Developing a Theology of Friendship

John 15:12-17 (New International Version)

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

“The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend“  and Abraham was called God’s friend (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23).  Now if both Abraham and Moses were under the old covenant and reached a place of friendship with God, how much more freedom do we have to enter into that friendship now that we live under the new covenant!  What does that friendship look like on a practical level?  In what ways does it effect how we are friends with our brothers and sisters in Christ?  What elements of what we find valuable in friendship with others points towards the fullness of experiencing friendship with God?  In what ways do our earthly friendships need to be shaped by heavenly standards set in scripture?  With the curtain torn and considering 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, why would we not all experience the LORD speaking to us face to face?

This idea of friendship with God is causing all sorts of havoc in my brain and spirit as it has been bouncing around seeking to engage and transform my heart and mind.  I tried to unpack it with some junior highers and a few friends over this past week and those interactions will be fodder for the next few posts on this subject.  In the meantime, you are all welcome to engage the passage and the questions above before I post again.

Reflections on Rest and Trust

For the Christian, to rest is an act of trust.

The sabbath as an individual or community expression makes the bold statement to the world that God is in control.  It says that our efforts can be put on hold for a day because of the knowledge that it is, in fact, He who will bring everything to completion and fruition.

To take on a lifestyle of rest is to stand in stark opposition to the culture of business that consumes much of the world (secular and Christian).  The sovereignty of God allows for the freedom to leave anxiety behind and walk in peace at all times knowing that the rule and reign of God remains uninterrupted no matter what we do or don’t do.

If you think this is dangerous you are absolutely right.  It is dangerous to our pride.  Our pride that says if I don’t do something then nothing is going to happen.  It is dangerous to our imperfect motivations that lead to religiously acting out our devotion so fervently that we ignore the need to respond out of relationship to God.  This is not an excuse for inaction, but there is definitely a major shift when our motivation to act moves from fear to trust.  A movement from the fear of falling out of grace to trusting that the grace that saved us is strong enough to carry us to maturity as we learn to follow Christ. It is a movement towards relationship. Not in an abstract way, but a real relationship in which a mutual trust begins to grow between us and the Almighty.  As we invest in trusting Him, our actions will come out of the humbling reality that He has lovingly chosen us and trusts we who love Him to partner as co-labors to carry out His work in the world.

Entertainment industry and social activism: A rant

If you know me at all you know I’m a passionate person.  I give myself fully to whatever I’m involved in (or whatever God get’s me involved in).  You also know that Uganda is part of that passion – one that I’m constantly learning more about and praying for.  Yesterday three things popped up about the rebel group which has been abducting children, mutilating people, and causing terror in northern Uganda, South Sudan, and DRC.  One of these was a report from an organization that is reporting an increase in activity of the LRA rebel group, possible re-established ties with the Sudanese government in Khartoum, among other more factual reporting.  You can read the information here: http://www.resolveuganda.org/node/888

The other two, however, are people trying to walk the razors edge between entertainment and social activism.  You can read a little about them here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8226675.stm

I had been struggling with this sort of thing since the release of District 9. I’ve avoided it because I don’t think my heart could handle social commentary on refugee camps and racism that so closely resemble the ones that exist now but instead of people they are filled with aliens.  Just where I’m at.  But the article above pushed it from the background processing to the forefront.  The organization that I volunteered with in Uganda is involved with the film, and I believe and hope it will be well and responsibly done. But that hadn’t even been a concern until I read the line, “Earlier this week, a comic book about the LRA, featuring the WWII character Unknown Soldier, was launched by DC Comics.”

A comic book about the LRA?!  The first 29 pages are available on the internet and I recommend that you do not read them if you care about this situation or have been to Uganda or are generally sensitive to violence.  It graphically depicts, in comic book art, some of the horrors of the LRA.  It was hard to read, which is good because reality is harder, but at the same time I had to wonder if that is really the medium to bring those horrors to light?  Comic books and movies are a business, they are out to make money.  Do they really have the heart to do this responsibly or are they going to cut corners on truth to make it more sensational?  And the other side of things, will those who read or watch actually tie what they see into reality?  Will it grip them or be marginalized because we have generally been desensitized to what we read and see from entertainment media sources.  And if it does grip us, what will we do with it? Will the general comic book reader or movie goer dig deeper than the info they are presented with or will they feel informed about the situation because of how the media has filtered and presented it?  Will the general viewer of a gripping documentary dig any deeper?  The profits from the movie “Girl Soldier” will go towards organizations in northen Uganda – which is among the reasons I trust that film and those making it.  But what of the profits from the comic book, or from District 9?  I don’t know.

” ‘The film is incredibly fictionalized in certain areas,’ Mr Raee told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.” That’s my other concern for social activism coming out of the media industry and also from documentaries and social justice organizations.  Truth.  Do they actually present truth or do they adjust lighting and music to present a gripping yet accessible portion of reality in order to activate people towards their movement.  Is truth forfeited in substitution for action and mobilizing the masses?  It’s much easier to stir people up than to truly inform and educate them.  There is a growing generation primed to be passionately released to change the world.  Will they do it in ignorance or in truth?  Will they be motivated by a selfish compassion that wants the pain inside them to end or a Christ centered compassion that seeks to better things not only now but for all eternity.  One that can actually enter into the suffering and not be consumed by it.  One that is passionate to see things change but at peace in each moment knowing that it is God who is in control and He who is responsible for the transformation.  A compassion that is patient because it knows and trusts that it comes from the Father in heaven who cares more deeply than we could ever imagine over the distance between the way things are and the way things should be. And lastly a compassion that is filled with a near inappropriate joy knowing how good the Father is and how much it is in his heart for all to be under his care.

The Gospel

“Our gospel is not the gospel unless it is good news to everyone.”

I think this statement has caused me to examine my faith more than anything else I’ve ever come up with or read.  Very likely I stole it from someone smarter and wiser than me but it has sunk to such depths in my heart that it compels me to find people and places that challenge my gospel with their culture, condition, and personality. It leads me to ask questions like: Can my gospel be presented to the rich and the poor? Is it freedom for those oppressed by corporate America and those who will die of starvation today? Does it matter to the urban poor and the middle class? Is the language of my gospel accessible to an un-churched, Hispanic, junior high youth?  Is it hope to the mentally handicapped?

I’m still not able to answer very many of those questions, but I’m trying.  There are a few things I have figured out. The gospel we present must be simple and deep.  It must be refreshing to the weary and freeing to the burdened. It must be the explanation and invitation into the gift of the crucified and risen Christ.  We have to present it out of excitement rather than requirement, and if we aren’t excited about it then we need to re-engage the story through prayer and scripture until we burn once again.  Those who hear our message should walk away knowing that they have heard a deep message of love from someone who cares for them about a God who cares even more.  Conviction is a work of the Spirit, and I believe it comes when a soul is laid bare in front of incomprehensible grace.  We proclaim that grace – the Spirit lays bare the soul.

My brothers and sisters, we are heralds of the good news.  Sharing with others should be exhilarating rather than debilitating.  It should be a natural outcome of a life abandoned to Christ.  And calling disciples into Kingdom living should be a natural product of the church reaching out in love to places where only the Gospel can give hope.  I say this mostly to invite you into my personal struggle to make the previous three sentences a reality in my life.

Old man in the alley

The old man staggers along, hurting in ways unseen by any but himself. He mutters streams of profanities under his breath, mixed with phrases like “better than this”, and “not who I am”. Screaming into the dark alley, he smashes his glass judge against the bricks of the narrow passage. Even in this action he knows all too well that the next day – when things are a little too much, when a certain friend fails to show up, when no one is watching – the bottle will be resurrected.

“ENOUGH!” he yells the well-worn refrain. He shouted it not to his inner darkness or to that of the alley, as so often in the past. This time the old man shouted to the darkness that is found in the shadow of a cathedral. A darkness which shouted back. Not words, but a pain even worse than before. His entire chest seemed to collapse inward with grief and he fell backwards helplessly. It felt as if someone were shoving a rugged four by four into his chest, and the weight was unbearable. He imagined clawing at the foot of the roughly processed tree, but his fingers were useless against such penetration. Realizing the futility of his efforts, he released a sigh of defeat. As the old man softly vocalized his impotence against the tree now planted in his chest, his body heaved forward, tearing a new flesh from the old. The new man emerged with such force that he went immediately from his back to his knees.

“Why? Why now?” he questioned in heaving sobs. But this was not the time for answers, it was the time for change. A change longed for, yet not fulfilled. As he raised his head from the asphalt he saw his hands in the light of the new day. Hands transformed to those of a youth. Yet behind him he could still hear pitiful whimperings and the sickening sound of tired fists pounding in protest against the splintered post.

Uncomfortable images of God

Every once in a while I come across imagery of God in scripture that stops me in my tracks. Images that are at great tension with my understanding of God. This morning I read Psalm 78:65:

“Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.”

Think about that choice of images. Not only do we have God waking up as if he were sleeping (contrast that with Psalm 121:4 where God never sleeps nor slumbers), but next He is presented as a loud, angry drunk. I freely admit, that makes me a little uncomfortable. Then again, I like that about scripture as the Living Word of God. In processing his own grief, C.S. Lewis observed that part of the loss of his beloved wife was that her presence was no there to shatter his misperceptions. Her reality could no longer break down the incomplete image his mind held. When we approach scripture in humility, God’s reality will constantly challenge and break down our misperceptions of His character. If we are willing to sit for a while with the uncomfortable images instead of quickly rationalizing and justifying them, I think we might soon find that God is bigger than we give Him credit for.

A quick rant on “divine appointments” and “life changing moments”

The phrases “divine appointment” and “life changing moment” annoy and entertain me at the same time.  They entertain me because people use them to signify moments where they see God’s sovereignty – and that makes my little predestinarian heart leap for joy.   They annoy me because people often use them to limit God’s sovereignty to those exact same moments.

Think about it.  If we label meeting someone a “divine appointment” then what does that mean for all the other times we’ve met people?  Those words seems to make some arbitrary distinction between encounters that God ordains and ones that are somehow ordinary, or un-divine.  Call me crazy (people often do) but I honestly believe that each and every encounter we have is divine.  Each time I interact with someone is an opportunity for Christ in me to call out something in the other person that only the image of God in me can.  It is also an opportunity for me to grow more like Christ by allowing the image of God in the other person to challenge and shape me.  Strangely enough, the more I approach life from that perspective the more “divine appointments” I have.

And then the whole concept of something being “life changing” just seems like an oxymoron to me.  It simultaneously affirms and denies predestination in two little words.  Track with me as I try to unpack that.  Generally what people mean when they say something changed their life is that they felt their life was heading in a specific direction and that an event caused that direction to shift.  In saying that the direction was already laid out they are affirming the idea that life is already planned.  But then it changed… I’m sorry but I just can’t reconcile those things.  If it was laid out in advance then how can it be changed?  Either it is being unfolded according to a plan or it is being developed with each descision that you make.  In either case life remains unchanged.  It is being revealed or formed – not changed.

Anyway, I hope this little rant has divine timing and changes your life

2 Timothy 2:25: The Call to be Gentle and Bold

Time and time again in scripture I find things that pull on both ends of a spectrum.  God’s word seems to be filled with concepts and characteristics that pull in opposing directions.  For example: Grace and truth; mercy and wrath; victory and humility; prosperity and poverty; gentleness and boldness;royalty and servitude.  I consider these points and others to be invitations toward harmonic tension in the Christian life.  We who believe get to experience both extremes in our faith by allowing God to tune us to resonance with His heart and will.  Although the nature of harmonic tension is a constant tightening and loosening to find the right tone, there are times when I am so off key, so far pulled to one side or the other, that I become disquieted within myself as I read scripture. The encouragements to be bold and gentle is one of those hard to tune strings within me.  It seems like I am either sharp (overly bold) or flat (overly gentle) but never quite hitting the right note which I believe to be “not quarrelsome” but “correcting with gentleness” (2 Tim. 2:25).

It is the phrase “correcting with gentleness” that brings out the false note in me.  The implications of boldness in the first word of that phrase hit me pretty hard.  You only correct when someone is wrong (shocker, I know).  So even if tamed with gentleness, at it’s core any correction is based on the assumption that there is a right way and the person being corrected is not following it.  That is a bold thing to say.  So in that short phrase I am forced to wrestle with the idea that there is a standard, and absolute that people need correction to realize, and that in bringing that correction to them I must do so in gentleness.  I fear that too often I refuse to correct towards right relationship with God because that in its very nature is saying that relationship with God is not right.  It is a weighty judgment, and even with the error revealed in scripture I tremble at being the one who lays those scriptures before a stumbling brother or sister.  So here’s my sticking point – is it still gentleness if the person corrected doesn’t receive it in that way?  If I, striving for humility, call someone forward in godliness and they receive those words as judgment and take offense have I appropriately answered to the calling in 2 Timothy 2:25?  What if, in desiring to show love, I hold my tongue even though a truth is burning in my heart?  I try to trust that I am being faithful in the times of boldness and silence but it doesn’t stop me from questioning myself.  I want harmonic tension in this area of my life, so I continue to allow God to tune me – and I am extremely grateful that in His grace He can still use me as an instrument for His glory.

Thoughts on Suffering: A late response to “a cultural guide for the non believer”

In response to a previous post “a cultural guide for the non believer” wrote:

The sent thing is neat. God damned his only son to save us since we are his sons. I don’t like the idea of suffering for God or Jesus because we already have and so did Jesus. I think Jesus example is to damn lucifer. I think that is what he was trying to do with his life and save us from him and get us back to what we were before lucifer damned.

First off, thanks for the comment (if you ever visit again after having being ignored for a month).  I agree that Christ’s sacrifice has released us from the curse of Adam, has redeemed us to be daughters and sons of God, and provided complete and sufficient victory over lucifer.  However, I do want to push a little on the sentence “I don’t like the idea of suffering for God or Jesus because we already have and so did Jesus.”  I believe this was mostly in response to my statement “Christ enables us to suffer for God and for one another with zeal, joy, and patience.”  I don’t think anyone naturally “likes the idea of suffering” but Christ redefined suffering for righteousness sake and on his account as blessing (Matthew 5:10-12, Luke 6:22-23).  (On a short side note – the Beatitudes make me uncomfortable when I think of how lightly we say “God bless you”).  Through Christ we are freed to live out a worldly oxymoron – we get to suffer gladly!  This was a viewpoint elemental to the early church.  They sacrificed wealth to live in community (Acts 2:44-47), they rejoiced at persecution (Acts 5:41), and the first martyr blessed his executioners by asking for their pardon (Acts 7:60).  We even find Paul, after having been stoned and left for dead, returning to the city where he suffered to strengthen and encourage the disciples there “to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:19-22).  Then we get to the rest of the New Testament!  In Romans we are exhorted to “also rejoice in our sufferings” (5:3-5), and most directly in response to “a cultural guide” our adoption spoken of in terms of dependence on our suffering with Christ.  “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17).  Now this suffering is not damnation or the wrath of God – but purification and refining for glory.  It is one of the most basic ways of imitating Christ so long as we approach it with joy, “(L)ooking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2).  One passage really ties it all together much better than I can, and that is 1 Peter 4:12-19 which states:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?  And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

So after all that scriptural bludgeoning (sorry – I got carried away), I must admit I was a little off when I wrote “Christ enables us to suffer for God and for one another with zeal, joy, and patience.”  That sentence could potentially leave the burden of suffering on the individual if the reader placed the emphasis on suffering for God and one another.  A better wording might have been “Christ enables us to suffer with and for him and with and for one another with zeal, joy, and patience.”  The word “for” captures the obedience and individual action that we are called to, but the word “with” takes us into relationship – and suffering outside of relationship is hell.

All scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.  Emphasis was added by me by marking some words in bold.

John 17 – Unity is Evangelism

I’m preaching on Sunday so please pray for me…right now…. Thanks.

Currently here are my sermon notes:

• Pray
• Read John 17
• Preach

1. Believe/Know – Shift in world view
2. Unity/One – Unpack being one as Jesus and the Father are one
3. Sent – Unpack being sent by Jesus as Jesus was sent by the Father

I’m still working on how I’ll expand that into a 30 minute sermon – but in rehearsing by myself I’ve managed to preach consistently 30 – 40 minutes. As practice I’m going to do a little unpacking here on my blog. If you have feedback please be specific and quick in case your comments might help to shape the sermon.

John 17 has been rocking my world for the last year and a half. The entire chapter is Jesus praying, and towards the end his words speak directly to the church throughout time. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” (John 17:20). For a brief moment before Gethsemane, Christ focuses his prayer on the generations of followers to come, on “the sheep that are not from this fold”(John 10:16), on all of us who have believed and ever will believe. I find it compelling that to describe future generations of disciples Jesus labels the Church as “those who will believe in their word”. Believe is a major theme of John (e.g. John 3:16) and is very closely related to the theme of knowing (John 17:21, 23). So what does it mean to know and believe? It means knowing something in a way that it sinks into every part of your being, it means knowing in a way that changes the way that you think about things. At it’s core, truly knowing something changes your behavior as a result of having changed your world view. When you know and believe that Christ was sent by God all of life comes under the lens of scripture, Christianity, and ultimately Christ.

So Christ lays before the Father a petition for those who would believe in the apostles word, which was Christ’s word (John 17:14 – 17). There is three fold purpose for this petition.

1. That the believers would be one (17:21)
2. That the world would believe/know that Christ was sent by God(17:21, 23)
3. That the world would know that the Father loves the Church with the same love that He has for the Son (17:23)

Now here’s where things get really tricky for me. You see, these three purposes are so interwoven and the themes of Oneness, Christ’s Sent Nature, and The Father’s Love are inseparable. So pseudo linearly here’s my best attempt.

That we would be one/perfectly one so that the world might know/believe:

In his prayer, Jesus uses an equivalence statement to describe unity. “that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me. and I in you, that they may also be in us,” (17:21). Somehow, as the Church binds together in the Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) we are called to attain a unity that in someway resembles the interwoven nature of God. Look again at the tapestry that is woven just in these few verses: The Father in the Son (21,23); The Son in the Father (21); Believers in the Father and Son (21); and then the final stitch The Son in Believers (23). The relationship between the Father and Son is seen as key throughout John’s gospel. It is central to the attempts on Jesus’ life (yes, multiple attempts), because He made himself out to be one with God. Which was true – but it was “unbelievable” for many in Jesus’ day. It was Jesus’ connection to the Father that motivated his every action (John 5:36, 7:16, others). With Christ in us, we can strive for the intimacy that Christ and the Father had – and we can expect some strong resemblance of it. Why? Because Christ has already interceded that it would happen and Christ is fully inside of the Father’s will because he and the Father are one!

There is one more element of unity that is key, but we can’t get there until we look at one final theme. See, our unity isn’t the end of the petition Christ prayed for us. He continued praying “…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”(17:20) and later repeated “…so that the world may know that you sent me…”(17:23). Why is it so important that the world know/believe that Christ was sent by God? What shift in perspective and world view does that enable? The answer comes from asking the question: Why was Jesus sent? And the answer that most would give is very close to right: Jesus was sent to suffer, and die as the atoning sacrifice for my sins. Absolutely true. However, equally true, and more important to unity and evangelism: Jesus was sent to satisfy the Father’s need for justice. Jesus’ love for the Father put him on the road to Calvary, the Father’s love for the Son and for us sent Jesus there.

The standard for unity that Jesus set out points to a love entirely outside of ourselves (thank God!). That standard is that of the Father and Son’s love for each other. That love was passionate, it suffered gladly for the beloved. When we become incorporated into that love and incarnate carriers of the divine presence through the Holy Spirit we are invited to love bigger than ourselves. Christ enables us to suffer for God and for one another with zeal, joy, and patience. The reason that unity leads into evangelism – that the Son in us and us in the Father and Son provokes a knowledge and belief in the deity of Christ – is that when we begin to incarnationaly invest in each other it is so supernatural that the world will take notice. When we begin to walk out a true knowledge and belief that there is a transcendent love, a love that exists perfectly outside of ourselves, and that that love suffers passionately, that that love is unfailing.

This love will only fully be displayed in the church if we invest in one another dangerously. In my mind Christ’s prayer leaves no room for poverty in the church, it leaves no room for loneliness, hidden pains, closet depression, or any number of things we could “never talk about in church”. We cannot hide from each other in any way and expect the world to see Christ as truly sent by God. If there is lack or need, then brothers and sisters in Christ must give of themselves and their resources. The word compassion literally means “to suffer with”, and with Christ as our example for passion (suffering) so we cannot limit our giving to what is comfortable.

When we invest in the lives of our brothers and sisters sacrificially we are in a very small way sharing in Christ’s sufferings that we might share in his glory (Rom 8:17). It is not our prosperity that will attract the world to Christ – it is our lack of poverty. It is the way that we love each other, out of the eternal well of love that exists in the Trinity. In that perfected unity the world will know that Christ was sent by God and loves the church with the same love that sent Christ to the cross (John 17:23).