Life

The Gospel for Lawyers, According to Jesus

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 10:25) This time it's an expert in the law asking. He is someone who has given his life to studying the Old Testament Law. Luke tells us that he asked the question to put Jesus to the test.

 

He is certainly not asking as did the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler asked the question because he knew Jesus knew, and he did not. This man asks because he thinks he knows, and wants to see if Jesus does.

 

If we are generous, we could surmise that the right answer from Jesus may lead this expert in the law to become a follower. If cynical, we would assume that he is trying to trip Jesus up. In either case, it is probably not a good idea to hold oneself as the authority and Jesus as the student. Jesus has a way of turning the tables on those who think He needs to answer to them.

 

And so He does. “What is written in the law? How does it read to you?” (Lk 10:26)

 

The expert in the law answers with, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (10:27)

 

In one fell swoop Jesus affirms the validity of his Biblical interpretation and calls into question his obedience. “You have answered correctly; Do this and you will live.” (10:28)

 

Now on the defensive, the expert in the law comes back with, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answers with the story of the good Samaritan.

 

But before we get to that, stop and think about what you just heard. The gospel according to Jesus is that people who love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as themselves, inherit eternal life!

 

As you will recall (from previous blogs) I was looking for places where Jesus would answer the question of how to gain eternal life. Now here was another one that seemed completely at odds with our current gospel presentations. First the rich young ruler (previous blog) is told that he must sell all his possessions, and now this lawyer is told that he must not only understand the law, but fulfill it!

 

At first sight it would appear that this one is at least easier to explain away. “Perhaps, Jesus knew that no one could keep these two commandments. If the lawyer could, he would inherit eternal life. But he can't, so he will need to trust in the finished work of Christ instead. Only Jesus hasn't died yet, so He can't say that. But that doesn't matter because the question wasn't sincere anyways. The man was testing, not seeking.” Phew! We can hang on to our current gospel presentations!

 

Not so fast. Jesus says, much the same thing in Matthew 5, but there the context does not allow us to side step the fairly obvious connection of a practiced radical righteousness with entering the kingdom of heaven.”

 

“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:20)

 

Just prior he says the law is valid until heaven and earth pass away. That He came not to abolish, but to fulfill. And that whoever annuls the least of the law will be called least in the kingdom and whoever keeps and teaches it will be called great in the kingdom.

 

But the real kicker follows. Jesus moves from theory to practical illustration. It's here that he tells us that lust is a form of adultery, and that anger is a form of murder. (Mt 5:21-28) Following that He instructs us to gouge out our eye if it causes us to sin because it is better to lose an eye on the way to heaven, than to go fully sighted into hell. (Mt. 5:29,30)

 

While the scribes and Pharisees are accustomed to thinking that they need to stay within the letter of the law, Jesus' teaching is that our practice must fulfill the spirit of the law. The absence of such practice will put us with most of the Pharisees – destined for hell. Jesus is not teaching about the kind of righteousness we would need if we could achieve it, even though we can't. He is unpacking the kind of righteousness the Pharisees can't achieve, but the Holy Spirit can. He is pointing to the need for a Divinely enabled life.

 

It may be helpful to point out that “inherit eternal life,” is not exactly the same as our current evangelical “get saved.” Throughout the NT, “salvation” is often viewed as something we obtain upon our death. The lawyer is asking the question, “What kind of life do I need to live in order to be resurrected to eternal life?” This is not the same as asking what he needs in order to live that life.

 

This is a bit different than Jesus' words about Zacheus – “Today salvation has come to this house” – as a result of his obvious change of heart. It's closer to Jesus' words to the rich young ruler – “Go sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come , follow Me.” For the rich young ruler there was a life changing event (sell it all, and give it away) tied to the promise of eternal life, (treasure in heaven) followed by an upside down earthly life (come, follow me).

 

But if you put all of these together you have Jesus teaching that there is an impossible change of heart that flows into an impossible new earthly way of living, that will usher us into the kingdom of heaven. (see also Mt 7:13-29) With the disciples we ask, “Then who can be saved?” And with the disciples we hear Jesus answer, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” (Mk 10:27)

 

I wrote the above yesterday. And then in preparation for a cell group, I came across a quote from J. I. Packer: “The Christian's life in all its aspects – intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness – is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate it and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all.” Amen!

 

Jesus is not embarrassed to tie eternal life to a life lived upside down to the way normal people live. Nor is he shy about calling the absence of that life the absence of life altogether.

 

Let's return to our story.

 

“Do this and you will live,” says Jesus. Trapped by his own brilliance in the Word, the lawyer is looking for an escape. “Who is my neighbor?” he says. Perhaps he was hoping the answer would be, “the house next to yours in any direction.” That would make four to six neighbors at the most. The point is that he wants to limit the amount he has to love. Kind of like us asking if God requires a 10% tithe. At worst the answer will be, “yes,” and we will need to part with 10%. At best the answer will be, “no,” and we can give less without feeling guilty.

 

With both us, and this lawyer, the question is an outsider's question. When the Spirit of the Loving God has entered our hearts we will long to give lavishly and will chafe against stopping at 10%, and we will hope that loving our neighbors as ourselves will not need to stop at the neighbors who live next to us.

 

And so it is that Jesus tells a story where a complete stranger becomes a neighbor, and the least religious, the most righteous. Looking back it is part of the answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He makes love for our fellow man a prerequisite for entrance into eternal life. And it's the same kind of love that He expresses towards us in the cross – neither convenient, easy, or without sacrifice!

 

Neither is this unusual. “In as much as you have done it unto the least of these,” (cf Mt. 25:31-46) tells exactly the same tale. And the stakes are exactly the same extreme. He ends with, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (vs 46)

 

Evangelicals are the lawyers of today. We take pride in our passion for the Word, and are ready to stake our eternity on the legal reality that our sins have been covered by the blood of Christ. We point back to the day we “trusted” in the finished work of Christ, as the whole reason for our confidence. Yet many of us do not love our neighbors (defined as Jesus did) as ourselves. And we live in luxury while the brothers and sisters of Christ all over the planet suffer and die.

 

I think there is too much at stake to ignore the words of Jesus. Brilliant we are, but so was the lawyer.

 

One last thing.

 

In our quest for a formula – a neatly defined response to God – that will guarantee our eternity, we have landed on the word, “faith.” I love the word “faith”. We use it with good authority. Jesus uses it, and so do the apostles. I am going to talk about it a lot in future blogs.

 

But notice this.

 

Jesus doesn't use it with the rich young ruler, Zacheus, or this Lawyer. And John the Baptist doesn't use it either. Our quest for a word, gives away our failure to get it. God is looking for a deep change of heart. Lots of words can be used.

 

People who “love” God have eternal life.

 

People who “fear” God have eternal life.

 

People who “seek” God have eternal life.

 

People who “repent” have eternal life.

 

And there are more.

The Gospel for Rich People, According to Jesus

Warning, if you are wealthy, you may not want to read this. But then again, if you have a computer and access to the internet, you are probably wealthy. Just about everyone reading this is wealthy – certainly in the wealthiest 20 % of the world's population. I'll tell you what. I'll call a truce. This will not be a rant about the evils of riches.

 

Twice, we get front seats, as we see Jesus interact with rich people who want to get to heaven. First, in the story usually named, “The Rich Young Ruler.” (Mt. 19:16-30, Mk. 10:17-27, Lk. 18:18-30) And second, in the story of Zacheus. (Lk. 19:1-10)

 

Neither story uses the word, “gospel.” Yet both stories fit the parameters of my study because they carry explicit reference to obtaining eternal life. The rich young ruler asks the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Zaccheus is a conversion story, with Jesus saying, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

 

The rich young ruler is particularly poignant for me because he baits me right up front. The first time I studied this in depth was in the early days of wanting to take a fresh look at the gospel. When I came to his question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” I thought, “Aha, I've found it! The question can't be clearer than that. What Jesus says here, will settle it for me.”

 

You can imagine my horror, when Jesus says, “You know the commandments, 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and Mother.'” (Mark 10:19) Jesus was obviously not trained as an evangelical, because the answer to that question is, “You can't do anything. Salvation is a free gift. All you can do is receive it!”

 

The rich young ruler's response -- “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” What will Jesus do with that?

 

When I was in Bible College we did Field Ed. by going into a small Canadian city and stopping strangers on the street in order to initiate a conversation that we would turn into a gospel presentation. I vividly remember getting to, “You are a sinner and your sin separates you from a Holy God,” only to be stumped. More than once the response at that point was, “No I am not. I am a good person.” I would find myself trying to prove to a stranger whom I did not know, that he was in fact a bad person.

 

I expected Jesus to say, “No you haven't, you just think you have.” “Ever lusted after a woman!” “Ever called someone a fool.” (Cf Mt. 5:21-22, 27-28)

 

Instead, Jesus accepts the sincerity of the man's testimony.

 

I use Mark when I teach this story because he alone gives us a window into the heart of Christ at this point. “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him.” (10:21)

 

The man's question is sincere. He is not one of the skeptics, looking for proof, or one of the antagonists trying to trip Jesus up. He has been watching and listening and recognizes in Jesus a “good teacher.” His soul is insecure, in spite of spending his entire life zealously obeying the law. He wants to know that he will obtain eternal life. And Jesus loves him.

 

“One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.” There it is! That's the gospel – the good news.

 

Oh, Oh! He is walking away, heart heavy. He owns much, and he loves what he owns. The cost is simply too high. (vs 22)

 

Jesus turns it into a lesson for his future evangelists – the disciples.

 

“How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” (vs23)

 

And again:

 

“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

 

I have heard that there was a gate in the wall of Jerusalem, that was a small gate -- so small that to get a camel through it you had to get it to go down on its knees. I don't know if that's true or not, but I know what Jesus meant, because He unpacks it.

 

When the disciples hear this, they are doubly astonished and ask, “Then who can be saved?” (vs 26)

 

Jesus answer: “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” (vs 27)

 

The change of heart that's required can't be had by human effort. It takes a work of God!

 

So what do we make of this? Is Jesus really saying that one must become poor – literally sell all your possessions and give the money away, poor – in order to obtain eternal life?

 

Obviously that's what He said to the rich young ruler, but would he say that to every wealthy man or woman? No, He wouldn't. Would He say that to us? Maybe He would.

 

Why aren't Abraham, David, and Solomon told to get rid of all of their wealth?

 

A look at Zaccheus might help.

 

What Zaccheus is famous for, is being short. But he was also very wealthy. Luke tells us that he was “a chief tax collector and he was rich.” (19:2)

 

The story is short on detail. Did Zaccheus climb the tree because he had already had a change of heart, or did he climb the tree just because he was curious? Perhaps news of Jesus healing the blind man (Lk. 18:35-43) had come to him. All we know is that Zaccheus was short, and resourceful, and not too embarrassed to climb a tree, in order to see Jesus. Perhaps it was the shocking generosity of Jesus – “Today I must stay at your house.” (Lk 19:5) Accustomed to being judged a sinner, scorned and avoided, this desire for relationship would come to him like cool water to a parched throat.

 

We can't pinpoint when the change of heart happened, but it's obvious that it did.

 

“Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

 

Jesus could've said, “Half will not do! You must sell it all.” Then we could make a case for a formula for rich people.

 

But He doesn't!

 

Instead: “Today salvation has come to this house...” ( 19:9) It can't be more clear than that! “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (vs 10) Jesus has accomplished what He set out to do. Zaccheus's heart has changed! He is going to live upside down to the way he used to live.

 

The point of both of these stories is that there is a space in the human heart in which Jesus wants to dwell. That is the space of our utmost allegiance. If we have something else in that space,  Jesus can't live there, and He won't live in any other space. Some of us have girlfriends or boyfriends in that space. Others, spouses and children. Still others, businesses, or professions, or even a well ordered life, or a clean and tidy house, or the respect of our fellow man.

 

In order for some rich people to be free of the hold money has on their heart, they will actually have to become poor, in order to receive Jesus. Other's will be able to give their riches to Jesus internally -- removing it from the place of worship in their hearts, becoming stewards of His money instead of being mastered by their own.

 

This also becomes true of all the other loyalties that have a hold on us.

 

It's interesting that the commandments recited by Jesus to the rich young ruler are all the horizontal man to man commandments. Probably because Jesus knew the vertical one that the rich young ruler wasn't following: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me!” His money was his god!

 

In all of this, we discover that the gospel according to John the Baptist, and the gospel according to Jesus are, so far, perfectly consistent. Both call for a changed heart leading to a life lived upside down to what it used to be. John hints at the need for a Holy Spirit baptism, Jesus explicitly says receiving Him is impossible apart from God working.

 

Again it could be that this is an Old Testament gospel, that will change after the cross. But it doesn't change between John and Jesus. It's hard to imagine that Jesus is training His disciples in a gospel that they will need to drop as soon as He dies. And what is the church supposed to do with this, if it's not a paradigm for us to follow?

 

More, next time. Ya'all come back now ya here!

 

(Sorry, I lived in Dallas for 4 years)

The Gospel According to John the Baptist

When the angel of the Lord is telling old man Zacharias that he and his also old and barren wife Elizabeth are about to have a baby boy, he describes John as follows:

 

And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. (Lk 1:16 New Living Translation)

 

Jesus Himself tells us that us that those who “receive” Him get to be children of God, and those who don't, don't. (John 1:12) John is miraculously born, just to prepare the people of Israel to receive Him. For the most part, even with John the Baptist's preparation, they didn't get it. (John 1:11) But perhaps, for those of us who want to get it – to receive Him – starting with John the Baptist would be a good idea.

 

What does it look like to be prepared to receive Christ? What does John actually say and do? What does he call on the people to do?

 

The first hint comes in the angel's announcement before John is even conceived. “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.” (Lk 1:17b) Preparation for the coming of Christ involves a change of heart. A change of heart that is characterized by a softness towards children and a love of submission.

 

The second hint comes at his birth through the prophetic words of the Baptist's till then mute dad in Luke 1:76-79:

 

“And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.

You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”

 

Here preparation involves news. News of forgiveness. News of a tender hearted and merciful God. News of light for those who live oppressed, in a dark world. And news of the path of peace. So preparation involves receptivity to God. God is breaking in, in the birth of His son, on a rescue mission to save His people from their sins, and to guide them onto a path of peace.

 

This “little son” of Zacharias – John the Baptist, is of course only the messenger. The real news is Christ. The end result of His coming, says Zacharias , is that His people can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness, for as long as they live. (Lk 1:74,75) This little son is coming to announce the way back to God.

 

Before John the Baptist opens his mouth to speak. Before Jesus is born. Already it is clear that what is coming is grand and glorious and absolutely life transforming. But I run ahead of myself.

 

What does John actually say?

 

“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” (Lk. 3:7b,8a NASB)

 

According to Luke, those were his opening words. And when pressed as to what that repentance should look like, we have the following:

 

And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Lk 3:11-14)

 

John's words represent an about face, a radical change of heart.

 

We can assume that we are getting the abbreviated version. What he actually said was probably longer and more involved, but clearly Luke is trying to give us the gist of his preaching. His introduction says that John came, “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Lk 3:3)

 

“A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins!” Boiled down, forgiveness of sins was for those who had a radical change of heart. This change of heart was signified by being baptized by John in the Jordan, and then by going home and living upside down to the way they used to live. And that made them ready for the coming of Christ.

 

The last surprise in Luke's telling of the story comes in Luke 3:18: “So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.” “Gospel” means, “good news.” “You brood of vipers,” just does not sound like good news. “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” sounds like good news. “Jesus died for you,” sounds like good news. But a “baptism of repentance...” not so much! Yet from Luke's perspective John was preaching the good news.

 

The beloved disciple John, (not the Baptist) highlights the story differently. His interest is not in what the Baptist called for as a response. He is all about who Jesus is. Higher rank, pre-existent Son of God, full of grace and truth, making the Father visible – these are the thoughts that matter to John.

 

The Baptist was the forerunner, the herald, the guy who ran out in front announcing the arrival. Preparing the way at it's essence involved the simple task of pointing to Him and shouting, “He's here!” so what does he actually say when Jesus arrives at the Jordan.

 

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34 NASB)

 

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” is unique to the Gospel of John.

 

Huge sigh of relief! If Matthew, Mark, and Luke had been more sensitive to evangelical sensitivities they would have included it as well, but at least we have it in John. In all that we have of the gospel according to John the Baptist, this one sentence in the gospel of John is the only mention of the Atonement. There is talk of forgiveness of sins, but this is the first we hear of sacrifice.

 

The average Israelite could not hear “Lamb of God who takes away sin” without thinking sacrifice. It points to Him as the fulfillment of their sacrificial system. John is describing Jesus as the atoning sacrifice, who will take away the sins of the world. “Of the world,” was likely a surprise, even a shock to those listening, accustomed as they were to thinking of Yahweh as the God of the Jews, and of the coming Messiah as the Messiah of the Jews. So this is grand too! It's atonement. And for those of us who have reduced the Gospel to forgiveness of sin through the death of Christ, it's comforting to know that the Baptist didn't miss the point altogether.

 

One of my favorite phrases in the New Testament is, “the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” The reason I like it, is because of the meaning of, “of.” It means the same as “of” in the “City of Winnipeg”. That's not the city that belongs to Winnipeg, or the city that comes from Winnipeg. It's the city which is Winnipeg. “City,” is the broad category, and “Winnipeg” narrows it down to only one. So Jesus Christ is the good news! “He's here!” Now that's good news indeed, but I am jumping way ahead.

 

One last thing, before we make some closing remarks.

 

When the people came to John the Baptist they were filled with expectation and wondered if he was the Christ. His answer according to Luke:

 

“As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:17 NASB) In the book of Acts, the same Luke records the words of Peter. He is preaching his first sermon. The occasion is Pentecost. The sound, a mighty rushing wind. The sight, Tongues of fire resting on the apostles heads. Everyone hearing the messengers speaking in their own tongue. Into this, Peter says, “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” (Acts 2:33)

 

So the gospel of John the Baptist includes a call to a radical change of heart and a hint at the provision to live out a radical change of heart. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Forgiveness for those whose hearts have changed, and power to live upside down to the way they had lived before. All because they have heard the news, “He's here!” and received Him.

 

Now for some closing remarks.

 

The differences between our gospel (eg. Steps to Peace with God) and the Baptist's gospel are stark. Our's centers on the Atonement, His on the person of Christ. The call in our's is to trust in what Jesus did on the cross, The call in His, to live upside down to the way they had lived.

 

There can be lots of reasons for this. Jesus has not died yet. “This was the gospel for them, but for us it's different.” Their expectation of the Messiah was to deliver them from their enemies, and the whole idea of the cross and the atonement was as of yet quite unclear. For John to announce, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” was itself prophetic. There was no way they could get, “Steps to Peace with God.”

 

Over against this is the fact that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not written for the people on the edge of the Jordan. Each of them writes after Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost. They are written for the church.

 

If the argument is to hold, that the Baptist's gospel is a different gospel because it was for a different time, then we will expect to see the proclamation change. As we move towards the cross and beyond, the focus of the Gospel should change until we see the cross at the center.

 

The temptation is to jump ahead and see what the disciples and Paul said in Acts. But we will restrain ourselves and look next at what Jesus said in the rest of the gospels.

 

PostScript

 

After my last postscript, I nearly apologized. I am not wanting to become purely academic, and I hope my heart will stay transparent in these blogs. If you have found this harder to read, I pray that you will still keep reading. This is way more important than what I've said till now. I believe that what I am saying here has huge implications, and therefore need to keep it very thoroughly Biblical. The downside of constant interaction with the Scriptures is that it reads heavier. But it is not light stuff.

 

I will intersperse these posts, with posts interacting with the perceived irrelevance of our current gospel. Those posts will be lighter and easier to read. So stay tuned!

 

Bombshell

I start by giving you excerpts from four Christian leaders that I have read this past week.

 

By David Wilkerson

 

“The church in America is far from what God envisioned it to be. For the most
part, entire denominations today operate without the Holy Spirit. They are
devoid of the presence of Jesus and bankrupt of all spiritual gifts. They
practice a form of religion without any power, conviction or saving message...

The New Testament church made devils tremble! It drove legions of demons into
the abyss, prayed prison doors open, made rulers cringe in fear. Those early
believers had such faith and power that cripples rose up leaping and beggars
became evangelists. They believed in the supernatural and they opened blind
eyes, unstopped deaf ears and healed all manner of diseases. They even raised
the dead!

I am not saying God’s last-day church will be a repeat or copy of the
first-century church. No—I am saying it will be even greater than that! It
will be mightier, stronger, with an ever greater revelation of Jesus. It will
have greater unction from the Spirit than ever—greater even than at
Pentecost! God always saves His best wine for last!”

 

From: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/11/26/is-it-time-to-close-our-churches/

 

“As usual, A.W. Tozer had it exactly right: 'If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.'”

 

From: Christianity Today, October 2009, Cover Story

 

“Evangelicals desperately need moral and spiritual renewal – on that everyone agrees.”

 

From: Francis Chan, “Forgotten God,” page 31

 

“I think the worst part is when you get outside the church's walls and interact with believers and nonbelievers in the same sphere. Can you really tell a difference? If you didn't recognize their faces from church, would you know from their actions and lifestyle that they were followers of Jesus? Honestly, sometimes I am embarrassed by some of my “Christian” neighbors because my unbelieving neighbors seem more joyful, welcoming, and at peace. Why does this happen? And how is it even possible?”

 

This paragraph by Francis Chan was published in 2009, but for me, its sentiments are 25 years old. Fresh out of seminary, in my first church, I walked the streets and asked myself exactly that question. Two houses, same street. One house belongs to people from my church, the other to unbelievers. What's different inside the house? What's different about the church going people from the non church going people, apart from the fact that they go to church?

 

25 years has softened me. I know church people in whom God is alive and well, and I know that even in the NT the church was in a mess. (Take a close look at the church in Corinth). It's not all bad, or all good. Nevertheless, if I step back and look at the church as a whole, the question is still valid. The answer still disturbing. There are a lot of people in church, and a lot of churches, in whom God is not alive and well.

 

25 years ago, Chan's question (mine then, his now) launched a study that has become a life work for me. I was very concerned by what I saw, or better, by what I didn't see. I asked, “Why?” My first thought was that it had to be a general failure of Christians to live Christianly. But instead of starting with what the Bible says about Christian living, I started with a study of what the Bible said about becoming a Christian. I suppose it was because I was a keener, fresh out of seminary, and committed to being thorough. I needed to do a review of the one before I could dig into the other. Kind of like, “I better make sure I have this right, before I go into that.”

 

I laid out some ground rules. I would begin with passages of Scripture that were about becoming a Christian, or that would speak explicitly to the essential difference between Christians and non Christians. I was looking for a starting point that was solid. At that point I fully expected to discover that the gospel I had been taught, was the NT gospel, and that the church people who didn't have the heart or values of Christ were Christians who needed a revival.

 

As I read the NT with fresh eyes, I was surprised and frightened to discover that Jesus and the apostles did not preach the gospel like we (evangelicals) do. Try as I might, I could not find a gospel presentation anywhere in the NT that looked remotely similar to the gospel presentations to which I was accustomed. And this wasn't just a subtle thing or a question of style. There were elements deemed essential to us that weren't in the NT presentations. Conversely there were elements consistently in the NT, completely missing from ours.

 

Fearful then, confident now, I concluded that the church failing to manifest Christ was a product of a gospel robbed of most of its power.

 

The word “gospel” is a translation of a Greek word that means “good news.” The disciples were commanded by Christ to “preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)

 

Obviously, most of the Bible can be read as good news, but for our purposes here, we are talking about something narrow. We are talking about the message evangelicals proclaim to unbelievers in the hope that they would respond and become Christians. Currently there may be a thousand minor variations of this message, but they are close to identical in their substance. This is true across the evangelical spectrum and into some main line Protestant denominations.

 

This gospel is well illustrated by the brochure, “Steps to Peace with God.” I pulled this off of the Billy Graham Evangelistic association web site. The following link will get you to the full text.

 

http://www.billygraham.ca/spiritual-help/steps-to-peace.aspx

Step 1: God's Purpose: Peace and Life

God loves you and wants you to experience peace and life--abundant and eternal.

Step 2: The Problem: Our Separation

God created us in His own image to have an abundant life. He did not make us as robots to automatically love and obey Him. God gave us a will and a freedom of choice. We chose to disobey God and go our own willful way. We still make this choice today. This results in separation from God.

Step 3: God's Bridge: The Cross

Jesus Christ died on the Cross and rose from the grave. He paid the penalty for our sin and bridged the gap between God and people.

Step 4: Our Response: Receive Christ

We must trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and receive Him by personal invitation.

Where are you?

Will you receive Jesus Christ right now?

Here is how you can receive Christ:

• Admit your need (I am a sinner).

• Be willing to turn from your sins (repent).

• Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the Cross and rose from the grave.

• Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit. (Receive Him as Lord and Savior.)

The reason I choose this particular presentation is because it is about the best out there. It's wording is carefully thought through, and some of the excesses of other presentations have been avoided. It includes a kind of repentance, saying we need to be willing to turn from our sins. ( Some leave it out altogether.) It speaks of receiving Christ and giving Him control. (Some speak only of placing our faith in what Jesus did on the cross.) And it mentions that Jesus “rose from the grave.” (a point left out completely by some.)

 

Virtually all evangelicals would ascribe to this basic message in one form or another as “the gospel.” (The one we are called to proclaim to the ends of the earth.) This has been true for at least 50 years, and may even be seen as true in a less refined way, since the Reformation. The church that we grieve over is a product of this message.

 

That doesn't necessarily mean this gospel is flawed. There can be other reasons for the malaise of the church. But at very least we must admit that we hold this gospel in common. A positive response to this message is what gives us our confidence that we belong to God. So, if there is a widespread malaise in the church, at very least, it could be a trajectory that starts here.

 

I don't know of anything more sacred to us than this message. In blogs to come, I am going to say some challenging things – things that are likely to create insecurity and make people angry. It's not that I want to, in fact I will try not to, but I still know that I will. So let me start by making clear what I am not saying.

I believe that God loves us and wants us to experience peace and life--abundant and eternal.

I believe that apart from Christ I am a sinner and that my sin separated me from God.

 

I believe that in His death Christ paid the penalty for my sinfulness and removed the offense that separated me from God.

 

I believe that it is my faith in Christ that secures my place in the family of God.

 

So you see, I subscribe to the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. I am not trying to deny the cross or it's significance to our salvation.

 

On top of that, when I get to heaven, I expect that there will only be a few others there because of my life and ministry. On the other hand, I expect that there will be untold thousands there because of the ministry of Billy Graham, his association, and other like minded ministries and ministers. This fact almost shuts me down.

 

But then I return to what the church is.

 

That's not what it's supposed to be. If I think I have some idea why, how can I keep silent?

 

So in the next weeks and months I plan to say three things:

 

1. We have the gospel wrong. The gospel message that we preach is not the gospel we are told to preach in the NT.

2. The gospel message that we preach is failing to engage the unbelievers of our world – it's viewed as largely irrelevant.

3. The way we preach the gospel, robs it of much of its beauty and all of its integrity.

 

As to 1: The popular gospel is not untrue, and it's not that it's not good news, it's just that it's not the good news that people need to hear and respond to in order to enter into Christ. (I realize that this sounds like a contradiction. “If it's not what people need to hear, then how are thousands going to be in heaven because of it?” I'll answer this later – probably much later.)

 

As to 2: It's not that relevance trumps anything. If we had it right, and our world viewed it as irrelevant, we would just need to suck it up, and do our best to educate our world as to it's relevance. But I happen to believe that if we were more closely aligned with the NT, our world would find us relevant and engaging. Indeed, we would be as impossible to ignore as Jesus was.

 

As to 3: This one matters the most to me, and is the hardest to explain. For me, what one becomes by responding to the gospel is what one is for the rest of his/her eternity. There is no seam between becoming a Christian and living as a Christian. The gospel has integrity because living is integral to being made alive. Dedication is motivated by essence rather than obligation or gratitude. More later.

 

Postscript

 

I haven't posted anything for more than a month. I have come close to posting an apology a number of times. But I think I am backing away from the intention to post once a week. It will likely be that, or more, going forward, but from time to time it may create an artificial need to write something, when in fact I should be carefully reflective. Such has been the case for the last month. I now have a structure for the next months. What I need is the discipline to stay faithful, but not the pressure to produce.

 

So if you are praying for me, pray that I would be effective and disciplined in the use of my time, and that what I would write would be lifegiving to yourself, the church, and the world.

 

This blog also represents a shift. I sense that what I am now writing of has the potential to make a significant contribution to the theology of the gospel. I don't want to write at a level that average laypeople can't get, but I do want to be scholarly enough to engage and strengthen church leaders. I will probably need to work harder at showing how I arrived at my conclusions. We'll see how this works out, and I covet your comments to let me know how I am doing, particularly if I am unclear.

 

A Confession

 

I am very shy about introducing people to Jesus. Give me a funeral to preach, or a marriage to perform, or a Bible Study to lead and I will be bold and clear and winsome. But put me side by side personally with someone who has never met Christ, and short of him asking me directly, I will not usually speak of Christ. And “not usually,” is being generous to me. “Almost never” may be closer to the truth.

 

Why is that?

 

One of my very first blog posts is on the incarnation (December 31, 2005). In it, I journal the illumination of the doctrine of the incarnation to me. That Jesus is and lives is so incredible that it is nearly incredible to me. i.e. It is so amazing, that I struggle to believe it! It is great news! Glorious news! So great that I should not be able to keep it to myself. Yet I do!

 

Why is that?

 

If I want to excuse myself, I would say that it is because I have a very high respect for human autonomy. I do not want to shove anything down anyone's throat, and I don't want to force my way in, where I am not invited. I believe very strongly that you can't coerce or manipulate someone into believing in Jesus. It's whole hearted faith that moves someone into the Kingdom, and whole hearted faith can't be forced. It's a God thing! So I want to be sure that I am not violating someone's humanity by pushing them to Someone in whom they are not interested.

 

I worked in a welding shop for three plus years and in my shy (only when it comes to the gospel) and respectful way gained the respect of everyone there. During that time a Bible thumper came in. And then I heard them talk about him. His “in their faceness” wasn't doing Christ any favors. In fact I think he was pushing the guys away. So I could say that mine was the better way, but it wasn't really. They didn't meet Jesus through me either. They respected me, but didn't get the connection!

 

I think it's just an excuse. I picked up my respect for human freedom from the Bible. Yet, I read there, of prophets and apostles who were both respectful and bold. One can honor another's right to believe and choose for themselves, and still be significantly in their face. In fact, if one of my non Christian associates would meet Jesus, and then discover that I knew Him all along, I think he would be bewildered. I can just hear him, “Why didn't you tell me? News this good, and you kept it from me. Why?”

 

Tastefully bold, is probably important, and I am not.

 

If I wanted to, I could take comfort in the fact that I am not alone. I know lots of Christians who almost never talk about Jesus with their non Christian associates. As a matter of fact, I would say that the majority of us almost never do. (If you don't like “almost never” try “don't usually.”) But that just adds to the question.

 

Why is that?

 

For me, this is particularly embarrassing. I am a specialist in the theology of the Gospel. It's the thing to which I have chosen to give my life. I actually have a lot to say about Jesus and what He has done, and what it means to be a Christian. In fact, I believe the church often gets it significantly wrong. Yet, I am shy about sharing it myself.

 

Why is that?

 

I don't expect to be let off the hook. I think I am guilty as charged and none of what I write in the posts to come is intended to deny that.

 

Nor did I write this, because I wanted to embarrass myself. I wrote this because integrity demands that I don't put on airs. I couldn't give you the impression that I have this in the bag. I want to write about the Good News of Jesus, but I must own the fact that sharing it in practice is still a work in progress.

 

I think that what I write may be helpful.

 

 

Highlights

You need to know yourself as a person who has a holy spirit. You need to be self consciously holy from the inside out. Apart from that, the life that is truly Christian will not be yours. “ (Footnotes, May 25, 2011)

 

That quote captures the gist of the blog post, posted on May 25, 2011. The same is true for all of the quotes following. I haven't bothered to add quotation marks, but with minor edits the following are all quotes that capture the essence of what I was trying to say in the post.

 

It's time to move on. My previous posts have focused on our experience of God. The following posts will focus on reaching out. If this were a book, this would be the end of the first section, and the foundation of the next. I put these all together with the hope that, they will stay in our mind as we talk about outreach.

 

In my dreams, and in my prayers, you will ponder the following prayerfully, returning to the post when necessary, that we may move forward in fellowship with one another.

 

Why I am on Sabbatical, May 29, 2011

 

I am not attracted to Christ by what I see in church, or in the lives of Christians. I don't mean that I see nothing good there, but that from 25 years ago and more my passions and excitement were ignited by what I saw in the Bible. My quest has been a quest to find that which I read of in the pages of the Word.

 

The vision of the Bible is clear to me and breathtaking!

But my experience is not so clear, and certainly not so breathtaking!

 

More Footnotes, June 7, 2011

 

Doing what Jesus commands, without His Spirit, is a radical legalism, that if pursued honestly, will absolutely wipe you out.

 

The point is that every attempt to articulate authentic Christianity apart from an experience of fellowship with Yahweh and with Jesus in the Holy Spirit will fall short of what it is.

 

The faith of the NT is organic, the faith of the church, often transactional.

 

Thinking About the Curse, June 7, 2011

 

Part of the reason for my demoralization is that I have not given appropriate weight to the persistence of the curse. I have had expectations that were too heavenly. I have not groaned enough with creation, or anticipated redemption enough as one who lives in a broken world. I have been blessed to see the good, but too naive to notice that under the lush green cover things were growing that could destroy.

 

A Personal Lament, June 16, 2011

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)

But I have asked and wished for a lot of things that have not been done for me.

 

My experience of God is less than what I see in the Bible. That's why I am demoralized.

A Communal Lament , June 20, 2011

 

That they may be one, just as We are one. (John 17:22b)

Jesus prayer gives me a breathtaking glimpse of what Christian community ought to be. So vivid is this vision to me, that even now as I write the emotions rise in my throat, and the ache intensifies at what could be, but is not.

 

I am sorry, but it is difficult to live in the church and stay charged up. I still believe in it, but my hope, for this life, needs to be renewed.

 

Why would an Old man go to War? June 27, 2011

 

Everything is a fight. My own holiness is a fight. A marriage full of tenderness and intimacy is a fight. A family, vibrant and alive, full of love for each other and the world around, is a fight. A church full of people secure and confident in their relationship with God, full of love and tenderness towards each other, and laying their lives down for others, is a fight.

 

No matter how old, or tired, as long as we have breath, we stand, because the Spirit will not let our spirit go.

 

We are not called to fight forever, but to fight for a moment and live for eternity.

 

The prize is grand, and the consequence of giving up, awful for those we love.

 

We know that intimacy is not gained by demanding it. That violence is not fought with violence. That the insecure are not made secure by being scolded for their insecurity. And that our children will not be kept from the ways of this world by the imposition of our values. It is an irony that standing and fighting is neither lazy nor violent. It's the way of Jesus -- the way of the cross.

 

It's a strange thing really. We know we are at war, and we carry it as a burden, and yet our countenance is not dark, but joyful, our demeanor not frenzied, but peaceful, our hearts not malicious, but loving. Our calling -- to live gloriously in a dark world.

 

Lazarus is not Risen, July 4, 2011

 

There is another way of saying the same thing. If we offer the world only temporary reprieves from sickness and death -- the kind of stuff that Jesus and Peter and Paul did -- it is of no great consequence if they ignore us. (If we offer less than that, maybe they should.) If all Jesus did for Lazarus was give him an extra thirty years, the miracle of his first resurrection becomes a nice touch. But if that resurrection reveals that Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) -- resurrection and life like His... Storm the gates!

When I lament, I am not looking for an easier life now, I am looking for a more Christlike or Peter-like or Paul-like life and a more Acts-like community. A life where it is more obvious that we are connected with God, and where the things we do can not be explained apart from Him. I want to know the faithfulness of God on the battlefield, just like Paul did.

Getting Story Right, July 11, 2011

 

Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you, is for people who have dropped everything to follow. It's for people who are now facing the fact that they must go forward without his shoulder right there. It's for people who need to know the sufficiency of His Spirit in the absence of his flesh. It's for people who are galvanized to spread the kingdom to the ends of the earth, no matter what the cost -- in fact rejoicing if counted worthy to suffer. It's for people who care very little for their own health, wealth, and prosperity.

 

The Drop Everything Heart, July 13, 2011

 

The view is breathtaking, the riches of his storehouse beyond imagination, His grace immeasurable, His kindness without fail, but He will not be one of many. He waits for our whole hearts.

 

Finding My Place in His Story, July 18, 2011

 

I don't mean by this that the average Christian should never experience a miraculous answer to prayer. My wife and I have. But this is written in the context of grappling with John 15 -- “Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.” That was said to the twelve, and it is probably not wise for every Christian to write themselves into the story so that we all have the same part as the twelve. Yes, by all means, God is still resourcing the advancement of His Kingdom as He promised then. But then, it didn't make Martha a miracle worker, and now it doesn't need to make me or you one either. Some of us need to be led of God to pray for signs and wonders, but not all of us.

 

Taking a Step Back, July 25, 2011

 

But God is still a very generous Dad (Mt. 7:8-10). I am completely convinced that normal Christianity consists of churches full of people praying expectantly, and reporting excitedly, the latest escapades of their generous heavenly Father. I am not trying to back away from a very dynamic relationship with the Father through the living Christ. I am still a “wanna be” charismatic!

I think the point is that we need to wish and ask from within His story, and from within our part in His story, instead of a story of our own making. God loves to answer the prayers of His children.

 

If we break company with the Father, by being fixated on comfort now, and apathetic towards glory forever, how will we pray? And how can He answer prayers so inconsiderate of Him?

 

A Little Prayer, August 1, 2011

 

There is excitement in the knowledge that my life can bless Him -- childlike excitement! A great part of the reason I write these blogs is the warmth I imagine in His eyes as He reads them.

You should try that little prayer, and see what it creates for you.

 

A Glorious Reality -- Poorly Described, September 8, 2011

 

(This post was intended as the grand finale of the previous five posts on, “Why God doesn't answer My Prayers. Poorly written, It doesn't do justice to the glorious reality of a relational prayer life, but maybe words can't!)

 

Anyways, the thing about the last five posts is that, What we can expect of God, is not just about God. It's also about us. We impact what He does. That's a profoundly beautiful thing.

My daughter's faith in me is a product of her knowing me. That I exist is obviously easy. But that I will answer her request, that's dependent on what she is asking. The more she knows me, the more confident to ask, or, on the other hand, to refrain from asking. It is the same with our heavenly Father. Not being double minded is a product of knowing His heart, not pumping up our own.

 

What becomes obvious about this, is that prayer and answered prayer is a complicated relational interplay between the heart of the father and the heart of the child. Neither heart is unimportant.

 

If we take the five previous posts as a check list (five things I must do to get God to say, “Yes”) we miss all of this.

 

Knowing Him becomes the foundation of our praying.

The Life I am Looking For, September 13, 2011

 

We call the life of a calf and a herd of cattle, a tomato plant and a garden, organic life. We also call the Christian life and the life of a church organic life.

 

Organic life is not the product of getting one, or even two things right.

 

So if I am looking for churches that are vibrant, I don't expect them to be carbon copies of each other. Organic life is too dynamic for that. I expect a range of experience. Dry times and times when God is moving more obviously. Struggles with bondage to sin, and glorious deliverances from sin. Immature expressions of faith and seasoned ones. Loud people and quiet people. People nursing wounds, and people healed.

There is however one difference between the garden, the herd, and the church. Take the life out of the calf and the carcass rots and returns to the soil. Take the life out of the plant and it dries up and returns to the soil. Take Spiritual life out of the man and he can keep living morally and self righteously for years. Take Spiritual life out of the church and it carries on as a religious organization for decades.

 

Discipline, September 21, 2011

And then God says that He does the same for us. (Heb 12:4-11, Romans 8:28,29) Maybe He would say, I let you get hungry, or I let you go bankrupt, or, I let your child die, or, I let your friends forsake you, or, I let you get cancer. His end goal is not our comfort and security now. His end goal is our faithfulness and obedience now and our fellowship forever.

My cows don't always like their experience of me either.

 

Finishing Touches, September 30, 2011

 

God has relationships with communities, and sometimes our experience of Him will have more to do with who we are with, than with how we are, with Him.

 

Sometimes our experience of God is for the sake of those who follow us. He is not just training us, but also our children and grandchildren. Our struggles, become the foundation of their faithfulness.

 

God does stuff in our lives for the sake of those who follow us and because of those who have gone before.

 

God and the evil one are battling for the souls of men. For that reason He trusts some of His best to experience some of the worst.

 

An individualistic read of life doesn't work. We belong to communities, come from generations past, and lead to generations to come, all the while being watched and acted upon by those in the angelic realm, for purposes bigger than our own well being.

Finishing Touches

I wonder what Daniel prayed as a captive of Nebuchadnezzar en route to Babylon. Pulled away from family, and country and a life of privilege, knowing that He is not free, what did he say to God?

 

You might think I am leading to, “He asked God for deliverance. For rescue, for swift return to his homeland, for safety from his oppressors.”

 

The truth is, “I don't know.” Daniel impresses me as a man of amazing faith. He seemed to have a connection with God that made it normal for him to go to God for information about what was coming. Maybe he knew what God was doing, and didn't pray against it. Or,maybe he begged God for deliverance and didn't get it.

 

But the line of thinking for today takes a different turn.

 

However Daniel prayed on the road, he landed in Babylon, an exile. Right off, he demonstrates his faithfulness to Yahweh by politely requesting a diet of vegetables to keep from having to eat the unclean meat being served.

 

I suppose we could posit a dramatic conversion on the road, but it is more likely that the life of exceptional faith and faithfulness that we see in the book of Daniel, was already begun as a youth in Jerusalem.

 

Daniel was not a captive in Babylon because of anything that he did. He was a captive in Babylon because the nation that he belonged to – Judah – had practiced centuries of idolatry, and God was now curing them of their duplicity through the Babylonians.

 

So wicked nation, faithful remnant. Yet a trophy of the faithful remnant – Daniel – is one of the first captives. His experience of God was profound, and lifelong, but he never got to go back home. The captivity – also from the hand of God – was his to endure along with his unfaithful countrymen, through no fault of his own.

 

God has relationships with communities, and sometimes our experience of Him will have more to do with who we are with, than with how we are, with Him.

 

There is another twist to this. Another glimpse of Deuteronomy 8. It goes like this:

 

I (Yahweh) let you get hungry so that you would cry out to me.

 

I answered your cry with Manna so that you would learn to trust me as provider.

 

I attached strict instructions to the collection of Manna so that you would know that My provision is dependent on obedience -- that life does not consist just in the eating, but also in the obeying of every word that comes from My mouth.

 

I did all of that so that when you come to the land of Canaan -- the land flowing with milk and honey – and you stop collecting and rather earn your living by the work of your own hands -- you will still see me as provider and my word as your life.

 

The whole point of Me letting you get hungry is to train you to trust Me and obey Me even when it is not as obvious that I am your provider.

 

That was His point, now here is my point.

 

Deuteronomy 8 is written at the end of the forty years of collecting Manna (Deut 8:4).

The letting them get hungry happened when they had only been in the dessert for 1.5 months (Exodus 16:1-3). The collecting, (and not having clothes wear out) happened for the next 40 years. During that time all the adults who came out of Egypt died. (Numbers 14:20-35 -- everyone over 20 at the time of the Exodus except Joshua and Caleb) The people who experienced the land of milk and honey were children and grandchildren of the ones who God let get hungry.

 

The children and grandchildren and great grand children learn to trust and obey God because of the experience of God had by their great grandparents in the wilderness.

 

Sometimes our experience of God is for the sake of those who follow us. He is not just training us, but also our children and grandchildren. Our struggles, become the foundation of their faithfulness.

 

But it also goes the other way. Daniel was in Babylon because of the unfaithfulness of the generations that went before him. And the families that were gloriously delivered from bondage in Egypt were so delivered because of the prayers and faithfulness of their grandparents (now dead). That faithfulness being maintained while experiencing the drowning of their baby boys. That faithfulness being possible because of the faithfulness of Yahweh who had entered covenant with Abraham 400 years earlier.

 

God does stuff in our lives for the sake of those who follow us and because of those who have gone before.

 

And then there is one yet more bizarre explanation for what we experience of God. Job.

 

Apparently there is some kind of rivalry between God and Satan. God brags about Job to Satan (Job 1:8). Satan counters with, “That's just because you are so generous to him.” To which God says, “Go ahead, take it all away!” All of which, Job is unaware.

 

But he loses everything – wealth and children.

 

And he keeps his faith (Job 1:21)

 

Satan ups the ante, and says that Job's faithfulness remains only because he still has his health. Then God allows him to take that away as well (Job 2:4-6).

 

Now, covered in boils, sitting on the ash heap, Job's three friends come and try to explain the reason for Job's very negative experience of God, all of them attributing it to something wrong in Job.

 

Not so. Job's suffering is because of his faithfulness, and because he can be trusted as a showcase for the angelic realm.

 

Our experience of God can be designed for angels to rejoice in, or for Satan and his demons to gnash their teeth on (I know, they don't have teeth.). It may not even be about us. God will use it for us, but that doesn't have to be His starting point.

 

God and the evil one are battling for the souls of men. For that reason He trusts some of His best to experience some of the worst. (cf Christ, Stephen, all of the twelve disciples, and the countless martyrs in the pages of history.)

 

An individualistic read of life doesn't work. We belong to communities, come from generations past, and lead to generations to come, all the while being watched and acted upon by those in the angelic realm, for purposes bigger than our own well being.

 

An Important Footnote

 

Why do I use Old Testament examples to understand New Testament experience? Doesn't Pentecost teach that our experience of God ought to be superior to theirs?

 

I use the OT because I Corinthians 10:6 says that these things happened as examples for us. We are to take our lead from them.

 

But Yes, Pentecost does teach that things are different now. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both more intense and broader than it was then. Our experience of God ought to be more obvious than theirs, or at least more obvious than the average OT experience.

 

Having said that, it doesn't mean more cushy. There is more of everything. More persecution. More relational tension in divided families. More opportunity to lay down our lives. More miraculous intervention. More prophetic word. More discerning of spirits, and more fruit of the Spirit.

 

On the other hand there is I Thessalonians 4:11 -- “and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you.” Lust for the spectacular is not Christian either.

 

Discipline

In the winter, even on days when it's -40, I make my cows walk, sometimes up to 600 meters, for water. Everyday they walk. If they could talk, what would they say? “What's with this guy, doesn't he know how cold it is? Why not put the water by the feed, or close to the bedding and the shelter? He doesn't make sense. Sometimes he has us grazing lush green second cut alfalfa in pure comfort, and now this!”

 

If I could talk, I would say, “You need exercise to stay healthy. If I put the water close to the feed, your day would consist of a few steps to feed, a few steps to water, and the rest of the time laying in the bedding by the windbreak. By the end of winter you would have very poor muscle tone. Then when you needed to give birth to your calves, some of you would struggle, and some of your calves would die.”

 

I am their shepherd, and I make them work, and create scenarios where they are not comfortable. Yet, I am a good shepherd.

 

The Lord has me pondering the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings of Israel. (Read the book of Exodus) Back when I was writing about fasting, I spent time in Deuteronomy 8, and my mind has returned their often.

 

Talk about a people who experienced miracles. First they watch while God shows off to the Egyptians. 10 massive plagues that make it obvious that Yahweh is vastly more powerful than the false gods of Egypt. Then God puts the cloud between them and the Egyptians while He dries out a pathway through the bottom of the Red Sea so that the whole entourage can pass through the Sea without difficulty. (He didn't actually have to bring them to the Sea in the first place.) Yahweh moves the cloud, so the Egyptian cavalry  can see where the Israelites went, and they race in after them. When they are all in the bottom of the Red Sea, He messes with their driving skills so they crash into each other and can't continue. Realizing that Yahweh is doing it, they work at turning their chariots around in the bottom of the Red Sea in order that they might flee back to Egypt. While doing this, God changes the wind so the walls of water return to normal and the Sea returns to what it was. The Egyptian army is drowned.

 

The people watch from the shore without lifting a finger.

 

Add to this the daily reality of a specially made cloud leading them, and the nightly reality of a pillar of fire (EX 13:21,22), and they are clearly a community blessed with a supernatural experience of God – a charismatic community.

 

Following immediately after all of this, they are led three days into the wilderness of Sin (geography, not behavior) and the text says, “and found no water.” I am not sure whether this means they went three days walking without water, or that they carried some water and it ran out. In any case, by the end of the third day they were desperate for water. (I can feel my dry and parched throat when I have worked hard in the hot sun for an afternoon without a water bottle.)

 

In the past, when I have read these stories, I have read them as glory stories. Glorious plagues leading to them plundering Egypt and being set free. Glorious deliverance from the Egyptian cavalry and army through the Red Sea. Glorious provision of water at Marah. And then quail, and manna, and victory and... They are glory stories.

 

But from the perspective of the Israelites they were also stories of desperation. Desperate oppression and bondage in Egypt. Desperate danger on the bank of the Red Sea. Desperate thirst, and desperate hunger. At one level it is not unreasonable to complain if you have been without water for three days, or if you are short of food, or if you are about to get killed.

 

Worse yet, think about Moses' parents. They and all their friends and neighbors and relatives live their lives as slaves under unreasonable task masters, complete with the order to kill their male newborns by drowning them in the Nile. Their prayers for deliverance go unanswered. Moses is 80 when he returns from exile. His parents would have died suffering, knowing only that he had been run out of the country.

 

I have fallen in love with Deut 8:3: “He humbled you and let you be hungry...” “that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” It's all about training (Deut 8:5). God is working to create a people of faith, who will remain faithful apart from a charismatic experience.

 

Look at the downside He is working to avoid. “Otherwise you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'” (Deut 8:17)

 

What would cause that? They are going into a land flowing with milk and honey where they will farm and prosper, and have a rich and varied diet, and build nice homes, all without miraculous intervention. They will do it by the work of their own hands. (Deut 8:7-14)

 

So he takes them through repeated cycles of desperation and deliverance. He provides them with daily food and with clothing that does not wear out. All to cement in their hearts that it is He upon whom they depend and not their own circumstances or their own ingenuity or the work of their own hands.

 

The wilderness is elementary school for the Israelites. Get the basics down so that you can build on them for the rest of your lives and for the rest of your descendants lives. “Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” (Deut. 8:5)

 

And then God says that He does the same for us. (Heb 12:4-11, Romans 8:28,29) Maybe He would say, “I let you get hungry,” or “I let you go bankrupt,” or, “I let your child die,” or, “I let your friends forsake you,” or, “I let you get cancer.” His end goal is not our comfort and security now. His end goal is our faithfulness and obedience now and our fellowship forever.

 

My cows don't always like their experience of me either.

 

The Life I am Looking For

In the cool of the evening I walk amongst my cows and calves, and the calves run kicking up their heels. They stop, turn towards me for a moment, only to be off again in the opposite direction, some of them facing off with each other in mock battle, while others race to an imagined finish line, only to abort and race again. They are not afraid and running from me, and they have no place to go. Their mothers, unconcerned about my presence in their midst, peacefully graze or lay chewing their cuds. So why do they run?

 They run because they are alive. Not dull, ears droopy, struggling, barely alive. But vibrant, shiny, too much energy, full of life, alive. So alive that it has to come out somewhere.

 What made them like that?

 In the early part of the day I walk in my wife's garden. The leaves of her vegetables are dark green and glistening in the early morning sun. Everywhere I look things are lush and beautiful. The tomatoes, planted a full five feet apart have grown so that you can't walk between them. Heavy with fruit, some red, some green, and some still in blossom, you have to gingerly find a spot where foot will do no harm. Why are they so lush and fruitful?

 They are lush and fruitful because they are vibrant, healthy, full of life. All is well, and they thrive.

 So what makes up, “All is well.” What does that look like?

 We call the life of a calf and a herd of cattle, a tomato plant and a garden, organic life. We also call the Christian life and the life of a church organic life.

 We use the word, “organic,” because both the individual and the church are alive and function in ways that are similar to other living organisms. We become Spiritually alive when we experience new birth. We thrive when a number of spiritual components are all working together. The church needs a shepherd more than it needs a CEO. Growth happens from reproduction rather than acquisition, takeover, or marketing. Reproduction should be a by product of health, just like it is with tomatoes or cows.

 The Old Testament uses the word “shalom.” It's a word that describes soul health. Sometimes translated “peace,” it implies wholeness. Someone who can say with a deep sigh, from somewhere deep in the belly, “It is well with my soul,” is experiencing “shalom.”

 My blog posts so far have been a lot about the search for soul health -- a product of a daily communion with God. I have spent much time asking what a “normal” experience of God looks like. As I have written, it has become obvious that the full range of normal is not experienced alone. So the quest is for a soul healthy community -- like a healthy garden, or a healthy herd of cattle.

 For my calves to skip, they need to have the right combination of protein, energy, fiber, minerals, and vitamins. They need to have good grass to eat, clean water to drink, freedom from predators, the absence of overwhelming viruses or bacteria, and good weather.

 For my wife's garden to thrive it needs to have good soil microbiology (lots of worms and cell life), good soil structure (not too loose or too compact), good soil fertility (the right mix of nutrients) good soil moisture, freedom from weeds, and lots of sunshine.

 Organic life is not the product of getting one, or even two things right.

 In the garden, good nutrition, no water, dead plants. Good nutrition, good moisture, compact soil, the roots can't go down, small spindly plants. Good everything, lots of weeds, choked out plants.

 In my cattle, good nutrition and a bad virus or bacteria produces dead calves. High protein but poor energy and not enough fiber and you get diarrhea. Good everything with a wolf in the pen and you get a herd huddled together or running around in panic neither grazing or chewing their cud.

 In our churches, instead of looking for this dynamic and healthy mix, we often polarize. One community is very good at praying expectantly and seeing God's divine intervention in people's lives. But the same church makes the sick and dying feel guilty for being sick and dying. People are devastated by tragedy. Standing opposite to them is a church that doesn't pray in faith much, but is able to go with people through suffering. Sometimes they look like they are scratching the edges of Deism. Yet another is very good at reaching out to the poor, but not very good at telling them about Jesus and seeing God birth a new spirit in them. Standing opposite to them is a church that is so concerned about getting people saved from their sin, that they pay little attention to their suffering. Still another believes passionately that salvation is God's work, but does very little to save people.

 It seems like we want to be specialists. We specialize in the sovereignty of God, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the importance of right doctrine, living holy lives, social justice... I understand most of those specialties, and I am even very good at some of them. But I am after vibrancy.

 I feel like at times my posts misrepresent me. You might think I am fixated on miracles. It's not actually true. It's just that the central feature of a dead church is the absence of God. God does a lot more than intervene miraculously, and some of His miraculous intervening (Spirit gives birth to spirit) is not immediately visible. I know that and rejoice in it.

 It's hard to write about.

 In my calves I know what I am looking for, but if you came with me, how would I tell you? “That calf's eyes are dull.” “Why are his eyes dull.” “Fighting pneumonia.” “That calf's eyes are dull.” “Fighting pneumonia?” “No, mother doesn't have enough milk.” “The hair coat on these cattle isn't shiny enough.” “Why?” “Probably a mineral deficiency” These aren't shiny enough either.” “Why?” “Not enough energy in the grass.” “So how do you know when they are well?” “Shiny hair coat, bright eyes, excess energy... I sense it as soon as I am with them.”

 So you come to me and ask, how can I make my calves skip like your's do? What's the formula?

 I answer, “There is no formula?” There are all these components, but on top of that there is a range within which they can thrive. They can thrive in a variety of temperatures, with a variety of feeds, and a variety of settings. Their immune system can handle a significant level of viral attack, but not too much. They can go with marginal feed, but not for too long. They can be frightened for a moment and recover without negative impact, but stress them everyday and they will struggle.

 So if I am looking for churches that are vibrant, I don't expect them to be carbon copies of each other. Organic life is too dynamic for that. I expect a range of experience. Dry times and times when God is moving more obviously. Struggles with bondage to sin, and glorious deliverances from sin. Immature expressions of faith and seasoned ones. Loud people and quiet people. People who live out of their emotions and people who live out of their heads. People nursing wounds, and people healed.

 There is however one difference between the garden, the herd, and the church. Take the life out of the calf and the carcass rots and returns to the soil. Take the life out of the plant and it dries up and returns to the soil. Take Spiritual life out of the man and he can keep living morally and self righteously for years. Take Spiritual life out of the church and it carries on as a religious organization for decades.

 The answer to my lament is just a life and a church that is obviously full of life. The easiest way to see that is in the miraculous. But it's not the only way, and maybe not even the best way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Glorious Reality, Poorly Described

By now, it should be obvious that this blog is a lot about what we can expect of God. There is an English fellow who left a comment on my Facebook, calling this an “honest to God blog.” I like that. It's important to me that I don't spin my experience to match the Bible. I want to take the Bible at face value, and I want to present my life at face value. If my life experience is less than what God in Christ offers, (and I think it is) I would much sooner be an honest seeker than a pious pretender. (You can't be both ya know.)

(By the way, if you leave comments here, rather than on Facebook, I may eventually find the discipline and the time to publish them and reply to them, or at least some of them.)

So what can we expect of God?

The answer to that is much easier after the culmination of His story. When the last enemy is abolished, and Satan is cast into the bottomless pit... No more sorrow, no more pain, streets of gold, fruit trees... A creation made for us, and us for it, as the home in which we dwell with Him.

Maybe it's not so easy. But at least we are not left wondering how much darkness and pain will be normal, and how much God not intervening is to be expected.

I am considering retitling my blog, “Life in the Raw.” That's actually a triple entendre. (Or is it a double double) Ha! My spell checker doesn't even know that entendre is a word, and I have only heard of double entendres. Never a triple entendre. But I digress.

Anyways, the thing about the last five posts is that “What we can expect of God,” is not just about God. It's also about us. We impact what He does. That's a profoundly beautiful -- better glorious – thing.

In the church, attitudes toward prayer and what we can expect of God often fall into one of two extremes:

1) What God does depends on our faith. And, 2) What God does is up to Him. In fact, both extremes are true, but believing one to the exclusion of the other, is a recipe for spiritual disaster.

If we believe that what God does only depends on our faith, then mustering up faith becomes our highest priority. So block out all negative speak, stay away from negative people, declare yourself to already possess God's intervention even if you don't. Do whatever you can to pump up or hold on to faith, because what God does depends on it. Prayers in this tradition are usually very specific, and filled with the expectation that God is very committed to us and to intervening on our behalf (which He is). But when He doesn't, or isn't yet intervening, we pretend that He is. Our children, or unbelievers looking on, get very turned off by what appears to them to be rank dishonesty. And many of us grow disillusioned when we muster up all the faith we can, and it doesn't work.

The truth is that no matter how much faith we muster up, we are not going to change the day of Christ's return. And if we don't change the day of Christ's return, we are not going to put an end to death. And if we aren't going to put an end to death, we aren't going to put an end to dying. Back to previous posts. Miracles are only temporary reprieves, and mustering up faith isn't going to change that.

But there is another problem with this one sided belief. It gets faith wrong.

Imagine this fictitious conversation with my daughter. “Hey Dad, I am hoping to ask you for something next week.” “Oh, why next week.” “Well, this is dear to me and I really want you to give it to me, but this week, I am not sure you will, so I am going to spend some time building up my faith so that you will say, “Yes.” “And you think that if you're more convinced, I will be more likely to give you what you want.” “Yes.” “Hmm, if I want to give you what you ask for, why would I not give it to you this week? And if I don't want to give it to you, how is your faith going to change that? Why does it depend on the fervor of your faith instead of the desires of my heart.?”

Jesus says, “Faith like a mustard seed.” Hebrews says we must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him. Neither of them imply heroic faith building exercises as a prerequisite. The simple reality is that we see through a glass darkly, and because we are inclined to operate by sight, faith, even mustard seed faith is a challenge.

To put it another way, a dynamic and precious prayer life requires nothing more than the kind of relationship that exists between a good earthly father and his child.

My daughter's faith in me is a product of her knowing me. That I exist is obviously easy. But that I will answer her request, that's dependent on what she is asking. The more she knows me, the more confident to ask, or, on the other hand, to refrain from asking. It is the same with our heavenly Father. Not being double minded is a product of knowing His heart, not pumping up our own.

Sometimes, we are not even confident that He exists. Often, we don't know how He feels about our requests. But we make a huge mistake if we think we can manipulate Him by blocking out any thought of him saying, “No.”

Then again, imagine this conversation with a different daughter – this time by email from a foreign country.

“Dear Dad, if it would be your will, please bless me.” “Of course I want to bless you. What would you like?” “Oh, just whatever you think I need.” “Well, I have already given you life, and advice, and food, shelter, and financial support, so what else were you thinking?” “It doesn't matter, just whatever you think.” “Why, don't you tell me exactly what you would like.” “You might not like it, and I don't want to be disappointed.”

This one is not better than the first. While completely non manipulative and respectful. She is not very confident of my heart, not really convinced that I want to be in the details, and afraid that I will disappoint her, she is careful to frame her relationship with me to avoid rejection.

What became clear to me, as I wrote the last five posts, is that I could take my own imperfect fathering and see it as a dim mirror of His glorious fathering. I respond to my children with favor, and I can only assume that His fathering is ten times better.

So let's try some other requests.

“Dad, can I help you haul cattle this afternoon.”

That will almost certainly be a “yes”. There is very little more pleasant to me than trips with truck and trailer and daughter at side, interspersed with working together, loading or unloading. But if Mom is sick, or tired and needing help, it could be, “No, I think Mom needs you more.” My answer could possibly be impacted by the needs of another family member.

“Dad, can I have the car to go to town?”

Depends on the daughter. Some need to be encouraged to get out and live a little, and others need to be encouraged to live less frivolously. Still others would not be safe with the car, and would endanger the lives of others.

Notice that it's never about the car.

“Dad, can you help me with my homework?”

Most times a “Yes.” But then in some cases I would be very careful that I wasn't being made to do the thinking for the child. In other cases, I would be purposefully breaking it down for the child to facilitate success. And sometimes I would say, “No,” because I was busy and knew that the child could do it on her own. Of course our heavenly Father is incredibly busy, but never too busy to attend to one of His children.

What becomes obvious about this is that prayer and answered prayer is a complicated relational interplay between the heart of the father and the heart of the child. Neither heart is unimportant. Because the Father's heart is full of grace and truth, His responses are going to be full of grace. (Though not at the expense of truth.) Our hearts matter to Him, big time, so He answers accordingly!

If we take the five previous posts as a check list (five things I must do to get God to say Yes) we miss all of this. If we see them as snapshots of a much bigger relationship, then our imagination is the only limit for the beauty of the big picture. (I.e. It's more beautiful than we can imagine.) Knowing Him becomes the foundation of our praying.

This is my desire. That I would so know Him and what He is about, and that my heart would be so knit to His, that my prayers would be a mirror image of His heart. Jesus said, that He only did what the father was doing. I want his intervention in my life and in the life of my family and community to stand as a beacon to the fact that He lives.

Oh Ya. And I want to do more than a normal human could do. I want my doing to be utterly dependent on His communion with me and mine with Him.