on the church…

NOTE: This is part 6 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern."   

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning
1. God
2. Humanity
3. Jesus Christ
4. Salvation and
5. The People of God -- The Church
that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the Church and using it as an opportunity to conclude this extended and unintended reflection.

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. (John 17.14-16)

 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.14-16)

Jesus, "Yes!" Church, "No!" This seems to be the sentiment among many in our culture today. The interest in "spiritual things" and Jesus has not waned. But the relevancy of the Church is in question, as is the general perception that the Church is, by and large, a decaying building filled with white-haired people who are hostile, self-isolating, and afraid of the world around them. In some quarters, the Church has endeavored to combat this stereotype by attempting to make herself more relevant by watering down our theological confessions, secularizing the Gospels, and redefining moral truth. The results have been just as disastrous-- after all, who wants to be part of a Church whose only offering is a neutered God, smug hallelujahs, and a people whose faith appears to be evidenced in the same "will to power" and material desires that are present in the western world today? For the "loud Church" -- as one of my friends calls us-- these are expressions of the Church that are larger, have "concert worship," and make their political aspirations known. I wonder if our culture looks at this expression of the Church almost like a cult -- "religious" people who do "religious" things while secretly plotting to takeover!

Now, more than ever, we must recover what might be described as the Church’s "double identity." On the one hand, we are a "holy' people," called out of the world to belong to God. On the other hand, we are a "worldly" people, in the sense of being sent back into the world to be an apostolic witness and to serve. What makes us distinct and counter-cultural should be our "holy worldliness." Unfortunately, we have not remembered, embraced, and intentionally preserved our double identity in our long and inconsistent history.

Sometimes, motivated by our quest for holiness, we have withdrawn from the world while seeking to insulate ourselves from it. At other times, motivated by our desire to be immersive, we assimilate to our culture’s standards, longings, and values. We become impressionable rather than influential. Yet without the preservation of both parts of her identity, the Church cannot engage in mission. Mission arises out of the biblical doctrine of the church in society. An unbalanced ecclesiology makes the mission unbalanced, too.

Jesus taught these truths Himself in his famous "in the world but not of it" (John 17.14-16) expression and in his vivid metaphor of “the light of the world." (Matthew 5.16) He implied that the two communities, the church and the world, are as radically different from one another as light from darkness. He also implied that, if they were to do any good, the light must shine into the darkness.

Thus, the double identity and responsibility of the church are plain.

John Stott observed:

In a similar way, the apostle Peter describes the members of God's new people on the one hand as "aliens and strangers in the world" and on the other as needing to be conscientious citizens in it (1 Pet. 2.11-17). We cannot be totally "world-affirming" (as if nothing in it were evil), nor totally "world-denying" (as if nothing in it were good), but a bit of both, and particularly world challenging -- recognizing its potentiality as God's world and seeking to conform its life increasingly to His lordship.

Our redemption sets us apart to God — we belong to Him. But redemption from our slavery to sin has never meant extraction from the world we live in. Our redemption should send shock waves throughout society that multiply redemption’s invitation, Christ’s redemptive presence, and His wholeness to all. Our effectiveness as expressions of Christ’s Church will depend on our intentionality to press into our “holy worldliness.”

Over the last 9 weeks (with a few breaks), I have endeavored to celebrate 5 essential theological confessions that should provide frameworks for how we should think about politics and social concern and have asked you to hold them (guard them?) in their biblical fullness — our confessions of God, humanity, Christ, salvation, and now, the Church. Coincidentally, these five confessions constitute the biblical basis for mission-- for evangelistic and social responsibility, taken together, obligate us, the Church, to intentionally incarnate Christ in the life of the world. This obligation is personal and communal.

First, let's consider the individual Christian. A disciple of Jesus is called to be both a witness and a servant — these are the inseparable twins of a Christian missional life incumbent upon us. While I want to confirm that callings and gifting may differentiate our emphasis towards one direction or the other, our gifting and calling does not exonerate us from our responsibility to identify with both. Whatever our specialist calling may be, emergencies will override it. The priest and the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan could not excuse their shameful neglect of the man who had been assaulted and robbed by saying that their calling was to work in the Temple. If we are called to a predominantly social ministry, we still have an obligation to witness. If we are called to a predominantly evangelistic ministry, we still cannot say we have no social responsibilities.

Second, let's consider the local church. The versatility of a church's missional impact will be maximized when full use is made of all her members with their diverse gifts and callings. A church can mobilize mission as her leadership releases people to coalesce in groups for reflection, prayer, and missional action. A life-giving fellowship can consider the gifts that God has uniquely given them to be Christ's incarnate presence amidst the pain points in their community. One of the most remarkable expressions of this is the ministry of Angelus Temple (Los Angeles) during the Great Depression under founding pastor Aimee Semple McPherson. If people know her, most think of her as a Pentecostal faith healer and evangelist -- and an eccentric one at that. However, I wish every church would be so "eccentric." Under her leadership and through this community, countless lives were transformed spiritually and healed physically. But consider this: in an age marked by inequity, racism, and bias against immigrants, this church welcomed black and white, German and Irish, Mexican and Armenian, the wealthy and the destitute through her doors. Between August 1926 and May 1937, they established a church commissary that cared for 99 520 families, fed over 355,000 people, and gave away more than 257,000 articles of clothing. By 1942, they had fed and clothed over 1.2 million people.[1] This is one example of a Church incarnating the presence of Jesus for missional impact as they brought the whole Gospel to a whole city so that it might experience the transformative wholeness that only Christ can bring.

Let me conclude with what might appear to be a non-sequitur reference to the Roman Catholic Mass. The word "mass" comes from the final sentence of the old Latin liturgical rite, which closes with this phrase: ite missa est. Today, it is usually translated as, "Go forth, the Mass has ended." It literally means, "Go, it has been sent." It begins with a command and concludes with the reason. We know what "Go!" means. The "it" refers to the self-giving love of God that communicants, according to Catholic theology, have literally just received and digested through the bread and the cup. Therefore, I think a more blunt and honest translation would be: "You have been loved; now get out!" Think of it: every week, the Mass concludes with a missional imperative: "You, who God has loved, GET OUT! Go into the world that Christ came into because it is the world in which you now belong."

The late South African Bishop Desmond Tutu said: "I don’t preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now, is that political or social?” He said: “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread."

Dear ones, if Shakespeare was right, "that all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players," then this is the stage the Church must fully inhabit, the platform upon which we will live and love, witness and serve, suffer and, if necessary, die for Christ.

We are the Church...  may our "holy worldliness" multiply God's life-giving Kingdom presence in word and in deed in our world today.

---

[1] from "Angelus Temple," Dictionary of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement.

on taking sides…

NOTE: I have been doing a series on politics and social concern. This week, I will take a break to share some final reflections on the election, and then I will conclude the series next week.

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” And the captain of the Lord’s  host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5.13-15)

That was then… this is now…

Then Joshua was forty years younger…
Then Moses was in charge…
Then God seemed to work miracles daily…
Then there was so much momentum, but…

Then, common sense supplanted faith…
Then the people abandoned their future to fear…
Then the nation wandered for forty years…
Then Joshua witnessed the death
of his generation…

But that was then, and this is now…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now Jericho’s walls are no smaller…
Now Jericho’s streets are no less populated…
Now Jericho’s might has not diminished…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now he stands before a fortified city…
Now, he has no battle plans…
Now the risks of defeat are real…

Now Joshua is forty years older—and the underdog.
Now his troops are young and inexperienced…
Now, he does not hold a strategic position…
Now, he lacks the element of surprise…
Now, he needs a miracle…

That was then… this is now…

Now Joshua is still forty years older…
Now, he is not the warrior he once was…
Now, Joshua is still a man of vision;
Now, there is still hope…
Now Joshua still sees...

Now it is the eve of a great battle…
Now behold! A man was standing opposite him…
Now the man’s sword was drawn…
Now Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now Joshua is a man of vision and
Now Joshua sees the truth…

Before Jericho falls…
Joshua must bow…
Before Jericho is defeated…
Joshua must surrender…

Loved ones, the election is now behind us, but there is a nation, a state, and a local community before us. You stand at the threshold of a strategic opportunity full of our Father’s opportunities for you. Yet vision without surrender is thinly disguised vanity. Our greatest challenge post-election will not be who won or lost, our budgets, any changes we need to make, new ministries, or our disappointments. Our greatest challenge will be to surrender fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and recommit to His redemptive mission. History teaches us that it is always a disaster for mission whenever the Church aligns herself with power and/or political sides. Surely, we can learn lessons from the Church's past and not repeat the same errors?

We cannot look at this country through the binary lens of an electoral map displaying red states and blue states. I think Jesus sees all states as "need states." Every state and the communities therein need the redemptive presence of Jesus preached and expressed through His Church. Is there a different Gospel for a blue state than for a red state?! Does one color state not need a Church catalyzed by The Great Commission and charged to express the Greatest Commandments?! Which color state can stand before the Lord and boast of their righteousness?! Does one state need Jesus less than another?! If we woke up the morning after the election thinking our missional labors just got easier, think again! Republicans will gloat over the power regained, while Democrats will now stew and strategize a path forward to regain the power they lost. Neither comes in the Spirit of the Lord that we have been anointed with nor the Gospel message entrusted to us.

... he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5.19-20)

On the eve of the Jericho invasion, both common sense and human deduction might correctly assume whose side God was on. Joshua learned that night that God does not take sides; He calls us to His…

This is the post-election lesson I need to remember and embrace afresh...

meanderings from 39,000 feet on the election…

NOTE: I have been doing a series on politics and social concern. This week, I will take a break to share some "meanderings" from 39,000 feet concerning the upcoming election...

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding. (Daniel 2.20-21)

Our world looks vastly different when I am on an 11-hour flight looking down from 39,000 feet. The high altitude squashes the dimensions of the landscape below, and it also conceals the beautiful panorama of faces normally visible to me. The view from up here reveals no borders, poverty, war, hostility, or divisions. But it also hides joy, creativity, ingenuity, and generosity.

The view from 39,000 feet is simple and peaceful. It invites me to behold this created planet, mindful that everything and everyone that has life and breath shares this space amidst diverse climates, environments, and geography. From street level, however, the view is more complex. It assaults my eyes daily with a barrage of emotions: courage and fear, solidarity and division, compassion and hostility, grace and judgment, charity and greed, the abuse of power, and the selflessness of sacrifice, laughter, and lament.

From 39,000 feet, there is no "side to take" or "line in the sand." But from street level, my imagination is challenged by daily attempts to hijack it with images, sounds, and speech that demand my allegiance. Whose side will I be on? Whose cause will I support? Whose anger will I embrace? Human capacities that should unite us are distorted behind the rhetoric of bias. These deep divisions erode our ethics, weaponize our differences, excuse violence, disintegrate common truth, vilify the poor and non-white people groups, and define victory using the language of dominion and vanquishment. Such is life in 21st-century America.

Occasionally, a glimpse from 39,000 feet can be helpful. It allows me to reset, be inspired, realign, and reassess. But it can never be a "place" to retreat permanently. The truth is, I was made for the "street."

All of this leads me to Election Day in the USA next Tuesday. Before I get my "knickers in a knot" over the outcome, I find myself reflecting on 2 questions:

1. Does anything change? No, nothing changes. Policies, personnel, and rhetoric may shift, but these changes won’t alter the nation’s soul. The truth is that this nation, represented by all her political parties, is increasingly showing a growing disregard for the biblical and historical God who has revealed Himself through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. His ways, words, and warnings remain unacknowledged and/or unheeded. Regardless of who occupies the White House, the nation will not become more welcoming to the Lordship of Jesus. Revival, not elections, is what transforms a nation.

I think that in the United States,, it is easy for us to equate wealth and success with God's favor. But let us be cautioned and humbled by the history of the Assyrian empire. God used Assyria, the wealthiest and most powerful nation at the time, not because He condoned its barbaric empire-building but simply because He chose them as His "tool" to judge Israel and other nations. Assyria's national delusion in their own self-sufficiency positioned them for the judgment of God that would eventually visit them. Consider these verses from Isaiah 10.5-19:

“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
I use it as a club to express my anger.
6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
to cut down nation after nation...

Is. 10:12    After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,

  “By my own powerful arm I have done this.
With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
and carried off their treasures.
I have knocked down their kings like a bull...
Is. 10:15    But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
Can a wooden cane walk by itself?...
18 The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory
like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
it will waste away like sick people in a plague.
19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
so few that a child could count them!

We must remember this: It is not always God's favor that promotes a nation, but it is always God's will -- and the intent of His will is inscrutable to us. No wonder Paul cries out with praise-filled frustration: "Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" (Romans 11.33)

We are not called to be co-workers with God in the knowledge and execution of His sovereign will. However, we are given the astonishing opportunity to be co-workers with Christ in His redemptive purposes. (see Romans 16.3; 1Corinthians 3.9; 1Thessalonians 3.2)

2. How will I choose to live? The answer to this question is the same as question 1: “Nothing changes." While the answer to question 1 is observational, the answer to question 2 is existential! Because nothing changes, I will still resolve to live on mission:

• I will still choose to surrender to God through daily worship and prayer. I will renew my "Yes" each day as if it is for the first time.

• I will still pray for this nation I have been assigned to. I will pray for our leaders to be humbled before the Lord and be gifted with wisdom so that we might live in peace.

• I will still invite the Holy Spirit to convict me through His written and living Word-- to challenge my worldview with His Kingdom vision, which is true, real, here now, and coming.

• I will still ask the Lord to form my soul with His heart, His righteousness, and His love.

• I will still seek a daily filling with the Holy Spirit so that I might express His grace, truth, and love.

• I will still devote my energy to building up an apostolic Church-- to be a community on mission locally and globally.

• I will still celebrate fellowship and establish myself within a local community in Christ.

• I will still endeavor to be a man of grace and truth, a good friend, practice hospitality, and live generously.

• I will still identify myself with justice as God defines it and seek to resource the poor.

• I will still preach and teach the Scriptures -- the Good News of His Kingdom and the Gospel.

• I will still deliberately seek opportunities to share the Gospel of the Kingdom through word and deed.

• And at the end of each day, I will still choose to surrender that passing day to God, expressing my gratitude and commitment before I sleep, as if it were my first time saying “Yes” to His will.

On Tuesday, the nation will "decide" on its next president. Next Wednesday morning, just like this morning, I will wake up and choose to live a life defined by the Great Commandments and the Great Commission...

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind... Love your neighbor as yourself... Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 22.36-40; 28.18-20)

Nothing changes...

on salvation

NOTE: This is part 6 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern."   

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning
1. God
2. Humanity
3. Jesus Christ
4. Salvation and
5. The People of God -- The Church
that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the full salvation God offers...

Isaiah 5.7: How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Mark 10.24-27: Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals, it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

A few weeks back, Carol and I took the Alcatraz tour and became reacquainted with some of the infamous residents who lived on "The Rock." Mickey Cohen was a notorious Jewish crime boss who ran with the likes of Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Seigel. While he was a "resident" there, it is said that he had spiritual conversations with the prison chaplain and later, upon his release, with Billy Graham. He appeared to indicate that he made a commitment to Jesus but never left his career in organized crime. When confronted about his chosen "career path," Cohen allegedly responded: "Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians; why not a Christian gangster?" Why not, indeed?!

We live in a time when "pop Christianity" trivializes the nature of salvation as nothing more than a moral reality check, the forgiveness of our sins, a personal fast pass to heaven, a get-out-of-hell free card, or a private spiritual experience without social or moral consequences. It is urgent that we "save" salvation from these caricatures and re(dis)cover the doctrine in its biblical fullness. The challenge is that "pop Christianity" separates and then discards truths that Scripture holds together. The result is an understanding of salvation that is individualistic, shallow, and lacking the capacity to transform lives and communities.

Let me suggest 4 “truths” that we must continue to hold together with salvation if we are to embrace a fuller understanding of salvation.

We must not separate salvation from conversion. Christians have historically confessed that salvation is a radical, comprehensive, and transformative conversion of a person in three movements. It has a "beginning" when we surrender to Christ's call, a "middle" as we continue being saved amidst daily rhythms of conviction and surrender, and an "end" when our salvation is brought to perfection when Christ returns. C. S. Lewis observed:

"For mere improvement is no redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.. If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man's outward actions – if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before – then I think we must suspect that his 'conversion' was largely imaginary... Fine feelings, new insights, and greater interest in 'religion' mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness, 'feeling better' is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. (Mere Christianity, pp. 215, 207)

Second, we must not separate salvation from the Kingdom of God. In the Bible, these two are virtually synonymous, alternative representations that describe the same work of God. According to Isaiah 52.7, those who preach the good news of peace are also those who proclaim salvation and say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" ' That is, where God reigns, God saves. Salvation is the blessing of his rule. Again, when Jesus said to his disciples, 'How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God,' it seems natural for them to respond with the question, 'who then can be saved?' (Mark 10.24-26). They evidently equated entering the Kingdom with being saved.

Once this identification has been made, salvation takes on a broader aspect. For the Kingdom of God is God's dynamic rule, breaking into human history through Jesus, confronting, combating and overcoming evil, spreading the wholeness of personal and communal well-being, taking possession of his people in total blessing and total demand. The church is meant to be the Kingdom community, a model of what the human community looks like when it comes under the rule of God, and a challenging alternative to secular society. Entering God's Kingdom is entering the new age, long promised in the Old Testament, which is also the beginning of God's new creation. Now, we look forward to the consummation of the Kingdom when our bodies, our society and our universe will all be renewed, and sin, pain, futility, disease, and death will all be eradicated. Salvation is a big concept; we have no liberty to reduce it.

Thirdly, we must not separate salvation in Jesus the Savior from Jesus the Lord. It is a little short of incredible that some Christians erroneously teach the possibility of accepting Jesus the Saviour while postponing a surrender to him as Lord-- even though God has exalted Jesus to his right hand and made him Lord. From that position of supreme power and executive authority, He is able to bestow salvation and the gift of the Spirit precisely because He is the Lord who has the power to save.

The affirmations 'Jesus is Lord' and 'Jesus is Saviour' are almost interchangeable. His lordship extends far beyond the religious or spiritual part of our lives. It embraces the whole of our experience, public and private, home and work, church service and civic duty, missional and social responsibilities. As A.W. Tozer famously declared: "Either He is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all." Salvation is as comprehensive as it is holistic. We must be careful not to fragment it -- as if it could be -- by giving the false impression that there are, for pragmatic reasons, people, places, or "spaces" that are exempt from His Lordship. The salvation Jesus offers can be refused but it will not be reshaped by a world that wants to coopt Jesus to satisfy its will to power.

Finally, we must not separate salvation by faith from our obligation to love our neighbor. Salvation is something we receive by faith, and it is something the faithful bring. While salvation is a gift of grace alone to be received by faith alone, salvation does not remain alone. The same salvation that transforms lives personally is expressed through the saving expressions of love -- service, sacrifice, generosity, and compassion -- that manifest God's saving presence. If it is living and authentic, it will inevitably issue in good works; if it does not, then it is fraudulent and those claiming to be saved may, in fact, be deluded.

Jesus himself taught this in his 'sheep and goats' description of Judgment Day. Our attitude to him, he said, will be revealed in, and so judged by, our good works of love to the least of his brothers and sisters (Matthew 25.31-46). The apostles all lay the same emphasis on the necessity of good works of love. We all know that James taught it:

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. (James 2.14-18)

So does John:

14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? (1 John 3.14-17).

And so does Paul.

He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2.14)

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them. (Ephesians 2.10)

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love... For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love, become enslaved to one another. (Galatians 5.6, 13)

"If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13.2).

The salvation that redeems belongs together with the love that serves. Whenever one is absent, so is the other. Neither can exist in isolation. Those who authentically experience salvation—the saving hand of God in their lives—bring the truth and depth of that salvation through acts of love with no hope of reciprocity.

I will close with this... A salvation incarcerated in the closets of personal piety or in the binary self-assessment of "saved" or "unsaved" will be prone to separating salvation from the great truths accompanying it. This kind of salvation does not expect transformation, makes no demand, and promises no hope to the world. Such salvation is an exercise in cognitive dissonance-- embracing a truth that we consider important yet remains functionally irrelevant to daily living. This is why we must not separate salvation from conversion, the Kingdom of God, the Lordship of Christ, or the command to love. Dear ones, salvation is so much more than the forgiveness of sins and the promise of a forever life in God's presence-- although it is nothing less than that.

The gift and the anticipation for this comprehensive salvation are captured by C.S. Lewis, in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the Beavers of Narnia sing:

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

Thanks to Jesus, we are living in the springtime of His Kingdom ...

Next week, we will look at our confessional understanding of the Church.

on the Incarnate Son…

NOTE: This is part 5 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning

1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church

that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the Savior we worship -- Jesus Christ!

Every generation and culture endeavors to proclaim Jesus in relevant and compelling expressions. The challenge for all of us is to do so in a manner that is consistent with Scripture while conscientiously attempting to eschew our own cultural bias. Across time and cultures, Jesus has been presented as a mystic, monarch, a guerilla revolutionary, an ascetic, a rock star, a sufferer, a gun-toting patriot, a capitalist, a CEO, a socialist, a communist, a delusional utopian, a seer, a zen master, wise teacher, hippie, and, even, "Buddy Jesus." Some are mutually contradictory, and others have little or no connection with Jesus, as presented in the four Gospels.

Therefore, it remains the Church's responsibility, as best we can, to present a biblical, historical Christ free of cultural bias. Our confession and presentation of Jesus must be intentional, clear, and inviting. We must also be resolute not to allow the biblical, historical Jesus to be hijacked and coopted into cultural narratives that are not in alignment with the Scriptures that reveal Him in all of His paradoxical fullness:

His deity and His humanity,

His sufferings and His glory,

 His incarnate meekness and His cosmic majesty,

 His servanthood and His lordship,

 His merciful love and His just judgment,

His Kingdom that is both small and vast.

By His own introductory announcement: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1.14), the Christ of the Gospels sets Himself on a collision course with every kingdom, culture and generation. His self-introduction is a salvo across history and civilizations that He will not take sides. His Incarnation and His Kingdom confront both Rome and Israel, Pilate and Herod, Priest and Pharisee, Zealot and commoner with the new reality that invades the planet in the incarnation of the Son. His grace invites a "transformative surrender" while His truth shakes the foundations that inform power, prejudice, and pride. No one can escape His judgment, and no one is disqualified from receiving His mercy. His mission was never merely to improve life for the fallen Adam and Eve or to protect civilization by reinforcing moral righteousness. His mission was to call a broken and unrepairable creation -- all nations and peoples-- to repentance while offering Himself as a ransom for all sin. Jesus is God's radical and unforeseen response. What was true in the first century is true in the twenty-first as well.

While we confess the reality of the Incarnation, I wonder if we leave ourselves vulnerable to misaligning Jesus with causes, ideologies, policies, and ethics when we do not reflect on its theological significance and practical implications. What reflection might protect us from perpetuating fresh expressions of past sins like crusades, inquisitions, violent conquests in the name of Jesus and the king, human trafficking (slavery), aligning with the Nazis, racism, etc? Let me suggest three truths about the Incarnation that might frame our reflections, protect the integrity of our worship and mission, preserve our unity, and position our voices to be prophetic exiles in the kingdoms and cultures we inhabit.

First, the self-emptying of the Son. The Incarnation is not merely the confession that "in Christ, all the fullness of the deity dwells." (Colossians 2.9) Nor is it simply the confession that "the Word was made flesh and lived among us" (John 1.14). The Incarnation is not merely the question, "Was Jesus fully God and fully man?" The Incarnation should cause us to ask, "What kind of man did God fully become?" The circumstances around His birth give us ample pause for reflection. His birth was modest, His parents common, and His demeanor average. In other words, there was nothing about His birth, family, or appearance that commanded attention or suggested position. Consider afresh these words from Philippians 2.6-7:

> 6 Though he existed in the form of God

did not regard equality with God

 as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself

 by taking on the form of a slave,

by looking like other men,

 and by sharing in human nature.

The Son vacates His heavenly supremacy to be an incarnate newborn rather than simply appear a fully grown adult. This self-imposed incarnation elects to be helpless, small, and vulnerable. His self-emptying was intentional, not accidental or merely incidental. That neither the world He made nor the people He called recognized or received Him (John 1.10-11) makes me skeptical of powers, causes and agendas that make pretexts to do so now.

Second, the ministry of the Incarnate Son. The Gospels portray an Incarnate Son who entered into our pain, alienation, and temptations. He not only proclaimed the Good news of the Kingdom of God, but He demonstrated its arrival by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, forgiving the sinful, befriending those on society's fringe, and raising the dead. He testified concerning Himself that the Incarnate Son came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom price for the release of others. He allowed himself to become a victim of gross injustice in the courts, and as they crucified Him, he prayed for his enemies. Then, in the awful God-forsaken darkness, he bore our sins in his own innocent person. Amidst all this, He refuses to capitulate to Rome, compromise with the Priests or Pharisees, or collaborate with zealots or ascetics. No culture, king, or empire could envision the KIngdom He brought, so He comes preaching repentance, inviting followers, and announcing that God's unique Kingdom has come. All kingdoms and kings are welcome to bow and surrender before Him, but the Incarnate Son will never bow, surrender, or serve another save the Father Who sent Him.

Third, the commission of the Incarnate Son. Our reflection on the Incarnation should extend to our understanding of the commission the Incarnate Son has given "us." Should not His self-emptying and His ministry inform our understanding of our commission when He says: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20.21)? Surely, our mission is to be an extension of His mission -- a congruent expression and demonstration of His presence continuing to be incarnate in and through us. Like the Incarnate Son before us, it will find us "incarnate" as God embeds us in nations, cultures, and generations -- not to be coopted but to live distinctly and simultaneously as exiles in the world and citizens of His Kingdom. What was true for the Incarnate Son is true for us --

we will empty ourselves or our entitlements; 
 we will announce the coming of the King and His Kingdom; 
 we will invite any and all to repent, believe, and receive;
 we will serve, not be served, and, like the Incarnate Son,
for the joy set before us, we will carry the cross we are called to bear.

We are commissioned not simply to orthodox belief but to orthodox likeness. We are commissioned to go, live, and be in the likeness of the Incarnate Son. We are commissioned to a lifestyle whose only credible explanation is "the Incarnate Son and His Kingdom."

Dear Ones, I believe theological reflection about the significance and implications of the Incarnation will ultimately lead us to humble ourselves before the world-- regardless of the nation, culture, and generation we are part of. Our goal is not dominion—our way or the highway. Our goal is redemption. The Incarnate Son not only inspires our worship, He defines our humanity. He directs us toward the humanity He became incarnate with so that, like Him, we will express His compassionate and redemptive devotion. Therefore, we will resist every attempt to redefine the Incarnate Son in the image of any single nation, culture, generation or political expression. Nations and movements that might try to redefine the cross-carrying, enemy-loving, neighbor-redefining, violence-refusing, culture-defying, Jew-and-Gentile-embracing Incarnate Son into a culturally partisan extremist wrapped in expressions of power, division, and coercion. We must resist, reject, and respond to every such attempt through the apostolic preaching and prophetic testimony of His word and the demonstration of His mission through us. A cultural Jesus will never be a transformative Savior. The Incarnate Son can be on no "side" save His own.

Let me close again with the "Hymn to the Self-Emptying Christ" in Philippians 2.4-11. Here in these verses, Paul clearly indicates that the Incarnation should define our posture before the world and the basis for our relationships with others.

> Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6    who, though he existed in the form of God,

 did not regard equality with God

 as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself,

 taking the form of a slave,

 assuming human likeness.

 And being found in appearance as a human,

8 he humbled himself

 and became obedient to the point of death—

 even death on a cross.

9    Therefore, God exalted him even more highly

 and gave him the name

 that is above every other name,

10 so that at the name given to Jesus

 every knee should bend,

 in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

 that Jesus Christ is Lord,

 to the glory of God the Father.

Next week, we will look at our confessional understanding of salvation...

Until then... may the Incarnate Son quicken our souls to live wholly for Him and fully through HIm...

on being heralds…

NOTE: This week, our team hosted 600+ pastors of our annual Foursquare Leaders Conference. This is a gathering of leaders in our district (California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona) to celebrate and encourage our missional engagement and apostolic responsibility to herald God’s Kingdom. All that to say, I do not have the time to continue my (unintended) series on politics and social concern. So, I thought I would share the open letter I sent to our pastors attending this gathering.

******************************

2 Corinthians 5.17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Therefore if anyone… an old person or young person…a rich person or poor person… an extraordinary person or an average person…an athletic person or a clumsy person…a clever person or a dim-witted person… a blue-collar person or a white-collar person… a leader-person or a follower-person… a passive person or an aggressive person…a married person or a single person…

Is in Christ… forgiven…liberated…reconciled…restored… called…adopted…gifted…loved…filled…

The old… the primitive…the antiquated…the expired…the worn out…the used up…the obsolete…the decayed…the out-of-date… the run-dry…

Things… pride… lying… fear… lust… envy… greed…brokenness… unforgiveness… estrangement… prejudice… loneliness…

Passed away… surpassed… passed-over… exceeded… gone by… nullified…

Behold… Look! Take notice! Listen up! Pay attention! Check this out! You’ve got to see this! You’re not going to believe this BUT

New… the unexpected… the unfamiliar… the wonderful… the unforeseen surprise…joy… the implausible, but true

Things… a new Savior… a new covenant… a new Kingdom… a new Spirit… a new promise… a new grace… a new life… a new name… a new nature… a new courage… a new song… a new strength… a new hope… a new love… a new joy… a new future…

Have come… has arrived… has landed… has succeeded… has triumphed… is here to stay…

Western District, we are heralds of the Good News… We are harbingers of the Kingdom of God — co-workers with Christ in His redemptive purposes! Dear ones! Our mission is clear: we must multiply God’s Kingdom presence as we preach in word and deed a Foursquare Gospel. We will not give up, step back, or burn out. We will remain focused, resolute, curious, collaborative, adaptive, and perceptive. We will not play the victim, nor will we lead with a besieged mentality. We will extend a truth more beautiful, a love more compelling, a promise more certain, and a life more abundant. We will bring a light that will shine in the darkness, a healing that will address all brokenness, a comfort that will embrace all grief and a joy that will not be repressed. We will not be divided in our loyalties, distracted in our priorities, or deluded in our allegiances. We will lift up, not put down; we will prosper, not oppress; we will choose sacrifice over entitlement.

We belong to Jesus Christ! Over the next few days, we will worship our Lord, celebrate His Kingdom, and reflect through conversations on how we might multiply His Kingdom presence. When we leave here, I pray that the Holy Spirit might disrupt us with a deep hunger that cannot be satiated until all have heard and countless more have surrendered.

******************************

What I prayed for our district’s gathering, I pray for you wherever this letter shall find you…

Mark

concerning humanity…

NOTE: This is part 4 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning 


1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church


that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of humanity...

Genesis 1:26-26:   Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created humans in his image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

Genesis 9:6   Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed, for in His own image God made humans.

James 3.9: With it [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people, made in the likeness of God.

Psalm 8.1-9: O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
 3    When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
 5    Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
 9    O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

One might be tempted to say, "If God is socially concerned (see last week!), then we should be socially concerned. That's it! Case closed!" Quite the contrary, I would say it is "Case opened!" God's social concern creates the pathway for our own social concern by allowing us to explore why we feel the need to care for others and why we feel guilt, shame, guilt, and/or remorse when we witness injustice, poverty, and personal need we cannot address, be present to care for or alleviate the needs of others.

What is it about our humanity that beckons us to be "our brothers' keeper?" Let me suggest 6 biblical foundations that should compel our social concern.

First and most obvious, we were created in God's image. In one sense, the Bible "out Darwins" Darwin. In his "Origin of the Species," Darwin says that humanity descended from apes; hence, we were not entitled to ascribe lofty notions to our humanity. We are animals, nothing more and nothing less.

The Bible does him one better: it says we came from dust! While we truly are "animals" -- creatures God has created our origins are not even as lofty as an ape! Left to ourselves, our fate and the fate of all created life is the same -- we have a start, a lifespan, and a death. As Ecclesiastes (3.19-20) observes:

> For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

More to the point, and what Darwin cannot embrace, is that while we are creatures, animals to use Darwin's designation, we are the only animals possessing the unique dignity of being created in the image of God. This is the message of Psalm 8. Humanity is the animal God relates to graciously, in remembrance and care. Humanity alone is God's partner in the stewardship and care of Creation. It is our given dignity (the image of God) that allows us to be transcendent over the Creation we co-inhabit with the rest of the animal kingdom. Without the awareness and circumspection of this bestowed dignity, we will become (revert?) to a mere animal existence whose survival instincts will reduce us to live as predator and prey. In other words, without God and this critical worshipful awareness, humanity is bound to descend into mere animality, as George Orwell fabled in Animal Farm.

Second, our image is shared—He created both males and females. While there is great debate over what the "image of God" means, there is no debate regarding who has it. Fundamental to our humanity is a shared dignity. We were created in community (male and female) for shared lives. Care, like love, existed long before humanity's descent. Our origin story should elevate our vision, inspire our creativity, empower our curiosity, and magnify our steadfastness towards one another.

Sadly, that dignity continues corrupted... even something so basic as our speech illustrates the plight of humanity, for with our words "We bless the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people, made in the likeness of God." Now, we live in a world of "we and they," "safety and threat," "wealth and poverty," "generosity and greed," and the list can go on and on. While some may be flourishing, all are not. Humans were never intended to live in a Creation that has been breached by sin and brokenness. Our divisions are not endemic to our created nature; they are the epidemic that evidences the corruption of it. The tragic irony is the shared dignity bestowed upon all humanity, even in the wake of its corruption, still cannot avoid sharing a common sorrow and fate.

Third, despite our fallen state, the image of God, remains intact. While we may lose our esteem for the "image of God" in others, God has not. Whether it is the words we use or the acts of violence taken, these are "image-of-God bearers" we are mistreating. While no one has ever seen God, there is a sense that we behold His image every day in the women, men, youth, and children we meet. Our compassion, care, and concern should be awakened when we see "us" suffering, faltering, dying, grieving. Our lament should arise to God when we see "us" dividing, warring, harming, stealing. We should be alarmed when our hearts grow cold, indifferent, rationalizing, and isolating... This is the "image of God" under siege by a trilateral axis of power which Scripture calls the world, the flesh, and the devil... and their intent is to refute and erase the dignity stamped upon humanity at creation -- that we are all made in the image of God. You have never met a person who was not!

No one captures this better than C.S. Lewis in his essay, "The Weight of Glory":

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

Fourth, our very creation is an act of grace. God did not need to make us. The fact that He did and decided to make us in His image is a wonderment beyond words. However, once we lose sight of this, we devolve into a society where all human life is not valued because there is no image of God to regard. In that society, alarmed by diminishing resources, what do we do with the chronically infirm, the senile, the hardened criminal, the unborn, the unproductive, the starving? Would it not be to society's advantage to put them to sleep like a well-loved dog, lest they hinder progress and bleed our resources? The truth is the higher our regard for humanity, the more we will be inclined to care. What could be higher than regarding one another as made in God's image?

The image of God compels us to care for the simple reason of who humanity already is in light of God's pronouncement at creation. Dr. James Houston (I Believe in the Creator):

For these human but godlike creatures are not just souls (that we should be concerned exclusively for their eternal salvation), nor just bodies (that we should care only for their food, clothing, shelter and health, nor just social beings (that we should become entirely preoccupied with their community problems). They are all three. A human being might be defined from a biblical perspective as a body-soul-in-community. For that is how God has made us. So if we truly love our neighbors, and because of their worth, our desire will be to care well for them. We shall be concerned for their total welfare, the well-being of their soul, body and community.

Fifth, our history as a Christ-following people commends our social intervention. The early Christians went everywhere preaching the transforming power of the Gospel, fully believing that there is nothing so fully transformative as the Gospel. Across time and nations, they founded schools, hospitals, and shelters, abolished the slave trade, improved working conditions for mill and mine workers, cared for prisoners, started orphanages, and protected children from labor and sexual exploitation... shall we stop there?! No! Christ's followers have also cared for the blind, the deaf, the widowed, the sick, the dying, the starving and the addict.

I am not claiming that all Christians have always and in all places given their lives in this manner, but a sufficiently large number have to make our record noteworthy and undeniable. Why have Christ-followers done it? We have endeavored to care because we confess that all humanity, male and female, although fallen is made in the image of God.

Finally, because God became fully human -- a perfect image-bearer-- to save and care for humans who are not. Our confession of Christ and our distinct understanding of salvation have everything to do with social concern. and to that we will turn next week!

Let me close with a true story... In 1884, Dr Frederick Treves, a young surgeon and lecturer in anatomy at a London Hospital, met Joseph Merrick. When he first met him, living across the street in a rented shop, he thought him "the embodiment of loneliness." Treves later described him as: "the most disgusting specimen of humanity I had ever seen. He had an enormous misshapen head, with a huge bony mass projecting from his brow and another from his upper jaw, which gave him an elephantine appearance. Spongy, evil-smelling skin, like fungus or brown cauliflower, hung in bags from his back, chest, the back of his head and his right arm. His legs were deformed, his feet bulbous, and he had hip disease. His face was expressionless, and his speech spluttering, almost unintelligible. His left arm and hand, however, were as shapely and delicate as a young woman's." Merrick's suffering was unimaginable -- beaten, treated like an animal, pimped from carnival to carnival to be displayed as a freak for 2 pence a viewing. Traves recalled, "he was shunned like a leper, housed like a wild beast, and got his only view of the world from a peephole in a showman's cart. He received less kindness than a dog, and, terrified of staring eyes, he would creep into a dark corner to hide." It was in a dark corner in a shop across the street that Treves met a beaten and abandoned Merrick.

Treves would host and care for him for the next 3 ½ years in a little apartment in the back of the hospital, where he would die in his sleep a few days after he received Easter Day Communion.

Treves had imagined, when he first met Joseph Merrick, that he was also severely mentally disabled from birth. Actually, Merrick was quite the opposite. Treves discovered that he was "a man in his early twenties, highly intelligent, a voracious reader, with a passion for conversation, an acute sensibility and a romantic imagination. He was also a gentle, affectionate and lovable man."

The first woman to visit Merrick paid him the common courtesy of a smile, a greeting, and a handshake. Merrick, in turn, broke down into uncontrollable sobbing because it was the first time he had ever been regarded as human. From that day on, his transformation began with many notable people visiting him to discuss poetry, music, and literature. Treves records, "Gradually he changed from a hunted thing into a man." But the actual truth is this: Joseph Merrick had always been a man. [1]

... in the image of God, He created them; male and female He created them.

Remember, we have never met a mere mortal...

... to be continued!

[1] Summarized from The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves (Cassell, 1923). For a thoroughly researched account of the whole affair, see The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell and Peter Ford (Penguin, 1980).

our God is socially concerned…

NOTE: This is part 3 in a series -- which I did *not* intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning 


1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church


that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on the first item on that list, "our confessional understanding of God."

We tend to take our confession of God for granted. After all, we are Christians -- of course, we believe in God—this is a no-brainer! But actually, it is a "brainer." The God we worship and confess before the world is neither generic nor limited by His prior designation as the God of Israel. While we share Israel's confession (The Shema):

Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deuteronomy 6.4),

we must not let our confession of God be limited to it alone. Our confession of God is distinct because we confess one God:, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15.6; 2 Corinthians 1.3; Ephesians 1.3; 1 Peter 1.3). In a world of "little g" gods, the first Christians were making the radical appeal that this God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the "big G" God over all the nations, not simply Israel alone.

The God we worship and testify to is concerned for everyone regardless of nation, tribe or tongue and for the entirety of every human life—our brokenness, our joys, our concerns, and our yearnings. This God is passionately committed to our reconciliation with Himself and with one another, our restoration to the likeness He has always intended for us to enjoy, and the renewal of all Creation. If this is true, then I believe it has important consequences for how we think about engaging in social issues.

First, God is comprehensively God! He is the God over all Creation, not just the "spiritual." In Him, there is no division between secular and sacred, marketplace and sacred space, mind and heart, justice and love, spirit and flesh, creation care and soul care. Creation is a beautiful, inexpressible, and unimaginable connection of the organic and inorganic, the liquid and solid, and the imperceptibly minute and the immeasurably grand. Life teams with life. There is interdependency and yet perceptible independence. This is all the handiwork of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom everything was created and now holds together (Colossians 1.15-18). Everything and everyone comes under His care. In fact, I suggest that the more we may limit Him solely to the realm of the spiritual and "sacred space," the smaller He becomes. Someone once said, "If our God is too small, it is because we have made Him too religious." No wonder James spoke of a true religion that was consistent with God's care for everyone: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1.27) Can we truly think for a moment that the God described, for example, in Psalm 104, could remain indifferent to our neglect and poor stewardship over His creation?

Secondly, the God who creates is the God who initiates Covenant. As Christians, we uniquely believe that God has supremely expressed His covenant intent through Jesus on behalf of all humanity, not a single people or nation. Consider this passage from 2 Corinthians 5.16-21, where themes of creation and covenant present:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Covenant is a major theme in Scripture, and we cannot understand God or God's revelation without it. Yet we must be careful not to make the same mistake Israel did and reduce Him to "our God" in a way that dethrones Him as the Lord God over all creation. While the Church is a covenant people, God remains committed to rolling back the brokenness and corruption that sin has polluted creation with. Everything that reflects sin's defilement whether that be individual sin and shame, poverty or injustice, war or oppression, barren wombs or divorce, deforestation or extinction -- all come under His watchful gaze.

Consider this passage from Psalm 33:

The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind. 14 From where he sits enthroned, He watches all the inhabitants of the earth— 15 He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

Thirdly, our God is the God of justice and justification. Our God is equally concerned with atonement and with human equity.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind,
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. (Ps. 146.7-9)

God's concern for justice, while expected to be expressed among us, is expected to be expressed through us to all people. Here, the prophet Amos is particularly insightful. In the first 2 chapters of Amos, he rebukes Judah for rejecting God's law and turning to idols and Israel for crushing the poor and denying justice to the oppressed (2.4-8). He also prophesies God's judgment on the nations -- on Syria for their cold-blooded cruelty; on the Philistines for capturing whole communities and selling them into bondage; on Tyre for treaty violations; and on Ammon for crimes against humanity in the waging of their warfare (1.3-2.3). Consider God's rhetorical question posed to Assyria: "Who has not felt your endless cruelty? (Nahum 3.19).

Finally, the ministry of Jesus is the anointed expression of God’s redemptive and social concern. Consider the narrative Luke employs to be the lens through which we are to see Jesus' messianic ministry:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

4:18    “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20   And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Here, then, is the God we confess. His concern is comprehensive, and His love is all-pervasive. But these do not assuage His passion for justice, liberty, and generosity for the poor and the oppressed. We must not let our Gospel appear to limit God's interests, restrain His compassion, or impede His pursuit of justice. Our Gospel and our expression of it should be as broad-hearted as He has revealed His to be.

Let me close this week with these words from John Gladwin

"It is because this is God's world, and he cared for it to the point of incarnation and crucifixion, that we are inevitably committed to work for God's justice in the face of oppression, for God's truth in the face of lies and deceits, for service in the face of the abuse of power, for love in the face of selfishness, for cooperation in the face of destructive antagonism, and for reconciliation in the face of division and hostility. (John Gladwin, God's People in God's World (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity Press, 1979), p. 125.)

(Next week: our confessional understanding regarding humanity.)

on social concern…

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1.14)

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper. (Jeremiah 29.7)

Last week, I suggested a framework for thinking about politics… If you didn’t read that entry, I strongly recommend you do so before continuing. This week is a sequel to what I presented.

The challenge of “politics” really begs the larger question: is there a biblical basis for “social concern and cultural engagement?” Should Christians get involved in social issues?

Historically, the Church has responded in 5 different ways. These are outlined in H.R. Niebuhr’s classic book, Christ and Culture. Here is a quick summary:

1. Christ against Culture: Christians view culture with suspicion and separate from cultural engagement. Social issues are irreparable because all of culture is fatally corrupted by sin. Therefore, the Church withdraws, cares for her own, and awaits the return of our Savior.

2. Christ of Culture: This is the other extreme. The Church wholly and uncritically identifies with culture. An indiscriminating Church ratifies the aspirations of the culture, and, therefore, what culture defines as a problem, the Church defines as a problem. There is little or no conflict between culture and what the Church understands as true, good, and beautiful.

3. Christ above Culture: Culture is regarded as fundamentally good but needs tweaks and tune-ups that the Church can augment through the application of Christian revelation. The Church is the "friend" of culture—that is, we help culture achieve what she longs for but will remain unsuccessful in securing without our assistance.

4. Christ and Culture in Paradox: This shares similarities with #3 above. Here, the Church sees culture as originally good, but it has now been compromised by sin. The Church’s relationship is paradoxical because we simultaneously embrace parts of culture while rejecting certain aspects of it.

While Niebuhr’s book has been critiqued over the years and iterated upon, it still provides a good starting point for our discussion. It provides a starting point for how we will answer the question above: "Is there a biblical basis for social concern and cultural engagement?”

Ultimately, I think there are only 2 possible answers to this question. One is that we escape the world, and the other is that we fully inhabit the world. If we escape, then we reject, abandon, and turn our backs on the world around us. We will create a parallel society and hunker in our Christian bunker. There, we will await the return of Christ and His impending judgment, which will satisfy His wrath against all sin. Addressing social issues and cultural engagement, given the imminent return of Christ, is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

In contrast, to fully inhabit our world will mean that we intentionally turn our faces towards the world in compassion because we feel deep within our hearts the love of God, which cannot be quenched or contained. Social concern and cultural engagement, from this perspective, is our response to the Great Commission — to teach us to obey everything God has commanded us to do (Matthew 28.19-20). The Incarnation becomes the prominent expression of this perspective. Like Jesus, the Church is given to the world as Jesus was given to the world — to live, serve, and, if necessary, suffer and/or die. Instead of escaping from the world, the Church is called to open her eyes and see the harvest of souls and needs, to open her ears to hear His call to go out to the lost and lonely as they bring the Kingdom — in word and deed— to a world polluted by sin and corrupted by need.

I don’t think it will come as a surprise to you, dear reader, that I think we are to fully inhabit our world — to be God’s incarnate presence, extending the Kingdom and the King so that all the benefits of His gracious presence, incarnate in Jesus, may be expressed today.

Still, I realize that I have rambled and still have not answered my original question: “is there a biblical basis for social concern and cultural engagement?” I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning

1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church

that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

More to come...

on politics…

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2.1-4)

Choosing to blog on politics may be an exercise in self-sabotage… I was sharing with a friend that I was going to write on politics this week and he asked, with incredulity, “Why?! It’s like intentionally sticking your finger in a light socket!” Well, I am a little more optimistic. My “why” in writing is that I hope this might create a framework for understanding that might lead to discussion, not division, community, not polarization, encouragement, not incitement. I guess only time will tell… Here we go!

The word “politics” in today’s context of the Church, her mission, and our culture is incendiary. In most of our churches, any political discussion threatens to divide friendships and fellowships. We have become so binary in our perspectives that any differences breed contempt and mistrust in our leadership and relationships. Differing political perspectives cause us to feel indignant, making dialogue nearly impossible. Unity appears to be one conversation away from disunity—not to mention the anxiety that many pastors feel that they are one sermon away from causing a split or emptying the congregation they love and serve. 

The reality is that “politics” are unavoidable for a biblical pastor if for no other reason than the Gospel is the Good News heralding the arrival and future consummation of the Kingdom of God. If that is not political, what is?! I think there are 4 fundamental questions we need to answer to diffuse our dread, avoid division, and distract us from the Kingdom mission we are called to engage. In answering these 4 questions, I hope to provide you with a framework, not an agenda and to de-escalate our polarizing instincts…

1.     What do we mean by the words “politic” and “political?”
2.     What is the relationship between the “social” and the “political?”
3.     What cautions must we be aware of if we consider political engagement?
4.     Who is responsible for engaging politically?

What do we mean by the words “politic” and “political?” My understanding is rooted in the origin of the words themselves. These words originate from the Greek word polis, referring to the life of a city/community and polites, referring to the responsibilities of a citizen (politeuma). These words are used broadly to address and describe the entirety of our lives within the society we inhabit. In other words, they describe the art of flourishing together in a community that scales in experience from the “local” to the “national.” The challenge in our day is that these words are narrowly understood to describe the science of government— the parties, elections, platforms, policies, and laws that are codified and deployed through advocacy and legislation. More crassly, they describe “the will to power” and control. The goal is to be the “party on top.”

In light of this, it is fair to ask: was Jesus involved in politics? If we define “politic” and “political” narrowly as the “science of government,” the answer is clearly “no.” Jesus never aligned with the political “parties” of his day, adopted a political program, or participated in a political protest. He showed no interest in advancing or influencing the political agendas of Caesar, Pilate, Herod, or the Zealots. Quite the contrary – He renounced a political career when he knew the people wanted to make him king (John 6.15). However, in the broader sense of these words, His entire ministry was political. The Incarnation we preach testifies that God was in Christ, reconciling the world (people and nations) to Himself. The Kingdom of God he inaugurated and proclaimed was a fundamentally different and radically new rule that challenged the rulers and realms of his day – and every kingdom since. His message, promise, justice, love, and law challenged every religious and political order. Ultimately, He was crucified for sedition because there can only be one King and in Jesus’ day, “we have no king but Caesar” (John 19.15).

What is the relationship between the “social” and the “political?” Historically, the Church has always engaged in social service. We have always endeavored to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal/care for the sick, provide for the widow and orphan, etc. However, across the centuries, the Church also discovered that she could not socially care without engaging in social action. So, for example, we want to provide for the poor, but would it not ultimately be more beneficial to address the cause(s) of poverty if we could? I had a friend who, as an attorney, sued his city to put in a stop light at an intersection that had the highest number of vehicle and pedestrian accidents. While the city cared for the community by sending ambulances, why not take preventative “action” that might prevent the need in the first place? Or consider slavery; the Church could care for those harshly treated, but slavery had to be abolished for the harsh treatment to cease. In fact, in some cases, continuing to simply care without confronting the cause through social action may actually appear to condone the injustice itself. If we truly love our neighbors and want to serve them, our service may obligate us to engage in social action on their behalf – this would be “politics” in the narrower sense. (Hold this thought… I will return to it later.) Love, a deep, compassionate, and compelling love, is what inspires our activity. Anger, hostility, judgementalism, bias, xenophobia, wealth, slander, and violence are not options for those endeavoring to fulfill the second great commandment through social action (Matthew 22.39).

What cautions must we be aware of if we consider political engagement? I think there are mainly three. First, we must be cautious that any political emphasis will eclipse our central emphasis. We preach the Gospel of the Kingdom – the incarnation announces it; the crucifixion secures it; the resurrection testifies to it; and the Church extends it by multiplying God’s Kingdom presence through the apostolic preaching of the Cross. History is filled with the lamentable, tragic, and destructive political engagements of the Church who allowed her political engagement to eclipse her mission and corrupt her message. Our mission and message cannot be relegated to our worship services and small group gatherings. This mission and message is our 24/7 passion and preoccupation. It must not be compromised, confused, or contaminated.

Second, history teaches the consequences of what Scripture warns when Israel wanted a King so she could be like the other nations (1 Samuel 8.19-20). This usually means that every iteration of the “contemporary Church” historically and culturally frequently (normally?) aspires to preserve, protect, or propagate the moral and political idealism or status quo of the surrounding culture she finds meaning in or support from. So, the 19th-century Southern Church justified slavery, the German Church justified Naziism, the American Church justified many things in the name of “manifest destiny,” and the Russian Orthodox Church justifies Putin today.

Third, we must remain cautious because political engagement frequently reflects the delusion that we are co-workers with God in His sovereign capacity rather than solely co-workers with Christ in His redemptive activity. We, like the disciples, are quick to exercise (with certainty) God’s sovereign right to call down fire from heaven (Luke 9.54) rather than lean into our redemptive calling to which we have been called co-workers with Christ (1 Corinthians 3.9). This “sovereign certainty” on our part blinds us to our own fallibility and slowly disintegrates the humility that is meant to mark our lives. The Incarnation and the Cross obligate us to live perpendicular lives that redemptively collide with our world with a message and a means that will be deemed folly in the eyes of every culture (1 Corinthians 1.18). We must be wary of any (every?) political engagement that renders us crossless.

Finally,, Who is responsible for engaging politically? I think that avoiding this question contributes to the current confusion over Christian political involvement. First, within a participatory democracy, every follower of Jesus should be politically active in the broader sense, briefly discussed above. In the broader sense of being political, we are to endeavor to seek the redemptive flourishing of the city/community in which we live as exiles (2 Peter 2.11-25; Jeremiah 29.4-9)— live honorably, do good works, seek the peace and prosperity of the city you live in, and pray for it. Within this broader sense, we might also consider that, as a conscientious “exile,” we will vote, stay informed, write letters, etc. However, this broader sense of engagement is never at the expense of God’s Kingdom; it is the local expression of God’s Kingdom.

Furthermore, I think some individuals, in the narrower sense, are called by God to give their lives to political service. Those who share particular moral, social, and environmental concerns should be encouraged to form or join together with others (Christian or not) who will consider issues more deeply and consider strategic engagement. My one caution here is that these individuals must not expect or demand that everyone shares, mimics, or endorses their passion any more than every pastor should expect and pressure everyone in a congregation to be a pastor! No church or individual can be passionate about every cause and issue. Our beauty is in our diversity and the relational recognition that values this. I think what Paul says about gifts is true for those whose callings extend into political arenas – “if the whole body was an eye, where would the hearing be?!” (1 Corinthians 12.17) Our diversity would suggest that individuals will differ in their passions, policies, and proposed solutions. Being united in Christ will not spare us from disagreement, but it also should not threaten our unity or affection for one another.

However, whether our engagement is in the broader sense of the narrower understanding, I do not believe we can “toss our crosses” aside and adopt means that are antithetical to the cross we are called to carry and the manner in which we are commissioned to carry it. We are all under the same call, we all stand under the same cross, and we are all expected to express the same fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Dear ones, in Christ, we have a different King, and we are citizens of a different Kingdom. We must be on our guard to not let culture, corporations, or nations coopt our citizenship with their brand or hide us in their flag and think that they can own and/or represent us.

Ultimately, the question is not whether we should engage; it is how we should engage. If that engagement comes at the price of obscuring or hiding the love of Christ and His cross, comes at the cost of casting aside a cruciform life, dividing Christian communities, or requires me to “buy in” by engaging and/or tolerating methods and behaviors that express the works of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit-filled life, then that is an engagement I cannot commend or embrace.

I want to live a life that
confesses Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended and returning;
I want to embrace His call to follow, surrender, obey, and carry the cross he gives me;

I want to be a person who grows to count gain as loss;
considers my weaknesses as space for his strength to prevail;
      and truly believes that by losing my life, I will find the key to the new life He promises. 

Therefore, I pray I will find the courage to confess before the powers clearly, compellingly, and without compromise 

Jesus Christ
   Savior and Lord
      Son of God and Son of Man
         Lamb of God and Good Shepherd
            King of Kings and Prince of Peace
               Our Ransom and Redeemer
                  Healer and Deliverer
                     Suffering Servant and Mighty God. 

Dear ones, I pray that during this election cycle, we might worship our God, rediscover our unity, and celebrate our community in Christ. Then, let us scatter into the world with the redemptive love and presence of Jesus Christ… I believe in God… I believe in the Church…, and I believe we can and must live and love better…

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever
— Hebrews 13.8 —

even though, yet…

No distrust made Abraham waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4.20–21)

Faith means taking and embracing God’s word as literally true. How do we become Christians? We take Jesus’ offer and promise to be completely, wholly, and literally true — redundancy for emphasis! How are we filled with the Holy Spirit? We believe Jesus’ promise that God would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him to be completely, wholly, and literally true — again, redundancy for emphasis! How do we find victory over sin and temptation? How do we know there is life beyond death? How do we know that God’s justice will prevail? Faith takes and embraces God’s promises because we perceive that they are much more than “warm thoughts for anxious lives.” We trust them because we trust the faithfulness of God.

Faith is also a living thing that is strengthened in adversity. Richard Wurmbrand, whose faith endured fourteen years of isolation and torture in a communist prison after surviving a Holocaust death camp, said that faith could be expressed in two words: “though” and “yet.” Job was able to say, “Though He may slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13.15) Can we truly say about your life and our relationship with God: “Though this may happen, yet I will trust Him?” Though my prayers seem unanswered, yet I will trust Him? Though I face huge disappointments, I will trust Him? Though I grieve, yet will I trust in Him?

If I am honest with God, myself, and you, the truth is that the persistence "the “yet” requires of me may slowly chip away at my expectancy. However, in time, I discovered that my expectancy was endangered because I was focusing on the “what” I believed for rather than the “Who” I was placing my faith in. Sometimes my “yet” comes easily — even triumphantly— other times it is expressed through grief, disappointment, anger, and feelings of futility. Common to all, my focus remains on the “Who,” not the “what.”

Faith, like hope and love, is not a momentary shot of spiritual adrenalin. Faith equips and encourages us to answer the call of Christ regardless of circumstances. It encourages us to trust in the veracity of His promises throughout our lifetime. Faith is the distinct attribute that allows His followers to remain focused on God’s future while living with integrity, compassion, assurance, and vision in the present. Abraham and Sarah’s “though” and “yet” were quite staggering when we consider that God promised them a son when Abraham was seventy–six years old and Sarah was sixty–six. They had to wait twenty–four years for God’s promise to come true!

Is there an “even-though……. yet-will-I-hope-in-Him” situation in your life that you need to (re)present to the Lord? There is no better time than now to do so….

on life…

Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear… strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12.22,31)

What is life? People have given some very depressing answers to this question over the years. Shakespeare wrote, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Longfellow said that life was “but an empty dream,” Thomas Browne that it was “but the shadow of death,” and O’Henry that it was “made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles— sniffles predominating.” According to Samuel Butler, “Life is one long process of getting tired,” and Ernest Hemmingway, who was both rich and famous, wrote, “I live in a vacuum that is as lonely as a radio when the batteries are dead.”

Contrast these views with what Jesus and one of His followers said about life. Take a moment to prayerfully reflect on these Jesus quotes concerning “life.”

• And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17.3)

• “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10.10)

• “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” (John 11.25)

In the Greek New Testament, there are three words for “life".”

• Psychē: This is the word we get “psyche” from. It is our inner life… our “soul life,” as many want to say. This latter understanding is fair as long as we do not think this understanding teaches the soul's immortality. Psychē still remains bound by the limitations of the next word for “life” found in the New Testament.

• Bios: This is the word we get “biology” from. It refers to life with all its wonders and limitations posed by death.

• Zoē: This is the “life” Jesus speaks of and offers.

All creatures and species have bios. Brainwaves, heartbeats, senses. Bios has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Zoē, the life Jesus speaks of, is not part of the created biosphere. This life Jesus speaks of is not part of the created world; it is rooted in the coming one — the Kingdom of God. “Striving for His Kingdom” suggests that our lives can now experience the hints, foretastes, and glimpses of the world it was created in and created for. This is the life Jesus announces, extends to us, and fills us with. This is the life that the Holy Spirit testifies to with our spirit. This is the life that frees us from the tyranny of sin for the liberation of the Spirit. This is the life that enjoys fullness, joy, friendship, and community that geography, circumstance, and time cannot rob. This is the life that fully secures an identity rooted in love, acceptance, and forgiveness. This is the life that liberates us to be fully alive so we can be vulnerable, sacrificial, and courageous. This is the life Jesus secured by his cross and lavished us with by His resurrection. Even now, death must bow down to zoē, the world will vainly try to substitute it, and the devil will try to steal it. Their efforts will prove futile as we increasingly turn and press into this abundant life Jesus offers us and through us.

Your age doesn’t matter, and your successes or failures are irrelevant. For us to live in God’s Kingdom and bring it to our time and place, we must daily surrender our lives (bios) to this life (zoē). It is never too late to turn our bios lives over to the Lord anew… to give Him areas that defeat us so that we may experience and be inspired by his zoe life today.  

How beautiful are the lives that embrace His gift of zoē!

on prejudice…

“The LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7, NRSV).

Green hair can convict a man of many things… About 27 years ago, when my oldest daughter entered her first year in middle school, I found myself driving the morning student carpool. That’s how I met Danny – he was my first stop. Danny was a normal 6th-grade boy in every way for his time, except this— he had perfectly groomed, luminescent green hair. As we approached the house, my daughter shrieked, “O my gosh, look at his hair!” I did not want to appear riled (or “uncool”), so I nonchalantly and sanctimoniously responded, “Let’s remember that God judges everyone by who they are on the inside, not by appearance or accomplishment.” “But Dad, green hair?!” she quickly implored. Again, I tried to maintain my composure, “Well, I’ll admit green hair is a little harder for us to see through than brown, red, blonde, or black, but let’s give him a break.” She simply sighed, “Green hair…”

After I dropped the kids off, I found myself considering whether I wanted my daughter to have a friendship with a boy who chose to color his hair green. I quickly realized that this was not the issue. The real issue was whether I wanted to have a relationship with a boy who had green hair. At that point, I sensed the Holy Spirit challenging me, “Mark, how can you expect me to love people through you when you are prejudiced about something as trivial as green hair?”

Jesus used green hair to teach me that prejudice subtly masquerades itself within me. Sometimes, it manifests itself as indifference (“I don’t care what color hair he has.”); at other times, it pridefully appears as tolerance (“If he wants to have green hair, that is his decision.”); and it may even appeal to Scripture for even-tempered wisdom! However, common to all is irrational suspicion, unfounded predetermination, and an unwillingness to relate with and care for a person or people. Can there be any sentiment further from the heart of God?

The apostle Paul writes:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view… God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses [or green hair] against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:16, 18-20)

The sin of prejudice is incompatible with God’s call and ministry of reconciliation. Paul understood this and overcame his culturally condoned racism for Gentiles. When God loves, He does not care about skin color, ethnicity, gender, lifestyle choices, fashion, age, political perspectives, social status, vocation, academic degrees, worldview— or green hair! Therefore, I resolved on that day, neither will I… and I have been trying hard ever since!

a watershed issue…

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword… See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her--but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them… Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"  (Isaiah 1:18-23; 6.8)

The judge of Municipal Court, Number One, in the city of San Diego scrutinized the faces of the twenty-four perspective jurors assembled in his courtroom. While the judge asked questions to determine who to impanel for this case, I took the opportunity to record our responses. (The “lay-sociologist” within me could not pass up this opportune moment to be a participant-observer of this random sample selected by a computer!) Let me review the demographics of our group:

• 13 women and 11 men comprised this jury pool

• Our ages ranged from the middle 20’s to 68 (one person’s boast!)

• Every corner of the county was represented

• The ethnic composition of the group was 1 Philippine, 2 African Americans, and the rest Caucasian

• 20 of the 24 had at least an undergraduate degree.

• 3 have never been married; 4 are single (marital status unknown); 8 are unmarried parents; 2 are widowed; and 7 are currently married.

• No juror is receiving welfare assistance of any kind. Four jurors recently retired. Current occupations include lawyer, epidemiologist, engineer, stockbroker, inventor, filmmaker, homemaker, office manager, mergers and acquisitions executive, INS agent, store manager, administrative assistant, workers' compensation claims investigator, teacher, and graphic designer.

Two questions were significant to me. The first, “Have you ever been the victim of a crime? If so, what was the crime?” and the second, “Do you have a family member or friend who has been convicted of a crime? If so, please explain the circumstances to this court…” The answers to these questions stunned me… Every member of the jury pool had been victimized once by crime, 75% had been victimized twice, and 60% three times. The crimes included assault, theft, rape, and murder. 75% had a relative or friend who had been convicted of a crime. These crimes included theft, drugs, racketeering, murder, and fraud. There in Municipal Court, Number One, in the City of San Diego (“America’s Finest City”), I heard a litany of brokenness, destruction, and sorrow as we told our stories. It was a funeral dirge sung for a society that is literally killing itself.

Scripture teaches us that street violence, estranged relationships, injustice, economic decay, and loss of civic leadership are the by-products of people who rebel against God. The sole remedy is repentance, not legislative change or an austere federal budget. Our problem is spiritual… The spiritual, contrary to popular perception, is not the realm of the irrelevant or the mystical. Reality, as we perceive it, is embedded in a spiritual foundation. It is axiomatic that any society is at risk when its foundation has corroded — or perhaps, was never really there to begin with.. King Solomon observed in his day, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint….” (Proverbs 29.18; see Romans 1.18-32)

I am convinced that a watershed issue facing followers of Jesus Christ today will be our response to the decay and despair around us. Christians are people who recognize that the person and power of Jesus Christ are the only viable hope for our city, nation, and world. “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?” (Romans 10:14) Are you ready to answer like Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!” If so, then there is no better day to start than today!

we must see differently…

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2Corinthians 5.16,17).

Following the close of a worship service, a college student raced up to me and said, “I want to become a Christian— can you tell me how?” After we finished praying, I was overtaken by the reality that this young man was created anew in my sight, and I couldn't see it. My eyes witnessed the birth of my children, but my vision could not penetrate into that realm where this dramatic birth was taking place. I remember hearing a man reflect upon his new birth, saying, “I’m in a new world— everything’s new: my eyes, my home, my wife, my job is new! It makes the Bible new and friends and all mankind and love and spiritual things and Sunday and the church and God Himself!”

 Since Jesus makes us new creations, we need to relate to Christians as they are in Christ, not as they are in the world. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” Some can only see Jesus as He was in the world— a carpenter’s son, or itinerant preacher— but when we are a new creation, we see Him as the Son of God. When we look at other followers of Jesus Christ, we should see them first and foremost as our brothers and sisters in Christ. So often, we relate to people as they are in the world: she’s a professor, he’s a student, and so on. But it’s who they are in Christ that matters.

We also need to relate to non-Christians not simply as they are but as who they could be in Christ. Consider the apostles… Jesus picked the oddest bunch of disciples you could ever imagine! They may have been skilled fishermen, extortionate tax collectors, or passionate zealots. But no one would have seen them as heralds of God’s coming Kingdom or the foundational leaders of Christ’s Church. Let’s be honest. We’d have gone out and hand-picked some well-connected, vigorous, attractive, spiritually minded master communicators.  

Nevertheless, Jesus perceived what this strange assortment of people could become in Him— and that’s how we need to see people. C. S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory) described it best when he observed: 

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long, we are, to some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities; it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked with a mere mortal… It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendors…”

“For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16.7)

We must see differently… Lord, give us eyes to see in others what you see…

unique, uncomfortable, and compelling…

When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 8.15,16)

Lately, I have been reflecting on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit— frequently described as the “shy member” of the Trinity. His purpose is to be “another Jesus” and to execute the purposes of God (Father and Son) in the Church and in the world (see John 14.16ff; 15.26f; 16.4-15). The story of the Samaritan Christians (see Acts 8.4-25) is worth reading and reflecting upon. I believe this passage is still a unique, uncomfortable and compelling scenario for us today.

It is unique because it depicts the spreading of the gospel, for the first time, from Jews to non-Jews. Only a duplication of the phenomena which the apostles experienced could authenticate that God was calling and accepting Samaritans! For a Jew of the first century this was unthinkable!

It is uncomfortable because it upsets our neatly ordered theologies which attempt to always locate the filling of the Holy Spirit with conversion. It would seem that the Samaritans were true believers (Acts 8.5, 8, 16), but they had not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit.

It is compelling, because I continually meet Christians who are aware of barrenness and ineffectiveness in their lives— in contrast to the New Testament pattern where the disciples, though few in number, turned their world upside down.

There are three important things to observe about this incident. First, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not the same as conversion. While we tend to either equate the two or make them concurrent experiences, in practice it often does not occur until later. We certainly understand new birth in Christ to be the work of the Holy Spirit but it does not exclude the necessity for subsequent fillings by the Spirit of God to empower and inspire us for the work of His ministry.

Second, when the Holy Spirit fills a Christian there is clear, unmistakable, evidence. The criteria of the Spirit’s filling are new vitality, freedom, giftedness, and fruitfulness— not whether a woman or man stands or falls or shakes or cries.

Third, this filling is for the empowering of the believer to manifest Kingdom realities that glorify God, herald the good news of God’s Kingdom, and demonstrate Jesus’ redemptive presence. When Jesus is not glorified, then spiritual experiences decay until they become pretentious and self-aggrandizing— they may garner much attention but in reality they bear little fruit. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit in this special way, we may have to drop our prejudices, presumptions, and our agendas.

When I was serving in a different denomination, a pastor once told me: “There are two things I did not want to do— raise his hands in worship and to shout, “Praise the Lord!” These were the very things he did when the Holy Spirit filled him. Be careful! Do not let control, pride nor vain presumptions, which errantly systematize the Holy Spirit’s “behavior,” to become stumbling-blocks which hinder God’s desire to fill and empower you with the Holy Spirit.

Finally, let me close by celebrating the pastoral impact of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit have an unshakable assurance of the Father’s love, forgiveness, and acceptance. D. Martin Lloyd Jones, in his book, Joy Unspeakable, (a collection of messages about the baptism of the Holy Spirit) writes:

“When Christians are baptized by the Holy Spirit, they have a sense of power and the presence of God that they have never known before —and this is the greatest possible form of assurance…

A man and his little child [are] walking down the road and they are walking hand in hand, and the child knows that he is the child of his father [this God and the Christian], and he knows that his father loves him, and he rejoices in that, and he is happy in it. There is no uncertainty about it all, but suddenly the father, moved by some impulse, takes hold of the child, picks him up, fondles him in his arms, kisses him, embraces him, and showers his love upon him, and then he puts him down again and they go  walking on their way.”

That’s it! The child knew before that his father loved him, and he knew that he was his child. But oh! the loving embrace, this extra outpouring of love, this unusual manifestation of it—that is the kind of thing. The Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God” (pp. 95-97)

How we need more leaders who will preach and testify to the baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit!

Until next week…

who can tell the wind where to blow?

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2.7)

Lately, I have been reflecting on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit— frequently described as the “shy member” of the Trinity. His purpose is to be “another Jesus” and to execute the purposes of God (Father and Son) in the Church and in the world (see John 14.16ff; 15.26f; 16.4-15).

The Spirit is distinct from the Church. Nowhere in the New Testament is He called the "Spirit of the Church." No church or individual can possess or own Him any more than she can own the air she breathes. He must own us. Someone has observed, “If you think of Him as an influence, you'll be anxious to have more of it, but if you think of Him as a person, you will desire that He may have more of you.”

In the first and second centuries a group of people called the Montanists experienced great blessings of the Holy Spirit, but they went wrong when they claimed to embody the Holy Spirit. They dismissed other Christians as carnal and shallow and refused to allow their teachings to be subject to the testing of Scripture. Consequently, the Church and the Montanists had nothing to do with each other except to indict each other with aspersions of heresy and demonic influence. As we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, let us learn a very practical lesson from history: we must beware not to write off those who do not have the same spiritual experience as we do nor to discredit the empowering of the Holy Spirit because of the attitudes, errors or excesses, we see in some individuals or churches. Scripture is clear: every congregation — every Christian— needs the life support system of the Holy Spirit to live abundantly and with complete joy (see John 10.10; 15.11; 16.21f). The true life we hunger for cannot be experienced without Him!

Since He is not tied to the Church, no single congregation, individual, group, or denomination can monopolize Him.

We cannot
tame Him,
coax Him,
coerce Him,
bargain with Him,
flatter Him,
order Him,
or manipulate Him.

All we can do is
ask Him,
yield to Him, and
surrender before Him.

He will not fit into our well-ordered systems or methodologies. How He works in one situation will not be merely duplicated in another. As Jesus said, “He is like the wind, and no one can tell the wind where to blow.” (John 3.8) — all we can do is hoist our sails!

May I ask you, dear reader, to take a moment right now to pray for a fresh empowering of God’s Holy Spirit in your life— that you might intimately know God’s love, power, peace, and courage at work within you. This next week, I will be praying for a fresh reception of the Holy Spirit throughout our Western District… would you join me?

authentic spirituality…

Matthew 11.18-19; 13.55     “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!…’  Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

God wants us to be whole people, not religious people. The sheer normality of authentic spirituality has recently struck me. Jesus, the only perfect man who ever lived on this earth, was so “normal” that most of His relations, friends, and neighbors could not possibly believe that He was the Messiah. He was not “religious enough” for that! He was simply the son of the local carpenter, a perceived glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners.

How easily we fall into the trap of thinking that the truly spiritual person has some special aura of holiness or mystique about her, which keeps her separate from the more ordinary, wholesome things of life! How urgently do we need to rediscover God as Creator and Redeemer? God is my Maker. When God created the human creature, He made us in His image, sealed it by breathing His Holy Spirit upon us, and intended us to be in a personal and devoted relationship with Him. Instead, we have maligned the image, quenched the Spirit, and forsaken the relationship. When God calls a person to follow Jesus, He makes us a new creation, fills us with the Holy Spirit, and reconciles our relationship with him. In short, His mission is to make us truly human— in the image of His Son.

It is part of the ancient and continuing Gnostic heresy that spirituality means denying or trying to escape from our humanity's bodily or natural aspects by concentrating wholly on the realm of the spirit. Gnostic influence may be perceived wherever “spiritual” is elevated above “material” or “physical;” “being” is seen as superior to its counterpart “doing;” “spirit” as the preferred alternative to “flesh,” and “mystical insight” above “knowledge/wisdom.”

Christian theology, like the Jewish theology that preceded it, is an embodied—an incarnational—theology. Authentic spirituality does not climb Jacob’s ladder toward heaven so that we can be more godlike—this is a sanctified revision of the “Garden variety sin”—eat the fruit; God knows you will be like Him.

Authentic spirituality is to follow Jesus and become wholistically human! One look at Jesus's life reveals the intense humanity of authentic spirituality. Jesus is a carpenter’s son; He eats and drinks with sinners; He laughs and weeps. He teaches, tells stories, observes the seasons, prays, worships, and experiences love, joy, strength, friendship, weakness, and sorrow. How refreshing to realize that God has created us and redeemed us to be authentically human.

Let’s endeavor to foster an authentic spirituality that is intentional and fully human.

the leader as teacher…

NOTE: I have returned from my trip. However, with the recent Fourth of July holiday, I have one more devotional from a distinguished leader in the Foursquare denomination to share with you. My “pen” will return on July 19… and you might (rightfully) prefer their reflections to mine!

This week’s devotional comes from the pen of Pastor Jeff Roper. Jeff is the Foursquare Global Area Director, resourcing global workers in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. If that didn’t keep him busy enough, he is working on his Ph.D. and recently completed his first book, Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely: Proverbs as Ancient Wisdom for Today's Leader.

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When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Moses pleaded, “My Lord, I’ve never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you’ve been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue” (Exod 4:10, CEB). I suppose forty years of tending sheep in an isolated desert doesn’t do much for building your vocabulary or cultivating eloquence. Moses entered his calling with a profound sense of unworthiness due to his inarticulate speech, yet when he reached the end of his leadership, we see a different man. Moses knows his time as leader is ending. He appointed Joshua as his successor. It would be Joshua, not Moses, who would lead the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land. Moses had achieved everything he was destined to achieve. There would be no more battles to fight or miracles to perform and no more prayers to offer.

Then we witness one of the great moments of personal transformation. It is what Moses did next that bears the mark of greatness: Moses, the liberator, miracle worker, and lawgiver, becomes “Moses, our teacher.” For the final month of his life, Moses stood before the people and delivered the series of addresses we know as the book of Deuteronomy. The Hebrew title is Devarim, literally “words.” He meticulously retraced the people’s past and foresaw their future. He taught the people to see themselves as those on whom God had set his love, a chosen people consecrated by the very hand of God. He taught them that their existence bore witness to a transcendent purpose, they testify to something beyond themselves. A glimpse into his prayer, encapsulated in Deuteronomy 32:1–2, reveals his yearning:

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!

Moses the tongue-tied is now Moses the teacher. This transformative event reshapes our understanding of leadership itself. Moses demonstrates that the highest form of leadership takes place when the leader becomes a teacher, when the leader realizes that true greatness is not in what they do, but rather in what they help others do. Moses knew that his greatest achievements would not last forever. The people he had rescued would one day suffer exile and persecution again. The next time, though, they would not have a Moses to do miracles. However, through his words, he planted a strength in their souls that would sustain and renew them like rain renews the tender grass.

When leaders become teachers, they wield the power to change lives, for “the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (Prov 13:14). Teachers are the architects of the future, and if you want to make lasting change, you too must do like Moses and become a teacher. The leader as teacher uses influence, not power, spiritual and intellectual authority, rather than coercive force, to empower others and shape the future. This is the ultimate power of wise leaders, and it is a power conveyed through words.

Is there any greater accolade than hearing someone say, “You taught me”? To hear one say, “I learned the ways of God from you,” or “Your life taught me how to live.” This is higher praise than any award or monument can bestow. Teaching may include preaching, lectures, and lessons, but it is far more than these. It includes mentoring, coaching, instructing, and guiding; these pursuits shape the heart and mind. For the leader who has walked the path of wisdom and embodied the righteous character of the wise, their entire life becomes a university. The sage becomes the classroom, the textbook, and the living example of wisdom encased in a human life. This is the highest form of teaching, for while we teach what we know, we reproduce what we are.

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 Adapted from Jeff’s new book, Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely: Proverbs as Ancient Wisdom for Today’s Leader(Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2024). Available wherever you buy your books.

i prayed; it didn’t work… did i not have enough faith?

NOTE: I am out of town 11 June - 7 July, so I thought I would use this opportunity to invite some of the leaders I have the opportunity to serve with to write a guest devotional. My “pen” will return on 12 July… and you might (rightfully) prefer their reflections to mine!

This week’s devotional comes from the pen of Pastor Karen Mauricio. Karen is a pastor at The Church On the Way in Van Nuys, CA. She currently serves, along with her husband, as Young Adults Pastors. She also works with young families and serves as the art director in the creative department. In addition (if all that were not enough), she sits on the Western District Advisory Council of The Foursquare Church, providing counsel as we endeavor to serve the churches of our district well.

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 I grew up thinking that if I had enough faith, I could tell a mountain to move, and it would move... like, literally move. From one location to another. I remember going on road trips with my parents when I was younger, and when we passed by mountains, I would start to declare in my tiny little mind, full of faith, that those mountains would get up and move. If you’re expecting me to share an earth-shattering testimony of a volcano in Guatemala packing up its bags and moving across the country,… you’d be wrong. That never happened. Hear my heart; I still believe that a metaphorical or literal mountain can be moved if God commands it to move. As I grew older, the problem remained the same: I prayed and declared my expectations. The more I prayed for specific things to happen, the more discouraged, disappointed and doubtful I became. My theology about who God was and what He could do was correct but incomplete. I had grabbed hold of the all-powerful characteristic of God, but I had yet to understand His sovereignty.

With this, my mind would drift to two conclusions: Either I didn’t have enough faith, or God didn’t hear me. Have you ever had these thoughts? Maybe you had a thought like that five minutes before reading this. If you’re anything like me and have wrestled through these things, this short devotional is for you.

Let me address the unbelief part for a second; there are many examples in the Bible where Jesus couldn’t do miracles because of people’s unbelief (Mathew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6), and there are others that, despite people’s unbelief, He did miracles. He multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed five thousand even though His disciples didn’t think they had enough (John 6:9-14). Despite unbelief, God gave a son to the Shunamite woman even after she said, “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that” (2 Kings 4:16-17) to the prophet who gave her a promise from God that she would be able to conceive.

Catch this—God did miraculous things, despite unbelief, in the lives of people who recognized who He was. They might have doubted what, how, or when, but they knew Him. On the other hand, He could not do anything for those who didn’t believe in Him.

God is not going to “not fulfill” a promise He has made to you because of your circumstantial/temporary unbelief. He loves you and HE WILL do what He said He would do (2 Timothy 2:13). With that in mind, the real problem is when we doubt who He is. The right place to put our faith is in God’s character and not in what we expect Him to do. In His presence, rather than His presents.

Now, let me address the part surrounding expectations –

Here is the problem with praying our expectations; expectations include our opinion on what, how or when. Expectations don’t leave much room for God’s sovereignty, so we have a hard time when our prayers are “unanswered.” We believe God is all-powerful, but we know how that should look. That way of thinking puts too much pressure on us, gives us an unrealistic sense of power, and often leads to disappointment. When the specific things we are asking for don’t happen the way we expect them to, it often leads us to question our faith or God’s love toward us.

Believing that anything is possible is correct; Jesus taught that in Mark 9:23. When we say “anything,” though, I believe it literally means anything—what we think should happen or anything else that our minds don’t even fathom.

A healthy heart posture is a place where God’s character is trusted in its entirety, where “all powerful” and “sovereign” have the same weight… a place where we pray with expectancy rather than expectations, knowing that God will move powerfully and that the outcome will be great because we invited His will into our lives.

Does this mean I have little faith in thinking this way? Absolutely not. I am more confident now than ever before that I love and serve a God who is all-powerful and sovereign. My trust in Him is beyond my expectations and desires. I trust Him more than I trust my own understanding of things. I pray with strong faith and trust in His character. I know that He will move when I cry out to Him, and I am certain that the outcome will be even better than my wildest imagination, whether I understand it or not. Our God is both all-powerful and sovereign.