The Nature of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things that confronts humanity. Nations fight wars over hurts that go back literally hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years. The conflict in the Balkans in the 90s is a good example of how, for hundreds of years, Bosnians and Croats have fought because at various times in their history they have each perpetrated inhumanities against one other. They have spent hundreds of years “getting back” at each other. When they aren’t fighting they are enduring their own little “cold war” of animosity. Until forgiveness is found, this sad history will simply continue to repeat itself into the future.

Individuals are no different. Read more

Jesus The Center

For a religion that takes its name from its founder it would seem that Jesus being the center of the Christian faith would be a redundant statement of the obvious. But is it?

I think there are two sources of competition for Jesus being the center in the modern American church. One of those sources of competition shouldn’t be competition at all because it actually points back to Jesus everywhere. The other source of competition is killing the church while we sit by and sing My Jesus I Love Thee. Read more

Think On These Things

The Bible has quite a bit to say about the power of our thoughts.  Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”  In Romans 12:2 the apostle Paul goes so far as to say that we are “transformed by the renewing of our minds.”

Needless to say, the things we think on are vital in our spiritual formation and maturity.  If we dwell on things that are objectionable, impure, hurtful, unjust, unlovely and the like it will rob our souls.  I’m not entirely sure why we do those things.  I once had a pastoral supervisor who liked to ask, “What do you get out of that sort of behavior?”  The answer was nearly always, “I don’t get anything out of it.”  But the reply always came back, “Then why do you do it?  You only do it if you think that you’ll get more benefit from it than from not doing it.”

But whatever it is we think we will get out of it, the Scriptures seem to be clear that we will only be losers in the end.  Those negative things we focus on end up being the very things that usually cause division, dissension and strife among us - things that the apostle Paul calls the works of the flesh.  If we are going to build up - ourselves, others, our churches - then we really should heed Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8-9.  They are so important I want to quote them in full:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Of Brides and Black Eyes

Some years ago an old high school friend was serving as Youth Minister at a church. Not being there I don’t know all of the details behind the story, but it is a church where I have friends and family, so I heard about it from their perspective. The Youth Minister was leaving the church. In the process he stood up in the service and began to verbally roast certain people from the floor, including the pastor. From all accounts it was pretty ugly.

I was appalled. I remember telling some of those people that when someone does that sort of thing it was like being at a wedding and punching the bride in the eye. After all, the church is the bride of Christ. Now, if that were a real wedding and someone went up front and punched the bride in the eye as she was waiting on the groom, he’d better get out of there quick, because when the groom arrives he’s going to give that boy a thumping like he’s never seen. What do you suppose Jesus’ response is when people blacken the eye of the church?

That happens in a variety of ways. It’s not just when disgruntled staff go out in a bad way. It’s not limited to what goes on in public meetings, either. Probably more often than not it happens in day-to-day life when we fight and squabble, say unkind things about one another and to one another, express ill will toward one another and sow seeds of division. It’s no longer just a Baptist thing to say that the most common way to plant a church in America is to split one that’s already there.

There’s often too little patience, too little kindness, too much envy and boasting, too much arrogance and rudeness, too much insisting on my own way, too much irritability and resentfulness, too much rejoicing in wrongdoing and too little rejoicing in the truth. We don’t bear all things, believe all thing, hope all things or endure all things. In other words, we lack love.

Jesus said that the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another. Not by our rightness. Not by our skill in defending our positions. Certainly not by our strife and discord. Do they know? Are our words seasoned with understanding? Do we seek more to be heard than we do to listen? Or are we like those Paul mentions in Galatians who bite and devour one another? In that same passage Paul admonishes us:

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

May we be people who walk in the Spirit, not the kind who give the bride of Christ a black eye.

Being With

I love theology and philosphy. I love to think and stretch my mind. It is one of the reasons I love to read so much. I once took a sort-of “spiritual gifts inventory” that gagued how we primarily relate to important things in our lives - specifically how we primarily find meaning in our faith. Some are primarily guided and energized by doing. Others are primarily energized by how they feel about God and their faith. Others, like me, find joy and fulfillment in thinking. It’s no wonder that one of the largest sections in my library is theology. While many pastors stock their shelves with books on leadership, method and/or devotion, those sections are small for me compared to theology and commentary.

It would be very easy for me to promote the idea that a significant part of our faith entails “right” theology. I believe theology is important and that there are some aspects of it that are vital, essential to the Christian faith.

But as I read the gospels I’m struck by how little those first disciples had right, doctrinally. Read more

Spiritual Lessons - Learning The Hard Way

Several months ago I was having a conversation with a man who has been in church and in church leadership most of his life. He’s been a prominent figure in his church. We were discussing one of the specific teachings of Jesus. It was one of those passages that I imagine he’s taught from at church at some time in the past. Toward the end of the conversation he said these words that took me by surprise: “Sometimes that just doesn’t work in real life.”

Now, it didn’t really surprise me that he said that. To be honest I think a lot of people in church think those very thoughts about some of the difficult teachings of Scripture on a regular basis. Love your enemy? Turn the other cheek? If your enemy is hungry give him something to eat, if he’s thirsty give him something to drink. They sound good in Sunday School, but not so much at home, at work, in Wal-Mart or anywhere else we might call “real life.” That’s really no surprise. What surprised me is that he admitted it publicly. Read more

God Still Speaks

There’s been this tension in the faith I’ve grown up with and I’m not sure how to resolve it, or even if it needs to be resolved. Sometimes I think we expect cut-and-dried answers from God only to find him responding like he did to Job asking, “Where were you…?” or to Paul saying, “My grace is sufficient.”

The tension is between what we call the “closed canon of the Scriptures,” and God’s guidance in the everyday activities of life.

This weekend I was flipping through the channels on TV and I stopped for a minute on a Perry Stone program that was on local cable. It appeared that he was at the old temple wall in Jerusalem being a tour guide and he made a statement, calling it a “prophetic word.” He was teaching from Jesus’ parable in Matthew 20 about the laborers in the vineyard. He went on to proof text some other passages from the New Testament giving what he believed was some sort of “deep” or “hidden” meaning of what the “third hour,” the “sixth hour,” the “ninth hour” and the “eleventh hour” meant. His conclusion is that the various “hours” mentioned represent various epochs or ages in history and that the eleventh hour is the hour we now live in. It is an hour in which all of the blessings of every other age will be brought together and poured out in the world. Strange view for a Dispensationalist who takes the Bible “literally.” Read more

Things You Need To Know About You

Today I want to point you to the blog of Ernest Goodman. Ernest is a missionary in Western Europe. I consistently learn oodles of stuff about myself, about how I approach my faith, about how I lead others in living out lives as followers of Jesus, and especially about things I need to quit doing and things I need to start doing in reaching out to others around me, by reading what he writes.

When you visit his blog, go with your defenses down. Go as a learner. And be ready to hear the heart of someone who can teach the church in America a lot about how to reach our own culture, as explained from the perspective of one who is reaching out to people in a not-so-different culture.

Who Sinned, This Man, Or His Parents?

In John 9 we find a story about a man who sat in the temple courts of Jerusalem day-by-day, likely begging for a living, because he was blind.  First Century Jewish culture didn’t have much of a place for people with infirmities.  Begging in a heavily trafficked place in hopes of finding some kind-hearted person of faith who might have mercy on you and spare some change was often the best they could hope for.

Society generally looked upon those people as sinners.  It was in their DNA one way or another.  They were what they were because of something either they had done or something their parents had done.  It was hard, if not impossible, for anyone to think of them otherwise.  That’s why those disciples only had two viable options in their question to Jesus - "Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"  They simply couldn’t imagine a third category.  We both know innately and through Old Testament Scriptures that our sin has a price, a consequence.

But the Old Testament Scriptures also taught that the sins of fathers are visited on their children to the third and fourth generation.  So which was it?

I was thinking about this passage this week as I was talking to a friend going through some difficulties.  Bad news from the doctor.  Not life-threatening, but pretty devastating nonetheless.  News that has ramifications for the rest of life and the disappointment that the kind of life hoped for will never be a possibility.

As a pastor I’ve dealt with these sort of situations before.  "Preacher, I’ve asked God over and over why this is happening to me?  What have I done?  Is there some unconfessed sin in my life?"

My answer this week was the same as it normally is: "It was nothing you’ve done.  Quit beating yourself up."

How can I be so sure?  Do I have some special window into the hearts of others?  Or am I more Catholic than Baptist and think that I have some sort of authority to pronounce a person sinless?

The Bible speaks of God as our heavenly Father.  As a parent I hope to take my own responsibilities as a father seriously.  On occasion I have to discipline my kids.  I try to measure the punishment according to the offense.  If anything I may occasionally be too easy rather than too hard.  Sometimes I want to be harder than I know is appropriate.  But there is one thing I always try to do.  This is true both for your children and for your pets.  Don’t wait until weeks, months or years after the offense to mete out the punishment.

I would never think to save up some punishment for years, even decades, so that I might come back and punish my kids for what was done decades earlier.  It just wouldn’t make sense.  To them or to me.  When I took our dog Nikki to obedience school and they talked to us about potty training they told us that if your pet has an accident never wait until the next day to correct the problem.  If you do they won’t be able to connect the dots.  They’ll wonder why they are being punished.  And they won’t learn what you are trying to teach them.

So I approach these questions, "Why is this happening to me," in a similar way.  I do believe that our actions have consequences and that sinful actions have damaging consequences.  But most of those consequences are very obvious.  I’ve never met a lifelong smoker who got cancer who also asked, "Why did I get lung cancer?"  They know why.  I’ve never known someone who’s child was killed while driving 100 mph wonder, "Why did God take my baby?"  They know that their child was driving 100.  The cause and effect, or in Biblical terms the sowing and reaping relationship, is obvious.

But when we are unable to connect the dots I don’t believe that the God the Bible describes to us is the sort of God who decides to put off our punishment just long enough for us to forget what it was that we did.  It’s a very poor view of God that sees him sitting in heaven thinking, "Ok….now that she’s forgotten all about this particular sin I can now punish her for it, and oh, the joy of watching her wonder what’s going on!"  No.  That is a sadist, not a Father.

So if a person cannot see their current suffering as a direct consequence of something they’ve done I am more than happy to help relieve them of their burden.  And in the case of John 9 Jesus’ answer was, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."  So my next step is to work with the person to try to discover what "works of God" can be displayed in their circumstances.  The ways really are almost endless.  But I have found that this opens up new possibilities of hope in the midst of tragedy.  Instead of getting lost in hopelessness and despair they begin to get a renewed sense of purpose.

What do you think?  Does all of that sound too trite?

Spiritual Discipline Tuesday - Worship

As I thought about what to say today about worship my thoughts drifted back to a newsletter article that Robert Webber wrote in July of 2003.  There is much to be said about worship.  This should probably be a series.  Too much worship today has become narcissistic.  But rather than try to reinvent the wheel I want to reproduce that newsletter article here because it says much of what is on my mind about worship.

Is Worship an Experience?

I have found that it
is common to speak of worship as an experience. If you tell someone you visited
a different church, most likely you will get the question, "Was it a good
experience?"

It is hard to know what people mean by this question. It is
also difficult to understand what people mean by their responses: "Oh, yeah, the
music was great!" "Loved the sermon." "Great skit!" "It was worshipful." "Yep,
had a good time."

So what does "experience" mean? In its broadest sense,
all of life is an experience. Life itself engages the whole person. We think
about things, feel, make choices, move about, relate to people and our
environment and engage all our senses; we smell, hear, taste and touch. And all
these experiences include emotions such as fear, trust, love, anger, fidelity,
and the like.

Worship is a specific experience within the broad
experience of life. But usually the worship experience is defined more
narrowly.

For some, a good worship experience is cheerleading for God; a
rally—"rah-rah"—for Jesus. For others, a good worship experience is more quiet
and contemplative.

Lindsey Johnson sent me an interesting e-mail telling
me her story of worship in both the approaches mentioned above. She writes: "I
knew how to raise my hands at the right time and close my eyes and tilt my head
heavenward. I knew the perfect time during a song to kneel down, when to bow,
and when to jump exuberantly … I thought that no matter how I was feeling I
needed to ‘give my all’ to Him in worship and that was how to do it."

Let
me offer an interpretation of her experience. It sounds like the worship that
arises from me (see July newsletter, 2003). This worship can become a "new
worship legalism": "I can do it better than you. My worship is more intense and,
therefore, more acceptable to God."

Next, she describes a worship
experience more like the one I advocate in Ancient-Future Talk. She writes: "God
taught me something new about worship—the whole time filling me with His
incredible, indescribable, non-contrived, and uncontainable worship for Him.
This worship nourished my heart and made me feel vibrant all over."

I
interpret her second experience as worship that comes from above. That
is, God is active in this worship. It is not only God who is worshiped, but it
is God who acts upon the worshiper.

Worship that arises from the
self is exhausting. The worshiper feels that he or she must produce
worship. Essentially this kind of worship is a "work-worship." I must do it.
I must act excited. I must close my eyes. Lift my hands. Tilt my head or bow my
knee as an offering of my worship.

Compare this worship with a worship
that actually derives from God who is at work in the assembly of gathered people
in Word, sign, and gesture:

One kind of worship demands of us; the other
fills us.
One worship is a legalistic effort; the other is a grace-filled
gift.
One worship will tire your spirit; the other will bring you to rest.

One worship will make you think, "I did it," and the other will make you
aware that God’s presence has filled your heart, energized your spirit, and
filled you with the sense that, in spite of all your life issues, all is
well.

The first worship seeks a relationship with God through the effort
of self. The second worship is union with God through prayer.

Let me also point you to the June 2003 newsletter where Webber specifically addressed the narcissistic nature of much that gets passed off as worship these days.

Be sure to check out Joe Kennedy’s blog for what others are saying about worship today.

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