an essential “apostolic”…

Acts 2.42: They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching…

Apostolic… Every Christian fellowship arrogates or aspires to be apostolic. But what does it mean to be apostolic? Simply defined, an apostolic church is one that continues to devote herself to the apostles’ teaching… The New Testament highlights four areas of concentration that together comprise the core of an “essential apostolic.”

First and foremost it was teaching about Jesus. This teaching was designed to answer the obvious questions that would have sprung to the minds of seekers and new believers then—and now. Who was this Jesus whom they had come to trust? What did He teach? Why did He die? How sure could you be about the resurrection? Where was He now? What about the future? This apostolic framework of understanding has been passed down to us through the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Second, it was a message about fulfillment. This is where Peter’s Pentecost address begins: “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel” (Acts 2.16). By “this,” he meant the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy embodied in the gift of tongues, the radiant joy and praise on the streets, and the awareness of God’s presence that had overtaken them. Healings, prophetic gifts, and fearless evangelism that recognized no human distinction or cultural taboo were to follow. This all sprung from the sense of fulfillment that marked the infant church. All the disparate strands of truth in Judaism and pagan philosophies had reached their culmination in the Man from Nazareth, whom God had made both Lord and Messiah (Acts 2.22, 36).

These first Christians confronted Jews and Gentiles alike with composure and confidence. They did not pander or capitulate to the pluralism and syncretism all around them because they had been set free by nothing less than the Truth incarnate. Their confidence surged from the recognition that they were living in times of fulfillment. The Old Testament is no longer merely words on a scroll. It is a living truth that they know and experience being fulfilled in Jesus and seared upon their consciousness by the Holy Spirit. Their understanding is clearly this: all truth, all promise, all hopes, and all love find their fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. This is what forms the basis from which they can face the many “isms” that they were daily confronted by.

Third, it was an expectation that concerned the new life in Christ and the ethical imperatives it involved. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, there is the sequence:

• Put off the old nature (Col. 3.9)

• Put on the old new (Col. 3.10)

• Be subject (Col 3.18)

• Watch and pray (Col 4.2)

• Stand (Col 4.12)

This may look like an arbitrary selection until you begin to notice a similar pattern elsewhere. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has much the same pattern:

• Put off (Eph. 4.22)

• Put on (Eph 4.24)

• Be subject (Eph. 5.22)

• Stand (Eph. 6.11)

• Watch and pray (Eph 6.18)

Peter’s first letter has a similar sequence:

• You are born again (1Pet. 1.2)

• Put off (1Pet. 2.1)

• Worship (1Pet 2.4-9)

• Be subject (1Peter 2.13- 5.9)

• Watch and pray (1 Pet 4.7)

• Resist (1Pet. 5.8-9)

Or take the letter written by James:

• Starts with new birth (James 1.18)

• Put off (James 1.21)

• Be subject (James 4.7)

• Resist the devil (James 4.7)

• Pray (James 5.16)

An essential “apostolic” called those first Christians (and us) to live the reality of a radically transforming new life in Jesus that was marked by an equally radical new lifestyle. This lifestyle fostered surrender and submission, victorious resistance to evil, and a recognition of the power and assurance that comes through prayer.

Finally, it was a commitment to raise up and send women and men to be heralds of Jesus and His Kingdom. Every community will engage with this differently. But an essential apostolic practice involves more than just giving money—that is called “generosity,” and we should always celebrate the posture of a generous heart. However, an essential “apostolic” involves “giving” people… sending our best to “bring the Kingdom of Jesus” into the midst of countries and communities who have not yet received Him.

Dear ones, our world needs

• An apostolic message—the absolute truth of Jesus: his life, death, resurrection, and ongoing rule today.

• Apostolic messengers—called ones who are convinced that what people truly long for can be fulfilled in Jesus.

• Apostolic mentors— loved ones who can model with compassion, openness, and devotion the realities of new life in Jesus.

• Apostolic senders - people who collaborate to raise up, resource, and release “goers” who will herald Jesus - His person, presence, power, and promise — and plant new life-giving communities.

I pray that this Resurrection season finds you with a resident passion to be authentically apostolic…

a vibrant faith=a growing faith… part 3

Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. (2 Corinthians 10.15)

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. (John 13.1-6)

RECAP PARTS 1 & 2: Guard your relationship with God and do not take it for granted. Care and nourish it or you may discover (already?!) that it will grow stale, stagnant, and second-hand. That is why there is no evidence—  Biblical or historical— of vibrant faith in Christ that is not committed to personal spiritual growth. How does faith grow? Faith comes through the Word of God… Faith comes through the Spirit of God… Faith comes through the praise of God… Faith comes through the people of God… Let’s conclude…

Finally, faith grows through the service of God (Matthew 20.25-28; John 13.12-17). Everyone who desires to grow in their faith must descend the stairways of power, prestige, and acquisition and take up quarters as a servant of God. The one who seeks to serve God will eschew every temptation in the world and in the church that encourages one to be self-centered. Neither the amphetamines of ambition or the barbiturates of self-pity offer the servant of God any allure. In the servant’s paradigm (see John 13.1-17)

• the Upper Room replaces the “board room” or any other human court of power

• the basin of water challenges every impure motive

• the towel repudiates authority that is aloof and avaricious

• and the foot-washing itself exemplifies the character and the content of the servant’s endeavors..

A servant of God understands that there has never been, nor will there ever be, authentic Christian growth that is not rooted in a lifestyle of service to God.  Why? For the simple fact that Jesus Himself did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2.6, 7). Deluded is the person who lives as if there is a detour around this path Christ has set. Jesus spells it out very clearly:

“Do you understand what I was doing?… since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master… Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them (John 13.12-17).

Do you want to be blessed by God? Do you want to experience the tangible signature of His pleasure in your life? Then live your life as a servant of Jesus Christ… Look for ways to serve where you work— is there anyone ill, depressed, discouraged, downtrodden, fearful, overwhelmed, harried, or betrayed? Look for God’s opportunities for random acts of kindness, a note of encouragement, or the assurance of prayer. Your faith will grow as you experience the frequent yet diverse ways that Jesus will use you as you consecrate your life afresh for His service each day.

So there you have it - a time-tested and time-attested recipe for growing your faith:

1. Faith grows through the Word of God…

2. Faith grows through the Spirit of God…

3. Faith grows through the praise of God…

4. Faith grows through the people of God…

5. Faith grows through the service of God…

Until next week…

easter IS the gospel…

Now, if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain… your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. (1Corinthians 15.12-17)

How are we to account for the beginnings of Christianity? What made it different from the Jewish religion from which it sprang? All the earliest Christians were, of course, Jews. What made them choose to depart from their fathers' religious orthodoxy and heritage—a faith marked by miraculous election, redemption, and provision? It must have been something tremendous in light of the simple fact that Jews, then as now, tenaciously stick to their heritage and identity even when faith appears optional.

There needs to be more than the moral teaching of Christianity to account for the birth of this new movement. Most of the teachings of Jesus, though arresting in form, were familiar to His Israelite audience. In Mark 12.29-31, his summary of the law is that to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself is the heart of Jewish orthodoxy itself. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the earliest Christians had no new and distinct system of morals, though perhaps they placed greater emphasis than other Jews on love and service. But it was certainly not the Sermon on the Mount that produced Christianity.

Nor was it that they met separately and became a sort of Jesus synagogue. The Jews were very tolerant of different groups meeting separately within Judaism. Indeed, we are told that for a considerable period, the apostles and first believers habitually went to the Temple and synagogues to worship with the other Jews who did not believe in Jesus.

No! There is only one thing that accounts for the start of Christianity, only one peculiarity they had, which made them utterly different from others. It was this: they were convinced that Jesus was alive. Cambridge Professor C. F. D. Moule, in his book, The Phenomenon of Christianity, puts it very clearly: “From the very first, the conviction that Jesus had been raised from death has been that by which their very existence has stood or fallen.” The first Christians did not merely assert that the tomb of Jesus was empty on the first Easter day— though they did assert that. They also made it clear, both by what they said and what they did, that Jesus was alive in their midst. Experience bore witness to history! This has been the essential core of the Christian faith ever since. Christians are convinced that Jesus is risen— a personal experience in alignment with the facts of history.

C. S. Lewis summed it all up very clearly in his book Miracles (pp. 143f): “The Resurrection and its consequences were the ‘gospel’ or good news which the Christians brought. What we call the “gospels,” the narratives of our Lord’s life and death, were composed later for the benefit of those who had already accepted the gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity; they were written for those already converted. The miracle of the Resurrection and the theology of that miracle comes first; the biography comes later as a comment on it. Nothing could be more unhistorical than to pick out selected sayings of Christ from the gospels and to regard those as the datum and the rest of the New Testament as a construction upon it. The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number of people who say they have seen the resurrection.”

Their experience testified not merely to that fact that they saw Him. Their experience proclaimed that He was for them and with them. He was the transformative presence that brought new life. The Resurrection was an experience before it was ever a doctrine, a personal testimony before it was ever a corporate confession. Their appeal and invitation were simply this: the new life that has overtaken ours you can experience too. Repent, believe, and receive was an invitation to an experience, not mere cognitive assent to a fact, while true, held no personal consequence or promise.

Do you know the ever-present, tangible, and personal presence of Jesus in your life right now? Yes? Then, take a moment to express your gratitude! No? Then, could you take a moment to ask Him to make His life-giving presence known to you? We do not have to pretend that life is all beauty, butterflies, or a box of chocolates. We are deeply aware of darkness, sin, poverty, pain, loss, and isolation. However, we live in the light of His relentless grace and steadfast presence. We can confidently and defiantly proclaim

We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our song!*

THE LORD HAS RISEN!

He has risen FOR us…
He has risen TO us…
He has risen to be WITH us…

In light of this, may this be our common Easter prayer

Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father**

THE LORD HAS RISEN

.… happy Easter!

______________________

*Pope John Paul II in a letter to Catholics living in Adelaide, Australia, November 30, 1986.

** The Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Easter, The Book of Common Prayer, The Church of England

a vibrant faith=a growing faith… part 2

Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. (2 Corinthians 10.15)

RECAP from last week: Guard your relationship with God, and do not take it for granted. Care and nourish it, or you may discover (already?!) that it will grow stale, stagnant, and second-hand. That is why there is no evidence— Biblical or historical— of vibrant faith in Christ that is not committed to personal spiritual growth. How does faith grow? Faith comes through the Word of God… Faith comes through the Spirit of God…

Now let’s continue…

Faith comes through the praise of God (Romans 4.20f). Abraham is the classic example of faith. Abraham and Sarah were promised a child in their old age when it was humanly impossible. Nevertheless, Abraham’s faith “did not leave him, and he did not doubt God’s promise; his faith filled him with power, and he gave praise to God. He was absolutely sure that God would be able to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4.21) Praise arises out of faith only to establish, expand, and enliven the very faith that conceived it!

Furthermore, faith’s victories are frequently released through praise. Consider the armies of Israel who used to go forth with their “worship team” in front of the military. They did not employ this tactic merely to illustrate the primacy of worship— they deployed their worship force to win (2Chronicles 20.20ff). Beloved, there can be no abiding assurance, no confidence, no strength, or no ultimate victory without the cultivation of a “praise life.”

Our praise of God is essential for the cultivation of faith for the simple reason that all of life is worship. History, life, and experience reveal that everyone needs a god.  All men and women have, somewhere in their heart, in the center of their being, a shrine in which stands a deity whom they worship. The very composition of human life, the mystery of our being, demands a center of worship as a necessity of existence. The question is whether our life and powers will be devoted to the worship of the true God or will they be dissipated as we chase after false gods.

C. S. Lewis observed long ago:

The world rings with praise— lovers praising their mistresses; readers their favorite poet; walkers praising the countryside; players praising their favorite game— praise of weather, wine, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, and sometimes even politicians or scholars. I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it.  Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that is magnificent? The psalmists, in telling everyone to praise God, are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about (Reflection on the Psalms, p. 80).

Faith comes through the people of God (1John 4.12). Every follower of Jesus Christ possesses a deep-rooted nostalgia for the early church. We long for their faith, vibrancy, power, authenticity, and evangelistic explosiveness. Yet mark this well: the first Christians constantly met together, talked together, shared together, studied together, prayed together, worked together, worshipped together, and witnessed together. Their life together was so strong and full of love that their faith grew by leaps and bounds. Multitudes came to Christ because they were attracted by the evidence of God in the midst of their gathering.

The apostle John writes, “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us” (1John 4.12). Some years back, I received a letter from someone who had visited our church. This person commented, “One of the most wonderful things was to look at the faces of the congregation— they were so relaxed, so absorbed, so open, and content. This created the most incredible, almost tangible, atmosphere for me… All that it gave me and showed me convinced me regarding the reality of Christ and His desire to be present in my life.” Your faith will grow as you gather with the people of God because He has promised to be tangibly present whenever Christians gather in His name to worship, pray, praise, eat, and/or study.

One more thing comes to mind but I will save that for next week…

a vibrant faith=a growing faith…

We hope that your faith will grow and that our work among you will be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.15)

Guard your relationship with God, and do not take it for granted. Care and nourish it, or you may discover (already?!) that it will grow stale, stagnant, and second-hand. That is why there is no evidence— Biblical or historical— of vibrant faith in Christ that is not committed to personal spiritual growth. This begs us to ask the question: how does faith grow?

First, faith comes through the Word of God (Romans 10.17). Show me a man or woman who does not consistently, prayerfully, and thoughtfully study the Bible and I will show you a person whose body is going through the motions but whose soul is standing still. This is “virtual Christianity” that may tickle our spiritual ear, but it will lack the power to transform our hearts and minds so that we think God’s thoughts, perceive God’s presence, and fulfill God’s purposes.

Martin Neimoller, a German pastor imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp because of his faith, wrote: “The Bible: what did this book mean to me during the long and weary years of solitary confinement… The Word of God was simply everything to me— comfort and strength, guidance and hope, master of my days and companion of my nights, the Bread that kept me from starvation, and the water of life that refreshed my soul. And even more: ‘solitary confinement’ ceased to be solitary.”

The Word of God is the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6.17)— we who want to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit must first give Him something to grasp and brandish. Not even God can wield a soft noodle!

Second, faith comes from the Spirit of God (John 14.16f). It is impossible to be genuine, alive, and growing in Christ without knowing the new birth and life that the Holy Spirit brings. All that we esteem and treasure about the Christian life is cultivated within us by the Holy Spirit as we depend on Him each day for our spiritual life and health. The Holy Spirit brings the tangible manifestation of God into our lives as He steadily transforms us into the likeness of Jesus—  full of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control” (Galatians 5.22ff).

There is nothing more frightening to me than a “spiritless” Christianity that has denuded itself of the power, grace, and love of God that He desires to confer upon us through His Holy Spirit. The “Spiritless Christian”— in truth, an oxymoron— exchanges a relationship for a religion, makes the Church an institution rather than a living Body and treats the Bible as a rulebook and doctrinal encyclopedia rather than the Book of Life. May God spare us from such orthodoxy!

It doesn’t take much for the devil to compromise a Christian. He needs to do little more than to sow apathy towards the Holy Spirit. Vance Havner observed:

“Have I ever bowed to the absolute sovereignty of the Holy Spirit? Do I lie to Him, grieve Him, quench Him? Do I regard my body as His temple? Have I ever been filled with the Holy Spirit? … The trouble with us today is that we say we are depending on the Holy Spirit, but we are actually so wired up with our own devices that if the fire does not fall from heaven, we can turn on a switch and produce false fire of our own. If there is no sound of a mighty rushing wind, our furnace is all set to blow hot air instead. God save us from a synthetic Pentecost”

It is the nature of the Christian to be a woman or man whose growth reflects both the light of God’s revelation and the water of His Holy Spirit. Fellow saint, a plant needs both to survive and grow—and so do we…

people of impact…

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ... (1 Timothy 6.11-14)

People can be divided into three groups:  those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened! Timothy, the subject of this Scripture passage, is clearly intended to be in the first group. In other words, God intends him to be a man of impact.

Today, there are three main reasons why our world needs followers of Jesus Christ who will be people of impact. First, our world is changing.  Assuming this devotional takes you 3 minutes to read, there will be 27,000 more people in the world than when you started!.  Who will lead them?  Will our leaders develop or destroy them? Who or what will shape their understanding of God, grace, truth, justice, morality, and destiny?

Second, many in leadership positions have abdicated their responsibility— either intentionally or functionally. In the United States, the majority no longer considers character an essential ingredient of good leadership, are cynical about leaders in general, and consider pastors irrelevant and untrustworthy.

Third, people fear change!  Change will occur whether there is effective leadership or not. Without positive leadership, change will bring deterioration and destruction rather than growth and improvement. A leadership crisis occurs because change will not wait for leadership. Society is unlike a car parked in a driveway waiting for a driver. It is like an automobile careening down the freeway at 100 mph without a driver—  it will surely crash. If the driver is reckless or drunken, the results will be tragic. If the driver is misguided, the destination that the hearts of humanity yearn for will never be reached.

Every person who follows Jesus Christ is called to be a person of impact. The Spirit of God forbids you to remain silent or passive while a leaderless and broken world plunder and cripple lives that we are called to influence and transform.

You have an “Impact Zone.” Your Impact Zone will include yourself, your friends and/or family, your neighborhood, and your co-workers. While their size and scope may vary from person to person, mark this: your temperament neither accredits nor disqualifies you. It is your responsiveness to God’s call and your readiness to do His will that certifies you to be a Person of Impact.

A Person of Impact will deliberately exert special influence within their Impact Zone in order to move women, men, youth, and/or children toward a destination established by God.  To accomplish this

¬ People of Impact will realize that vision is the foundation of their leadership. Vision is a revelation of the will of God for us. Spiritual vision doesn't simply fix what is wrong or broken— it redesigns.

¬ People of Impact set goals of beneficial permanence that fulfill God's wishes and address people's real needs.

¬ People of Impact recognize their responsibility to take initiative and not remain passive. People of Impact will take deliberate action in keeping with God’s call, grace, and truth.

¬ People of Impact understand their need to cultivate personal discipline and purity.

Neither the world nor the Church need a coterie of elitists who talk about love and compassion while isolating themselves from real people. People are not looking for a retinue of cliche‑spouting, self‑avowed “quick fix” magicians.  The world is looking for authentic people of impact— only women and men committed to Jesus and compassionately concerned for others will make a lasting difference. I believe these are the “laborers” Jesus envisioned when He urged us to pray to the “Lord of the harvest” to send laborers.

Can we agree to pray this prayer and step forward in hopes of being the answer as well?

a pattern of nature…

I tell you the truth, unless an ear of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds. (John 12.24)

Before there can be life, there must be death. We can see this principle at work in nature, in the life of Jesus, and in our own lives as well.

This is the pattern of nature. The world is full of visual aids in this sermon! Put a seed into a jewel case, keep it safe, and nothing will happen. Put a seed into the ground, let it rot, perish, and die, and it springs up and shoots out leaves or flowers.

We see this same principle in the passion of Jesus Christ. He came as a suffering Savior:
His crown was of thorns,
His throne was a cross, and
His coronation was a crucifixion.
The seed of His life, given over to death, bore fruit. His life gave and continues to give life to millions of people around the world. He died so that our lives might be filled with meaning, purpose, power, and joy now and for all eternity with God.

This principle is also the path to life for us. The rich fool (see Luke 12.16-21) was a fool because he lived for himself. His vocabulary consisted almost entirely of four words: me, I, my, and mine. He put the seed of his life into the coffin of his own selfishness, and there it remained safe from God’s interference— or so He thought. However, the rich man soon discovers that the only place entirely safe from God is hell. The one thing he held onto in life was the very thing he had to lose one day. We have to take the seed of our life, bury it, and let it die by surrendering ourselves to Jesus Christ so that He may do with it as He chooses. Then and only then will we spring up into the fullness of life and bring blessing to others.

Do you feel you have grasped and embraced this “life-from-death” principle? Do you really believe that the best way to live is to die to yourself? Are you ready to have your life “spent” by God for the purposes He values? Are you ready to die to lust, greed, the hunger for “more,” the accolades of others, vain ambition, the will to power, the need to be right, or the mediocrity of a compromised life? Are you ready to conduct your life and relationships without thought of what you will get in return? Are you ready to die to your notions of my time, my money, my will, and my life? Are you ready to say with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me?” (Galatians 2.20)

Four simple barometers indicate whether or not we have begun to grasp this principle: bible-study, prayer, service, and tithing. Together, they indicate a life that has died to itself that it may bear much fruit. Anybody can excel in one or two areas, but it is only the surrendered life that will feel the freedom to embrace all four and not hold back.

Lent is a wonderful season to begin dying because we know that there is a powerful life ahead for those who die in Christ. The Resurrection we will celebrate on March 31 is living proof of the reward that awaits the faithful person who is willing to die to herself. One can only imagine the profound impact a generation of Christian women and men could make if we embraced this simple principle.

speak up! we have to!

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel…" (Acts 9.13-15).

Ananias had a problem. He was summoned by God to share the message of the gospel with Saul of Tarsus— the man we know as Paul. But was there ever a more unlikely man to become a follower of Jesus Christ than Paul? An esteemed yet opinionated, legalistic, zealous man who was so sure of what he believed that he was willing to see people killed who departed from his understanding of faith in God? Ananias’ problem is our problem, too! We have many people in our circle of relationships that we have judged unlikely (impossible?) to ever respond positively to Jesus Christ. Yet those whom we consider unlikely, God may consider a “sure thing” because He knows the hearts of men.

Opportunities for talking about Jesus come in so far as we want them to. The crucial question is: “Do I really want to speak about Jesus to others?” I remember being on study leave once and not wanting to speak to anyone about anything, but I believe the Lord challenged me to the contrary! I said, “All right, Lord, I am willing to speak to anyone in this hotel about you if you guide me to someone.” And He did! The next morning, I was joined for breakfast by a man who, by all appearances, had it made. He had an exciting career and a beautiful family. He was physically fit, intelligent, and good-looking— in short, and by all appearances, a real “leader-type.”  Soon, the conversation came around to the usual question, “What do you do?” I explained I was a pastor— usually a conversation killer— but not this time… Contrary to all appearances, he was a broken soul searching for spiritual truth and very receptive to the gospel promises.

There are many people who are hungry for God, however self-confident or uninterested they may appear to be. I discovered this with the man at the hotel. He appeared to have everything, but he quickly admitted that he didn’t know which way he was going in life. Many times, I have needed this reminder— appearances are deceptive. All people need Jesus!

But here’s the challenge: how will they hear unless someone tells them?

The Gospel may be expressed through loving deeds but explained with words.

I think God desires us to have a vision for unlikely people that He wants to reach. Take a moment right now and prayerfully consider people in your network of relationships that you have written off as impossible. Some may be family members or even close friends. Some may be at work with you right now... Would you take a moment and ask God to give you His insight and compassion so that you may have a rekindled faith for the people that have come to mind? Finally, ask God to use you in any manner He sees fit to share the Life that is within you.

postponed…

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert. (Psalms 95:7,8).

Here is an apocryphal story worth telling because it contains an important truth…

It was the time of year when junior devils were tenured and certificated by the A.F.D.I.— the Academy for Demonic Influence. The devil himself was present for the day-long ceremonies. At one point during the festivities he reviewed three eager graduates who stood at attention before him. To the first he said, “When you get out into the world what are you going to say to people?”          

            “Oh,” the evil spirit confidently replied, “I shall tell them that there is no God.”

            “That’s no use,” reprimanded the devil. “Creation persuades too many humans that there is a God. Not many will believe you.”

            Then he said to the second demon, “And what are you going to tell people?

            “I will say that there is no judgment— SIR!” was his reply.

            “That’s not much use,” answered an exasperated devil. “Conscience tells many about judgment. Not many will believe you.”

            The devil then turned to the third spirit and skeptically addressed him, “Now! What about you?!”

            “I shall tell people that there is a God and a judgment to come,” answered the graduate, “but I shall add that there is no hurry.”

            “Excellent!” said the devil. “Many will believe that.”

I believe that the world, the flesh, and the devil conspire to persuade us that there is no urgency about turning to God and/or responding to His call. However, if the truth be told, time is running out fast. Procrastination is dangerous because it masquerades as “deferred obedience.” When we procrastinate, we dodge the call of God. We delude ourselves when we perceive the problem as “timing” rather than our resolve to respond promptly.  The right time to respond to God’s voice is always now— as soon as we hear it.

Consider this parable Jesus told, “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, `Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,' but he did not go.’ Which of the two did what his father wanted?” (Matthew 21.28-31)

God will never call us to what is needless, irrelevant, or trivial. His call is inseparable from His rule, and His rule is inseparable from His love. Neither servant nor lover will ignore the urgency of their King’s call or their Beloved’s invitation. Both recognize that delay will threaten the relationship.

Healthy relationships have a quality of urgency about them. It is not the urgency of self-centered demand. It is an urgency to respond. I get texts daily, but what delineates some from the rest is my sense of urgency to respond. They are not demanding the timing of my response — my heart is!

Dear ones, I hope God’s word to us — both written and living— will cause our hearts to leap with urgency otherwise, I fear we may be slumbering in self-deception, having created a Pharisee’s casuistry that allows us to postpone our attention, response, and obedience.

So let me ask you, are you putting off anything or anyone that God is speaking with you about now?

an open letter to marketplace believers…

“Give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God… (Deuteronomy 4.9, 10)

One of the most important words in Scripture is also one of the most skipped over. The word “remember” occurs in Hebrew and Greek over 250 times. “Remember” reveals

-- the immediacy and the intensity of God’s love for us;
-- the passionate exercise of His sovereign rule on our behalf;
-- the complete expression of His unconditional grace;
-- the attentiveness of His shepherding care and provision; and
-- the vindication of His justice over evil and sin.

“Remember” is also used to exhort and encourage God’s people

-- to recognize with reverence and awe His might, His rule, and His steadfast love;
-- to recall His saving work on our behalf;
-- to realize our obligation to obey His commands;
-- to reflect daily on the reality of God’s presence and our faithfulness to Him; and
-- to repent when our thoughts, words, and deeds tragically reflect that we have “forgotten” Him.

“Remember” clearly reveals God's desire to have a relationship with us that is personal, immediate, substantial, and faithful. This relationship is not theoretical, mystical, virtual, or mysterious. It is not a relationship for the “spiritually minded” among us who are especially prone to such encounters. Because God “remembers,” He contends for an authentic relationship with us so that the benefits of His presence may make a tangible impact on our daily lives. For our part, God expects us to live a life whose thoughts, words, and deeds indicate that we are joyfully and gratefully cognizant of this precious relationship we share. God expects our fidelity just as wives and husbands expect their beloved to live in a manner that actively honors and treasures the uniqueness of their marriage relationship. Herein lies a fundamental problem…

I regularly meet marketplace followers of Jesus who are
faithful in gathering for worship,
consistent in their private devotions and
generous in the giving of their time, talent, and treasure.

Yet they feel frustrated and disheartened by the compromises they perceive themselves to be making at work. Their painful confessions echo the words of Paul: “I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate” (Romans 7.15). Their discouragement is compounded when they recognize that God also intends their vocations to be the public and visible location of their witness and service to Him. The result is a series of spiritual defeats, ranging from the trivial to the significant, that smother their witness and chip away at

their identity as women and men of God
their awareness of God’s presence,
their recognition of God’s love and strength, and
their expectation that God desires to use them
to impact lives at work with the person and power of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps, you will find this observation helpful:

your vocations are not antithetical to your commitment to Jesus
so much as they are indifferent.

The reality for most of us is our Christian faith is acknowledged to the extent that it is not intrusive or intolerant. Very few of us labor in work environments that encourage, remind, and reward a steadfast commitment to Jesus that is expressed through our employment. Thus, you apply your strength, ingenuity, and creativity 50+ hours each week for decades towards something that you may erroneously perceive as fundamentally disconnected from what matters most to God. Amidst the maelstrom of daily urgencies, the absence of Christian fellowship, and the silence of biblical encouragement, it becomes easier to forget God at work rather than remember and press into Him.

Marketplace believers, you belong to Jesus Christ. Your vocation is the location for your Christian service and witness. The marketplace is where you follow, love, and serve. In the marketplace, you are called to exert a relational influence only you can exercise. You have a relational equity that no one else may have. If not you, who?!

In the marketplace, God wants you to:

-- expect God’s gracious visitation while at work;
-- see Kingdom purpose in the midst of your vocational responsibilities;
-- be confident in the Holy Spirit’s presence, fullness, and counsel regardless of circumstance;
-- utilize the rich resources of worship, prayer, and Scripture while at work; and
-- experience congruity in your relationship with Jesus as you move through your own spaces at work, neighborhood, and home.

I believe that God desires to manifest His redemptive presence in the marketplace through you. So let me urge you

            To live for Christ,
                     To be responsive to His presence and leadership in your midst,
                                 To be confident in the counsel of His Word, and
To be challenged by His clear clarion call,

“Come and follow Me into the marketplace and beyond.”

thinking about the year ahead…

"What do you think of the Messiah?  (Matthew 22.42)

This is the crucial question, as William Haslan discovered on October 19th, 1851, when he stepped up to the pulpit and started to preach. Suddenly, he realized for the first time who Jesus really was and “felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul.” A moment later, a man in the congregation leaped up and shouted, “The parson’s converted! The parson’s converted! Hallelujah!” The whole congregation and the pastor joined in an outburst of praise.

Today, people are hungry for Jesus, even when they are disillusioned about Christians. Yet secular media markets indicate that there continues to be an enormous interest in Jesus. When people turn their eyes on Jesus, they can be amazed, challenged, and/or enthralled.

The history of Western civilization reflects this hunger and fascination with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Dostoevsky wrote: “I believe that there is no one lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, and more perfect than Jesus. I tell myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but there could never be anyone else like Him.” Tennyson noted: “His character was more wonderful than the greatest miracle.” Napoleon stated: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have found great empires.  But upon what did these creations of our genius depend?  Force.  Jesus alone founded an Empire upon love, and to this day, millions follow Him… I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ was no mere man:  Between Him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible comparison.”

As you embark on a new year with its challenges, opportunities, decisions, and relationships, would you take a moment to honestly ask yourself, “What do I, INSERTYOURNAMEHERE, think of Jesus?” Be honest, who is He? How would you describe Him to others? Let us start the year honestly before Him. If we answer that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord God in the flesh— then let us make a commitment to give this year to Him so that our lives might honor Him. If we truly believe, then may it never be said of us: “for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.” (Romans 1.21) 

In the event that you are reading this and not sure what to make of Jesus, then let me urge you to use 2024 to come to terms with His identity, His claims, and His work. If you are reading this and you are confident in the person, power, and promise of Jesus, then let me challenge you to embrace an intentional mindset that will endeavor to use this year to be co-workers with Christ in his wondrous labor of redemption.

Be a peacemaker, not a polarizer;
Be a reconciler, not a divider;
Be redemptive, not condemning;
Be a healer, a person of prayer, a witness, and a community builder.
Let there be no confusion about Who we live for;
Let there be no misunderstanding about Who we belong to;
Let there be no confusion concerning to Whom our allegiance lies;
In this election year – Let us not be distracted, double-minded, or frightened.
Redemption comes from heaven, not Washington;
Souls are transformed by revelation, not legislation;
We are ambassadors for Christ;
We are heralds of His Kingdom;
We will not put our hope in a donkey or an elephant;
The Lion Who is the Lamb needs no assistance;
Looks for no allies;
His power is undiminished;
His grace remains relentless, and
His truth is everlasting.

As we begin 2024, let me invite you to echo the Apostle Paul with these words: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I am willing to suffer the loss of all things and regard them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death…” (see Philippians 3.8-11)

Dear ones, we live life in the shape of a cross…

Carnegie Simpson, of all people, observed: “Instinctively, we do not class him with others.  When we read His name in a list beginning with Confucious and ending with Goethe, we feel it is an offense... Jesus is not one of the world's great.  Talk about Alexander the Great, Charles, Napoleon, if you will.  Jesus is not Jesus the Great.  He is the only.  He is simply Jesus.  Nothing could add to that.” 

So I conclude with the opening question: What do you think of the Messiah? How you answer that question will determine the trajectory of your lives in 2024.

the subterranean method

you also joining in helping us through your prayers… For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  (2 Corinthians 1.11; 10.4)

I do not know a devoted Jesus follower who does not want their whole life to count for Christ. Each of us wants to be used by God to influence people and participate in the eternal legacy of Jesus Christ. We, who have been embraced and empowered by His love and grace, naturally want to express His love and grace to others. Let me suggest one method that is tried and true— it has changed individuals, transformed whole families, demolished walls of racism and ethnic strife, and it has even toppled civilizations. I shall call it the “subterranean method”— you know it more simply as prayer.

There is a fascinating verse in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians where he invites their prayerful support for his evangelistic work. In 2 Corinthians 1.11, the word translated as “helping together” is a compound word that contains the word, “underneath.” In context the beginning of the verse literally says: “You also helping underneath together in prayer.” Why would he choose to employ this word only here instead of the other words for help he draws upon more commonly? What could such a phrase mean to Paul? Could it be he was thinking of the fortresses that were such common structures in the ancient world? Evangelism involves storming strongholds in people’s lives, but frequently a frontal personal assault is often ineffective just like storming the fortresses of the ancient world. Instead, what is needed is a tunnel. This will require a common and sustained effort. Such work is unseen and unsung. But it is crucial if the fortress is to be taken. Prayer is like that. It assails the inner recesses of a person’s will in a way that all our talking cannot.

J. I. Packer writes:

“However clear and cogent we may be in our presentation of the gospel, we have no hope of convincing and converting anyone.  Can you or I, by earnest talking break the power of Satan over a person’s life?  No!  Can you or I give life to the spiritually dead? No! Can we hope to convince sinners of the truth of the gospel by patient explanation? No! Can we hope to move people to believe the gospel by any words of entreaty that we may utter? No! Our approach to evangelism is not realistic until we have faced this shattering fact, and let it make its proper impact upon us.”

Now, let me confess to you at once that all of this is counter-intuitive for me. By temperament, I would much rather storm walls than tunnel away in prayer. But time and experience continue to confront me with the reality that it is the tunneling that counts and prevails.

Foolish is the Christian— and I have frequently been the fool— who does not remember that reality exceeds the yardstick of the scientist. There are natural laws for the realities of nature, and there spiritual laws that are natural to the realities of the Kingdom of God. In the natural realms, gravity can exert a force that causes things to fall. In spiritual realms prayer can exert a force that, while unseen in the natural, has the capacity to cause “things” to fall.

The fall of Jericho (Joshua 6) testifies to the power of God’s ways. God instructed the Israelites to march around Jericho for six days in a huge worship procession. Then, on the seventh day, they marched again, gave a shout unto the Lord, and the city walls collapsed. Israel’s victory was not the fruit of their prodigious vocal strength! Victory came because something “subterranean” was happening in the spiritual realm that would breach the structural integrity of the walls in the natural realm.

The movement of God always begins in “spiritual places.” The call to Abraham, the Exodus, the selection of David, the prophet’s vision, the coming of Jesus, the day of Pentecost— from where did these come? From the realms of nature of the realm of the Spirit? Prayer is the one tool that God has given us to impact the fallen spiritual realm, which buttresses the bastions of evil, sin, and brokenness in and around us.

So, if you feel like you are banging your head against a wall that will not budge, perhaps it’s time to start tunneling…

for a purpose… the Mordecai question

Please indulge me as I tell you a true story… It was a golden age. The nation had triumphed at war; the economy was prosperous, and the people enjoyed their newfound affluence. The nation enjoyed her emerging status as a world superpower. Women of wealth enjoyed elaborate cosmetic makeovers (a combination of diet, exercise, and beauty treatments), while other notable women contested for respect and their rights. Nevertheless, it was still a very conservative era when every man was encouraged to be king of his own castle.

The country is Persia. The place is Susa, the nation’s capital. The time is 486-465 BC. The king is Ahasuerus, in the third year of his reign, and his queen is Esther. Her ascent to the throne came by way of her beauty, not her bloodline. She was truly the Cinderella, the Princess Kate Middleton of her day. Her life as a royal was a far cry from the life she had known as a child.

Esther, born Hadassah, was orphaned as a child when her parents were taken captive in Jerusalem and carried away to Persia. She was adopted and raised by her older cousin, Mordecai, under whose tutelage imparted a love for her Jewish heritage and faith. And so it was that Hadassah, the spoil of war, trafficked for her beauty, became the young woman Esther– a woman whose beauty and grace would ultimately capture the king’s gaze and later his affection. Twelve months after their first meeting, she would be made queen. By all accounts, she was loved and popular– her husband even established a national holiday in her honor. But there is a storm on the horizon, and Esther is on a collision course with her destiny…

Ahasuerus appoints a new Prime Minister who conspires to settle the Jewish question once and for all. He capitalizes upon the pride and prejudice of his day as he promises the king a great multiplication of wealth once the Jews are disposed of –– some arguments never change. Genocide is now the order of the day.

Mordecai enjoins Esther to use her position of influence to stay the king’s hand but he is abruptly rebuffed. Esther professes helplessness and protests that she, too, will be killed if she walks into the king’s inner court uninvited. But Mordecai will not be dissuaded and exhorts her with words that ring out across the centuries: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this.”

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

Mordecai's question exhorts us to rediscover our sense of purpose. Like Esther, it is not by accident that you are where you are. Even if this is a season of transition, you have a God-given purpose for being where you are. If not you, then who is God calling to exercise the watchful care of others where you are? If not you, then who is God calling to show forth energy, fidelity, tenacity, generosity, and grace where you are? If not you, then who is God calling to sacrificially serve and illuminate the presence of Jesus and His kingdom where you are? If not you, then who?

It is from within this context that I have been reflecting on my own statement:

• I have a purpose.

• My purpose is to multiply God's Kingdom presence anywhere I have the opportunity.

• I won't be happy until and unless I am living out my purpose.

• I can best fulfill my purpose as part of a Kingdom community

• Since I have no guarantee of mortal life tomorrow, I must pursue my purpose today.

Dear ones, I believe you are where you are for such a time as this…

for a purpose… continued

The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the evil one. (1John 3.8)

God is purposeful.

Before your parents conceived you
   He conceived you.
You are not an accident,
nor are you the fruit of a moment’s passion.
You were deliberately fashioned.
   and richly endowed.
You were born of God’s purpose
   and you were born for God’s purpose.

Several years ago, as part of a Strengthfinders exercise, I was encouraged to write a purpose statement… I believe that God has used it to give me a “true north” that I can daily calibrate my life to:

• I have a purpose.
• My purpose is to multiply God's Kingdom presence anywhere I have the opportunity.
• I won't be happy until and unless I am living out my purpose.
• I can best fulfill my purpose as part of a Kingdom community
• Since I have no guarantee of mortal life tomorrow I must pursue my purpose today.

I have a purpose.
Everyone who has been twice born through Jesus Christ has been lovingly and strategically created for a purpose. There is nothing more tragic than aimless Christians who have lost their grasp of this simple reality. Purposelessness is surely a barometric reading of the true condition of our soul. The plethora of Christian self-help titles suggest that we have exchanged the great ends of the Church for trifling illusions that personal fulfillment is merely reflected in emotional well-being and daily convenience. This is narcissism, not discipleship.

God’s purpose for us, and through us, is robust, life-affirming, and fruitful. It will add dimension and meaning to every facet of our lives and will endow every relationship, every opportunity, and all our time with significance.

My purpose is to multiply God’s Kingdom presence anywhere I have the opportunity. I am called to live in a perpetual state of rebellion. G. K. Chesterton once noted that the devil rebelled against heaven and fell to earth, holding creation captive but the Christian rebels against the devil that we might liberate creation to rise to heaven.

Spiritual warfare is not an option for followers of Jesus Christ. Evil is real. The devil will not go away unless he is put to flight. The Scriptures testify that Jesus came to destroy the works of the evil one. This is our purpose too.

I concede that it is difficult to look in the mirror and recite: “My purpose is to destroy the works of the evil one.” I know because I tried it on several occasions and felt foolish! I found that the moment I declared aloud, “My purpose is to destroy the works of the evil one,” I was defeated by thoughts of my own powerlessness- not even my dog comes when I call!

I was liberated when the Holy Spirit led me to a study of 1John 3.8. I discovered that the Greek word translated, “destroy” is more frequently translated as “loose” or “untie” in the New Testament.  There, I remembered one of my favorite sweaters being destroyed by my oldest daughter when she was three. She merely found a dangling strand that she continued to pull until an entire sleeve was gone! Every day, I have the possibility of meeting people or facing situations with dangling strands that I can pull with the person and power of Jesus Christ.

 I will not be satisfied with my life until I am fulfilling my purpose.
You are created and called by God for a purpose. Therefore, embedded deep within you are yearnings whose origins lie in the eternal heart of God. Living for the trophies of this world will never satiate these longings. Their home is the kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God, and you will gain the personal satisfaction you long for.

I can best fulfill my purpose by being part of a Kingdom community — a team!
We cannot fulfill our purpose alone. Tony Gwinn (5 time National League batting champion) may be called to play right field and hit .366, but he never did win a game unless he participated on a team. There is nothing Satan appreciates more than unplugged Christians who are adrift from the Body of Christ, distracted by the world’s allure, and preoccupied with their own happiness.

I have no promise of mortal life tomorrow, so I must fulfill my purpose today!
Even though I have the promise of eternal life forever. We have no way of knowing when illness, accident, or violence may end our mortal lives. Live the life you are called to today. Look around you… your life is full of opportunities to untie and loose the works of the devil in the lives of others. Go on… pull those strings…

So let me ask you again, will you rejoice, reflect and recommit yourself to God’s purposes for you and through you in 2024?

for a purpose…

I have shared the following before, but I share it here in hopes that it might encourage you as you stand at the nexus between 2023 and 2024.

“My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention…” (Isaiah 46.10)

God is purposeful… 
            No exercise of His might,
                        no declaration of His wisdom,
                                    and no expression of His love
                                                is trivial, capricious, or random.

God is purposeful…

He does not say one thing and do another.
            He does not undermine His own advance
                        through indecision or retraction.
                                    He does not take three steps forward
                                                and two steps back.  

God is purposeful…

He is undeterred, unhindered, and undistracted.
            His love is resolute and
                        His tenderness is relentless.
                                    Therefore He will never turn away
                        until He has accomplished everything
            that He has purposed
within the counsel of His will.  

God is purposeful…

In Jesus dwelled the fullness of God
            and the fullness of God’s purpose.
In Jesus God purposed to become man
            in order to take up our case.
In Jesus God closes the breach, gulf, and abyss
            between God and us for which we are responsible. 

God is purposeful… 

At the very point where we
            refuse and fail
                        offend and provoke
         miss our destiny
            tread underfoot our dignity,
               and lose our salvation…
                     God purposed to intervene as a man
                     in the person and work of Jesus. 

God is purposeful.

He makes no mistakes.
   He has no regrets.
      He faces our future with
         unrestricted liberty
            uncompromising devotion
               unlimited resources
                  unbounded wisdom
                     and unconditional love. 

God is purposeful.

Before your parents conceived you
   He conceived you.
You are not an accident nor
   are you the fruit of a moment’s passion.
You were deliberately fashioned
   and richly endowed.
You were born of God’s purpose
   and you were born for God’s purpose.     

God is purposeful.

Will you rejoice, reflect and recommit yourself to God’s purposes for you and through you in 2024?

the blessed hope…

Luke 2.25-32: And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

His heart was beating fast; quickened by an awakening of the Holy Spirit that echoed back to an earlier day… an earlier promise that was seared into his soul by God: “Simeon you will not see the darkness of your death until you see the Light of the world. Look and keep looking! Behold He is coming…”

The whole world changed for Simeon that day…

All things final
   now looked temporary…
Everything substantial
   now seemed as a shadow of things to come…
The grip of tyranny
   now appeared to be slipping…
The monopoly of sin, death, and demonic evil
   now appeared usurped…
The promises of God once distant
   now pressed in upon his soul with imminent urgency.

The world changed for Simeon that day…

Each new dawn might be the world’s last…
   Every man’s face might be His face…
Any incident might be a sign for his coming…
   Simeon was now a seeker…
      his nights would be an occasion for disappointment…
         his mornings an opportunity for new hope…

The world changed for Simeon that day… and his daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute challenge would be that his world would not change back to what it was before...a life without expectation.

And so it was that his aging heart was beating fast as he scanned the Temple court for a man of stature… a command- ing presence … a self-authenticating bearing and authority that betrayed a messianic identity. Instead his soul leapt within him when his gaze fell upon a nondescript couple that cradled a 6-week-old child in their arms. Unbelievably, it was not the father but the baby who commanded his attention. He took the child into his arms and looked through the veil of his flesh into the face of God.

My heart is quickened this Advent season by the opportunity to look into the face of the Child Messiah as the Holy Spirit challenges me to confess aloud what I see…

I see in Jesus the Promised One of God who is
   the Son of Abraham
      in Whom all nations on Earth can be blessed;
   the Son of David
      Who establishes & reigns over a Kingdom that has no end;
   the Messiah
      Who comes to deliver His people from bondage;
   the Suffering Servant
      Who bears the punishment my sins deserve;
   the Son of Man
      Who came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.

I see in Jesus the Lamb of God
   Who makes atonement and takes away the sin of the world;
      Who overcomes the reproach of my sin;
   Who covers over my shame;
      Who forgives me of my guilt;
   Who reconciles me to God and others.

I see in Jesus the Son of God
   the Creator who has become a Creature;
      the One in whom all things hold together;
   the One by Whom and for Whom I was made;
      the One whose face is the face of the invisible God;
   the One who exemplifies all we were meant to be; and
      the One who is like what we, by His grace, shall be.

I see in Jesus the Love of God
   that reaches out to the outcast;
      that invites the overlooked;
   that befriends without prejudice;
      that satisfies the hungry and satiates the thirsty;
   that will never leave, forsake, or abandon me.

I see in Jesus the Power of God
   that stills the wind and calms the waves;
      that heals the sick;
   that breaks the strongholds of evil;
      that delivers the afflicted;
   that liberates the oppressed and harassed;
      and that baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.

I see in Jesus the Blessed Hope of God.
   When He returns it will be:
      the end of death, decay, and evil;
   the finish of injustice, corruption, prejudice, and greed;
      the termination of sin’s despair, depravity, and defilement;
   the close of insignificance, estrangement;
      abandonment, and futility;
   the end of now and the beginning of forever;
      the fulfillment of our unfulfillment;
   and the final joy in Whom I shall take pleasure.

I see in Jesus the Once and Future Lamb of God
   Who will wipe every tear from the mourning;
      Who will overcome every advocacy of evil;
   Who will vanquish the ravages of sin;
      Who covers all shame with the robes of his righteousness;
   Who will welcome the poor and broken;
      Who will light all eternity and dispel night forever.

I see in Jesus our Coming-King:
   Resplendent is His majesty;
      Triumphant is His victory;
   Magnificent is His authority;
      Jubilant is His shout;
   Death-defeating is His roar; and
      “It is Done” will be His song!

I confess along with Martin Luther, “I have no other God than the one who once rested on Mary’s lap.”

This Christmas, who do you see as you look into the face of the baby Jesus? Is He your blessed hope? Do you have assurance that He can be your consolation, too? If you are uncertain, why not take a moment to pray, “Jesus, come into my life and be my blessed hope and consolation.” This is not simply a first-time surrender prayer; it is the prayer of every soul who realizes that Jesus can fill the breach created by a fallen world, sinful choices, and unfulfilled yearnings.

With expectation for the Coming-King…

ecclesiology 101

For we are God's building... like living stones being built into a house. (1 Corinthians 3:9; 1 Peter 1.5)

The New Testament teaches us three radical truths about the nature of the Church.

God's building is not a holy place;
God's building is a holy people...
God’s building is not inanimate;
God’s building is alive…
God's building is not complete;
it is still under construction…

God’s building is a holy people. Followers of Jesus Christ do not go to church for the simple reason that followers of Jesus Christ are the Church. We do not go to church each week; we go to worship each week. Christians in our culture have to fight against an Edifice Complex that tempts us to place our identity in buildings rather than in relationships. A building has never preached the gospel, housed the homeless, fed the hungry, healed the sick, loved the lonely, or delivered the afflicted. Together, we are God’s building—He promises to dwell among us. Individually, we are not the building, we are the brick!

Individual followers of Jesus Christ may not echo the proclamation of Henry David Thoreau, "I am my own church." Time and again, Scripture exhorts us not to neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some (Hebrews 10.25). Nothing guts the momentum of a Christian fellowship faster than sporadic participation and attendance. How will the bricks be built together if they remain scattered and distant? Scripture is very clear: God expects our faith to be lived out in the community. He intends us to be contributors, not merely consumers—to be otherwise is to deprive and weaken God's house.   He calls us to be a vital part of a people movement that is much greater than we can ever imagine or implement alone.

God’s building is alive. The Church is made up of living stones, not cold, inanimate ones. The building God is constructing is alive to Christ and responsive to His call. It is neither ostentatious nor pretentious. It is not constructed for the privileged few or for other bricks that look just like us. The building of the Lord is a multipurpose structure designed to be a living reference point for the arrival of God's kingdom. The bricks are not fixed or inflexible. While this analogy may be an architectural impossibility, it reflects God's design for His Church today. He is building one Church—united, interdependent, and alive. Yet our impact upon the world shall be contingent upon our—the bricks’—willingness to be built together by the Lord into the house of His choosing.

God’s building is still under construction. It may be helpful to remember that most buildings under construction look like a terrible mess, at least to our untrained eye, until the last stage is reached. The same is true with the Church. The dust and dirt, chaos and confusion may make it hard to believe that this could really be the temple of God. Yet, if we have faith and patience, we will see that the Architect and Builder is hard at work and knows very well what He is doing. He has established our foundation and set our cornerstone—Jesus Christ. His personal oversight ensures that the house will be radiant, responsive, and resilient. It is the life of Jesus among us that will sustain the whole and give shape to what is built. In Him, the whole building is joined together and will arise to become a holy temple in the Lord (see Ephesians 2:21).

Every generation that fails to grasp and implement these simple truths is destined to create a church that will be little more than an irrelevant religious icon on the cultural landscape and not the transforming presence that God has intended her to be. She will be visionless, passionless, exclusive, and mired in institutional self-preservation. Membership will displace discipleship. Conformity will eclipse creativity. Political agendas (whether on the right or the left) will replace God’s Kingdom mandates. Quid-pro-quo will consume agape.

The apostle Peter observed, "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house." This raises two immediate questions for every follower of Jesus Christ— including pastors (!):

1. Does your commitment to Jesus Christ reflect His high priority and design for the Church?

2. Does your lifestyle reflect a priority for worship and community in your local congregation?

   Don't deprive the Temple of the “brick” God made you to be!

what would Len say or do?

15 For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel. 16 I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. (1 Corinthians 4.15-16)

I have had 2 "gospel fathers." Last Tuesday, while driving from San Diego to Los Angeles, I learned that one had died. I knew Len was sick: he was diagnosed, almost 5 weeks ago to the day, with stage 4 brain cancer, but doctors assured us there was plenty of time to plan a visit after Christmas. Alas, mortality has a way of disrupting our planning...

So what did this gospel father impart to me that I endeavor to imitate?

First, Len took a risk on the unqualified. When we first met, it was for a job interview at Mount Hermon Association. The position required us to create a "church community" for the 220 staff they hired for 3 months each summer. Carol and I had applied for this position, but I fell short of all the required benchmarks. I was too young, I did not have enough of the desired education, and I had no previous Christian camp/conference center experience. It was a high-profile role with little margin to fail. My failures would reflect poorly on him, but he took a risk. My youth did not deter him; my lack of education did not disqualify me, and my inexperience did not exclude me from his consideration.

Second, Len taught me sacred disciplines. Hospitality, generosity, incarnational engagement, prayer, sabbath, reflective bible reading, and reading as a spiritual discipline. Each of these he would develop in me. How? Simply living in an organic manner that displayed, without arrogance or pretense, the tangible benefit these brought to his soul. If this was true for him, it could be true for me.

Third, Len taught me how to teach the Word of God. He taught me the value of expository Bible teaching/preaching. I learned, through him, that Jesus pastors His people through the expositional preaching of the Scriptures. Expositional preaching will be the gateway to the transformation people long and yearn for. It was never about the authority of Scripture in its own right. It was always about the authority of Scripture-- and the power that authority possessed-- to change and transform lives. We can improve our preaching delivery, but the power remains in the Word preached, not in the person preaching.

Fourth, Len invested in me. He spent time in conversation, invited me to join him in meetings I had no business being in, took me places, and suggested Scripture and books, which we would discuss together. He was artful with his capacity to guide, discipline, course-correct, and encourage without being heavy-handed or condescending. Once, when he observed how out-of-balance and out-of-shape my life and body were, he said to me:

"Mark, everyone wants you to be healthy and live a long life. Carol wants you to be healthy, your children want you to be healthy, the congregation you lead wants you to be healthy, and your team wants you to be healthy. Everyone around you wants you to be healthy. But no one around you wants you to be healthy if it takes away from their time!

I have returned to that observation/admonition many times since he first said that to me in my late 30s.

Fifth, Len modeled a healthy relational work environment for me. It is possible to have a genuine friendship without compromising positional authority, vocational responsibility, or employment accountability. In my second year working under him, he called me into his office. He acknowledged, "Mark, I recognize that we are developing a meaningful friendship, but this friendship cannot be healthy or continue if it compromises my responsibilities as your supervisor or your accountability for your responsibilities as an employee who reports to me. You must be willing to take your lumps and own your decisions; otherwise, we cannot continue." A healthier admonition has never been spoken!

In fact, a few weeks later, the Executive Director asked me to come to his office. As I walked by Len's office, he got up from his chair, winked at me and said, "It's time to take your lumps." ... did I ever!

Finally, Len embraced me with a soul-filling friendship. I learned from him that friendship requires tenacity, time, grace, depth, patience, and remembrance. Friendship does not need to diminish the joy that arises from the many acquaintances we are gifted with... However, most acquaintances are sustained solely by affinity involving some combination of geography, vocation, hobby, and humor. Friendship involves all of these, yet it will ultimately rely on none of these because friendship will, in time, rely on nothing more than love. Once this is recognized, this is the genesis of a life-long friendship.

I don't think Len ever purposed to be a "gospel father, " I don't think anyone does... However, I think I realized Len was a "gospel father" and I, his "gospel son," when I found myself asking, "What would Len do or say?"

He is gone now, but, by the gift and grace of God, I will gratefully still get to ask that question until the day I am where he is...

a thanksgiving epistle

Each year I send out what has now been dubbed, “Slomka’s Thanksgiving epistle” by family and friends…here was this year’s edition… BTW it’s still the season to say, “happy Thanksgiving,” until Sunday when you can joyfully proclaim, “happy Advent!”

Dear family and friends -- domestic and international, 

Give thanks in all circumstances... 

(just a little phrase from the apostle Paul's first letter to believers living in Thessalonica, Greece --  Chapter 5, verse 18)

We rarely share our personal reflections around loss, regret, fear, or anxiety-- especially around Thanksgiving! Yet this Thanksgiving, my gratitude flourishes amidst these realities, which, I suppose, may initially threaten to smother the holiday mood we work so hard to nourish and protect. For me, it magnifies the gratitude I feel. 

At the time I'm writing this draft (17 November), 

•  there are at least 34 global conflicts -- 2 of which impact my world personally, 

•  I have attended 2 memorial gatherings in the last 2 weeks; just learned on Sunday, 19 November another dear friend just died,

•  I have received news that my 2 fathers and life-long mentors in my life have received fatal diagnoses,

•  I have spoken with many leaders who are contending for their own, or family members, mental health,

•  I find myself reflecting on my own apprehension concerning my mortality, capacity, and yearnings... will I have the health, vitality, and clarity to accomplish what I believe God has given me vision for? I am deeply aware that most leaders -- including Jesus-- died with yearnings unfulfilled and Kingdom vision incomplete!

and this is only a small sample of what I could list...

So this year, if you permit me, I would like to share some thoughts regarding the activity of "thanksgiving" so you can understand why Thanksgiving remains my favorite annual holiday.

First, let’s consider for a moment what thanksgiving is not…

Thanksgiving is not synonymous with "relief." -- This can be the reassurance or relaxation we feel when we pass a test, hear the news we have been anxious to receive, or complete something that has preoccupied the commitment of our mind, time, and/or resources.

Thanksgiving is not an exercise in comparative awareness. I suppose this is a  variation of "relief." This would be the expression that usually arises when we try to minimize our disappointment and loss by the thoughtful recognition of someone else's greater misfortune. Phrases like: "At least my children are healthy" or "At least I don't have bombs falling on my house" express our relief, but they also invalidate the loss, concerns, or feelings we are presently navigating.

Thanksgiving cannot be the prisoner of circumstance, ultimately making thanksgiving transactional. Thanksgiving which can only be expressed when opportunity, health, and fortune are going "our way,” is bound to render our thanksgiving shallow and ultimately deprive us of the opportunity to express and experience thanksgiving when we might need it the most. 

Thanksgiving cannot be self-centered.  By its very nature, Thanksgiving is externally focused—  it sees the source of our blessing outside of ourselves. Thanksgiving, which is self-centered, is nothing more than the vain and prideful self-congratulation of a deluded soul. Far from being an act of thanksgiving, it becomes a prideful self-assertion of accomplishment, superiority, and/or rewards and privileges one feels entitled to. I am thinking, here of Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector— “Thank you, God, that I am not like others!“

Thanksgiving is not individualistic. While the occasion for our thanksgiving may be personal, it is not intended to remain private. Thanksgiving is meant to be shared. This does not require full transparency of sensitive details, but a simple narrative of shared praise will strengthen our community.

So, what is the activity of thanksgiving?

First, the activity of thanksgiving is prayerful reflection. I cannot envision an expression of thanksgiving that does not begin with God.  He fashioned me in love, redeemed me by His grace, and He sustains me by his presence. In my darkness, He abides with me, and in my joys, He delights my soul. How can thanksgiving be anything but a conversation of gratitude with our Heavenly Father?

Second, the activity of thanksgiving is the spiritual remembrance of God‘s faithfulness. The activity of thanksgiving is a reflective inventory of God‘s presence amidst the gains we have enjoyed and the losses we have suffered.  It is not merely the recitation of a list. It is the story of His divinity abiding with my broken humanity -- transforming a merely mundane and frail life into a life so filled with meaning that I can exclaim, “Even my losses have become gains.“

Third, the activity of thanksgiving is communal. We contribute to and share in the portfolio of gratitude expressed within the communities we are members of. Another's thanksgiving becomes my opportunity to give thanks regardless of my circumstances. How many times has one person's shared thanksgiving brought hope to the hopeless or stirred me to give thanks? Most significantly, community thanksgiving expresses God's presence in our midst-- can there be a greater cause for giving thanks? 

Fourth, the activity of thanksgiving is missional.  The activity of thanksgiving is ultimately a testimony that brings women, men, youth, and children closer to God. Thanksgiving punctures smothering darkness with the Light, futility with promise, and despair with hope. No wonder Scripture extolls "the feet of the one who brings Good News!" Our personal and community thanksgiving narratives are incarnate expressions of the Good News of God's presence. He is neither silent, aloof, or absent. Thanksgiving testifies that He is present in our darkness, and this present darkness cannot quench His faithful light.

Finally (I promise!), the activity of thanksgiving is pastoral. There are seasons in our lives when our soul is constricted by despair or grief, and we become isolated in our darkness. Something powerful occurs when the community around us extends its welcoming embrace and draws us into a wider context that allows for thanksgiving and grief to exist side by side. Thanksgiving, sensitively expressed, with the sorrowful, reminds us that "weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning." 

When we think about the first Thanksgiving, we focus on the meal and forget the context. Remember this: on November 10, 1620, 102 passengers stepped ashore, but only 50 would survive their first winter to assemble 12 months later for the meal we, from history's distance, celebrate as Thanksgiving. They gathered as a community, on a land saturated with their tears, to give thanks and share a common meal.

This is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday... it invites any and all to a feast where the community gathered can offer thanksgiving while recognizing the personal losses of those gathered. On this day, prayerful reflection, remembrance, community, mission, and the pastoral presence of God are welcome. On this day, the community gathered can have a voice that individuals scattered cannot. We are "better together," and that alone is sufficient reason to lift our voices with gratitude on this Thanksgiving day as we share this meal together.

... with gratitude for you and much love for you,

Happy Thanksgiving!

remember the puritans… why?!

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5.14)

Thanksgiving is the only national holiday unique to our country whose roots are distinctly Christian. For followers of Jesus, It is an opportunity to give thanks for a people more than a remberance of a distinctly Christian table fellowship that occurred 402 years ago. It can be an opportunity to remember a sincere, yet imperfect, Christian community, their way of life and the vision they dreamed of fulfilling—to build and be the city on the hill that Jesus spoke about. Thanksgiving, therefore, seems an appropriate time to briefly reflect on the larger Christian community called “the Puritans”… a vibrant and prophetic Christian movement that began the 16th century England.

Puritans… mention their name and most minds concoct imagery of the Salem Witch Trials; men in tall black hats with a large belt buckle above the brim; cold, overbearing, and subservient women; and intolerant, narrow-minded, prudish people afraid of the world and embarrassed by their own sexuality. J. I. Packer reminds us that “Puritan” as a name “was, in fact, mud from the start. Coined in the early 1560’s, it was always a satirical smear word implying peevishness, censoriousness, conceit, and a measure of hypocrisy… an odd, furious, and ugly form of Protestant religion.” Most perceive the Puritans as as equal parts comic and pathetic, naïve and superstitious, primitive and gullible, superserious, overscrupulous, majoring in minors, and unable or unwilling to relax. In today’s world they are (wrongfully from my perspective) seen as the the seed and root of the great sins of our nation.

What could these zealots give us that we might possibly need today?

I think the answers can be found in a book written several years ago by the British evangelical scholar and pastor, J. I. Packer (see link below). Let me summarize with you some of his thoughts.

The answer, in one word, is maturity. Maturity is a compound of wisdom, goodwill, resilience, and creativity. The Puritans exemplified maturity; we don’t. We are spiritual dwarfs. The Puritans, by contrast, as a body, were giants. They were great souls serving a great God. In them, clear-headed passion and warm-hearted compassion combined. Visionary and practical, idealistic and realistic too, goal-oriented and methodical, they were great believers, great hopers, great doers, and great sufferers. Through the legacy of their literature, the Puritans can help us today towards the maturity that they knew and that we need.

First there are lessons for us in the integration of their daily lives. There was for them no disjunction between sacred and secular; all creation, so far as they were concerned, was sacred, and all activities, of whatever kind, must be sanctified—done to the glory of God…

Second, there are lessons for us in the quality of their spiritual experiences. Their faith was an experiential yet rational faith, resolute, passionate piety that was conscientious without becoming obsessive, law-oriented without lapsing into legalism, and expressive of Christian liberty without any shameful lurches into license.

Third, there are lessons for us in their passion for effective action. They had no time for the idleness of the lazy or passive person who leaves it to others to change the world. They were people of action in the pure Reformed mould—crusading activists without a jot of self-reliance; workers for God who depended utterly on God to work in and through them, and who always gave God the praise for anything they did that, in retrospect, seemed to them to have been right.

Fourth, there are lessons for us in their program for family stability. It is hardly too much to say that the Puritans created the Christian family in the English-speaking world. The Puritan ethic of marriage was to look not for a partner whom you do love passionately at this moment, but rather one whom you can love steadily as your best friend for life, and then with God’s help proceed to do just that. Goodwill, patience, consistency, and an encouraging attitude were seen as the essential domestic virtues.

Fifth, there are lessons to be learned from their sense of human worth. Through believing in a great God, they gained a vivid awareness of the greatness of moral issues, of eternity, and of the human soul. All life was valued and received as a gift from God—no matter how brief.

Sixth, there are lessons to be learned form the Puritans’ ideal of church renewal. The essence of this Puritan renewal was the enrichment of understanding of God’s truth, arousal of affections Godward, increase of ardor in one’s devotions, and more love, joy, and firmness of Christian purpose in one’s calling and personal life. The ideal for the church was that the congregation would be brought, by God’s grace, into a state of revival in order to be:

• truly and thoroughly converted,

• theologically orthodox and sound,

• spiritually alert and expectant,

• of wise and steady character,

• ethically enterprising and obedient, and

• humbly but joyously sure of their salvation.

This year when you give thanks, give thanks for the Puritans for they have profoundly shaped our world and our own sense of destiny. Without them

• you would not think about the Scriptures as you do,

• you would not think about the person and work of Jesus as you do,

• you would not think about the power of the Holy Spirit nor the strategic plan of the Father to save us as you do,

• you would not think about education as you do

• you would not think about going to university as you do (did!),

• you would not think about the family as you do,

• you would not think about marriage as you do,

• you would not think about the worth of human life as you do,

• you would not think about money and charity as you do,

• you would not think about heaven as you do,

• you would not think about changing the world as you do…

Dear ones, I don’t have to embrace the entirety of their Reformed theology to be grateful for their contribution to a comprehensive Christian worldview rooted in the redemptive presence of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom come today. This Thanksgiving season, let us give thanks for their legacy…

see you in 2 weeks and please have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving…

A Quest for Godliness: the Puritan vision of the Christian Life by J.I. Packer

See also this article regarding C. S. Lewis’ observations about the Pilgrims.