Failure to Grace

No illustration of grace in failure can be imagined greater than when Jesus ‘turned and looked at Peter’ as Peter denied him for the third time.  “Immediately, while Peter was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter.” Luke 22:60,61 I suppose we cannot know for sure what Jesus communicated in that look but Peter ‘went out and wept bitterly.’  Later Jesus would deliberately reinstate Peter and he would go on and be a shining example of faith.  But Peter was never the same.  I guess sometimes our shining moments of shame can be a new beginning.

 But remember, Judas went out and committed suicide.  Suicide is nothing to be spoken lightly of.  Nobody really wants to kill themselves. It is an act of desperation.  If you can get your friend through that dark time they will look back in horror at how close they came to the precipice and be grateful.  (sideline: we must resist this ‘culture of death’ that ‘assisted suicide’ opens the gate to).  I believe Judas could have repented, like Peter did, but chose a different path.  Our greatest failures often open the floodgates of grace to overwhelm our souls with God’s goodness if we let it.  There is nothing quite so bad as believers carrying the burden of guilt that Jesus died for. ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ Rom.8:1

1.        You and I are a flubbing, bungling, botching, blundering sinners. (Incidentally, so is everyone you know.)   There is no magic button to make yourself perfect.  Own it.

2.       Jesus knows.  (I know you know that J) Like Peter denying Jesus in the same place where Jesus was being beaten. Everything we are and do is in plain sight before him. Don’t hide in the shadows or hang out at the fringes of the world. Hanging with worse sinners than yourself doesn’t make anyone a better person!  Confess it.

3.       Jesus didn’t fail. He is Prophet, Messiah, Son of Man, Son of God who stood tall in our place. (Luke 22:67-70) His character and sacrifice are accepted by the Father in place of our lack of character and failure.  It is good at the first, in the middle and to the end! We are overwhelmed with his grace.  Take it to the bank.

There you have it. You are equipped to be a conduit of grace.

Shameless Prayer

 Prayer is something we love to feel guilty about. We never pray enough, with enough passion, for long enough  periods of time – so it seems.  It is not my desire to stir up guilt when I repeat Jesus’ words; ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation’. (Luke 22:40) Or six verses later when he repeats with emphasis: ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ J  I have two things to say about this:

1.  We would do well to heed his admonition.

       2.  Everyone seems to have failed to heed this admonition that night.

Actually this is no surprise because God had to redeem the world, Himself, for His own glory. We could not (would not?) participate in our own salvation. Praying doesn’t earn us anything. But it does allow us to share in the overcoming power of Jesus Himself. It is a bit of a comfort that even the disciples failed Jesus in prayer.  So we can get up off our faces and shamelessly pursue God through prayer – in spite of the fact that we are inclined to failure!  When we do we find:

       1.  We are ready to forgive those who have pained us and most of all see the image of God in

             them in spite of their failures and our pain.  Call people by their names.   Luke 22:48

       2.   Mental laziness flees and instead of being reactive we are ready to heal & be the   
              peacemakers Jesus recreated us to be. Luke 22:49-51
      3.    Instead of being intimidated by circumstances we can speak God’s truth graciously into the
              lives of those around us. Luke 22:52-53

Isn’t this enough motivation to carve out space, search out those promises and special verses on prayer, and ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving’? (Colossians 4:2)  No matter how poorly your track record is. In whatever way you are drawn to prayer (while driving down the road, right before bedtime, in the morning, late at night, in popcorn portions or meat and potatoes) ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation’!

 

 

 

The end is coming!

Yesterday I preached on Luke 17:20-37.  I asked the question that the Pharisees were asking (and the disciples were thinking) ‘When are you going to clean up this world, Jesus?’  Jesus short answer: 1. I am doing something right now. It’s called the kingdom of God and its all around you if you look for it. 2. I will do something. It’s called final judgment.  I will not let this sorry world go on indefinitely. When that day comes I  will bring life on earth to an abrupt end and justice will be served.

 This begs the question: How then should the believer live in the reality of the kingdom & in the reality of the ultimate destruction of the world? Here are two thoughts: 1. ‘Remember Lot’s wife’. v32  (second shortest verse in the Bible)  Lot’s wife looked back as God rained down destruction on Sodom. Perhaps she was reluctant to let her possessions go. Was she using her life in Sodom to draw sinners to the Savior or collecting stuff?  2. Since apart from faith in Christ the unbeliever faces certain judgment we must be motivated to seek his/her welfare.  I wouldn’t suggest signs at gay parades saying judgment is certain! I would suggest actions that show commitment to others while praying that God will open their hearts to embrace Jesus. It is our love and investment in others that incarnates the gospel.

As an example I present to you Jen Hatmaker author of the best seller, “7: an experimental mutiny against excess”.  This book is a chronicle of her family’s 30 day fasts to combat excessive consumption.   This is a way to ‘Remember Lot’s wife’, to travel light. She, her husband Brandon & their 5 kids are starring in HGTV’s ‘Family under Construction’ as they renovate their 105 year old farmhouse. They are setting up house & church in the least churched zip code in Texas to be a light to their neighbors.  This is life motivated by the certainty of judgment for the lost.

Think about how you engage your environment.  This could be as close as your own home, or family members who live far away.  It could be your neighbors, people at work.   We give of our lives, time, effort & resources to be the neighbor God wants us to be – in the urgency of judgment day.  

Sunday's coming!

Four minimal facts about the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ:

1. Jesus died on the cross and was buried.
2. Jesus’ tomb was empty and no one ever produced his body.
3. Jesus’ disciples believed that they saw Jesus resurrected.
4. Jesus’ disciples were transformed following their observations.
    

1. The disciples were mistaken about Jesus’ death. (Other first century sources acknowledge Jesus’ death/Roman guards faced death/Jesus displayed wounds but never acted wounded.)
2. The disciples lied. (Conspiracies are very difficult to maintain - especially under pressure and out of touch with fellow conspirators). Successful conspiracies ‘typically involve a small number of incredibly close-knit participants who are in constant contact with one another for a very short period of time without any outside pressure.’ ‘If their claims were a lie, they would know it personally, unlike those who were martyred in the centuries that followed. While it is reasonable to believe that you or I might die for what we mistakenly thought was true, it is unreasonable to believe that these men died for what they definitely knew to be untrue.’
3. The disciples were delusional. Detective Wallace says that witnesses related to victims often are profoundly impacted by grief and remember the best of him but these imaginings are typically limited to the nature of the victim’s character. They may imagine character traits that never existed but ‘I’ve never encountered loved ones who have collectively imagined an identical set of fictional events involving the victim.’ (Individuals have hallucinations not groups; some disciples like Thomas were inclined to doubt.)
4. The disciples’ observations were distorted later. There was a wise teacher whose resurrection was a legendary and historically late exaggeration. ‘Cold case detectives have to deal with the issue of legend more than other types of detectives. So much time has passed from the point of the original crime that it seems possible that witnesses may now amplify their original observations in one way or another. Luckily, I have the record of the first investigators to assist me. If the original record of the first investigators is thorough and well documented, I will have a much easier time discerning the truth about what each witness saw.’  One suspect in a cold case had originally told a detective that he was busy repairing a flat tire by the side of the road at the time of the murder. Years later he forgot his original story and although it was documented and the original detective remembered it well - he did not. When re-interviewed he claimed he was changing his oil in his garage at the time. He had forgotten his original story and even failed to recognize it as his own. Because it was well documented it convinced a jury that the suspect was lying and he was convicted of first degree murder.  'Cold-Case Christianity; a homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospels' by J. Warner Wallace David C. Cook Publishers

Now is a good time.

"Now there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. (2) And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? (3) I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.'"
My fellow Valkyrie enthusiast Raymond Hill recently moved to Boise, Idaho. There he happened to see a beautiful blue & cream Valkyrie go by. He followed it home as such are apt to do.  As he acquainted himself with his fellow rider he noticed a prominent cross. ‘Hey, I see your cross. What church do you go to?’ His new friend said, ‘That’s in memory of my son, Jeff who drowned in an accident last summer.’ Married on June 22, survived by siblings Shawn, Andrew & Bethany, Jeff died tragically on July 20^th, 2013 at the age of 24. The obit read; “Taylor’s smile & sense of humor were infectious. The only thing Taylor loved more than his family & friends was Jesus. His life was an example of what it meant to have Christ as the center. He lived a life of serving & being a blessing to everyone he met. Taylor was always looking for a way to help someone. At school he didn’t want anyone to feel left out so he would go out of his way to include everyone. Taylor was always more interested in what others needed than what he needed. Taylor’s greatest treasure was his beautiful bride Michelle. He adored & loved her with all his heart & would do anything for her.  Taylor we will miss you…a viewing will be held.”  Raymond learned that Jeff had attended Cole Valley Christian School - the same school where his grandchildren went.  So he asked his kids if they had heard of Jeff Wood.  Yes, they had, in fact Jeff’s mother had shared about God’s faithfulness through the tragedy and Raymond’s own 7 year old granddaughter had accepted Christ after she spoke.
What a sad story with a bit of a bitter sweet ending (though the story goes on!). I'm not trying to solve the problem of evil, just see the silver lining. We live in a fallen world. When something bad happens it doesn't mean folks are getting what they deserve, any more than the absence of tragedy means they must be doing something right. In a 'Jesus worldview', the message of tragedy is that ‘life is precious’ and short. Act now. Go sky diving. Spend a few precious moments on a bull named ‘Fu Man Chu.’ Love deeper and give forgiveness you’ve been denying. Spend yourself well for 'no man knows his time'.  But tragedy also reminds us that something has gone terribly wrong in the world. Jesus points to this when he reminds the listener to 'repent'. Now is the time! ‘Therefore repent & return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;’Acts 3:19,20 Jesus was on earth with a mission - to go to an awful cross and die tragically.  Only, out of this tragedy would come a silver lining, something good. Come to find out for the one who believes - he carried our sickness, sin, and heartache to the cross. Thus did good come from tragedy. And after the tears came the joy of resurrection. In fact, for the one who patiently trusts Jesus, good always comes from tragedy.

The right thing and the flat earth society

Jesus looks at the sky and then beyond his disciples to the crowds and speaks, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and so it turns out. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and sky, but why do you not analyze this present time. And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right." Luke 12:54-57

U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, speaking from Indonesia said recently, 'Everyone and every country must take responsibility for the problem and act immediately. We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts. nor should we allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweighs the benefits. We don't have time for a meeting anywhere of the flat earth society. It's not an exaggeration to say that your entire way of life is at risk. In a sense, climate change can now be considered the world's largest weapon of mass destruction.'

I find it interesting that Secretary Kerry and Jesus both emphasize the right thing. Kerry says that the right thing is to act on our knowledge of climate change to save the planet. Jesus says that if you can figure out the weather with great certainty you are without excuse on weightier issues.  I think Jesus would ask, 'You can figure out the weather but you remain confused about marriage between a man and a woman?  How can this be?' More to the point he would say, 'There is no excuse for being confused about the Son of Man. Put your 'polar vortex' smarts to work studying the Gospels. (The true eye witness accounts of the life of Jesus found in the Bible) The evidence is right before your eyes."  

Earlier in his discourse Jesus says, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished." Luke 12:49,20  It doesn't take a meteorologist to figure out that Jesus is speaking about his appointment with the cross & saving the world from mass destruction! Something is dreadfully wrong with planet earth and it isn't the weather.  It would take the death and resurrection of God's own Son to set it right.  How well he knew it. And if you can figure out the weather you can too!

Jesus the capitalist

For the sake of clarity let me make this clear - I am not saying that Jesus is a member of a political persuasion or that he hates socialists or chooses sides in national disagreements. Jesus came to redeem everyone regardless of affiliation or ethnicity by offering his perfect life on a cross in exchange for each crusty one. For those who responded he began his own program on earth which he called 'the kingdom of God'. It's this 'Jesus Nation' that embraces spiritual capitalism. The 'apprentice-citizen' knows God as just & generous. God generously gives good gifts to people just as he chooses. He expects the Jesus citizen to capitalize on his gift without comparing himself to others. He does not gift all people the same - like in the Parable of the Talents. (One got 5. One got 2. One got 1.) Jesus expected a return on his investment. One turned his 5 into 10. Another turned his 2 into 4. Both were rewarded handsomely. The man who buried his talent got a stern punishment. (God is just.) He said he knew the master was 'a hard man, reaping where he did not scatter seed.' He did not see God as generous or just. Perhaps he was resentful of the fact that he only got one rather than being grateful he got one. In another story Jesus told, an 'employer', stayed up late at night eating, drinking and watching TV (ok I added that) so that he became tired and grouchy and saw his employees as irritants.  He soon began treating them in rude and abusive ways. He too received a stern punishment.  The lesson is clear: Treat everyone humanely. Jesus is not concerned that each person receive gifts of equal value as he is that each one grasp the challenge at hand and bloom where he is planted. God expects a return on his investment.  Besides, when businesses treat employees humanely and employees give an honest days work doesn't everything run a little better?

So how does this relate to the Jesus nation? 

The 'citizen-apprentice' trusts God, who for his own reasons gifts individuals and gives out different levels of responsibility and hardship. He treats everyone with dignity as a person created in the image of God, regardless of his status.The Jesus nation (of which a church was a part) is meant to have a robust economy fuelled by people with different gifts and responsibilities trusting God in risky obedience at every level.  This economy produces surprising acts of faith and generosity as each one gives God a healthy return on his investment. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit spontaneously flow. In the Jesus nation each one is responsible to God for his own effort and anyone is welcome. It is a place where 'everyone is forcing their way in' (Lk16:16) because it's a great place to be! It is the place where everyone is respected for who they are and how they are gifted but are expected to contribute by capitalizing on how God has blessed them. Industry and joy abound and Jesus is Lord.

And here's the real kicker: when it's all over you are welcomed into another world much better than this one where you get to use your honed skills even more for the glory of God.

The rich life of an apprentice

In Luke 12:15 Jesus 'double dog' warns his apprentices to 'beware and be on guard' against 'the desire for more' - commonly known as greed. Of course no one is greedy; while at the same time everyone wants more. But Jesus is concerned that the inner life of the apprentice be rich.  He places before us two very important qualities (Luke 12:15-34) that can only be gained if we protect our hearts.  These are contentment and trust.  More money will not make you a better apprentice of Jesus Christ and neither will worrying about your life.  Jesus is not interested in making your boss or your family give you what you deserve.  He is interested that your soul reflect a profound contentment with what he has blessed you with and that you are fearlessly possessing his kingdom.  'Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.' v32 Jesus affectionately recognizes our vulnerability by calling us his 'little flock'.  Sheep were pretty dependent and a little flock is pretty unimpressive. But our Father has chosen the apprentice for kingdom work and he is pretty stoked about what he's going to do as we trust him. So don't look at the steep challenge. Instead of being motivated by more stuff or worrying about our lives we are to champion the kingdom.  We forgive everyone, everything, always. We honor the truth and live grace. We bring healing, comfort and wholeness to a hurting world.  Jesus hyperbolic way of speaking was meant to jolt the apprentice into seeing life from an eternal perspective. 

I purchased a Valkyrie Cruiser about a year ago.  For the uninitiated, this is a classic Honda Goldwing without the bling. How does an apprentice justify such a thing?  Here are 5 simple questions I ask myself:

1. Is it practical?
2. Can I afford it?
3. How does it increase my usefulness to Jesus? 
4. Does it bring me closer to God?
5. Does it bring more joy or more stress into my life?

The answer on all counts is 'yes'.  The wife of a devoted biker asked me a week ago: 'My husband says that riding his motorcycle makes him feel closer to God. Is that true with you?'  Without hesitation I responded 'of course'.  It's true. But the thing that has truly surprised me is how it has opened up ministry for me with a whole new tribe of people I never knew existed.

Speak of Jesus Often

Jesus said, 'Everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God.' (Luke 12:8) It strikes me that this is what a good apprentice of Jesus does; he honors Jesus openly, often. Here are the main points of a little booklet called '5 Habits of Highly Missional People' by Michael Frost:

1. Bless people.  Three people a week, at least one that is not in your circle of believing friends. Blessing means words of affirmation, acts of kindness or the giving of gifts. Recipients thrive on the love and thoughtfulness and effort that goes into a gift.

2. Eat with people (other than family) at least 3 times a week. Again, one of these 3 should be with someone who is not in your believing circle.  It's the great equalizer, often invites reciprocation and you have to eat anyway so you might as well enjoy outside company.

3. Listen to the Spirit, for one 'period' a week.  Designate a time. Eliminate distractions. Consciously allow God in and enjoy his presence.  (Worship is always appropriate.)  And importantly, act on His promptings. He will lead you on an adventure of ministry. Just eating with people could easily lead to gossip or drunkenness or horrors - gluttony.  Your interactions with others could also lead to a critical or judgmental heart, which generally will bring a blossoming new relationship to a screeching halt. You need this to be in tune with the Holy Spirit. (Check out Galatians 5:13-26)

4. Learn Jesus. It has been popular to sport WWJD bracelets and paraphernalia. It's kind of like that.  One spends time each week reading and meditating on the gospels, developing a collection of 'Jesus movies', and read good books on who Jesus was and what he expected of his apprentices and the like. It's kind of contagious.

5. Sent. Journal daily ways that you have alerted others to the kingdom & reign of Christ. Jesus commanded his apprentices to announce his kingdom - what Paul described as 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Romans 14:17). It is not only the company of the redeemed but the place where Jesus reigns supreme.  The apprentice does this by announcing and championing forgiveness & reconciliation. Promoting justice.  Sharing a fascination with beauty and creation with other earth travelers.  He or she brings healing, comfort, wholeness and speaks truth into a broken world when appropriate.

Here's the catch.  It takes about 75 days to establish a habit.  Each of these is set in a weekly fashion. Not a single one is hard BUT we are facing spiritual resistance and even inner rebellion at simply doing what will make us effective missionaries. And we just forget sometimes.  Excuses out of the way, I'd like to challenge you to join me on this adventure of developing the habits of highly missional people who represent Jesus often.