressed in a way that incites discussion and deeper learning. I want to see the God revealed in scripture from every imaginable angle. I want to have my worldview broadened. I want to be encouraged to put my doubts out on the table. I want to be a part of a church that lets me love God with my mind, all of it, not just the parts that already agree with what is being said. I never, ever want to leave a teaching session feeling ambivalent about what I just heard.
2. I want to experience a deep kind of community with a small group of people whom I believe will have my back in all situations. I’m not looking for a bunch of shallow friendships. I want to draw close to a handful of people and share my life with them. I want to know them and I want them to know me. I want us to work on some big projects together that are just as likely to fail as succeed. I want us to take big risks together. I want to know that if something happens to me, I don’t have to worry about who will be there for my family. I want to have a few guys on speed dial that I can call at 3 AM when my life has just fallen apart. I want to have a few friends in my life who will tell me the truth, no matter what. I want to be a part of a church that facilitates the formation of these kind of relationships.
3. I want to see tangible personal transformation in myself and others that both serves as a witness to outsiders and encourages insiders to keep following Jesus down the path. I like to set goals and achieve them. When I’m not working toward a tangible goal, I tend to flounder. That’s why I love crossfit so much. Everything is tangible. How fast did you go? How much did you lift? How much did you improve over your last effort? I want to be a part of a church that measures personal transformation in such a way that we can point to the difference Jesus is making in our lives. I want to be encouraged to set some spiritual goals. I want to be in an environment that encourages me to reach my goals, and questions me when I don’t. I want to be able to point to any number of Christ-followers around me and say to an outsider, “See, this stuff works!”
This is the kind of church I want to be a part of. What about you, would you want to be a part of this kind of church?
November 5, 2009 By 4 Comments
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