“Christianity uses ritual, but it is not ritual; it has beliefs, but it is not a belief; it has institutions, but it is not an institution.  In its deepest meaning it is person giving itself Person, life to Life.”

-E. Stanley Jones

How many times have you, or have you seen, people nod off during a sermon?  Check this out…

“…Paul…prolonged his speech (sermon) until midnight.  There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.  And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer.  And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.”  –Acts 20:7-9

Paul, was preaching up a storm.  He was doing it because he was going to leave them the next day and wanting to tell them all he could.  But, one well intended listener nodded off and actually feel out the window!  I know it is tragic, but it is sort of humorous.  I mean, during the sermon, this guy fell out the window and died.  Imagine that scene.

But with great tenacity, Paul, then goes down to where the man fell and raised him back to life.  What courage!  What boldness!  What confidence in who God is and what His power can do.

I remember a time when I was preaching in a church and an older fella was sort of nodding off, and then started convulsing and it looked like he was having a stroke, and then he fainted.  It caused a great commotion and I stood in the pulpit speechless.  I felt terrified.  What am I to do here?  I remember connecting eyes with my wife for guidance and she sort of hinted for me to pray.  So, I prayed for the man…from the pulpit… and then the ambulance showed up.

I was terrified. Paul was not.  I was frightened.  Paul was not.  I lacked confidence.  Paul did not.  I was afraid of what people where thinking of me.  Paul could care less.

Interesting what God can reveal through nodders

I love this thought.  It brings in some many little things.  David served. We are called to serve.  Our live is meant to be given away.  Now, a good thought for us comes like this…we are to give ourselves away to others.  True.  But since we are sinners this becomes a bit hard, and not always motivating, right?  But what if, we approached it from the idea of our service being geared at glorifying God? When we seek to Glorify God, we should in a natural sense, give our lives to others, because ultimately, what we do to others we do to Jesus.  But we do it, to make God known, ultimately.

Notice the agenda of David’s service.  It was God’s purposes.  David sought to serve God’s agenda, his purpose, his drive, his dream.  David strove to be faithful to bring God glory…that is why God called him a man after his own heart. He wanted God to be known, which was getting at the heart of God.  David was faithful to God’s purposes.  He blew quite often, but he was quick to get back on track.  He understood what his trajectory was and he continually tried to align himself to it.

But David did this during/in his own generation. Not his father’s generation, not how it was done, but exactly how it needed to be done then and there.  It was contextualized specifically to those he lead.  He served to meet the needs to were prevalent then and there.  It also hints at the fact that David did in the here and now of his life.  Not tomorrow, but today.

How are we serving?  What is the driving motivation?  What agenda is it based on?  How are we considering glorifying God in our present time and culture?  How are we contextualizing God’s beauty now?

This word is heavy.  In fact, I believe it is one of those misused, misunderstood, and carelessly used words in the Christian vernacular.  Give God the glory.  I live for God’s glory.  Glory to God.  That was glorious.  What does this mean?  What does it mean to live for the Glory to God?  How would this reform how we live?

Steven Hawthorne says it this way, “to glorify someone is to recognize their intrinsic worth and beauty, and to speak of that feature in a public way.  To glorify God is to praise God or to speak of Him openly and truthfully.”

Think about what we say in the Lord’s prayer… “Hallowed be thy name”   In other words, Father, lift up, single out, exalt, manifest, and reveal your name to everyone.  Cause other’s to know you!

Hmmm…Worldwide fame…witnessing…evangelism?  What is at the heart of evangelism?  Guilt ridden obligation?  A deep concern for those who don’t know Jesus?  Or for God’s glory?

Acts 4:20, “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  They were glorifying God.

Simple thought…How can you change the desire in your life for God’s glory?

more to come on this…

Think about this question for a bit.  I want to encourage you to be honest about it.  Do you really like God?  What do we typically do to people/things we like?  We desire to participate in them.  We want to be with them.  You get the idea.  I like golf (wife would say love).  Now, when I think about golf (probably too much), I don’t say to myself, “I really should go golfing”.  That “should” is more of a guilt word, right?  I should, because I normally don’t do it enough because I know that it is the right thing to do.  Rather, I actually think about when I can go golfing and why I don’t do it more because I love it.

How often do we think about the “shoulds” with God?  ”I know, I should really spend more time with Him…”  You see what I mean?  I should read my Bible.  I should pray more. I should go to church, or even like going to church…on and on we can go.

How tragic!  I was thinking about this with my wife.  What would her response be if I thought like this and even acted it out?  When we participate in that activity that we “should” do, we don’t do it with anticipation or excitement or true desire.  That object really gets the left overs loaded in our self-guilt.  I am pretty confident my wife would get tired of this after a while and finally feel unloved by me.

Do you like God?

Maybe it is the way you view how we need to spend time with God that has led you to be in the world of “should” rather than want.  For instance, quiet time in the morning or other prescribed disciplines and methods.

Remember, God gave you desires and unique personality.  Let me ask…Can I engage with God when I golf?  Heck yes!  Try this out…do what you like to do and do it with God.  Sure the Bible and prayer and vitally important, but do it in a way that is enjoyable to YOU.  There is no method to this (I know the church, and even I prescribe such methods…honest helps though).

Wouldn’t you rather like God than fear or feel guilty?

Taste and See that the Lord is indeed Good!

I can’t seem to get off of this verse.  This phrase is extremely loaded.  So much so, I had to write on it again.

Just to set the scene, this is Jacob saying this about his brother Esau.  The background here is simply complex.  Jacob deceived his dad and brother in order to get the older son blessing (Jacob was the youngest).  He acted as Esau in order to get it.  He also took advantage of Esau earlier to get his birth-rights to be the elder by provided food which Esau was famished.  May not seem like a big deal, but it was back then.  Esau, basically wanted to kill Jacob.  So Jacob takes off to a relatives land and stays there for 14 plus years.  He leaves that land to return to his home land.  On his journey back home, he had to encounter his brother.

So, Jacob freaks out.  He tries to buy or soften Esau’s anger by giving him luxurious gifts.  Then after a night Jacob encounters his brother.  What Esau did next was unexpected not only to Jacob, but to us readers. He embraced him and wept.  He accepted him.  He forgave him.  Jacob’s response is in essence, “I have seen the face of God”.

This reminds me of the prodigal son story that Jesus taught in Luke 15.  The total acceptance, forgiveness, and embrace over the son who betrayed the Father, shamed the Father, wished the Father dead, is absolutely scandalous.  No way around this!

This is grace in action.  To me, grace is best experienced and understood by acceptance and forgiveness.  In fact, allow me to take it one step further.  Could it be said that by accepting and forgiving, we can see God best?

If this is true, is there someone you are not accepting?  Someone you are not forgiving?  What if you did?  Do you believe you should?  I am willing to bet, that if you did, if they knew it or not, they will see the face of God.

As it says in the New Testament, God’s kindness leads many to repentance.  Why?  Because they begin to see God for who He really is.

“For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.”   Genesis 33:10

I tend to understand Grace best in the context of relationships.  Sure, I can say (and its true) that it is by God’s grace that I can breathe and even type a silly blog like this.  Ya, that’s grace, because from a sin and holiness perspective, I (and you…really) don’t deserve life.  But I experience and understand Grace best in the context of relationships.  The more intimate the relationship, the more that grace is needed.  Isn’t that true?  Why?  Because the more one knows you, the more likely they are going to realize that your poop stinks too and that you will more than likely hurt them.  Its true and unfortunate (maybe its fortunate b/c we get to experience grace) that we tend to hurt the ones we love most.

Grace.  Acceptance.  Undeserved love.  Where’s the twist? It comes in the act of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is what makes relationships grow.  Forgiveness is what makes our insecurities into strengths.  Forgiveness spawns from grace and such undeserved love creates a seed bed of hope.

In my marriage, I have experience grace more than I can express.  Such grace has launched me into hope and change (not like the Obama campaign, this is realistic…I like Obama by the way).  In fact, the more I experience Grace I come to understand, know, and actually SEE God.

Check this out, Jacob, when he confronts his brother Esau after many years, whom he has deceived and stoled from in his earlier years, was freaking out thinking that Esau would take him down.  However, when Esau sees Jacob, he embraces him and weeps.  Jacob responds by saying this, “For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me” (Gen. 33:10).  Jacob had an encounter with God previously, and in that encounter he realizes that God accepts/accepted him.  The embrace of grace, the twist, became an experience where Jacob again saw the FACE OF GOD.

Interesting…

Grace. Relationships. Forgiveness….. Twist them together…. It is like seeing the face of God!

We have been in pursuit of this house since March.  We signed the purchase agreement and started the whole process.  After 45 days, no progress.  We missed our closing date and the seller dropped us.  We are back at square 1.  We prayed.  We asked.  We striven after it.  It still isn’t over, but what I am discovering in this process is quite interesting.

Let me bring in a character from the Old Testament.  His name is Jacob.  Here is a man who has, as it says in Genesis 32:28, striven with God and with men.  Jacob has had to strive after his dreams and desires.  For instance to marry the gal who stole his heart.  He had to work 7 years for her, and then found out her daddy deceived him and he had to work another 7 years (dowry) to be able to marry her.  Then he had to strive to leave her family.  He also had to strive to leave with what was rightfully his.  God then told him, promised him, to go back to the land of his father and that there, God will bless him and do nothing but good.

Well, on his way home, he has to encounter his brother who he has deceived in taking his inheritance.  You could say that Jacob had a right to be scared because big brother is pissed.  On his journey,  Jacob prays asking for safety and then in this striving, he takes matters into his own hand and splits up his camp in hopes to appease his brother.  If Jacob trusted God, why would he do that?

But then he has to wrestle with God…all night…hip out of socket…striving…he prevails.  Throughout this wrestling match, Jacob realizes at the end it is best to be blessed by God.  That is best.  Strive after that.

Ok, how does this intersect?  Honestly, I don’t know.  But, it makes me think about what am I really striving after.  The house (which is a good thing) or more to be blessed by God (not that I have to earn it…confusing…I know).  How do I know if my striving after the house has gone bad?  Well, I am getting bitter, frustrated, mad (at God mind you), not content with my pay, etc. etc. etc.  Hmmmm…maybe I am taking matters into my own hand.  Wouldn’t trusting in God lead me into rest?  I think so.

In the words of Bono, “What you don’t have you don’t need it now”

Freedom is one of the greatest gifts that we have.  In America, we defend and fight for freedom.  Freedom is the bedrock of our democracy, which enables all to have “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration of Independence).  We desire to be free in order to become who we are created to be.  We seek to pursue the career of our choosing.  We desire to date, or marry, the one that we choose.  We desire to engage God without a set of rules and regulations.  Freedom is something that we all desire because God created that desire in us.  The apostle Paul writes, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery,” (Galatians 5:1) to remind us that God desires for us to be free, especially in relation to God.

In college, if you haven’t heard it already, many will argue that Christianity is the furthest thing from freedom.  The collegiate culture proclaims that Christianity limits the pursuit of knowledge.  It hinders self-individualization by setting up archaic rules and regulations to which one ‘has to’ adhere.  However, nothing could be further from the truth!  Christianity actually liberates and embraces freedom.

The freedom that Christianity embraces is one that allows us to come to God on the basis of grace instead of an individual’s effort or continued moral performance.  It is a freedom that gives one the power or ability to say “no” to selfish behaviors and attitudes.  It is a freedom that allows us to grow into the person we were created to be.  It is a freedom that promotes others rather than self.  It is for this that Jesus has set us free!  Now we are called to “stand firm” (Galatians. 5:1) in it.

Every day we will encounter external influences (cultural expectations, peer pressures, religious expectations, etc.) and internal influences (selfish desires, behaviors and attitudes) that will compete for our freedom.  These influences will try to persuade us that by adopting a particular behavior, buying a particular product, engaging in a specific activity or by feeling a certain way, then, and only then, will we be truly free.  It is guaranteed that we will be confronted often by these influences.  So what are we to do with our freedom?

In the New Testament, there is a letter that was written to the churches in Galatia who were facing a similar situation.  The Galatians, who were Gentiles, just received Jesus as Savior and experienced the freedom that God gives by grace.  Since this occurred during the infancy of Christianity, the Jews, who struggled with the acceptance of Gentiles into the family of God, thought if the Gentiles were to receive and participate in the promise of God, then they should adopt certain Jewish cultural practices, like circumcision.  The Apostle Paul, who led the Galatians into this relationship, argued vehemently that this should not be.  They were already free and fully accepted by God.  They do not need to do anything to gain more freedom.  He argues, “Look! I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you” (Galatians 5:2).  In other words, Paul is telling the Galatians that there is no external thing that you must do, or can do, to gain freedom.  Freedom is only truly given by grace (Galatians 2:20-21).

Does this mean that I am free from any obligation to the things that God tells us to do?  If not, what would be the purpose of obeying God since they don’t achieve anything from me?  Will this not simply lead to anarchy?

These are legitimate questions to ask.  Paul answered this by saying, “For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:13-14).  James Dunn, in his commentary on Galatians, writes, “…the call to freedom was a call not merely from the older enslavement, but also a call to a new responsibility.  The freedom of God has both aspects, otherwise it is not God’s freedom.  The liberty which does not ask, Liberty for what?, is a dangerous commodity” (Dunn, p.287).  If we remove God’s law (way of life by which we are to live) to whom are we responsible?  What will we do with this freedom?  Unfortunately, we will probably bend to the loudest voice, which will be the internal influences of self.  Paul knew that the potential of embracing the freedom that God offers “might easily become the occasion for the license of self-indulgence” (Dunn, p.285).  We are called to “stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

How do we stand firm in our freedom?  As we have already covered, we do not need to do anything to achieve freedom, or to have a greater realization of freedom, outside of God’s grace.  However, our freedom means new responsibility.  As Paul writes in this letter, we are to use our freedom to love others and to not indulge our flesh, or our self (Galatians 5:13).  Dunn summarizes, “What he is calling for is not an abandonment of the law, far less an abandonment of all restraint, but for a different way of ‘doing’ the law (Dunn, p.289).  As we understand that complete freedom is ours already and we do not need to do anything external to achieve it, we then need to understand that our freedom is not meant to be used to serve self, but others.

One of G.I. Joe’s public service announcements said, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle” (http://www.joeheadquarters.com/joeendings.shtml).  We now know that freedom has the potential for self-indulgent living.  How do we then embrace this freedom?  Paul writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).  The flesh is a constant competitor persuading us to use our freedom to coddle ourselves.  Dunn confirms this by saying, “the power of the flesh is the enticement it engenders to pander to its weakness” (Dunn, p.297).  However, the Spirit, which is the mark of our freedom (Galatians 3:2, 5:18), opposes the flesh and produces in us the fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).  The flesh seeks to love self, while the Spirit seeks to love others (and self within proper limits).

The battle for our freedom is intense.  External and internal influences are always seeking to limit our freedom; the Holy Spirit is always striving to enhance our freedom.  We are challenged to “Stand Firm” and to “Walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:1, 16).  Dunn exhorts that, “there must be that inward resolution and determined discipline to side with the Spirit against oneself in what is an ongoing and inescapable inner warfare” (p.299).  As you continue your time here at college, understand that nothing can provide you with the freedom that you seek outside of the grace of God.  Nothing apart from the Spirit can enhance your freedom.  In fact, anything less than this, actually puts us in bondage.  Remember, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

We are worldly.  Then we are spiritual.  We are sinners, but, somehow are now holy (after salvation).  We are to commune with God, but we love ourselves too much.  We want to commune with God (or are we deceiving ourselves?), but we do nothing about it.  We want God, but we want this and that.  We pray and explain to God how tired we are that there is still a distance between you and Him.  You further explain that you are trying “all” that you can in order to change this or that or to get rid of this or that.  Then somewhere in this chaos Jesus speaks and says, “PEACE BE STILL!”

When we are spiritually born we have a longing for God.  There is an internal move (or dance) to want God (words are inadequate to explain this phenomenon).  So we get inot spiritual disciplines because initially we want to please God and to know Him more intimately, but over time they turn into a conditioned experience.  We do them because they will achieve a result.  The typical results that we look for are intimacy with God, holiness or righteousnesss, passion, and spiritual fruit (Gal. 5).  Then the inevitable happens, disciplines, or simply ‘being’ a Christian, turns into a duty and disappointment.  What happened?  We lost perspective.  We just simply want to shrink the distance between us and God.  That is all we truly want (I hope, I must hope).

Rub your eyes.  Get the sleep out of them because I am going to try to point you in the right direction.  Jesus is often described as an author.  Author implies He has complete control of his created beings.  He starts the story and finishes the story.  He creates the scenes, plot, and outcomes.  Jesus is attributed with authoring our salvation, holiness, and faith (heb. 2:10-11; 12:2).  I must quote 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…”  He initiated our story of Salvation.  You, in fact, have very little to do with your coming to Salvation.  Jesus pursued you, He called you, He opened your eyes, He saved you, and you acted upon it.  He created a new being in you and sanctified you.  You try your best to be righteous in a worldly view because you are already righteous in the spiritual view because of Him.  But Jesus is the one who even develops your character in making those righteous decisions and perfecting you into His likeness (Phil. 1:3-6) and He is faithful in completing it.  There is a peace that overwhelms me when I understand this (isn’t that called grace?).

Perspective.  What am I trying to say?  If Jesus is the author and perfector of our salvation, holiness and faith, then He is in the process of “shrinking” that distance between us and Him.  If He started a work in you, which He will finish, means He already is in the process of “shrinking” that distance.  Your role is simple, but complex.  Fix your eyes on Jesus, always.  In all things, fix your eyes on Him.  All things slowly fall into place when your eyes are fixed on Jesus.  He is your new perspective!