A group of quail is called a covey or a bevy. Then there's a brood of hens, a gaggle of geese and a colony of penguins. Here are some new ones on me -- a charm of finches, a dole of doves and a wisp of snipe. (Yes, you CAN go on a snipe hunt.) The loveliest, perhaps, are the pheasants when flushed from their cover; they are a bouquet of pheasant. Apparently some birds have a rotten reputation that I was not aware of; they huddle together as a deceit of lapwings and a murder of crows. Thank goodness for the plovers. They gather in a congregation.
When it comes to people, there is surely some truth to the cliche, "Birds of a feather flock together." Culture, age and affinity have a great deal to do with the way people associate. But what I find most enjoyable and noteworthy is the diversity that comes together around the gospel of Jesus. I see people of differing cultures relate as one around the faith and hope they share in Christ. I see unity among young and old, male and female, nerds and bohemians, forged by the Spirit they all possess in common. I love when I meet a believer for the first time in a far off place and we embrace each other like family.
Paul had quite the wisp of fellow workers. We hear of Timothy and Epaphroditus in today's text. We know he also ran with Luke and Silas, and Phoebe and Priscila. He had Jewish friends and Gentile friends. He hung with his peers and with the young punks. (Poor Demas; he flew the coop. Must have been a lapwing.) A diverse raft of ducks, and yet all seem to fly in the same way. They fly to one another when there's a need. They move easily from one habitat to another; the cause of the gospel is greater than their comfort. They expose themselves to dangerous snares, and find refuge in one another's nests. They rise on the thermals of God's love. They rejoice and sing -- oh, how they sing!
What sort of company do you keep? Be done with the deceit of charm and the murder of gossip. Find a congregation like Paul's. Bond across the diversities of outer display, the differences of color, of call, of preference for canyon or lake or seashore. Form a colony of heaven. Uncover the bouquet of joy that comes from living together under the wing of the Almighty. In time, we shall all mount up on wings as eagles.
Pray: God, who looks down from the precipice of heaven, lead me to a group of people that I can bless and be blessed by. Bring me to that brood which shares your holy values. Grant me a congregation I can sing with and soar with.
September 30 - Philippians 1:27-2:18 - Author! Author!
Think about the authorial revolution recent technologies have accomplished. With desktop graphic arts software and satisfactory small-scale printing quality, digital photography and videography, and broadband internet capabilities, we can all become publishers, filmmakers and broadcasters. Production and distribution of all that we author has never been easier. Checking my Blogger stats page, I see that this blog of mine has been viewed in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Tanzania, as well as in the US. I'm an international author!
It’s easy to see how this authorial power has gone to our heads. Over 500 million people are publicly journaling their lives on Facebook alone. What would that number be if we included, MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube? Along with being an author come feelings of authority. I set my own tone, my own pace; I choose my own topics and air my opinions. As the author, I am in charge.
So, what if you were asked to surrender all of your authorial prerogatives? Not just what you might be publishing or broadcasting, either. What if you were told you could no longer say or do anything of your own initiative? That someone else would now author the story of your life? This idea of fully surrendering authority is what’s behind today’s text regarding Jesus Christ.
For Jesus, equality with God was not something He had to strain after and grasp at; declaring His deity would not be a reach or robbery. Jesus was indeed fully God. From the beginning. Always was. But in the incarnation, Jesus came in human form and the text says, He “made Himself nothing.” A more literal translation – “He emptied Himself.” Then He “took on the very nature of a servant … and became obedient unto death…” In John’s gospel, chapters 5 and 8, Jesus tells us that He can do nothing of His own initiative. God the Father is the author of Jesus’ life story. Jesus had surrendered all His authorial prerogatives and was sticking strictly to the script His Father had penned for Him. Even when the Father wrote, “Go to Gethsemane." "Go to Calvary.”
That’s mind-boggling to ponder, but then what does the text say? “Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus …” My attitude? My attitude has to be that self-emptying, humble servant, obey-at-all-costs Jesus-attitude? Wow, so now I know why Paul follows that up with “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Yes, lots of trembling with the Jesus-attitude. Lots of fear in the obey-no-matter-what mindset. Thank the Lord only one had to die for the sin of the world, and that One wasn’t you or me.
So, in light of what Christ gave up and endured for our sake, what shall we continue to work out for His sake? How about conduct worthy of the gospel? How about standing firm in unity as we contend for the faith? How about being a church that shares the same mind, love, spirit and purpose? How about setting aside selfish ambition and considering each other better than ourselves? How about doing everything without complaining or arguing? How about holding out the Word of life to a crooked and depraved generation, and so shine like stars in the universe?
If the Scriptures exhort us to maintain an attitude like Jesus’, then there comes with it the promise of achievability. God will not ask us to do something we can’t do. Verse 13 tells us that God is already working in us the will and the ability to do it.
Line by line, God is authoring a divine script of faith, courage and victory. And you are the star.
Shine!
September 29 - Philippians 1:1-26 - Rejoicin’ In All Y’all
From July 1981 to August 1987, I lived in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. You can learn an awful lot in six years in the South. You can learn how to drive like Bill Elliott up the Connector to Spaghetti Junction. You can learn that “barbecue” is not a cooking appliance or a way of cooking or an eating event; it IS the food. You can learn that you can never learn all the street names that contain the word, “peachtree.” And you can learn some very creative turns of pronunciation and vocabulary -- like the first syllable emphasis: “The only INsurance I got against GOrillas is the POlice.” (OK, I never heard a Southerner say that exact sentence.) Then there’s “mess,” which means a whole lot of something, and “fixin’ ta,” which means I am ‘about to’ do something. You learn to say ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’ a lot, and of course, you learn to say “y’all.”
After reading today’s text, I couldn’t help but see how many times Paul said, “all of you.” Now, Paul WAS born on the Southeastern shore of Turkey, so I wonder if the more accurate translation would be “y’all?” But here’s what this did to my reading. I investigated and discovered that the wonderful encouragement of Philippians 1:6 was not a singular encouragement. The “you” in “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” is a plural! And the verse comes quickly on the heels of his reference to the Philippians’ “partnership” with him in the gospel.
The good work that God does, He does - not just in each of us, but between us all and among us all and through us all. There’s thanksgiving and joy and confidence in this life that can only come from the fellowship of God’s grace and the partnership of shared ministry. There is great longing and affection for those who have labored with you, shoulder to shoulder for the Lord. Serving together forges a bond that is unique. It shows up in unbroken intercession, even when the miles separate you. It lifts up, inspiring courage. And it never gives up; “I will continue with [y’all] for [y’all’s] progress and joy in the faith.”
In the next few days, be especially sensitive to the dynamic of God working His good work in your groupings. Try not to think in the singular. Think in the plural. Consider your family, your small group study, your task team, your co-workers, your ball club. What kind of progress and joy is God producing in your midst? What depth of affection is His creating? What in the name of our Lord Jesus is He fixin’ ta do in y’all? I reckon a whole mess of good!
Prayer: May your love abound more and more
in knowledge and depth of insight,
so that you may be able to discern what is best
and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ
—to the glory and praise of God.
September 28 - Ephesians 6:1-24 - Dress For Success
"Get dressed and ready for a big fight!"
Without more information than that, I might not be appropriately attired when I arrive at the fight. If the fight is a boxing match, I might arrive in trunks and boxing gloves, shirtless and with high tops laced tight. But, what if I’m supposed to be the referee? Then I’ve got the dress all wrong. And if I’m supposed to host a visiting dignitary who requested to attend a boxing match, I’ll be wearing something altogether different again. If the big fight is against a wildfire, I’d better show up in firefighters gear. Black and white silk shorts are definitely not going to cut it out there.
In today’s text, Paul wants to give us enough information so that we show up in the right attire to fight the right fight. Life is a struggle, but our main adversary is not other people. When we focus on flesh and blood opponents, we dress ourselves with our intellect and our attitude and our sharp tongue and our cleverness to overcome their threat. But God’s Word lets us know that that is the wrong opponent and the wrong attire. Our first and most dangerous adversary is spiritual. The same Satan that cunningly brought calamity to the human race in the beginning brings his forces into conflict with all of us still. To be strategic about defeating these foes, we must dress for victory.
There are six pieces of armor that Paul identifies as the proper dress for spiritual success.
Truth is a belt. In Paul’s day, a soldier’s belt had armor resting on it and hanging off of it. The belt was the foundation for the rest of the ensemble. Is your life well-seated in Truth? Jesus is Truth. God’s Word is Truth. Satan is a liar. He is the father of all lies. To be able to win against evil, we must first identify the lies that we have been hanging our lives on. Wrap yourself up in Jesus and the Word and strip off the lies that are contrary to them.
Righteousness is a breastplate. It protects the most vital organs from injury and mortal wounds. We are most vulnerable to serious spiritual injury when we dabble in unrighteousness. Sinful, unholy behaviors take our defenses down and open us up for major casualty. Righteous, holy behavior keeps the breastplate in place; it protects us from the spiritual enemy Jesus named, “Killer."
The gospel of peace is a pair of shoes that makes us ready for this fight. But we have to be fitted with them. The gospel is the good news that Jesus has already defeated Satan, won this war, and set us at peace with God. Only after we have accepted that gift of peace with God through the cross are we in any position to fight a good spiritual fight. Are your gospel shoes on? Are you standing ready in the shoes of repentance and faith in Christ?
Faith is a shield. The evil one will assault you with some hellacious blows. “Flaming arrows” is what the text calls them. When the battle becomes a conflagration, how will you survive? You will survive by faith. You will trust that God is with you to wield that shield. You will trust with a faith that is drenched with the water of His Word. Then the fiery darts will be extinguished against your Word-soaked shield of faith.
Salvation is your helmet. The helmet protects your brain, the command center. Know who you are; know who you’re fighting under and with; know that you are able to access the mind of Christ; know your enemy and his tactics; know that the war is already won! The mind that has been renewed by the transformation of salvation can think clearly and stand against the wily mind-games of the devil.
The Word of God is also the Spirit’s sword. This is the one offensive piece of the spiritual soldier’s ensemble. This is the dragon slayer! Want to see how it works? Jump back to Matthew 4 and Luke 4 and read how Jesus overcame the temptations in the desert. He wielded the Word like a brilliant swordsman. Satan’s attempts to defeat Christ were blocked and he was routed in the Battle of the Judean Wilderness.
Pray: Commander of the host of heaven, lead me to victory against my prime adversary, evil in the spiritual realm. Help me to say to the people in my life, “You are not the enemy,” especially when I am at odds with them. Help us to lock arms as comrades and fight the good fight together. Help me put my armor on and keep it on every day.
September 27 - Ephesians 5:1-33 - A Genuine Imitation
Did you know that the word ‘oxymoron’ is itself an oxymoron? It’s a compound word from the Greek that joins ‘oxy,’ meaning sharp with ‘moros,’ meaning dull. But, I’ve met people who are at the same time very bright and very boring. That would make them both sharp and dull. No oxymoron there. Any group of objects laid down in sequence would have an order, even if they were laid down randomly – so ‘random order’ isn’t really an oxymoron. Nine minus six equals three, and ten minus seven equals three – ‘same difference.’ No oxymoron there. People who are squinting at the ceiling and scratching their heads while reading this are ‘clearly confused.’ The confusion on their part is clearly expressed, so again, no oxymoron.
What about ‘genuine imitation?’ I suppose it qualifies if you’re talking about designer clothing knock-offs. But, I actually like the idea of a genuine imitation – that is, a sincere attempt at emulating the way of a mentor or role model. Much of my parenting was aimed at genuine imitation. I behaved in ways that were constructive and noble so that my children would imitate me, and develop a genuine appreciation for those same values. In today’s text, Christians are charged to “be imitators of God.” I’m sure from the Gospels’ treatment of Phariseeism that a superficial imitation is not in view here. What is being called for is a ‘genuine imitation.’
So what does genuine imitation of God look like? First, it’s living a life of love. Three forms of the word ‘love’ are used in the first sentence of this chapter of Ephesians. Imitating God means prioritizing love and understanding it’s sacrificial nature. We must learn to live for the benefit of others and for the pleasure of God; a “fragrant [love] offering.”
Second, it’s living as light. Light is a metaphor for truth, goodness, and righteousness. If we commit ourselves to honest living, doing good to others, and conforming our behavior to God’s holy standards, then we will be living as light. Light also pierces darkness and makes things plain and clear. By living as light we can help others to see and pursue the life of light.
Third, genuine imitation involves living as wise. There are a lot of tempting activities and deceptive justifications for them out there. The life of selfishness and dabbling in the dark beckons. But that is the way of sleepwalkers. “Wake up, O sleeper, and rise from the dead …” To live comfortably with greed, obscenity, and disobedience to God is the way of spiritual unconsciousness. It’s dead living. (And that’s not an oxymoron, either.) Be constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit and maintain a heart filled with music and thanksgiving. This is evidence of the life of wisdom.
Finally, imitation of God involves living to serve. The text comes full circle as the imperative to “submit to one another” fleshes itself out in terms of love and respect. We submit to, or serve, each other as an act of worship. Jesus is the ultimate submitter/servant. He submits to the Father’s plan and serves all, even unto death on the cross! To honor Christ is to love as He loved; submitting to God in truth, goodness, and righteousness, disdaining and exposing the darkness of evil, and walking in the Spirit and in wisdom.
To live in genuine imitation of God would be awfully good … um … oops … I mean, awesomely good.
Pray: Loving, All-Wise, Father of Light, make me like you. Teach me, help me, guide me, discipline me. Keep filling me with your Spirit. Wake me up. Raise me up. Shine on me!
September 26 - Ephesians 4:17-32 - Get It Off Of Me!
Let me know if you get a little claustrophobic watching this video.
Man, I’m glad ol’ Matt McAllister didn’t have a heart attack in the middle of that. Can you imagine trying to do CPR through 155 layers of cotton and polyester? Glad you made it, Matt. Congratulations on your Guinness Book World Record!
What you don’t see in the time lapse is Matt’s team of helpers. You don’t think he put on all those shirts by himself, do you? And just think how much he had to trust his team, since he wouldn’t be able to take them off by himself, either? What if they had just walked away; left him in that 100 lb. strait-jacket? (I’m feeling that claustrophobic feeling again.)
Spiritually speaking, we are born bundled like Matt McAllister. We don’t need a team to put us in a sin-nature strait-jacket; we come that way by nature. I never taught my children to be selfish, disobedient, or sneaky. They showed out with those attitudes and actions all by themselves. Paul calls that state of natural unrighteousness “your former way of life” and “the old self.” Once people have experienced the new birth, through confession of their unrighteousness and acceptance of Christ’s forgiveness, they begin a new way of life with a new self. In the former way of life, we had no power to remove any of the layers that bound us. In the new way of life, we are divinely enabled to strip the old layers away and become more like holy God. We have a team of helpers now – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and our “new self” brothers and sisters.
It’s divine enablement because it’s a super-human task to put off the old self and put on the new. Ignorance, hardness of heart, insensitivity, impurity, lust, deception … this is just the beginning of Paul’s description of the layers we must strip off. God begins the good work of putting these things off, but His plan is that we participate and cooperate with the renewal. We must show God that we appreciate His calling of us, out of the old self, by a disciplined pursuit of holiness. We’ve got to rein in the lies, the anger, the larceny. We’ve got to clean up our language. (I don’t think putting asterisks between the “F” and the “K” on our f******k page really qualifies as wholesome talk.)
Today’s text tells us that being lax about our foul mouth, our bitterness, slander and malice, grieves the Holy Spirit. Deep idea – grieving the Holy. Grief comes from loss. When we are careless about stripping off the layers of the old self, we remain bound to our unholiness. So there is a loss of kinship with God’s Spirit, because holiness and unholiness are strangers. That’s heavy. Heavier than 100 lbs. of cotton and polyester. When I sin, God loses. When I ignore the call to strip off the former ways, I insulate myself from the Lord.
I’m getting that claustrophobic feeling, again…
Pray: Holy God, get it off of me! Enable me to remove all the old ways of my old self. Help me keep my discipline and my appreciation for the value of Your calling. Keep me moving toward my new self, created to be like You in true righteousness.
September 25 - Ephesians 4:1-16 - Live a Life Worthy of the Calling
Have you noticed how action and quality of action is often dependent on who requests the action? What I mean is – well – take Johnny for instance. Johnny’s 16 years old and lives in a middle class neighborhood nearby to his buddies from school, and smack dab next door to Susie. Susie’s cute. Susie’s 16, too. Johnny wakes up mid-Saturday morning, runs a quick ‘get ready for the day’ routine and heads for the door.
“Hey, John,” his Father intercepts him, “I’ve got a policy sales appointment today, and I was hoping to make a good first impression when I roll up. You got time to wash my car this morning? Just a quick one?”
“Oh, man, sorry Dad, Ricky’s parents let him turn their basement into a game room with a 52” HDTV. And the Penn State/Ohio State pre-game comes on in 15 minutes. All the guys are going to be there …”
“Alright. I suppose I can run it through the car wash before the meeting. Have a good time. Say, ‘Hi’ to Joe Pa’ for me!”
“Thanks, Dad!” Johnny rocks the house with a slamming front door, flies down the steps and cuts hard left up the sidewalk. An errant scooter can’t slow him down as he hurdles over it. Then, comes the voice his neighbor, Susie Cute, and she freezes him in mid-air.
“Hi, John. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, Susie.”
“I’m supposed to take my driver’s test today, but my dumb brother went off-roading last night and the jeep is a mess. I can’t show up at DMV like this. Could you come help me wash this nasty thing? Please?”
“Absolutely. No problem. Let me show you how to really make it shine!”
See what I mean; action and quality of action dependent on who requests the action. That’s why Paul urges the Ephesians, “Live a life worthy of the calling!” It’s one thing to be called by Susie Cute, by the Penn State football program, by the U.S. Marine Corps … you name the call. But when the call comes from the Master of the Universe, comes from the unsurpassed riches of His glory, comes at the price of the body and blood of His Son, and with the guarantee of His abiding Spirit – that would be the calling beyond all callings!
Has God called you? Called you by name and frozen you amazed in your tracks? Has He redeemed you, renewed you with the grace of His call? Has he cast a blessed future with the promise of His call? Then how will you live? What does a life worthy of His calling look like. Paul begins to paint the picture.
It is a life of humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love.
Are you cringing already? Already on your knees, bowing repeatedly before Jesus, wailing, “I’m not worthy!” There’s more. It’s a life of peacemaking and unity-keeping; of expressing the grace of God through my giftedness to the Body. A life devoted to building the church up, so that EVERY member might enjoy unity in the faith, maturity, and utter Christ-likeness.
Speaking the truth in love, building each other up in love – these are the actions I’ve been called to. What will be the quality of my actions? As Paul says at the close of today’s text – the blessings don’t come unless every member does it’s part.
Pray: Lord, help me to do the work and live the life that shows the depth of my appreciation for Your calling. Lord, help all the parts to do their work.
September 24 - Ephesians 3:1-21 - The Secret is Out
I spent part of my lunch hour today sipping a Pumpkin Spiced Latte and answering questions from a government investigator. I have a friend who is being considered for a job that will require a higher security clearance, and I was given as a reference. Apparently the information my friend is going to be exposed to is sensitive and confidential; if it gets in the wrong hands it could jeopardize national security. The investigator’s job is to make sure this candidate can keep a secret.
The Biblical Greek word for ‘secret’ is mysterion. It is translated ‘mystery’ in the NIV and it appears four times in today’s text. A literal translation of the word could be “the kept close.” Paul tells us that the mystery that was revealed to him is the mystery of Christ. This could be understood as the mystery that belongs to Christ, or the mystery that IS Christ. Paul then makes clear what the mystery is: ALL nations, along with Israel, are heirs together, one body together, sharers together of the promises of God. The puzzle is, God has been saying this since He spoke to father Abraham about producing a nation that would bless all nations. Most of the Old Testament prophets cast visions of all the nations streaming into Jerusalem to worship the Lord. How is this a mystery?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and cling to the literal translation, “the kept close.” What we’re talking about here is not a mystery that God spun to baffle us for centuries. This is no high level government encryption. This is not a secret that God wanted to hide from the world to protect Israeli national security. No not mystery, not secret, but rather “the kept close.” The “deeply treasured,” the “precious possession” of God, which was His only-begotten Son. Yes, from Abraham on, God was quite plain that His plan included blessing all the nations. What was unknown was the extent to which God would go to make it happen. That God would fully release His "closest kept;" the fullness of His love and mercy wrapped up in the Son of God. The mystery is the suffering God was willing to endure to secure blessing for every tribe and tongue and nation. He kept these treasures close to His heart, and then, in Jesus of Nazareth, the secret was out.
Let’s go unravel the mystery for anyone who will listen. Anyone, from any nation. Let’s go tell the secret that there is no love like God’s love, no blessings like the inexhaustible riches of grace that come from Jesus Christ.
I pray: that out of God’s glorious riches
he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your heart
through faith.
And I pray that you,
being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —
that you may be filled
to the measure
of all the fullness
of God.
Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations,
for ever and ever!
Amen.
September 23 - Ephesians 2:1-22 - Some Art Imitates Life; Some Art Animates It
During a two-week mission trip to London, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Madame Tussaud’s, the world famous house of wax. One of the answers to the question, “How do you know you’re REALLY somebody special?” might be, “I have a wax likeness at Madame Tussaud’s.” The artists at MT’s aren’t going to take 250 precise measurements and invest the 800 hours required to produce your likeness if you’re just … anybody. You have to be Mahatma Gandhi or Albert Einstein, or Rachael Ray or the Jonas Brothers. (Yeah, fame’s a funky thing.) It’s a stunning experience to walk among that encyclopedic ‘who’s who’ of modern times. And a little weird, too – so life-like and so lifeless at the same time.
Of course, we should all be used to that, seeing as the Scripture describes the whole human race in such terms. Today’s text states that we are all at one point “dead in our sins.” Oh, we’re alive, because we have the ability to “follow the ways of the world.” We have desires, thoughts and cravings that we look to gratify. There’s a lot of activity there – but … ‘so life-like and so lifeless at the same time.’
One of the strange thoughts that goes through your head at Madame Tussaud’s (or maybe just my head; I may be stranger than most) is the thought that you could bring one of the figures to life. A particular sculpture draws your attention. You fix your eyes on that impeccably crafted face. You try to focus some kind of untapped energy in your brain as you imagine a slight tilt of its head and shift of the eyes. If I tried, could I actually vivify this thing?
There are so many ‘art’ words in today’s text; “made,” “raised up,” “workmanship,” “prepared,” “create,” “built,” and “joined together.” Each of these words refers to an action of God, and reveals Him to be the most extraordinary and superior artist of all. This Creative Genius DOES take the dead and make them alive! This Divine Sculptor takes contaminated clay and raises up vessels of honor. This Master remakes the soul, producing a whole new kind of person and a whole new kind of people. His art is the art of salvation and reconciliation.
And what of God’s motivation and means? These are key questions for the art critic; why did the artist do it and how?
“…Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved … the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus … through the blood of Christ … through the cross …”
His great love and kindness moved Him. The blood of the cross of Christ was His medium. His method revealed His unparalleled grace. And His masterpiece is the company of the redeemed.
“For we ARE God’s workmanship …”
Pray: Matchless Master Craftsman, you have crafted me in Your image and restored me unto life everlasting. You are working on me that You might work through me. Help me not to be resistant clay in your hands. As man-made objects are made and sold for millions of dollars, let me ponder the worth of my own God-made life. And as a result, worship and serve You forever.
Of course, we should all be used to that, seeing as the Scripture describes the whole human race in such terms. Today’s text states that we are all at one point “dead in our sins.” Oh, we’re alive, because we have the ability to “follow the ways of the world.” We have desires, thoughts and cravings that we look to gratify. There’s a lot of activity there – but … ‘so life-like and so lifeless at the same time.’
One of the strange thoughts that goes through your head at Madame Tussaud’s (or maybe just my head; I may be stranger than most) is the thought that you could bring one of the figures to life. A particular sculpture draws your attention. You fix your eyes on that impeccably crafted face. You try to focus some kind of untapped energy in your brain as you imagine a slight tilt of its head and shift of the eyes. If I tried, could I actually vivify this thing?
There are so many ‘art’ words in today’s text; “made,” “raised up,” “workmanship,” “prepared,” “create,” “built,” and “joined together.” Each of these words refers to an action of God, and reveals Him to be the most extraordinary and superior artist of all. This Creative Genius DOES take the dead and make them alive! This Divine Sculptor takes contaminated clay and raises up vessels of honor. This Master remakes the soul, producing a whole new kind of person and a whole new kind of people. His art is the art of salvation and reconciliation.
And what of God’s motivation and means? These are key questions for the art critic; why did the artist do it and how?
“…Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved … the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus … through the blood of Christ … through the cross …”
His great love and kindness moved Him. The blood of the cross of Christ was His medium. His method revealed His unparalleled grace. And His masterpiece is the company of the redeemed.
“For we ARE God’s workmanship …”
Pray: Matchless Master Craftsman, you have crafted me in Your image and restored me unto life everlasting. You are working on me that You might work through me. Help me not to be resistant clay in your hands. As man-made objects are made and sold for millions of dollars, let me ponder the worth of my own God-made life. And as a result, worship and serve You forever.
September 22 - Ephesians 1:1-23 - We are Living in a Material World …
The story goes that James Carville, one of Bill Clinton’s chief political strategists during the 1992 presidential campaign, had a sign placed over his desk in their Little Rock, Arkansas headquarters. Apparently Mister Carville got fed up answering campaign volunteers’ questions about the main theme of the campaign. Seems it was abundantly obvious to Carville and anybody who couldn’t see it was, well … an idiot. The sign read, “IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!” Sheesh, you’d think seven years after Madonna strutted out as the “Material Girl,” that people would understand the bottom line! Then add to that the rise of the “prosperity gospel” with its ‘name it and claim it’ theology. Abundantly obvious - It’s about profit. It’s about gain. It’s about the glory of riches.
Even the city of Ephesus in Paul’s day knew this. A meteor falls into its lap, so they build a temple around it; the biggest temple in the ancient world. (Because it’s all about quantity.) They call the thing that fell from the sky a goddess from heaven and personify her as a huntress with a hundred breasts. (Because it’s all about abundant provision.) The merchants have it made; especially the silversmiths with their renderings of goddess Artemis. They've got their temple economy with the glory of its riches.
But the Christians knew differently. The Christians in Ephesus didn’t revel in the glory of its riches. They reveled in the riches of God’s glory! The words ‘glory’ and ‘glorious’ appear five times in today’s passage. I think Paul uses that word on purpose for all the people who might be dazzled by the shiny abundance of the silver-carved deities. Paul wants to up the brilliance; ‘Saints, the blessings and purposes and person of God outshine all of it!’
And we are co-heirs with the Ephesian Christians. We have every spiritual blessing. We are adopted children of God. We are forgiven of sin. We are clued in to the mystery of His will. We are marked and sealed with the Holy Spirit to guarantee our divine inheritance. We are beneficiaries of His incomparably great power. Way more is abundantly provided for us than was accumulated by the acolytes of Artemis. Who is magnificently endowed? Christ’s church is!
Moreover, the riches of God’s glorious grace were set apart for us before the creation of the universe. Even as the means of our lavish gifts was set apart from the foundation of the world. He was slain from the foundation of the world. “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … has freely given us in the One He loves … redemption through His blood …. in accordance with the riches of …grace.” It’s true. GRACE does stand for -- God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense!
Pray: Generous, magnificent God, thank you for making Your glory and our blessing your first priorities. Thank you for helping us see that our spiritual inheritance is far and away the better riches. Material wealth is uncertain and fleeting, but abundant Christian living is secured by the power that raised Christ from the dead! May I honor You and steward it all to the praise of Your glory.
September 21 - Galatians 6:1-18 - Can You Give Me an Example?
Some people are more abstract in their thinking and speech than others. I lean in that direction. I have been using my writing to learn to add more details to my broad strokes. Like yesterday, when I started to describe my dream. At first I had written something about “enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of the neighborhood.” Then, thankfully, my smarts kicked in and corrected, “Don’t tell them you saw; tell them what you saw. Don’t tell them you smelled; describe it so they can almost smell it, too.” My wife uses the question, “Can you give me an example” a lot in our conversations. She helps me to be more concrete, more practical. She helps me throw a lasso around my nebulous ideas and drag them down to earth.
Paul’s smarts are always kicked in. He regularly follows up a discussion where he establishes a principle with a section of examples to flesh it out. I’m looking at today’s text as a continuation of his exhortation to live by the Spirit. ‘OK Paul, I should live by the Spirit and then the fruit of that will be love, joy, peace, etc. But, can you give me some examples of what that would actually look like?’ Paul anticipated that question and gave us seven examples of what a life of fruitful Spiritual living looks like.
The fruit of the Spirit shows up in gently restoring a person who has sinned. I heard a person say that they were sinned against, so now they are ignoring that person to pay them back for the hurt. “How long have you been giving that person the cold shoulder?” “Twenty years.” “And who is that person?” “My brother.” “Twenty years!? Your own flesh and blood?!” How crazy is it that we would punish a loved one for decades rather than gently restore the relationship? But that’s what happens when we’re not living by the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit shows up in carrying each other’s burdens. Paul calls this the law of Christ; which is the law of love. Love cares. Love asks, “How can I help you?” If everyone carries their own burden, then the ratio is one set of hands for each heavy load. But if we bear each others’ burdens, there will be many hands; the weight is divided and lightened. We learn about each other and learn to trust each other in the process. That’s what living in the Spirit does.
The fruit of the Spirit shows up in each one carrying his own load. On the face of it, this seems a contradiction to what Paul has just said about sharing. But the distinction is this – we should care about others to lighten their load, but we must always be responsible for our own actions. I can’t roll my responsibilities off onto somebody else’s back. Others may be responsive to your needs, but they are not to be responsible for your actions. Own your own stuff. Blaming and comparisons for justification are not fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit shows up in being generous to your Bible teachers! I like this one a lot since I do instruct others in the Word. There is a rich deposit in Scripture, and those who can mine it and deliver it to others have done a valuable service. They have shared a very good thing with you. Share good things with them. That’s what living in the Spirit does.
The fruit of the Spirit shows up in sowing to the Spirit. The principle is unarguable; you sow corn seed, you get corn stalks. You sow apple seed, you get apple trees. You sow to the flesh, or the sin nature, you get the fruit of the flesh, which is destruction. You sow to the Spirit, you get the fruit of the Spirit, which is abundant life. Maybe this one still needs a concrete example. You sow to the Spirit with the seed of God’s presence. Worship Him. Pray. Study His Word. Absorb the beauty of nature. Enjoy the fellowship of believers. Seek and listen to every form of God speaking to you. Watch your spirit come alive!
The fruit of the Spirit shows up in taking every opportunity to be good to everyone. The sin nature thrives on strategic manipulation. The “good-for-nothing” is always good FOR something. Ulterior motives and discrimination rule the ‘good manners’ of fleshly people. Those who live by the Spirit are good because it is good to be good. They are good to anyone they have a chance to be good to. God is good to all, and those who walk in His Spirit are like Him. Who do you treat well and who do you treat less well? Why? Are you weary of doing well? The Spirit will revive you again.
Finally, the fruit of the Spirit shows up in boasting only in the cross of Jesus Christ. If we reconcile those who sin against us and lighten others’ loads, and accept our own responsibilities and share generously with our teachers, and practice the presence of God and do good to all kinds of people … and then brag about … we puncture and let the air out of all those beautiful balloons. There is no boasting in the life of the Spirit; there is only boasting in Christ. What HE has done is noteworthy, praiseworthy, not what I have done. You know you’re living in the Spirit when the one you really want to talk about is Jesus.
Pray: Holy Spirit, press the truths and principles of the Word deeply into my mind and heart, and also into my hands and feet. Help me to know how to do your Word and not just know it. Help me to understand the practical daily applications of Your noble concepts. Make my life a fruitful, Spiritual life.
September 20 - Galatians 5:12-26 - The Church of the Chattering Teeth
It was a dream. I’m walking through a neighborhood, blessed by the cherry-lined lane, the bouquet of barbecuing beef and the giggle-shouts of “Marco! Polo!” The residential lawns give way to Main Street, and then beyond the Mom ’n Pop stores rises a wrought iron fence. Chips of black enamel flake off the finials and settle at the foot of adjacent tombstones. Rusty hinges scream at me as the gate twists open, daring me to ascend the churchyard steps. With each step something changes. Children, now crying, are silenced at the sound of backdoor sliders slamming. The only aroma lingering is the vague scent of decay. And all the trees have gone to box elder.
I stare at the door handle of a poorly maintained church. A new sound fades in, slowly. High pitched tapping; rapid-fire tapping; castanets out of control? I jerk open the door. All across the vestibule and down the aisle, on the pews, the platform and the pulpit, two feet deep, are sets of chattering teeth. The rancid smell is repulsive now. The trees lose their balance, bursting against the window glass. Shards and twigs get sucked into the vacuum of the sanctuary. The children are crying again. It wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare.
I have to wonder if this bizarre visual doesn’t have some actual form of existence. Especially in light of what Paul says in today’s text. “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Isn’t that what it would look like? If everyone in the church kept taking big chunks out of each other; unabated soul cannibalism? In the end there’d be nothing left but the teeth, chattering away out of muscle memory; a snapping, writhing reminder of what happens if we live lovelessly and out of our sin nature.
Glean three instructions from this passage: serve one another, love one another, live by the Spirit. (Much easier said than done.) The natural desires in us are at odds with the desires of God’s Spirit in us. Both are struggling for the leadership of our soul. The natural is the sinful self and so sin comes naturally. Unchecked, the desires of the natural lead us into all sorts of destructive behaviors. Listing them is a breeze. Paul says, they are “obvious.” And by them, we rip at each other and wound and destroy each other.
The better way to live is the harder way to live. It’s not natural; it’s supernatural. It’s Spirit led. But the supernatural self produces far better outcomes for everyone involved. In the natural, one gains while all others lose. And in the end, even the gains are hollow. In the supernatural, everybody gains, and the rewards are eternal.
In some ways, this is the test of the true child of God. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature …” Those who persist in sin as a natural way of life have no inheritance with the children of God. So, are you pursuing a life overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit and encouraging others to do the same? Or are you excusing your bad behavior as the natural, normal way of things, and in the process eating and being eaten alive?
Christian, live by the Spirit. Be led by the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. Serve one another in love.
Pray: Holy Spirit, come alive in me and put to death my natural, sinful self. Let me be consumed by You, before I start consuming everybody else around me. Fill us. Lead us. May we yield to You to make our churches orchards of abundant fruit. Elsewise, we will make them mass graves of chattering teeth.
September 19 - Galatians 5:1-12 - The Only Thing that Counts
One of the most controversial moments in Olympic sports history occurred during the Los Angeles Summer Games of 1984. American Mary Decker and Englishwoman, by way of South Africa, Zola Budd were meeting in the 3000m race. Budd was diminutive and meek, but attention-getting in that her South African homeland was banned from the games because of their practice of apartheid. Budd had somehow fast-forwarded her citizenship to qualify as a Brit. She also garnered attention because she was fast; the fastest woman miler in the world at the time of this race. Mary Decker was the darling of American track, breaking world records and winning championships in a variety of distances since she was 12 years old.
Entering the home stretch with just over three laps to go, Zola Budd changed lanes to the inside directly in front of Mary Decker. Decker was hemmed in all around and Budd’s foot made contact with Decker’s thigh. Budd stumbled several steps but regained her footing. Decker stumbled and fell into the infield, injuring her hip. The gold medal would hang around neither Budd nor Decker's neck. But the controversy over whether Zola had intentionally cut Mary off would hang around for decades.
The apostle Paul uses a race analogy in today’s text. He asks, “Who cut you off?” “You were running a good race.” The Galatian Christians had come to faith in Jesus Christ through Paul’s preaching. His exhortation had always been to believe in the Son of God, who took their sins to the cross and satisfied the requirements of the Law by His sinless life and sacrifice. But somehow somebody had run the Galatians off the track of “grace through faith.” They had been diverted to another lane; the lane of religious works toward salvation. Paul reminds them that that lane goes nowhere. No one can adhere to a religion of perfect law-keeping. But by God’s grace, Jesus has fulfilled the Law for us and we stand saved by grace.
So, does that mean that a religion not based on Law is a religion of license? When Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free,” does he mean free to do whatever we please? ‘After all, we’re only human and Jesus has got us covered.’ ‘We can call our new movement Lax Pax; keep the peace and do as you like.’ (Well, actually, that’s the Wiccan standard – An it harm none, do what ye will.) No, neither legalism nor license is the answer.
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.” God loved us and sacrificed His only Son for our salvation, our healing, our freedom. We embrace this and receive its benefits through faith. And when that faith in Love is expressed in love, that’s what counts. Counting how many good things you’ve done doesn’t count. Counting how many people you have convinced to imitate the same religious practices you practice doesn’t count. Counting how many people you pastor or how many buildings you’ve built or how much money you have in your endowment doesn’t count. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.”
Who have you loved as an extension of Christ’s love for you? The freedom you’ve been set free for is the freedom to love like Jesus. Not the freedom to do Christianity in the way that makes you comfortable. The freedom to love with the disciplined, unselfish, holy and painful love of Christ. That’s what Jesus is counting on.
Who do you love?
Pray: Perfect God, thank you for loving this imperfect man. Help me to run down the middle of your Way and not get bumped to the edges of legalism or license. Help me to understand the nature of the freedom you have purchased for me with Your blood. Help me to understand and apply the kind of love that counts.
September 18 - Galatians 3:23-4:31 - Not the Club, the Family
Did any of you guys have a tree-house growing up? I always wanted a tree-house. (I’m really going to date myself with this entry today.) I saw the tree-house in “Swiss Family Robinson” and simply fell in love.
Decades later, when I saw these platforms in the Myst computer game, all the old feelings came back.
If I’m honest, the attraction of a tree-house for me was the exclusivity. I could decide who would be allowed up there or not. I’d have a club, and only the oath-taking devotees would ever ascend to our lofty domain. Maybe I would have opened up a chapter of Spanky McFarland’s club from the Little Rascals. (This entry is so dated my spell-checker doesn’t recognize ‘Myst’ or ‘Spanky’!) Standing with my hand over my heart, I would intone the oath with all my buddies –
“I, Bobby, member in good standing of the He-Man Woman Hater's club, do solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to and especially never fall in love and if I do may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours or until I scream bloody murder.”
“I, Bobby, member in good standing of the He-Man Woman Hater's club, do solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to and especially never fall in love and if I do may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours or until I scream bloody murder.”
Maybe I would have done that in 1965. By the summer of ’67, I had already broken the oath.
Paul tells the Galatians, we are “all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus … There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” There is no exclusivity. There is no club with special rites of entry. No one has to pass a test, or demonstrate a set of special skills, or prove a unique pedigree. Ethnicity doesn’t matter; social status doesn’t matter; gender doesn’t matter. What matters is what we believe. We believe that at the perfect time in human history, God entered the world as one of us; the wife of Joseph delivered the Son of God. Mary’s firstborn freed us from sin’s prison and rendered us true children of God, with the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts and the inheritance of Jesus ours to share.
Some of the Jews in Galatia still had the “club” mentality. They kept insisting that faith in Messiah Jesus still had to be accompanied by the pedigree and the special rites. Paul was preaching the good news of freedom from religious legalism. Don’t join ‘the club,’ join the family! Don’t inherit the burden of legalism; inherit the Kingdom of your father, God.
How’s the atmosphere, the tone, at your church? Is it heavy and demanding? Is it characterized by a lot of rules and regulations and inviolable traditions? Is there more judgment than joy? More animosity than affirmation? Paul says, “we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.” Set the tone at your church – freedom in Jesus Christ.
(And Lord, if there is a tree-house for me in Heaven, I swear with my hand over my heart, everybody's welcome up.)
Pray: Abba, my Father, I sing for what you've done through your Son, Jesus Christ. You have made us all one through the redemption He purchased for us on the cross. I bless You for the gift of Your Spirit and our glorious inheritance. Help me to lead with joy and in the freedom of grace. Help me to be holy -- not that I might earn my salvation, but that I might celebrate it. Help me to help others get free.
September 17 - Galatians 3:10-22 - Prison Break
Ever seen one of these?
They’re called Chinese finger traps or Chinese handcuffs. They are clever little devices; toys really. You convince someone to stick their index fingers in both ends of the braided barrel. Then, for a little while, you snicker and giggle as you watch them pull harder and harder to get their fingers out. The more they pull, the stronger the handcuffs hold. Stretching the braided barrel only makes it narrower and tighter. The ‘prisoner’ finally understands the dynamics and does the counter-intuitive thing – to get your fingers out, you have to push your fingers in.
In today’s text, Paul writes, “… the whole world is a prisoner of sin …” Through the interplay of a broken world system, a cruel tempter, and our own selfish desires, we all eventually slip our fingers into the trap. But unlike our tiny braided toy, sin holds relentlessly fast. For those who aren’t so far imprisoned that they are willing to admit to sin, the natural inclination is to try to escape by doing good. Our intuition tells us that to overcome sin, I simply pull harder in a righteous direction. The only problem is… self-righteousness is not powerful enough to set us free.
Being justified, or being in right relationship with God, does not come through conforming oneself to a holy standard. This would be like telling a prisoner they could get out of jail by flattening themselves out, conforming to the space between the cell bars. "Just slide on out!" These are impossibilities.
We are only justified by faith in Jesus. Paul finished his statement like this – “… the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised [right relationship with God], being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” Faith. Belief. Not more straining to be more holy; but relaxing in Him who is Holy.
We are only justified by faith in Jesus. Paul finished his statement like this – “… the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised [right relationship with God], being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” Faith. Belief. Not more straining to be more holy; but relaxing in Him who is Holy.
There are a good number of prison breaks in the New Testament. Peter in a Jerusalem jail, walked out to Rhoda’s prayer meeting, and all were amazed. Paul in a Philippian jail, walked out and to the jailer’s home, and all were saved. John in the prison of exile, walked out into the eschaton where all was complete. And Jesus in the stony cell of death, walked out with everlasting life, for all who believe.
Go tell the good news to all the ‘prisoners.’ “Your cell door's about to fly open, and Jesus is the key!”
Pray: Liberator, help me be a messenger of the good news of great joy which is for all people. Pharisees tie heavy chains on people with their misguided insistence on perfect behavior. But no one earns their soul’s freedom with self-achieved holiness. Rather make me an instrument of grace and a prophet of peace, inspiring belief in Christ alone.
September 16 - Galatians 2:17-3:9 - I Can’t Build ‘Em, I Just Believe in ‘Em
I have had the blessed privilege to live in three of the great cities of North America – New York, Boston and San Francisco. Traveling around these urban marvels requires that you encounter bridges of renown. They are stylish, breath-taking, majestic. They soar high above water and earth and carry you across a vast expanse.
Sometimes we complain about the toll we have to pay to get across, but imagine what else might be asked of us to obtain passage. What if they asked for a thorough description of how the bridge was built? What if they asked you to render a detailed drawing to scale? What if you had to provide evidence they you had built a similar bridge at another location?All that is way beyond me. I don’t build ‘em, I just trust ‘em. If I tried to build my own Verrazano Narrows, my own Zakim or Golden Gate Bridge, I would fail miserably. The same is true with my right standing with God. The gap between my sinfulness and God’s holiness is far wider than the Narrows. There is no spanning the divide between Him and me with a “righteous” bridge of my own building. Some of the Galatians Paul addresses in today’s text had an idea like that. They thought they either attained or maintained a right relationship with God through doing the right things right enough. But it can’t be done. And the Word calls those who entertain such an idea as “foolish” and “bewitched.”
There IS a bridge to cross the great divide, but it isn’t a man-made one. It is the Cross of Jesus Christ. Paul says, “The life I live … I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Faith, not works, is the answer.
Do you ever let that truth slip out of focus? Do you let the world with its ‘success mantra’ and its “what have you done for me lately” mentality steer you off course? You’ll never get saved by being good enough. And you don’t keep your salvation by being good enough. Jesus is the only One who is good enough. He is the Bridge. And the toll it took was His life. And if righteousness could be gained by good works, then Christ died for nothing!
Do not set aside the grace of God. You’ll be bridge-building forever, and it’ll never get done.
Pray: Merciful God, thank you for doing for me what I could never have done for myself. I distanced myself so far from you with my sin. No religion, no morality, no spirituality, no self-effort of any kind was going to carry me across. Nothing but Your cross. Help me to share and show the supremacy of faith in Christ with my life. Help me not to talk ‘grace’ and live ‘works.’
September 15 - Galatians 2:1-16 - No Christian Chameleons
I was reading about chameleons this week. I found out that they do change color to camouflage themselves. Watch this video and see for yourself (I found the audio to be annoying, so you may want to turn your speakers down) …
I also discovered that chameleons are more likely to change color, and with more intense color, when they are scared. Emotion, not habitat, is a stronger affecter of the change. Simon Peter shows up in today’s text from Galatians, and reveals himself to be a bit of a chameleon.
I also discovered that chameleons are more likely to change color, and with more intense color, when they are scared. Emotion, not habitat, is a stronger affecter of the change. Simon Peter shows up in today’s text from Galatians, and reveals himself to be a bit of a chameleon.
Do you remember how bold Peter was just before Jesus was arrested for trial and crucifixion? “Everyone else may abandon You, Lord, but I’ll never leave you!” “I’d die with You before I’d ever turn my back on You.” But then, Jesus gets taken into custody and the whole city becomes hostile toward Him. Where do we find Peter? Swearing over and over that he doesn’t even know Jesus! When fear kicked in, the chameleon took over. Peter pretty intensely changed his colors.
It appears old behaviors die hard. Paul writes how Peter went to Antioch to visit the church there and observe the fresh phenomenon of Gentiles coming to faith in the Jewish Messiah. Peter is engaged and enjoying table fellowship with the Gentiles, until other Jewish Christians show up. Out of fear for what his Jewish brethren might say, he draws back from the Gentiles. Paul has to call him on his ‘lizard-like’ behavior. People-pleasing and old loyalties are not what the gospel is all about. “Decide what your theology is, Peter, and stand on it!” “Don’t be changing colors based on your emotional state.”
Do you ever get a little wishy-washy with your faith? Do you ever back off of what you believe based on the company you’re with or on the way you feel around different groups of people? Of course, it all becomes quite dicey when you’re in the company of two contrasting views. What DO you believe and how much are you willing to defend your position?
Paul was convinced that Jesus had come to fulfill the purpose of the Law and place right relationship with God squarely in the realm of faith. Being good with God is not a function of good enough behavior. It comes from Jesus taking our bad behavior to the cross. And some of those bad behaviors are being “two-faced,” hypocritical, lacking in integrity, and living to please people instead of pleasing God.
God is pleased not to have any chameleons in His house.
Pray: God of love and truth, let Your love cast out all my fear so that I may defend the truth in every situation. The world is not disinterested in faith; it questions and challenges faith. And I want to be a sound advocate for Your gospel. Keep me from wavering and waffling. Make me a reliable mouthpiece for Your Word.
September 14 - Galatians 1:1-24 - Vocation, Vocation, Vocation
How many residences have you lived in? I’ve lived in fourteen different places in four different states. Do you ever look back and reflect on the reasons behind the residences. What were the conditions and circumstances that led to the moves you or your family made? I imagine a lot of people move to move up. Each change of address marks one step closer to living in their most coveted climate, neighborhood or architecture. They’re pursuing their real estate dream.
For others, the goal isn’t the location. It’s the vocation. Some of us have pulled up stakes, packed up the car like a can of sardines, and headed up the road to pursue, not a view, but a voice. The voice drew a picture, but not of a place - it revealed a plan.
Some folks are sent to a new location like an airman to a new duty station (my son-in-law packed up his daughter, and my daughter with another granddaughter on the way, and took them to Anchorage, Alaska.) Duty and his commander called. It’s like that with God. Duty and our Commander calls. The Voice reveals more of His plan for our service. And we go.
And sometimes the move doesn’t seem like a move up; not on the surface. Sandie and I had a three-bedroom ranch on a cul-de-sac with a deck and a yard for two kids and two cars. Then we heard the Voice. We saw a new piece of the plan. The house and most of the furnishings were sold, and the one car was unintentionally destroyed (my bad), and after 8 days and 3,000 miles of 100 degree temperatures, we arrived at our new location; new vocation. Seminary housing. Two bedrooms. Tight. No cul-de-sac. No deck. We moved, but did we move up? Yes. Because obedience to the Voice, adherence to His plan, is always a move up.
There is much content, and much could be said about today’s Scripture reading, but I will focus on this – middle of verses 15 and 16 – “…God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might …” Paul speaks of himself this way, but I believe the Word speaks of us all this way. Let’s take a moment to stop moving and meditate on the Voice of God.
“I set you apart from birth.”
“I called you by My grace.”
“It pleases Me to reveal My Son in you.”
“I did all this so that you might …” Might ... what?
What is your current vocation? Paul knew that God had done all this for him so that he might preach Christ among the Gentiles. God has done all this for you so that you might perform some special service for His Name. What has He set you apart to do? What has He graciously called you to do? What has He revealed His Son in you to do? Don’t worry about your location. What is your vocation? Pursue it! Pack up! Head Out!
Move up.
Pray: I’m ready, Lord. I’m ready to listen. I’m ready to move. Wherever you lead, I’ll go. I’m following your Voice. I’m realizing my calling. I’m embracing Your reason for my being. For according to your Word, this is the abundant life and the fullness of joy.
September 13 - 2 Corinthians 13:1-14 - Lord, May I?
Now that I think back on it, one of the more confounding games that I played as a kid was “Mother May I.” Someone got to be “Mother” and they were in control of the game. The players lined up about fifteen feet away from “Mother” and awaited her commands. ‘Bob, take three giant steps.’ I would be required to ask, “Mother, may I?” And then “Mother” could choose to grant permission, or not. The idea was not to forget to ask for permission, and to perform the command as given. The commands were supposed to facilitate movement toward “Mother.” Whoever made it to “Mother” first was the winner.
This is confounding to me because ... why did any of us ever want to be anyone but “Mother?” It was ‘her’ game, and the rest were just pawns to be toyed with. That we all followed the rules and deferred to being manipulated is mind-boggling. Perhaps research has been done and some psycho-social explanation exists, but I am baffled by that childhood behavior. I could more reasonably expect kids to challenge the person who ever suggested “Mother May I.” “No way, why should I do what you tell me? Who made you the boss?”
Seems to me people just naturally resist being controlled or placed under authority. And just as naturally, people enjoy exercising control or having the power to dictate. The apostle Paul saw himself as a person of authority who had a right to confront, correct, and make demands of the Corinthian church. He saw the source of his authority as the call and sending of God. In other words, his authority over the church was based on God’s authority over Paul. But this authority was challenged; it met with some resistance in the church at Corinth. What could Paul bring as evidence of his authority’s legitimacy?
Paul’s legitimate authority could be supported by his testimony –
“Jesus met me in Damascus and gave me this assignment!” His authority could be validated by collaborators – “Barnabbas, Timothy, Titus, Luke, Apollos … these can vouch for my legitimacy.” Most tellingly, his authority could be legitimized by his character – “We are weak in [Christ], yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.” “…authority – the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.”
“Jesus met me in Damascus and gave me this assignment!” His authority could be validated by collaborators – “Barnabbas, Timothy, Titus, Luke, Apollos … these can vouch for my legitimacy.” Most tellingly, his authority could be legitimized by his character – “We are weak in [Christ], yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.” “…authority – the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.”
As pastors, church and ministry leaders, we do have authority according to our calling and according to the endorsement of those we serve, and serve with. But the thing that really put’s the stamp of legitimacy on our authority is the manner and purpose by which we use it. Do we just enjoy dictating, manipulating, granting and withholding permission? Or does the power of God show through us as we live to serve others?
Let’s exercise authority to build others up, not tear them down.
Pray: Gracious Lord, help me to use my power, influence and authority to build up Your Body. Grant me wisdom, kindness and generosity for my leadership role. Guide my boldness and discipline to make it an instrument of correction toward what is right and good. Lord, may I do everything in love.
September 12 - 2 Corinthians 12:11-21 - I Love Humanity; It’s People I Can’t Stand
Most folks, young and old, when they first hear the call to ministry, get excited. The thought that God would use them to affect His loving and life-changing work brings great joy. The wounded will find healing; the dead-in-sin will come to life-in-Christ; the helpless and hopeless will find new meaning and a family of faith to lean on. And God will bring this to pass through His chosen instrument – me! I'm going to make a difference in the world. I'm going to be an agent of spiritual revival. This is awesome!
And then … you meet the people. Yes, they are wounded, but they also wound. And the dead-in-sin often persist in their insensitivity to your service. And the helpless and hopeless have given up a long time ago on what you’re offering them. And they frustrate you. And hurt you. And drive you to the brink of …
Well, like Paul says, “I’ve made a fool of myself, and you drove me to it.” I’ll admit, I Google-mapped the words “brink,” “drink,” and “insanity,” to see if I could actually be driven there. Paul has invested so much in bringing the gospel of love and life to the Corinthians and they are still so unappreciative, skeptical and unruly. What a miserable list of anticipated findings Paul makes. “I fear that [when I arrive] there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.” That doesn’t sound like he’s going to visit a church, it sounds like he’s going to check on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey!” Or does it? People are still people twenty centuries later, so you may find all of this in the church you serve.
At times like that, you have to go back to the calling. Not back to the rosey-lensed fantasy; those spectacles have been shattered by another kind of spectacle. You go back to the fact that it was God that tapped you on the shoulder. He’s the One who put Christ in you, for the challenge of befriending the world, for the sake of their souls. Like Paul said, “We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.” We must come to grips with the rugged nature of the call - not just to labor for Jesus, but to labor AS Jesus. Can we say about the ornery people before us, ‘So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself for you?’ After all, that IS what Jesus did for us.
Pray: My Jesus, steadfast and unswerving, help me to love the unlovely and the unloving. Only You can make me persevere in a hostile environment. Only You can bring out of me good for evil, blessing for cursing, love for hate. Transform me, even as I plead for You to transform those before me. Yes, You certainly are making me over in Your image.
September 11 - 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 - Delighting in Difficulty
David Copperfield is the most successful magician of all-time. Forbes magazine puts his total earnings at about a billion dollars. He has had his own television specials at least fifteen times, and I imagine that is especially hard to sustain for an illusionist – because every year the trick has to better than last year’s trick. The illusion that stands out most to me, and mostly because it occurred the night before our first child was born, is the vanishing Statue of Liberty. Do you remember that? April 8, 1983. Watch …
I am sure that magicians feed off the challenge of the difficulty proposed by their illusions. How difficult would it be to actually move the Statue of Liberty off its pedestal and then put it back? Copperfield delighted in the difficulty.
I am sure that magicians feed off the challenge of the difficulty proposed by their illusions. How difficult would it be to actually move the Statue of Liberty off its pedestal and then put it back? Copperfield delighted in the difficulty.
The apostle Paul writes those same words to the Corinthians. “I delight in … difficulties.” He also delights in weakness, insults, hardship and persecution. But, this is different from the challenges of the master illusionist. The magician can anticipate the challenge, measure it and practice for it. In fact, most of the difficulty is manufactured. It is not so hard as it is made to look hard. Paul is saying, ‘I actually delight in the things that reveal my inadequacies,’ not the things that show my astonishing mastery. In fact, God had built into Paul a difficulty that he could never master; the thorn in his flesh. But Paul was glad for it and for all the difficulties of his life and missional work.
Paul’s difficulties helped him to accomplish four things – He says:
It keeps people from thinking too highly of me. (They must revel in the astonishing Master. The One crucified yet alive forever more!)
It keeps me from thinking too highly of myself. (How I would hate to have pride take over and become as one of the ‘super-apostles;’ pseudo-apostles is more like it.)
It keeps me dependent on God’s grace. (I find Him to be faithful, caring, and unpredictably blessed in the most trying times of life.)
It keeps me in a position of effectiveness by humbly making room for the power of Christ. (“When I am weak, then I am strong” is not a contradiction, it is a ‘cause and effect.’ When I'm honest and transparent about my inadequacies, I yield to the Lord and He supplies His utterly adequate strength!)
I don’t know what kind of difficulty you are wrestling with; perhaps you feel like the Statue of Liberty has been knocked down on top of you. But do not fear; the Lord loves you. He knows you are too weak for it. Be humble. Cry out for His aid. His grace and power are sufficient for you.
Pray: Unconquerable Christ, I put my trust in You. I know I have prayed for You to make me like you, but sometimes I forget that you suffered and so must I. Keep me near You, believing You and expecting that You will work all things together for my good. I am one of your called. I love You.
September 10 - 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 - When You CAN Win for Losing
It’s opening night of the NFL season, so I’m going to have to let some of my male competitive nature show through. Don’t you love it when you beat somebody at their own game? The Vikings came into tonight’s game with a reputation for stellar run defense and the stats to back it up. But in the second half, it was the Saints that pulled off the shutout, and their offense did their damage on the ground. (Hang in there with me, non-football fans.) What about in your own experience? Somebody asks you to play against them, and you get the feeling that what they want is to show off their skills. You accept the invitation and then -- their bravado fades and their game doesn’t match up to yours. Admit it! It feels good to beat somebody at their own game.
Paul continues his response to the ‘super-apostles’ in today’s text. The Corinthians were putting their trust, even their faith, in the likes of blow-hard, media personality orators who weren’t preaching an accurate gospel. But the 'hotshots' had sharp skills and talked a lot of trash. The charisma just oozed out of their pores. Paul says, “If you’ll let me act like a fool for a minute, I’ll do some trash-talkin’ self-promotion of my own. I’ll use the same categories they use on their silver-edged resumes and, guess what? I’ll beat them at their own game!”
And he did. He beat them at the ancestry game. He beat them in the hard work category. He beat them at being beaten; in the suffering at enemy hands category. He beat them at the surviving dangers game. At the deprivation game. At the empathic burden game. Paul says, if those are the categories and the criteria that qualify a ‘great evangelist,’ then I’m the one you should be devoted to. If you should appreciate anybody’s prophecy and hang on somebody’s every word, it should be mine. But like Paul said at the beginning of his recitation, all this is just mimicry of the fools. These aren’t the marks of a true Apostle; the boasting points. The true mark is when God shows up in your weakness.
Serving the Lord is not a game. Leading among God’s people is not a competition or a beauty pageant. Pastoring well is not a numbers game – are bodies, bucks, and buildings really the way we ought to keep score? We Ooh and Aah over the celebrity mega-church pastors, but the mega-churches only account for 1% of all church attendance in America. The average worship service across the nation has 90 people in attendance. Are all those other pastors so incompetent at what they do; such slackers? Or are they fighting the good fight every day against a cunning adversary? Are they straining forward in a race against the wind … uphill? Are they trying to break up fallow ground, boulder after boulder against the blade?
God shows up in places like that, too. He rocks the Houston Astrodome and Dodger Stadium, but He also breaks hearts and changes lives in country churches outside city limits of cities you’ve never heard of. So, hold your head up, sister! Press on, brother! Press on in your weakness and in your anonymity! In consecrated endurance, God will prove strong. The Lord of the universe knows your name.
Pray: Crucified Christ, help me in my weakness. Through my obedience and the sacrifice that looks like losing, win many souls to glory! Let me not boast in anything but You, Jesus. Help me not to be discouraged when I’m not making headlines, or not making cash registers ring. Help me to persist in the path down which You are leading. There is my victory.
September 9 - 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 - Super-Apostles of a Pseudo-Jesus
Two years ago, Deepak Chopra, the god-consciousness, self-actualization guru wrote a book titled, “The Third Jesus.” Chopra explains that the first Jesus is the ancient historical Jesus; the second is the religious institutional Jesus; and the Third Jesus is the all-inclusive, spiritual master Jesus. He contends that the first Jesus cannot be accurately identified for lack of hard evidence. He asserts that the second Jesus cannot be identified as accurate for Christianity’s self-serving warp of his image. Chopra’s Jesus is separated from history and the church, and can only be found in the enlightenment of higher consciousness. That might be an interesting path to follow, except that there are not ONLY two Jesus’ prior to Chopra’s third. There is the historic Christ, the world-changer, anticipated and foreshadowed in the well-attested historical document of the Old Testament, witnessed to and embodied in Christ's first community as recorded in the well-attested New Testament writings.
Chopra, for all his wealth and media-star status, is a super-apostle of a pseudo-Jesus. And he stands in a long line, a nineteen centuries-long line, of SAO-PJs. Paul wrote about them to the Corinthians, coining the phrase. Paul's problem was that many in his Christian family were putting up with, even embracing the false prophets and their alternative Jesus. Paul says these spiritual “headliners” are trained in their communication skills, charge for their services and wish to be considered equals of the true Apostles. It appears their charisma and confident rhetoric could divert even a sincere devotion to Christ.
Paul asks, “Do you think less of me because I don’t have a degree in communications?” “Am I not taken seriously because I didn’t sell tickets to my preaching?” “But my communication was with the power of the Holy Spirit, not rhetoric.” “My concern was not to be a financial burden to you.” “And Corinthians, have any of these pretenders loved you like I have loved you?”
Dear Christian leader, partner in ministry, Paul’s recipe is the antidote
to the “super-apostles. The gospel of a crucified and risen Savior, accompanied by an active concern for your audience, and delivered with love under the guiding power of the Spirit, will win the day. Don't fashion yourself a 'superstar.' Just know the truth, and know why it’s true, and know how to explain that to others. Be jealous for the souls you shepherd. Don’t let them start ‘dating around’ when they have already vowed their fidelity to Christ. The 'super-apostles,' those dashing suitors, will woo them to the masquerade ball. Help strip off the masks to reveal the deceiver.
to the “super-apostles. The gospel of a crucified and risen Savior, accompanied by an active concern for your audience, and delivered with love under the guiding power of the Spirit, will win the day. Don't fashion yourself a 'superstar.' Just know the truth, and know why it’s true, and know how to explain that to others. Be jealous for the souls you shepherd. Don’t let them start ‘dating around’ when they have already vowed their fidelity to Christ. The 'super-apostles,' those dashing suitors, will woo them to the masquerade ball. Help strip off the masks to reveal the deceiver.
Pray: Spirit of the Living Word, there are so many “apostles” and “prophets” these days who say they know the way to truth and life. But you have revealed to us the One who IS the Way, the Truth and the Life; not the Third Jesus, but the One and Only Jesus. The Jesus of Old Testament prophecy. The Jesus of the New Testament church. The Jesus of Paul’s preaching. May He always be the Jesus of my church and my preaching.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)