Tetellestai

At about this time of day (3 PM) on a Friday outside Jerusalem, a dying man uttered one of his last words. "Tetellestai" is a Greek word meaning, "it is finished" or "the debt is paid." The word was used in accounting, written at the bottom of a page to note that the lender had received full payment for a debt and the borrower was now free. My Lord, the

Jesus and Inconvenience

This month, The Lovely Joanne is wearing a dress every single day. Now, us guys don't think about that much, but in December, the cold wind has a way of, let's say, swooping in under a dress and cooling you off in ways you didn't really want. Besides that, finding a different dress for each day and the right accessories with it (again, guys, not our normal thought process) can be

Grief and Grieving, Part 3: 'Stages' of Grief

For those of us who have lost a loved one or a relationship, we know the pain of loss. Someone from whom we had gained comfort, companionship and love is suddenly (or slowly then finally) gone. That loss hurts! We try to figure out what we might have done differently to not suffer the loss, or get angry that the person is no longer here, or we try to

The Crucified God

This is about the best half-hour you'll ever spend. Hear Brian Zahnd explain some truths about the God whom we see in Jesus Christ, and explode some myths that have hung onto the way people try to explain him and completely miss the point.

God loves you -- Jesus is the living, crucified and resurrected proof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps35oM-dQFM&list=PLsYXTnSrLttZrlkB3wDKpZjhyDtIJui12#t=993

An Apprentice of the Carpenter

Preachers talk about "following Jesus" but what does that mean? We could use technical language and give a 100-word definition. But simply, it means to be his apprentice in living. Learning what he does and how he does it, learning to pay attention when he teaches, practicing and getting it sort of right, and practicing some more. Since Jesus was a carpenter, maybe

Listening All the Time

The original 12 disciples had it easy. Jesus walked along and talked, and all they had to do was

Taking off the Veil

Spiritual vision involves seeing the way God sees, not the way we humans see (1 Sam. 16:7).  I know several people with
cataracts in one or both eyes. They see the world like they are looking through a veil -- it's indistinct, dark and dangerous. Spiritually, if we can't see clearly, we stumble around, without making spiritual progress. How can we see as God sees? How would that change us?


Perhaps an example will help. In Luke 5, Jesus is calling his 12 disciples out of their own lives to follow him. One of them, Matthew Levi, is a (insert 1st-century epithet) tax collector, assumed to be getting rich by robbing his own people while selling them out to the (epithet) Roman occupiers. Matthew surprises everyone by leaving it all behind to follow Jesus, then invites his friends (some of them are probably epithets too) to a banquet with Jesus, and the Pharisees pitch a fit. Why? Because they thought their job was living by the law and making others do it too, so the nation would be righteous. Jesus took a different approach. He described his mission as extending grace to (epithet) sinners (verses 31 and 32), which he knew the Pharisees wouldn't understand (verses 36-39).

2 Cor. 3:14-18 describes a 'veil' that darkens the spiritual vision of people who, like the Pharisees, see only the way of performance and so do not understand the truth. Only when "someone turns to the Lord" (v. 18) is that blindness removed. "Truth" is defined here as freedom in Christ under that "new way which makes us right with God" (verses 8-11). That's grace, not behavior, and that's how God thinks even if we don't get it.

I remember, 18 years ago this month, when I finally surrendered the survival instinct that told me I had to "do something," admitting that I couldn't save myself from anything, even by my earnest attempts to obey. "All of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord" Paul says in verse 18, and that night I finally began to see the glory of God. I'm still learning to reflect that glory -- that's a journey of seeing the ways I still don't reflect him, and surrendering those also. "The Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him" as we surrender more of ourselves to him. 

Proper behavior is not the path to life with God.  Life with God is the path to proper behavior. In fact, the way of performance is "worldliness" just like the Pharisees' thinking. If you don't see that, I beg you, with all I have, to turn to Jesus in complete surrender and ask him to remove that veil. If you have seen it, then spend some extra time and effort today listening to Jesus and then following him.

A Little More about Prayer

Last time I wrote about prayer, describing very briefly two different types of prayer.  We should recognize that some of our prayers are, as M. Robert Mulholland Jr. describes, "an attempt to manipulate the symptoms of our lives without really entering into a deep, vital, transforming relationship with God."  Prayer is a way of bringing -- sometimes dragging bodily -- our stubborn and flighty selves to rest before the Eternal God of all hope, comfort and love.  So today, let's look at two more types of prayer. 

Contemplative Prayer:  This type of prayer helps develop "an open, restful receptivity to the Trinity that enables me to always be with God just as I am" (Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, page 211).  We might think of the sheep lying in the green meadow (Psalm 23) or the weaned child, no longer needing to nurse, but simply resting in his mother's arms (Psalm 131).  This is, as Calhoun describes it, "a way of waiting with a heart awake to God's presence and his Word...in the presence of the Holy Spirit deep in our own spirit."   To practice this type of prayer, you might try sitting quietly, without distractions (I have to leave my office and cellphone behind!) and simply declaring to God, "Here I am, just to spend time with you."  Then wait, and if you like, think about the goodness of God and his gifts, or how his love is expressed to us.  Be ready to express your love to God and receive his in return, not necessarily in audible words but in a peaceful assurance.  The result, if we practice it often, should be deeper awareness of "Christ in you" (Col. 1:27) and a greater trust in his presence.

Intercessory Prayer:  When we pray for others, we are joining Jesus, the mediator between God and humanity, (1 Tim. 2:5) and the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us and interprets our words to the Father (Rom. 8:27).  In Eph. 4:6 we are told "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."  So then, intercessory prayer is not a frantic attempt to convince God to do something for us -- that is not necessary, and feeds our tendency to worry!  This is a way of joining with God's concern and love for the person we pray for, and releasing our concerns to God for his solutions.  Intercessory prayer can be done alone or with others, and should be done regularly, not just when we think of some need.  A weekly prayer list, with different topics for each day, could be a good tool in intercession, as it would move us through different needs and help reveal to us any unhealthy patterns such as a narrow focus on our own immediate priorities. 

I am asking God to help you, dear reader, to understand him better through the tool of prayer, and to be blessed in every part of your life with him. 

Occupy...Something!

My friend Michael Duduit, who writes regularly on preaching and is editor of Preaching magazine, talks about this latest protest movement that started in Wall Street and has since "occupied" a couple of dozen city parks across the nation.  He says there's a better solution than protesting the amount of money somebody else makes or how little attention is given to the average citizen.  Michael says "Here's a better bet: Occupy Worship. Meet the One who alone can satisfy your needs and breach the chasm caused by sin, and the best news is you don't even have to go to New York or any other city to Occupy Worship—you can demonstrate anywhere!"

I like the way Michael thinks.  He reminds us that even if all the money earned by all the investment bankers and all the highly-paid executives of all the companies that are the target of these protests was spread around to the poor, it still wouldn't be enough.  (Not to mention, most of the poor in the US have a thousand times more than the true poor overseas.)  Why not?  Because humanly, we never have enough.  Even those highly-paid executives feel their lives would be better if they just made, say, 10% more.  The solution, Michael rightly says, is to worship.

Now, by worship, Michael and I don't mean to turn on your favorite Christian song or hymn, sing along loudly, and pray.  Closing our eyes and praying doesn't make our problems go away (it doesn't work for Tim Tebow in the backfield either).  No, we're talking a deep, focused, sincere, whole-hearted, whole-life surrender to the One who owns eternity and has already accepted you, dear reader, as his beloved child.  As we've been studying lately in the Beatitudes, a life "in Christ" means we have full access to the blessings of living in the love and acceptance of the Father through the Spirit (John 17:20-23, Col. 1:24-27, etc).  "Christ is in you" says Paul, and he's not talking some metaphysical claptrap or fuzzy idea, but a spiritual reality. 

Life -- real, authentic life -- is lived out in that reality, minute by minute.  Not just "what would Jesus do?" but "Jesus, what are you doing and what would you have me do?"  Offering ourselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) is what Paul calls "truly the way to worship him."  Focusing on whole-life worship helps us understand that the momentary troubles of this life really are momentary.  We don't ignore them, we work on them with the passion that Jesus had cleaning out the moneychangers (the honest and the dishonest together) from the Temple, in John 2:13-17, and the love he had when he healed the sick and provided bread for thousands. 

Want something to occupy in protest of this world's sickness?  Occupy, and be occupied by, Jesus-in-you, with everything you've got, and watch what happens!  (And come back and tell me!)

Lights, Bible, Action!

A lot of people have trouble understanding the Bible.  It's a big book -- 1200 pages or so.  It's easy to get bogged down in the lists of people and places we don't know.  So how do we understand it?  Here's an idea:  imagine the entire Bible as a single movie.  There is a long list in Wikipedia of movies based on the Bible, but most of them take just one story or sequence or idea. How would we create a movie on the whole Bible?

We'd have to decide the central theme first.  Most people read and understand the Bible chronologically, and that's okay, but it takes a long time to get to the point and you can miss the main ideas in trying to keep the chronology straight.  My favorite idea, courtesy of Dr. Gary Deddo, is to portray the Bible as a "whodunit," a mystery.  That's really a pretty good description of the Bible -- there are lots of characters, conflicts, twists and turns of plot, surprises, and many times when you wonder what this scene has to do with the story. But when the truth is revealed, you can say "Aha!  Now I get it!" as you see all the pieces fall into place.

The central theme of the Bible is God, through the Son, creating the universe and humanity for a never-ending relationship of love.  How did God create everything?  Through the Son (John 1:1-3, Heb. 1:2).  What happened to humanity?  We decided not to trust God and left that relationship of love (Gen. 3:1-8).  How did God win us back, proving his love for us without any doubt?  Through the Son, whom we know as Jesus, coming to live among us (John 1:14, Heb. 1:1-2), giving his life for us (John 3:16-17, Rom. 5:1-10) and moving us back into a relationship of love with God (2 Cor. 5:15-21).  How will it all end up?  When Jesus returns in glory and the entire creation is restored to fellowship with him (Phi. 2:10-11, Rev. 21:1-7).  So, the central character in our movie has to be the Son of God.  The entire story revolves around him. 

So, just for fun, how about outlining a script of the Bible's story?  The question is, how would you begin your version of this movie -- with Genesis 1?  John 1?  Hebrews 1?  Revelation 21? The story of Israel? The birth of the Messiah?  The end of the story in Revelation?  Really, you can begin the movie anywhere you want, just so you focus on the central character. That's what the Gospel is really about.

And how about you?  Do you understand it?  Have you realized how God has planned to love you, from before he made the earth (Eph. 1:3-5) and is right now pursuing you as the one who loves you more than anyone else?  Right now is the time for you to face that awesome truth -- that security and peace beyond all others -- and dive headlong into his love!