Ephesians 5:8-14 (The Message)
8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You're out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.
11-16 Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
John 9:1-41 (The Message)
The Message (MSG)
True Blindness
1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" 3-5Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light." 6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, and said, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent"). The man went and washed—and saw.
8 Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, "Why, isn't this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?" 9 Others said, "It's him all right!" But others objected, "It's not the same man at all. It just looks like him." He said, "It's me, the very one." 10 They said, "How did your eyes get opened?" 11 "A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' I did what he said. When I washed, I saw." 12 "So where is he?" "I don't know."
13-15 They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, "He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see." 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others countered, "How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?" There was a split in their ranks. 17 They came back at the blind man, "You're the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?" He said, "He is a prophet."
18-19 The Jews didn't believe it, didn't believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, "Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?" 20-23 His parents said, "We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don't know how he came to see—haven't a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don't you ask him? He's a grown man and can speak for himself." (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That's why his parents said, "Ask him. He's a grown man.")
24 They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind— and told him, "Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor." 25 He replied, "I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see."
26 They said, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 "I've told you over and over and you haven't listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?" 28-29 With that they jumped all over him. "You might be a disciple of that man, but we're disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from." 30-33 The man replied, "This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It's well known that God isn't at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn't come from God, he wouldn't be able to do anything." 34 They said, "You're nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!" Then they threw him out in the street.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 The man said, "Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him." 37 Jesus said, "You're looking right at him. Don't you recognize my voice?" 38 "Master, I believe," the man said, and worshiped him.
39 Jesus then said, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind." 40 Some Pharisees overheard him and said, "Does that mean you're calling us blind?" 41 Jesus said, "If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you're accountable for every fault and failure."
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
February 24, 2008 Message
February 24, 2008
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
“Trust”
Why couldn't Jonah trust the ocean?
Because he knew there was something fishy about it
The preacher was giving a children's lesson about ‘right and wrong’ and told a story of a robber who broke into a jewelry store at night after everybody was gone.
The robber went to the safe where the jewels and the cash were kept, and on the door of the safe he finds a sign that reads, "Please do not use explosives. The safe is not locked. Just turn the handle."
So, the thief turns the handle and immediately the alarm goes off! He panics and doesn’t know what to do. By the time he figures out he’d better leave, it’s too late. The police are arrive, and he is arrested.
"So, children," asks the preacher, "What’s the moral of the story?"
One little boy replied, "You can't trust anybody."
The theme for today’s scripture readings and message is trust. It’s a trust that begins with a promise (God’s promise to Abraham), includes a decision (concerning how to live), and ends with complete joy (of a promise having been kept).
Concerning the promise, the apostle Paul says, “But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own." (Romans 4:3) When Abraham was slow to grasp how huge God’s promise was, God moved forward anyway. When Abraham was impatient and couldn’t wait, God continued to plug away. When Abraham didn’t quite get it, God said it one more time so that he would understand. When Abraham finally let go and left it up to God to do what he couldn’t, God came through and delivered on the promise.
Concerning trust, Paul goes on to say, “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do.” (Romans 4:18) Isn’t that what trusting God is really all about? Reaching the point in our lives when we finally accept there is nothing more we can do, and leaving it all up to God. Keep in mind, Abraham didn’t get it right and probably neither will we. All of us trust that God can do whatever it is that God promises, but are we all willing to leave it up to God – or do we find ourselves trying to help out now and then. At what point do we realize we can’t do it on our own? What do we do then? Give up or trust God to do what is promised?
Concerning a promise kept, John relates Jesus’ confirmation of Nicodemus’ observation. He tells Nicodemus, “You’re right – all that has been done through me has been God’s doing, because here are things that only God can do.” And then later, in verses 16-18, he shares with Nicodemus, “God’s promise has indeed been fulfilled” – the world is set right - not because things had gotten so bad, but because God loved the world so much. “He gave his Son, his one and only Son… so that no one – not one person - need be destroyed.” All that is necessary for “whole and lasting life” – for this great joy - is our trusting it is so – our believing what God has done (in him).”
Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus, “Trust me and there is hope or don’t trust me and there is nothing.” Anyone who trusts what Jesus says about God, what Jesus shows us about God, what Jesus reveals to us about God is acquitted (and released); and anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? - because they can’t trust God to love them that much.
I first understood ‘trust’ – in a religious sense – from a song we sang in church. That song was “Trust and Obey.” I thought trust was something a Christian had to do – just like “obeying” and “walking with the Lord” and “doing His good will.” If I would do those things – with the emphasis on “do” - God would be with me and I would be in Jesus.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
I thought as long as I trusted, and obeyed all the rules, and was doing ‘good things,’ Jesus would be happy and would be there for me. I guess I must have thought that during the times I wavered or doubted some, he was off somewhere ‘walking’ with someone else. The burden was on me.
But you know what, I had it all wrong. It’s never been a matter of if A happens then B happens. Rather it’s always been when A happens then B happens. B is a given. B is a promise kept. There’s a difference, a huge difference. When trust happens, darkness and doubt and all the things that might overwhelm us become bearable.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey.
The whole song takes on a different meaning when I read Paul’s explanation of what it means to really trust God. By Paul’s own account, his is a new way of looking at things when he says: “when it comes to ‘setting us right’ (with God), it isn’t our doing, but God’s.” For Paul, it isn’t a matter of ‘if,’ it’s a matter of ‘when.’
"So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things." – Romans 4:1, CEV
Paul is speaking to the Romans about a “new way of looking at things.” We have to look at what he had been talking about earlier to understand what he means here. In chapter three of Romans, Paul talks about how God is faithful, even to those without faith, and how no one is righteous (good) because of what they do. We are righteous only because of what God has done. Our goodness comes from God. It’s important that we believe this; that we trust it is true – because, it is. God has a gift for all of us.
Paul says the promise to “make us right with God” is not a payment or reward, something to be earned. It’s simply a gift. He says, “it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—(because) you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked…”— Romans 4:4-5, CEV
That turns our thinking upside down! You work hard, there’s a reward, right? It doesn’t seem fair otherwise. So our thinking is if we’re going to get something, we’re going to have to do something. But that’s not it at all. It’s not about what we, or any human being, could ever do.
"That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth —was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed." – Romans 4:13, CEV
All that was necessary for Abraham was to trust that God would do what God’s promised. Paul mentions that with trust there is also embracing God and what God does. Embracing God is sort of like what the refrain of “Trust and Obey” says: “While we do His good will, He abides with us still.” Or maybe its like what Vince Antonucci, pastor of Forefrount Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia refers to as “living in the presence of God.” He says, “abiding looks like a dance with God… in which everything becomes very natural…. So natural that it’s hard to tell where one partner ends and the other begins.”
Everyone who trusts, everyone who embraces God, is included. Everyone receives the gift. Everyone gets to dance. When it’s a gift - which it is – it doesn’t matter if a person has kept certain religious traditions or not. We are all included. Because God can do that sort of thing - for those who trust. Abraham was the first to trust, the first to embrace God to do what only God can do. Abraham was the first to dance with God.
And Abraham got to be the first because God chose him to be. He got God's attention not by living like a saint, but because God made something out of him when he was a nobody. God set him up, God made him “father of many peoples.” Then he became what God made him to be by daring to trust God to do what only God could do. Paul said, “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do.”
Abraham accepted the invitation to dance with God – to trust God in everything. Jesus invited Nicodemus and all those he met to the dance. And today we are invited as well. That is the good news. May the dance go on!
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
“Trust”
Why couldn't Jonah trust the ocean?
Because he knew there was something fishy about it
The preacher was giving a children's lesson about ‘right and wrong’ and told a story of a robber who broke into a jewelry store at night after everybody was gone.
The robber went to the safe where the jewels and the cash were kept, and on the door of the safe he finds a sign that reads, "Please do not use explosives. The safe is not locked. Just turn the handle."
So, the thief turns the handle and immediately the alarm goes off! He panics and doesn’t know what to do. By the time he figures out he’d better leave, it’s too late. The police are arrive, and he is arrested.
"So, children," asks the preacher, "What’s the moral of the story?"
One little boy replied, "You can't trust anybody."
The theme for today’s scripture readings and message is trust. It’s a trust that begins with a promise (God’s promise to Abraham), includes a decision (concerning how to live), and ends with complete joy (of a promise having been kept).
Concerning the promise, the apostle Paul says, “But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own." (Romans 4:3) When Abraham was slow to grasp how huge God’s promise was, God moved forward anyway. When Abraham was impatient and couldn’t wait, God continued to plug away. When Abraham didn’t quite get it, God said it one more time so that he would understand. When Abraham finally let go and left it up to God to do what he couldn’t, God came through and delivered on the promise.
Concerning trust, Paul goes on to say, “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do.” (Romans 4:18) Isn’t that what trusting God is really all about? Reaching the point in our lives when we finally accept there is nothing more we can do, and leaving it all up to God. Keep in mind, Abraham didn’t get it right and probably neither will we. All of us trust that God can do whatever it is that God promises, but are we all willing to leave it up to God – or do we find ourselves trying to help out now and then. At what point do we realize we can’t do it on our own? What do we do then? Give up or trust God to do what is promised?
Concerning a promise kept, John relates Jesus’ confirmation of Nicodemus’ observation. He tells Nicodemus, “You’re right – all that has been done through me has been God’s doing, because here are things that only God can do.” And then later, in verses 16-18, he shares with Nicodemus, “God’s promise has indeed been fulfilled” – the world is set right - not because things had gotten so bad, but because God loved the world so much. “He gave his Son, his one and only Son… so that no one – not one person - need be destroyed.” All that is necessary for “whole and lasting life” – for this great joy - is our trusting it is so – our believing what God has done (in him).”
Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus, “Trust me and there is hope or don’t trust me and there is nothing.” Anyone who trusts what Jesus says about God, what Jesus shows us about God, what Jesus reveals to us about God is acquitted (and released); and anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? - because they can’t trust God to love them that much.
I first understood ‘trust’ – in a religious sense – from a song we sang in church. That song was “Trust and Obey.” I thought trust was something a Christian had to do – just like “obeying” and “walking with the Lord” and “doing His good will.” If I would do those things – with the emphasis on “do” - God would be with me and I would be in Jesus.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
I thought as long as I trusted, and obeyed all the rules, and was doing ‘good things,’ Jesus would be happy and would be there for me. I guess I must have thought that during the times I wavered or doubted some, he was off somewhere ‘walking’ with someone else. The burden was on me.
But you know what, I had it all wrong. It’s never been a matter of if A happens then B happens. Rather it’s always been when A happens then B happens. B is a given. B is a promise kept. There’s a difference, a huge difference. When trust happens, darkness and doubt and all the things that might overwhelm us become bearable.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey.
The whole song takes on a different meaning when I read Paul’s explanation of what it means to really trust God. By Paul’s own account, his is a new way of looking at things when he says: “when it comes to ‘setting us right’ (with God), it isn’t our doing, but God’s.” For Paul, it isn’t a matter of ‘if,’ it’s a matter of ‘when.’
"So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things." – Romans 4:1, CEV
Paul is speaking to the Romans about a “new way of looking at things.” We have to look at what he had been talking about earlier to understand what he means here. In chapter three of Romans, Paul talks about how God is faithful, even to those without faith, and how no one is righteous (good) because of what they do. We are righteous only because of what God has done. Our goodness comes from God. It’s important that we believe this; that we trust it is true – because, it is. God has a gift for all of us.
Paul says the promise to “make us right with God” is not a payment or reward, something to be earned. It’s simply a gift. He says, “it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—(because) you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked…”— Romans 4:4-5, CEV
That turns our thinking upside down! You work hard, there’s a reward, right? It doesn’t seem fair otherwise. So our thinking is if we’re going to get something, we’re going to have to do something. But that’s not it at all. It’s not about what we, or any human being, could ever do.
"That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth —was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed." – Romans 4:13, CEV
All that was necessary for Abraham was to trust that God would do what God’s promised. Paul mentions that with trust there is also embracing God and what God does. Embracing God is sort of like what the refrain of “Trust and Obey” says: “While we do His good will, He abides with us still.” Or maybe its like what Vince Antonucci, pastor of Forefrount Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia refers to as “living in the presence of God.” He says, “abiding looks like a dance with God… in which everything becomes very natural…. So natural that it’s hard to tell where one partner ends and the other begins.”
Everyone who trusts, everyone who embraces God, is included. Everyone receives the gift. Everyone gets to dance. When it’s a gift - which it is – it doesn’t matter if a person has kept certain religious traditions or not. We are all included. Because God can do that sort of thing - for those who trust. Abraham was the first to trust, the first to embrace God to do what only God can do. Abraham was the first to dance with God.
And Abraham got to be the first because God chose him to be. He got God's attention not by living like a saint, but because God made something out of him when he was a nobody. God set him up, God made him “father of many peoples.” Then he became what God made him to be by daring to trust God to do what only God could do. Paul said, “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do.”
Abraham accepted the invitation to dance with God – to trust God in everything. Jesus invited Nicodemus and all those he met to the dance. And today we are invited as well. That is the good news. May the dance go on!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
February 24, 2008 Readings
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (The Message)
Trusting God
1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own."
4-5 If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God's promise at that—you can't break it.
16 This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that's reading the story backward. He is our faith father.
17-18 We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
John 3:1-17 (The Message)
Born from Above
1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."
3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom."
4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"
5-6 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"
10-12 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?
13-15 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Trusting God
1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own."
4-5 If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God's promise at that—you can't break it.
16 This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that's reading the story backward. He is our faith father.
17-18 We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
John 3:1-17 (The Message)
Born from Above
1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."
3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom."
4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"
5-6 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"
10-12 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?
13-15 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
February 10, 2008 Message
February 10, 2008
Romans 5:12–19; Matthew 4:1–11
“Radical Politics”
Apostle Paul – “Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.” – Romans 5:18-19 (The Message)
Here are some of the dumb things our presidential candidates have said so far.
- “I'm pretty sure there will be duck-hunting in heaven and I can't wait!"
- "We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
- "You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."
- "Three words: Vice President Oprah"
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Well, last Tuesday was a very special day all around. For presidential candidates, their supporters, the news commentators and political experts - all chasing the holy grail of politics in this country - it was Super Tuesday. For the millions of people, in this country and throughout the world, celebrating Mardi Gras before the fasting associated with Lent, it was Fat Tuesday. For those in this community and all across Iowa, concerned whether they could get to work or there would be school on Wednesday, it was the day “the snow storm of ‘08” began.
I had no plans to celebrate Mardi Gras this year, although we were preparing for Ash Wednesday activities and the beginning of Lent. And I’m not what I would consider a very political person, although I do know who the candidates are and some of their positions on the issues – enough, I hope, to vote ‘intelligently’ when the time comes. It’s hard to get too excited though, when it comes to picking a winner in past presidential elections -– I’m a terrible 0-10.
So this past Tuesday - as I was keeping tabs on the weather updates of the impending storm AND watching the caucus and primary results on CNN AND indirectly observing Fat Tuesday (I know I ate way too much food and could use a good fast) – I found myself wrapped up in everything that was going on and probably stayed up way too late.
But every night has a morning, and in the Christian calendar this year Ash Wednesday follows Super Tuesday. Even though there were no clear winners when the dust settled, no school and no Ash Wednesday service when the snow fell - Lent began. Just as Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, and Jesus spent forty days in the desert fasting, praying, and battling temptation, since the fourth century Christians have set aside the forty days of Lent as a time for repentance and self-examination – typified by practicing an attitude of humility, self-denial, and abstinence.
Some Christians give up something for the forty days of Lent, such as chocolate, or an hour of TV, or something else they do every day; some fast and don’t eat certain foods or maybe don’t eat a whole meal; and some perform acts of mercy, doing something for someone else that they may not be able to do for themselves. In a culture that glorifies excess and indulgence, Wednesday's ashes signify a shocking, counter-cultural act of humility and moderation.
Creativity and imagination are good qualities during Lent, as we look for things to give up among those things that take up too much of out time or try to imagine ways to simplify life or set aside our lists of things to get done in order to put the interests of others before our own.
All of this then leads to my question for today: Would any of us be better off giving up politics for the 36 days remaining in Lent? Think about it. Wouldn’t that be the Christian thing to do?
In the Gospel this week Jesus is tempted by the glory of "all the kingdoms of the world." All he has to do is, "bow down and worship." But Jesus doesn’t take the bait. He doesn’t waver. And you know what - throughout his life, Jesus went on to challenge the political status quo with a revolutionary alternative. So, when politics starts to consume us to the point our lives are centered on the election and begins demanding deep sacrifice, unquestioning obedience, and unwavering allegiance, we can also turn our backs on politics in favor of Jesus’ alternative.
After those forty days in the desert, Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming a new and different type of kingdom or rule – a different sort of politics, if you will. (Mark 1:15) And because of it, he was considered a troublemaker and charged with political sedition or treason. But his was an example the early Christians took seriously.
In the book called The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Robert Louis Wilkin, a University of Virginia historian, describes a time when Christians held a very cautious attitude toward political power and the state. “During the first hundred years,” he wrote, “They were invisible to most people in the Roman empire. But over time they developed a reputation as an anti-social ‘fringe’ group and were viewed by others as fanatical, subversive, and rebellious.
These early Christians rejected Roman religious traditions. They refused military service. And they were indifferent to civic affairs. Their attitude seemed to others as undermining society and their reliability as citizens was questioned. But, when Jesus had announced and embodied a new community - one in which God was king and ruler of the world and the rulers of this world were not – they listened and responded. These early Christians took Jesus seriously. So they gave up the politics of their day – and had no use for a political state or political solutions.
Imagine today if God ruled the nations instead of Bush, Musharraf (Mu-shar-raf), Putin, Kim Jong-il (Kim Joung-eel), or Ahmadinejad (ah-ma-deen-ah-zhad). Or imagine after Bush it isn’t any of today’s candidates – it’s God? Every aspect of life would be turned upside down, wouldn’t it? There would be peace-making instead of making war, liberation instead of exploitation, sacrifice rather than conquest, mercy rather than retaliation, care for the helpless instead of privileges for the powerful, generosity instead of greed, truth instead of propaganda, humility rather than bravado, and embrace rather than exclusion. The ancient Hebrews had a great word for this sort of life - shalom or human well-being. Jesus did too, when he taught his followers to pray: “God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done.” So, every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer… we imagine a kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven - where God rules our lives.
With Mardi Gras and Super Tuesday now past history, the season of Lent offers an opportunity to think about politics, and all of life, in a radically different light. What if, as was suggested earlier, we gave up our political activism and replaced it with something even more subversive - prayer. Think about it! If we honestly prayed the Lord's Prayer – everyday - it would be the most radical political manifesto ever: "Lord, may your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, capitalist, socialist or communist, democratic or theocratic – that would be a radical sort of politics for sure! Let us pray.
Romans 5:12–19; Matthew 4:1–11
“Radical Politics”
Apostle Paul – “Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.” – Romans 5:18-19 (The Message)
Here are some of the dumb things our presidential candidates have said so far.
- “I'm pretty sure there will be duck-hunting in heaven and I can't wait!"
- "We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
- "You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."
- "Three words: Vice President Oprah"
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Well, last Tuesday was a very special day all around. For presidential candidates, their supporters, the news commentators and political experts - all chasing the holy grail of politics in this country - it was Super Tuesday. For the millions of people, in this country and throughout the world, celebrating Mardi Gras before the fasting associated with Lent, it was Fat Tuesday. For those in this community and all across Iowa, concerned whether they could get to work or there would be school on Wednesday, it was the day “the snow storm of ‘08” began.
I had no plans to celebrate Mardi Gras this year, although we were preparing for Ash Wednesday activities and the beginning of Lent. And I’m not what I would consider a very political person, although I do know who the candidates are and some of their positions on the issues – enough, I hope, to vote ‘intelligently’ when the time comes. It’s hard to get too excited though, when it comes to picking a winner in past presidential elections -– I’m a terrible 0-10.
So this past Tuesday - as I was keeping tabs on the weather updates of the impending storm AND watching the caucus and primary results on CNN AND indirectly observing Fat Tuesday (I know I ate way too much food and could use a good fast) – I found myself wrapped up in everything that was going on and probably stayed up way too late.
But every night has a morning, and in the Christian calendar this year Ash Wednesday follows Super Tuesday. Even though there were no clear winners when the dust settled, no school and no Ash Wednesday service when the snow fell - Lent began. Just as Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, and Jesus spent forty days in the desert fasting, praying, and battling temptation, since the fourth century Christians have set aside the forty days of Lent as a time for repentance and self-examination – typified by practicing an attitude of humility, self-denial, and abstinence.
Some Christians give up something for the forty days of Lent, such as chocolate, or an hour of TV, or something else they do every day; some fast and don’t eat certain foods or maybe don’t eat a whole meal; and some perform acts of mercy, doing something for someone else that they may not be able to do for themselves. In a culture that glorifies excess and indulgence, Wednesday's ashes signify a shocking, counter-cultural act of humility and moderation.
Creativity and imagination are good qualities during Lent, as we look for things to give up among those things that take up too much of out time or try to imagine ways to simplify life or set aside our lists of things to get done in order to put the interests of others before our own.
All of this then leads to my question for today: Would any of us be better off giving up politics for the 36 days remaining in Lent? Think about it. Wouldn’t that be the Christian thing to do?
In the Gospel this week Jesus is tempted by the glory of "all the kingdoms of the world." All he has to do is, "bow down and worship." But Jesus doesn’t take the bait. He doesn’t waver. And you know what - throughout his life, Jesus went on to challenge the political status quo with a revolutionary alternative. So, when politics starts to consume us to the point our lives are centered on the election and begins demanding deep sacrifice, unquestioning obedience, and unwavering allegiance, we can also turn our backs on politics in favor of Jesus’ alternative.
After those forty days in the desert, Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming a new and different type of kingdom or rule – a different sort of politics, if you will. (Mark 1:15) And because of it, he was considered a troublemaker and charged with political sedition or treason. But his was an example the early Christians took seriously.
In the book called The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Robert Louis Wilkin, a University of Virginia historian, describes a time when Christians held a very cautious attitude toward political power and the state. “During the first hundred years,” he wrote, “They were invisible to most people in the Roman empire. But over time they developed a reputation as an anti-social ‘fringe’ group and were viewed by others as fanatical, subversive, and rebellious.
These early Christians rejected Roman religious traditions. They refused military service. And they were indifferent to civic affairs. Their attitude seemed to others as undermining society and their reliability as citizens was questioned. But, when Jesus had announced and embodied a new community - one in which God was king and ruler of the world and the rulers of this world were not – they listened and responded. These early Christians took Jesus seriously. So they gave up the politics of their day – and had no use for a political state or political solutions.
Imagine today if God ruled the nations instead of Bush, Musharraf (Mu-shar-raf), Putin, Kim Jong-il (Kim Joung-eel), or Ahmadinejad (ah-ma-deen-ah-zhad). Or imagine after Bush it isn’t any of today’s candidates – it’s God? Every aspect of life would be turned upside down, wouldn’t it? There would be peace-making instead of making war, liberation instead of exploitation, sacrifice rather than conquest, mercy rather than retaliation, care for the helpless instead of privileges for the powerful, generosity instead of greed, truth instead of propaganda, humility rather than bravado, and embrace rather than exclusion. The ancient Hebrews had a great word for this sort of life - shalom or human well-being. Jesus did too, when he taught his followers to pray: “God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done.” So, every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer… we imagine a kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven - where God rules our lives.
With Mardi Gras and Super Tuesday now past history, the season of Lent offers an opportunity to think about politics, and all of life, in a radically different light. What if, as was suggested earlier, we gave up our political activism and replaced it with something even more subversive - prayer. Think about it! If we honestly prayed the Lord's Prayer – everyday - it would be the most radical political manifesto ever: "Lord, may your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, capitalist, socialist or communist, democratic or theocratic – that would be a radical sort of politics for sure! Let us pray.
Monday, February 04, 2008
February 10, 2008 Readings
Romans 5:12-19 (The Message)
12-14 You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in— first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn't sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.
15-17 Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
18-19 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
Matthew 4:1-11 (The Message)
1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."
5-6 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."
7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."
8-9 For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours."
10 Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."
11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.
12-14 You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in— first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn't sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.
15-17 Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
18-19 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
Matthew 4:1-11 (The Message)
1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."
5-6 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."
7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."
8-9 For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours."
10 Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."
11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.
February 3, 2008 Message
"I’m Nobody, Who Are You?"
1 Corinthians 1: 26-31 and Matthew 5: 1-8
Have you ever noticed how sometimes people just don’t get it?
I went to Taco Bell last week and ordered a taco with minimum lettuce. The guy behind the counter said, “Sorry, we only have iceberg.”
Then later, I stopped at Staples and after I had signed the charge slip at the checkout, the clerk looked at the back of my Discover Card and told me she couldn’t complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she said so she could compare the signatures. So I signed the back of the card. Then she carefully compared the signatures. Luckily they matched.
Those things didn’t really happen to me, but they’re true none-the-less – which goes to show, not all people are the brightest in the world.
In 1 Corinthians 1: 26, the apostle Paul writes, “Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, and not many from high-society families.” How could Paul write to the Corinthians and to me at the same time? You see, I was never the smartest, never the best at anything. My family was probably a notch or two below middle class and not many people really listened to me. Paul is right on target when he reminds me who I am – someone really quite unimportant.
A day or two ago, I ran across a blog on the Internet entitled: “I’m Nobody, Who Are You? - Where nobodies gather, because somebodies don't like us and anybodies ignore us entirely.” It’s a place where people, I guess nobodies, can post their thoughts and opinions. I don’t think this is quite what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? Paul was writing about a different place, a community of faith (the church) where nobodies matter. And he wants us to know God chose us. Not because of who we were, or because of what we could do, but so we would know – so that everybody would know – whatever was done was God’s doing and not our own.
Finally Paul reminds us never to get a “big head” or think we’ve done more than we have when he says: “Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God." On that blog I was telling you about – the one for nobodies - you can order shirts and all sorts of stuff with the IAN (I Am Nobody) logo on it and proudly tell the world you’re a nobody. Surely that’s not what Paul had in mind! It isn’t about me, a nobody - it’s about God.
An important lesson we can learn from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is that the Church is a place where ‘nobodies’ are important, a place where they are actually ‘somebody.’ That makes perfect sense, right? Someone once said, “When people don't have a sense of belonging, they're lost," That is so true. What do you do if you’re not involved in something, if you’re out there by yourself all the time, if there’s no one around to talk to? You feel lost! You feel alone! But if these ‘nobodies’ Paul is writing to, feel connected to the whole - and that's what Church community does, or at least should do - they have a sense of belonging, which is what people need most. They now become somebody. After all, life is about meaning. People want to matter. And they want to know that what they do matters.
Aren’t all of us, in the church, nobodies? Jesus said you are the ones truly blessed: those of you knowing God is near when you’re are at the end of your rope; when you’ve lost things most dear; when you’re happy with who you are; when you hunger most for God; when you care about others; when you have your priorities straight; when you’re able to ‘get along’ and aren’t fighting all the time; and when you stick by God’s truth no matter what. That’s when you’re blessed! When the feeling of being a nobody is transformed into a feeling of being somebody.
Paul claims that it is not the wise or the powerful or the good people of this world who get it, but the simple, common folk who believe it (1:21). It is not those seeking signs or wisdom who know the way, but those who know that the sign of wisdom is a crucified and risen Christ – something that makes no sense at all to anyone but nobodies.
Never mind that your friends and neighbors, those outside the church, may think you’ve got it all wrong; that you’re foolish going to church and doing all that ‘church stuff’; that you’re wasting your time. What do they know. They’re concerned with all the wrong things – money and success. They think they know, but they don’t. What could you tell them, anyway – you’re a nobody?
Never mind. Paul argues… it is better this way. Better to confuse them and leave them speechless – these people who are so "wise." Better to confuse the "strong." Maybe then they will realize it has been God’s doing all along. God is at work in the church. Think about it. God work - if it is God’s work - is done by nobodies. That’s different!
The church is a place to come to for a change. It’s the wrong place to be if you want to be comfortable. Paul points out that Christ has given the Church a counter-intuitive strategy that turns conventional thinking on its head. It’s a plan that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. You want to be great? Then be the servant of others. You want to be first? Then agree to be last. Want to save your life? You first must lose it. Want to be strong? You must learn to be weak. You want to be wise? Be foolish.
This takes some thinking outside the box or thinking ‘bigger box.’ In other words, the Church is a place for creative connections. We are to be the Church of Bigger Box Thinkers. It’s necessary to broaden our understanding of God and God’s kingdom. In our study on Wednesday mornings, Bruce and Stan, in Taking Life To the Extreme, have challenged us to consider God as a circle rather than a dot. When in our thinking God becomes a circle rather than a dot, our box becomes so much larger, doesn’t it!
Sometimes that box, expanded to include others not quite like us, can seem somewhat radical.
On Larry King Live, a little over a year ago, Jay Bakker, son of fallen televangelists Jim Bakker, said: "I think we get caught in this idea of pleasing God rather than trusting God. And I think once you learn to trust God, it's a lot easier to please God."
Jay Bakker, who preaches at the Revolution Church - New York City, is a 30-year-old high school dropout with a ring in his eyebrow and a tattooed cross on his arm. He stresses acceptance and the unconditional love of Christ, a gospel uniquely suited to young adults like him - who seem so terribly fragile and unable to fit in. His hope is that someday everyone will belong, (Katherine Marsh in Rolling Stone magazine, September 16, 1999, 69-74)
Jay Bakker is quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying. "The Bible isn’t about 'Don't do this, don't do that.' God is saying, 'You guys are accepted, and you are loved.' God is saying, 'My hands are open'"
And at other times, that box, we’re asked to enlarge, may not be all that different from what we’re used to. A church in Oklahoma periodically sponsors an eight-week series of evening events called "Soup for the Soul." These evenings begin with a light supper of soup, bread and fruit, and after the meal there is a short devotional, fellowship and sharing. These programs provide the opportunity to invite friends, neighbors and coworkers who might enter into the congregational life in this informal way before participating in the more formal Sunday morning worship service. In addition, they give the church members and their visitors the opportunity to consider how their faith connects with their work, travel, interests, hobbies and family life (Christian Century, April 21-28, 1999, 458).
The church is a collection of nobodies, who open themselves to the work of God so others - smarter, wiser, and more powerful – might know it can only be God that makes such marvelous things happen. Ask God to make your boxes larger. Allow God to enlarge this church. Erase the dot that has limited your God and draw the largest circle ever.
Tell God, “I am nobody, who are you?” And then let God go to work!
1 Corinthians 1: 26-31 and Matthew 5: 1-8
Have you ever noticed how sometimes people just don’t get it?
I went to Taco Bell last week and ordered a taco with minimum lettuce. The guy behind the counter said, “Sorry, we only have iceberg.”
Then later, I stopped at Staples and after I had signed the charge slip at the checkout, the clerk looked at the back of my Discover Card and told me she couldn’t complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she said so she could compare the signatures. So I signed the back of the card. Then she carefully compared the signatures. Luckily they matched.
Those things didn’t really happen to me, but they’re true none-the-less – which goes to show, not all people are the brightest in the world.
In 1 Corinthians 1: 26, the apostle Paul writes, “Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, and not many from high-society families.” How could Paul write to the Corinthians and to me at the same time? You see, I was never the smartest, never the best at anything. My family was probably a notch or two below middle class and not many people really listened to me. Paul is right on target when he reminds me who I am – someone really quite unimportant.
A day or two ago, I ran across a blog on the Internet entitled: “I’m Nobody, Who Are You? - Where nobodies gather, because somebodies don't like us and anybodies ignore us entirely.” It’s a place where people, I guess nobodies, can post their thoughts and opinions. I don’t think this is quite what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? Paul was writing about a different place, a community of faith (the church) where nobodies matter. And he wants us to know God chose us. Not because of who we were, or because of what we could do, but so we would know – so that everybody would know – whatever was done was God’s doing and not our own.
Finally Paul reminds us never to get a “big head” or think we’ve done more than we have when he says: “Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God." On that blog I was telling you about – the one for nobodies - you can order shirts and all sorts of stuff with the IAN (I Am Nobody) logo on it and proudly tell the world you’re a nobody. Surely that’s not what Paul had in mind! It isn’t about me, a nobody - it’s about God.
An important lesson we can learn from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is that the Church is a place where ‘nobodies’ are important, a place where they are actually ‘somebody.’ That makes perfect sense, right? Someone once said, “When people don't have a sense of belonging, they're lost," That is so true. What do you do if you’re not involved in something, if you’re out there by yourself all the time, if there’s no one around to talk to? You feel lost! You feel alone! But if these ‘nobodies’ Paul is writing to, feel connected to the whole - and that's what Church community does, or at least should do - they have a sense of belonging, which is what people need most. They now become somebody. After all, life is about meaning. People want to matter. And they want to know that what they do matters.
Aren’t all of us, in the church, nobodies? Jesus said you are the ones truly blessed: those of you knowing God is near when you’re are at the end of your rope; when you’ve lost things most dear; when you’re happy with who you are; when you hunger most for God; when you care about others; when you have your priorities straight; when you’re able to ‘get along’ and aren’t fighting all the time; and when you stick by God’s truth no matter what. That’s when you’re blessed! When the feeling of being a nobody is transformed into a feeling of being somebody.
Paul claims that it is not the wise or the powerful or the good people of this world who get it, but the simple, common folk who believe it (1:21). It is not those seeking signs or wisdom who know the way, but those who know that the sign of wisdom is a crucified and risen Christ – something that makes no sense at all to anyone but nobodies.
Never mind that your friends and neighbors, those outside the church, may think you’ve got it all wrong; that you’re foolish going to church and doing all that ‘church stuff’; that you’re wasting your time. What do they know. They’re concerned with all the wrong things – money and success. They think they know, but they don’t. What could you tell them, anyway – you’re a nobody?
Never mind. Paul argues… it is better this way. Better to confuse them and leave them speechless – these people who are so "wise." Better to confuse the "strong." Maybe then they will realize it has been God’s doing all along. God is at work in the church. Think about it. God work - if it is God’s work - is done by nobodies. That’s different!
The church is a place to come to for a change. It’s the wrong place to be if you want to be comfortable. Paul points out that Christ has given the Church a counter-intuitive strategy that turns conventional thinking on its head. It’s a plan that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. You want to be great? Then be the servant of others. You want to be first? Then agree to be last. Want to save your life? You first must lose it. Want to be strong? You must learn to be weak. You want to be wise? Be foolish.
This takes some thinking outside the box or thinking ‘bigger box.’ In other words, the Church is a place for creative connections. We are to be the Church of Bigger Box Thinkers. It’s necessary to broaden our understanding of God and God’s kingdom. In our study on Wednesday mornings, Bruce and Stan, in Taking Life To the Extreme, have challenged us to consider God as a circle rather than a dot. When in our thinking God becomes a circle rather than a dot, our box becomes so much larger, doesn’t it!
Sometimes that box, expanded to include others not quite like us, can seem somewhat radical.
On Larry King Live, a little over a year ago, Jay Bakker, son of fallen televangelists Jim Bakker, said: "I think we get caught in this idea of pleasing God rather than trusting God. And I think once you learn to trust God, it's a lot easier to please God."
Jay Bakker, who preaches at the Revolution Church - New York City, is a 30-year-old high school dropout with a ring in his eyebrow and a tattooed cross on his arm. He stresses acceptance and the unconditional love of Christ, a gospel uniquely suited to young adults like him - who seem so terribly fragile and unable to fit in. His hope is that someday everyone will belong, (Katherine Marsh in Rolling Stone magazine, September 16, 1999, 69-74)
Jay Bakker is quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying. "The Bible isn’t about 'Don't do this, don't do that.' God is saying, 'You guys are accepted, and you are loved.' God is saying, 'My hands are open'"
And at other times, that box, we’re asked to enlarge, may not be all that different from what we’re used to. A church in Oklahoma periodically sponsors an eight-week series of evening events called "Soup for the Soul." These evenings begin with a light supper of soup, bread and fruit, and after the meal there is a short devotional, fellowship and sharing. These programs provide the opportunity to invite friends, neighbors and coworkers who might enter into the congregational life in this informal way before participating in the more formal Sunday morning worship service. In addition, they give the church members and their visitors the opportunity to consider how their faith connects with their work, travel, interests, hobbies and family life (Christian Century, April 21-28, 1999, 458).
The church is a collection of nobodies, who open themselves to the work of God so others - smarter, wiser, and more powerful – might know it can only be God that makes such marvelous things happen. Ask God to make your boxes larger. Allow God to enlarge this church. Erase the dot that has limited your God and draw the largest circle ever.
Tell God, “I am nobody, who are you?” And then let God go to work!
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