The Power of God

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

Somehow the message of the cross has been lost in Christendom. I hear a lot of talk about a lot of things but not so much about the cross. And I see that we are very excited about a lot of things but the cross, not so much. We look for the power of God in our spoken words, in our prayers, in miracles or experiences, in great preaching or in outreach efforts but not so much in the cross.

Its not my intelligence or education or my ability to argue or debate that's going to win anyone over to Christ. It's the message of the cross. It's not miracles or stunning prayers or great books (unless they are about the cross!) that get people saved. It's the message of the cross. This is foolishness to our “Greek” minds. It makes no scientific sense. It makes no logical sense. But it is the power of God. We need to carry around his death. That the infinite God, the Almighty, the Creator of the universe would limit himself and enter humanity, experiencing everything we experience so that he could bridge the gap between us that sin created b/c he loves us that much - that is the power of God. And so when my son speaks to his unsaved friends, if he carries the death of Jesus about with him then whatever he talks about to them, comes from that perspective. If the cross is all we carry. Whatever the issue of conversation may be he sees it through the glass of Christ crucified. So the underlying issue is always, "Why did Christ come?" "What did he accomplish on that cross?" This is the power of God! It's not whether or not I fully understand the second coming, or miracles or eternal security, or any other thing. These are wonderful subjects to search out in the scriptures to know Him better by(not to know the subject matter better!) and they are interesting, but the message of the cross is the power of God. It's not about being a gifted speaker, or a bible scholar, being good at debate or rhetorical speech although those things are fun and stimulating and entertaining. It's not about having all the answers. The power of God is not in those things. It's in the message of the cross. And so I tell my son, when you are with your unsaved friends carry the cross with you. Not on a necklace but in your soul. And pray that God will make their hearts able to receive it because it is foolishness to them. Paul said they have a veil over their minds. Pray that the veil be removed. And it is like the parable of the sower and the seed that Jesus told. I tell my son, pray for your friends because their hearts need to be prepared by God to receive this foolish message! If they have rocks or weed seeds in their hearts even if the word is received it will die. And certainly the ground needs to be broken up if they are hardened like a well worn path. But we can not do this – only the cross can.

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:10

We carry around the death of Christ and preach the foolish message of the cross and pray that He will lift the veil and work the soil of people's hearts. Then and only then do we have something to offer the world.

Modern Christianity

I'm don't watch televangelist. I frankly can't stomach the idea much less the individuals. It's completely unnatural. If we are following Christ then we should be in fellowship with his body. Plain and simple. We waste more time listening to some stranger preach some message – which is NOT the gospel of Jesus Christ - than we do listening to God ourselves i.e. reading our bibles and living it out among others. There is no interaction with the word or other believers. It is both unnatural and unhealthy. And so we have an obese church laying on the comfortable couch, slugging down alcohol free beers, making snacks during the commercials. We no longer engage in discussion because our skins have grown so thin. We no longer wrestle with the scriptures because our backs are weak. Thankfully we have no format for response because our reflexes have grown sluggish. And the atrophy of our souls has leeched into our excursions into reality. When (or if) we do attend a real meeting with real people we're not much more engaged. It's like going to the gym for the first time after high school graduation. “Hey it's only been 10 years. I'm still in pretty good shape. After all I used to play on the volleyball team.” But the format of most modern church services doesn't lend itself to interactive dialog either and so we've drifted. We no longer care much about doctrine, or theology. Since we have no real format for conversation we no longer think at all. We just consume and emote and drift...que sera sera. And then the message of the Cross, the reality of it's impact on our souls, the supernatural power of salvation becomes boring! We are actually bored with God. And more than that, since we have failed to keep our senses sharp – remember iron sharpens iron – by engaging with other believers intellectually, we are now both easily offended and offensive. We need to turn off the t.v., crack open our bibles, find other believers who will sand the burrs off our prickly selves, make a commitment to them (you may need to consult a dictionary for that one) and grow up. We have grown yes, but it's not more mature, we've just grown fat.

God of our own design

Yes the love of God should make a difference in my life. Yes, I struggle to believe that he could love me, since he knows me so well. Yes, I have a warped perspective.
What exactly do I suppose the love of God should look like in my life? What exactly do I want it to be for me? Do I want God's love to make me feel good? To make me happy? To make my journey on earth a little (or a lot) less unpleasant? Yes , yes, and yes. But should I? No, no, and no. I cannot make the love of God what I want it to be. He is love. So what his love is to me is what he is to me. Who he is to me. Who he is period. I cannot change him or I make another god and break the first of the 10 commandments. And this my friends is what I believe has lulled the American Church (perhaps I should say Western church) into our present pitiful coma. We are not asleep. We are on life support. Our false teachers and our insatiable desire for comfortable lifestyles keep the monitor bleeping out false signs of life. We have made God into the image we want him to be. We make bold and incredible statements of idolatry when we grant God only certain of his attributes to fit our comfort level. What Jesus has become to us is like the child's toy, Mr. Potato Head. "I like him without the glasses. I like his nose on top of his head. I like him with ears where his arms should be. Ha-ha. Isn't this fun." Because we can't reconcile God's love with our own suffering then we make him out to be something other than he is. And in reality the full expression of his love is lost on us. Yes God loves us! That is the very essence of the Gospel! Why else did he send his son? To save a disgusting, wretched, despicable people from disgusting, wretched, despicable sins because he loves us! So this is the difference the love of God makes in my life. That I yield myself to all of his workings so that his love can transform me. Not that his love makes me cozy. Not that his love is about making me happy. Filled with Joy unspeakable yes, happy, well...no. And so I am confused about his love. If you love someone don't you want to make them happy? Don't you want to make all the bad things go away for them? And what really is making me confused is my limited perspective. I have believed the lie that this life is about a loving God, who has a wonderful plan for my life (no martydom here!), making me wealthy, confident, happy, without any ailment of any sort and well...just plain "blessed". What I have forgotten is that nothing I will ever need is outside of Christ and what he has done on the cross. "For what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14b) If I forget who I am (a vapor) and make God into a lie ("my jesus wouldn't do that"), then I am left depraved and hungry. Ever searching, never satisfied, believing God's love is about my present comfort, my personal finances, my health, my marriage, my this, my that...my, my, my. God's love is about the forgiveness of my many, many gross and unlovely sins. God's love is about making a people who are conformed to the image of his son. God in all his wrath, in all his mercy, in all he severity, in all is grace. God who receives some to heaven and sends more to hell. God who gives and God who takes away. He is not made according to my design and he never will be. So I must understand who he really is if I want his love to truly make a difference in my life.

First Love - Part III

My friend Lizzie is always saying how important it is to look at the things that Jesus values. First Love is something he clearly values from his admonition to the Church in Ephesus in Rev. 2. Devotion is something he clearly values from looking at the life of Mary of Bethany. I'd like to open this post up for discussion about some recent thoughts I have on Mary's big sister Martha. You know the one who's always getting the bad rap for being a...well...a Martha. Look at that. We've used her name to coin a phrase. A phrase which would be commonly known in the bible world as less than complimentary. Being a Martha. We've taken that to mean, being too busy to love God. Being concerned with nonessentials. Fussin' over stuff that's not important, at least not priority. And yet I like to eat a good meal every day (several actually) and since I don't care so much for cooking I really appreciate people who do.
We find Martha busy in the kitchen at the end of Luke chapter 10. You'd think this story had taken an entire chapter to tell the way it's been written about and preached on. Are there not dozens of books and sermons about these two women? And yet the entire "story" takes only 5 verses. Let's look at them here.

"As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus isn't saying to Martha "ya know, it would do you good to come in here and just sit down. What's your problem Martha? Be more like Mary will ya?" Here's a little insight I have about Martha that I'd like to discuss. If first love is to love God and others, then Martha needed an attitude adjustment not a new vocation. Man, isn't that true for all of us!
Martha is distracted. Distracted because she wasn't supposed to be in the kitchen at all or distracted because she was making a bigger deal out the meal than need be? Or distracted by her attitude? First love is to NOT be distracted in our hearts.
I love studying the temperaments. The ancient four Greek "humors" as taught by Tim LaHaye, Florence Littauer, and Gary Smalley (to name the ones I'm familiar with). I can see Martha's temperament at work here. She's not a sitter. She is just NOT going to sit still. She can't. And I don't believe Jesus is telling her to. He's not the type to compare and scold like we might be tempted to do; "Why can't you be like your sister?" "Your brother Billy never acted that way". Could you hear Jesus saying anything like that? But Martha is distracted and Jesus is clearly admonishing her here. From the text it seems that Martha is distracted from sitting at his feet and listening b/c that is the description of Mary in the preceding line. But the passage begins, "...Martha welcomed him into her home." She knows he's a rabbi and she knows he teaches. So why did she welcome him? To make an impression on him and his disciples as to what a great hostess she was? We learn from other passages about these women that they were actually very good friends of the Rabbi. I don't usually try to impress my best friends. I just want them near me. In fact the closer I am to them the less inclined I am to try and impress them. They know me too well. They would see through any phony charade in a heart beat. Jesus knows the heart beat of Martha. He knows she's more driven than Mary. He knows she has to be doing things.
I have a friend who doesn't like to take walks for the sake of taking a walk. She wants to go somewhere. "What's the point of just walking around the block?" This woman runs circles around me in terms of activity level (not mindless busyness - real accomplishments) She's driven. I love walking. Walking no where for no reason. I could spend an entire day sitting reading a book, rocking on the front porch, just sitting and thinking. Martha isn't like that. She's got business to accomplish. And I know Jesus loves her for it. What he is trying to teach her (I think) is that she can't be dissin' her sister or anyone else for not being like her, for not doing things her way. That Mary is worshipping Jesus her way and that Martha could be doing the same thing; worshipping Jesus her way. I picture Martha figuring this out later. Pouting maybe in the kitchen, maybe going a bit passive aggresive; "Fine don't make her help me. She always was your favorite. Why do the men always like the quite type with the big eyes?" And then later, as the love of Jesus sinks deeper and deeper into her being, she realizes her childishness, and wonders what it means for her to discover the one thing worth being concerned about. Which I believe the scripture tells us clearly is, loving God and loving others. Martha isn't demonstrating a lot of love here for her little sister. Jealousy, anger, resentment, yes, what's best for Mary, no. So, I can see Martha in the kitchen some time later when Jesus is passing through town. She's invited him over again. Now she's humming a hymn and "eaves dropping" on the conversation in the other room. She pauses to listen to the quieter parts. She peeks in to admire her little sister Mary as she looks up adoringly at Jesus. She is proud of Mary's expression of devotion. She smiles, her heart full of joy. She thinks about the privelege of serving the Master Rabbi and his disciples with the giftings God has given her. She's busy in the kitchen and loving it! She's not all worried about the details b/c her heart is really more absorbed with who she's doing all this for. She understands why Jesus didn't take away Mary's place and now she's found her own. May we do the same.

First Love - Part II

I stated in Part I of First Love that I would be talking about Martha and Mary (or at least Martha) in Part II but I won't be getting to it here b/c we definitely need to look at the context of the First Love passage in Revelation chapter 2 verse 4 first. I don't pretend to know all there is to know about Church history or the early church in Ephesus but I would like to forge on with what knowledge I have. In Acts 18 we see the church in Ephesus encouraging Apollos to journey to Achaia. Verse 25 tells us that Apollos "taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy." Apparently the church in Ephesus was concerned that other believers be strengthened in their faith, that there was church grow and that the gospel be spread. As Acts 18:28 tells us "He refuted the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate." We see some interesting activity in Ephesus in Acts 19 (the trouncing of the Seven Sons of Sceva - by a demon no less!) that leads the entire city into a reverence for the name of Jesus and causes those who are added to the faith to "confess their sinful practices" and "burn their incantation books". Such was the dedication of the believers in Ephesus. Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus with the church teaching them "the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus." (Acts 20:21)
The word first here in Revelation 2:4 is defined by Strong's as first in time or place in any succession of things or persons; first in rank; influence, honor, chief, principal. Couple this with the experiences of the early church in Ephesus and their actions or "works" as Jesus puts it and we could be onto something. Lets look at the Revelation 2:4-5 passage again:

"But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first."

The Church in Ephesus put the greatest two commandments to work here. They demonstrated their love for God by being concerned with their own hearts as individuals (repenting), the local church (publicly and collectively burning sorcery books), the church at large and the world in general (sending their best teacher). Loving God foremost then has a very outward look. Which makes sense in light of the whole of scripture. I like the way the Message states 1 Corinthians 10:25 "We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well." And this is consistent with the life of Christ and the gospel message. We do not live to please ourselves (Romans 15:1) First Love is about loving God and others (Luke 10:27) Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus (5:2) Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
Let's quickly look at what the church was commended for in Revelation 2. Hard work, perseverance, intolerance of evil people, careful scrutiny of so called apostles and the routing out of liars, patient suffering and not quitting! This is quite an impressive list. Have I been so diligent? Has the church today? And yet what is the Lords primary concern? All of these things? They aren't bad, he commends them. But they aren't priority. It makes me think of the mysterious (to me) passage in Matthew 11:28-30 where Jesus says “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” This is the love Jesus has for us. I can't imagine the relief that the church in Ephesus must have felt reading this letter from John - repent and do the works you did at first. Whew! That's easy. That's not a burden! Are we now doing other things (individually and as a "church") forgetting that Jesus is the foremost, the preeminent one? Has life become a drag?
We have a tendency (I speak for myself only?) to see a call to repentance as a scolding. Warnings given by Jesus as frightening, severe. When in reality he is always calling us to himself. Is that a bad thing!?! Never. So a call to repentance with a warning is a blessing. A mercy. A kindness. Let us love God and each other as we did at first. He is worthy of this.

First Love - part I

Recent discussions on Revelation 2:4 at our ladies bible study have caused me to think. As we went around the room sharing what it is that we feel personally keeps up from loving God as we did "at first" it occurred to me that most of us were associating quiet time with love. And while the merits of quiet time need no defending, I was, and am, slightly troubled by our view of how we relate to God, how we love him. Apparently by the comments around the room that night, I'm not the only one who struggles to maintain that quiet undistracted time alone with God. But what I (we?) also struggle with is the whole concept of having a real relationship with God. What does it mean to love God? What does it mean to love him as we did at first? How can I have a relationship with him that is meaningful, rich, full and genuine? When am I being a hypocrite? And so I've titled this post part I b/c this is a big issue that will take some time to look at.
I think what bothers me about thinking of quiet time as love and devotion to God is that we therefore of necessity have to look at our jobs our husbands our children our hobbies our time spent with friends, etc as distractions. Eventually with this line of thinking they would actually become evil things that separate us from God. I know that sounds extreme, an exaggeration, but in reality this type of thinking has to produce that. I know it to be true in my own life. I've heard it joked about among women with small children. If quiet time alone is our gage for love and devotion to God then we are all woefully in love with other things. We won't admit that we so closely correlate quiet time with first love to God but when asked what hinders us from loving him as first love we turn to the things of life that "distract" us from that "quiet time". Again, I'm not discounting a set aside time to be with God undistracted, I have a room devoted to that very purpose in my home, but I am troubled that we can't seem to integrate all of life into this thing called a relationship with God. Look at it this way; lets say that I am "distracted" preparing an elaborate meal (I'll talk about Martha and Mary in Part II !), or that I am playing a game with my child or I am digging in my garden or any number of other activities, and I think "Gee, I really wish I could just go have time alone with God" does that make it a sin that I continue to do what I am doing? Doesn't the mere fact that I long for more of God mean that I am in fact loving him more than anything else? Often if the activity is "essential" we feel less guilty because of course we have to change the babies diaper or do laundry. We have the hardest time "justifying" more recreational things. Is God disappointed with me, even angry that I am laughing over a You Tube video instead of weeping over my bible? Do I feel that twinge of conviction on the less essential activities? Then surely my heart is devoted and His Holy Spirit is reminding me! My burden of concern is for the newer believer, the young mom, the working woman (I know we all work) anyone, myself(!), that we would learn that devotion and first love are not just set aside times, boxed into a routine or formula but that it is a state of the heart. When I am vacuuming my rug I am loving God, when I am shopping I am loving God, when I am reading a book I am loving God. Has he not made the vast world we live in? Did he not give Adam a job (ugh such a distraction!) in the Garden?
Keith and Melody Green edited and paraphrased (because modern man is so ignorant?) an article Charles Finney wrote in 1839 entitled "Devotion". I think Finney stated it best, " ...to attempt to please Him by isolated acts of devotion (when it is not the habit and state of our minds) is far more abominable that for a wife to attempt to please her husband with an occasional smile, while she lives only to please and gain the affections of another man."
Oh that we would learn what first love is - God of love do teach.

Pitifulcoma

I love the meaning behind this title, Pitifulcoma, so I want to explain. Pitifulcoma, is a modified combination of two songs titles: Pitiful (by Blindside) and Comatose (by Skillet). Pitiful is a song about who we really are before God no matter what we "try"to be. Yet we are no less in his eyes for our true condition! What amazing love!

"as I recall when my stomach turned
and I was hiding away from myself
away from you
like nothing (but something) was terribly wrong
and I admit that I was only waiting for the right time (night time)
the right moment for you to look away (though you never did)
I pretended for a while
so I could walk where I don't belong...

I remember every word you said
come back in time come back
and I remember I'd soon be dead
pitiful so pitiful

but I know as they hammered those nails
into your beautiful hands
your eyes they tried to search for mine
but I look away
now your eyes are the only thing that can save me
I'm still afraid of them piercing
you're breaking into my prison
(just pretended for a while)
my soul is dying, I won't look away..."

Comatose is an amazing (and in my eyes prophetic) song about our insatiable need for God to awaken us, his body.

"I hate feeling like this,
so tired of trying to fight this.
I'm asleep and all I dream of,
is waking to You...
Comatose, I will never wake up
without an overdose of You..."

Have you ever had that weird dream where you are asleep (in your dream) and you are trying desperately to wake up, and it's so important that you do, yet, you just can't wake up. You're so sleepy, so tired, and yet you're dreaming of waking up. I think the American church is like this. I think we want to be awakened in God, we want to be sober in the things that God is doing on the earth today and we know we need help. Our prayers and songs are about waking up, about being awakened, about revival...and yet we sleep. True revival (awakening in our souls to the lover of our souls) is not about meetings and feelings (as much as I love them) or even miracles and healings, for the anti-christ will have all of that and more, but true revival is about true repentance, of our own sins and the sins of our nation. In James McDonald's book Downpour he teaches us the practice of repentance so that we can experience what we truly long for, unhindered communion with God.
So, we are pitiful, asleep and longing for the Cure for both.

A place of His own

Preparing my second prayer room reminds me of Aslan's words in the recent Prince Caspian movie, "Things never happen the same way twice". My urgency to make this space available for abiding is less intense than the first time. I am moving slower and with more forethought. I am not motivated in the same way. My energy comes from a desire to move on and to heal, to be busy working rather than busy thinking. Finishing quickly is not the goal but finishing right. The first time I was driven by the excitement of something new and a vision. I rushed ahead madly, bubbling and rippling over every stony obstacle. Now I am a calm deep lake. The room itself hold no new adventures for me that abiding anywhere else on earth cannot provide. His place is among the craggy places in my heart not in a basement or attic room. And yet this place for Him will allow for the time to explore the uncharted depths of our relationship, the places we both long to go together. And that is in fact why I am making this room a place of His own. It could be a lot of things but it was never a question really of what it would become. My vision and effort isn't exactly the same as the first time which makes it a bit like having your second child. The experience is not entirely new, nor the outcome but the journey afterward will be.