Fearless Love: A Willingness to Enter In

Just last week, I was called upon to make an uncompromising, yes-or-no stand for something that I firmly believed was right. And yet, shockingly, I did not greet this fiery trial with even a hint of rejoicing; I was both surprised and saddened to see how little I actually wanted to do the right thing, given that my own personal interests were on the line amid some low-level pressure to stay quiet. Given what seemed like a very clear assignment to stand up and say, "This far and no further," I chose instead to drag my feet and, like some helpless little school boy, secretly wished the problem at hand would quietly go away while I hid out in the cloak room sucking my thumb. (Yes, thank you, I am aware that most schools nowadays do not have cloak rooms. I wished for one anyway.)

After much prayer and thoughtful consideration, though, I finally worked up the pudding to speak my mind and make my unwillingness to compromise crystal clear. Thus far, by God's grace, the decision to do so has played out fairly well, though there could still be some unforeseen fallout in the near future. I described the situation to close friends as feeling a lot like that sense of dread a combat soldier might experience when he feels his leg snag a wire or fishing line: "Gosh, I wonder if that line was tied to a grenade pin...or nothing at all?" In other words, my decision to speak out could easily represent 1) no consequences whatsoever, or 2) the first in a series of dominoes that just got tipped over. Any sort of "middle ground" on this seems unlikely.

There are all kinds of things (not many of them good) that can be said about a full-grown man who approaches an impasse with a lingering sense of dread and fear. For the Christian, though, the very first thing one can say is that "fear of man" represents the clearest-possible signal that we are failing to believe the promises of God (Psalm 1) and that we place our personal safety and comfort several notches above what God has clearly called us to (1 Peter 4:19). Examples abound throughout Scripture of mighty men of valor who achieve great victories working in cooperation with God's will, but then cower like frightened little church mice at the most ridiculous of "threats." See 1 Kings 18 and 19:1-8 for my personal favorite.

We all know what it is like to get that tight feeling in our stomach when the time has come to speak up and potentially upset other people. The throat constricts with tension, our minds race, and perhaps we even begin to perspire. If you are anything at all like me, the very last thing you want to do is to enter into conflict with another person. Given the chance to speak up or glide through our days, I have to think most of us are tempted to just shut up and ignore a lot of things that challenge our faith and (most particularly) the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

For His part, Jesus did not hesitate to speak up or risk offense (Matthew 23, Luke 11:37-45, Matthew 15:10-12). Unlike us, however, His motivations were perfectly aligned with His love. He spoke judgment on others in the sincere hope that they would repent, not because He enjoyed walking around Palestine bumming people out. All of the verbal challenges issued by Jesus were in fact the most loving thing He could do in those situations, as they provided His hearers with precisely what they needed at that moment in time, namely an opportunity to clearly see their sin, to repent of it and to believe on Him. To not speak out would have been the most unloving thing He could have done, and yet Scripture is abundantly clear that His results were, at best, mixed. Some did indeed repent and believe, others did not (Matthew 28:16-17, John 7:40-43, Acts 13:46-48).

One of the hardest truths I am continually learning to accept is that my own efforts to evangelize for Jesus (spoken and otherwise) are most definitely not the lynchpin upon which the salvation or repentance of another swings. God is pleased to use me when and where he sees fit, but I will not be judged on the level of "success" that I achieve in this life. Instead, I will be judged on my faithfulness to do the right thing, have the hard conversation, stand in the gap. The results are not up to me, as God is busily doing a zillion other things behind the curtain while He waits for me to pick up my cues and speak the lines He has authored.

So it was that after the difficult conversation took place, it finally occurred to me that the words spoken on all sides were not, primarily, about me at all. Yes, I was being called to faithfulness - something I approached with a decidedly-tepid response at first. But in the immediate aftermath, I found myself strangely comforted by a certainty that I was, after all, just a character actor in a much larger drama. The true heart battles were taking place elsewhere; I was merely set to the task of providing a faithful context in which the bigger questions could be brought to light.

More importantly, though, I have come to see more clearly that Christians are called to be salt and light in the world, a city on a hill (Matthew 5:13-14), and that we most certainly cannot do that by greeting a sinful situation with silence. As salt and light, we must sometimes shed light into darkness, even when we'd rather not. We certainly need to keep "gentleness and respect" in the equation as we do so (1 Peter 3:15), and many of us fail miserably to demonstrate that gentleness. But I think far too often, we justify our silence by telling ourselves that if someone is upset by what we say, we were not gentle enough and perhaps should not have spoken out. As I have wrestled with last week's situation, however, I have come to see silent acquiescence to sin as less about disobedience to Christ (though it certainly is that, too) and more often about an unwillingness to love someone to my own potential detriment.

Time will tell if I did the right thing last week. I prayed about it (a lot). I spoke to my wife about it on more than one occasion and asked her to filter out my own obnoxiousness, if possible, to help me arrive at a God-pleasing resolution. I spoke to other believers, and I confirmed my position with a fair amount of fact-checking to make sure I wasn't going off half-cocked. But over and above all of that, and superintending the entire process, one question reigned supreme: "How will my response reflect, even imperfectly, Christ's love for the other person?" For me, anyway, this is a colossal paradigm shift from my historic, default position, namely "Who's right?"

1 Peter 3:13-17 (ESV)
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

Darrin Patrick, John MacArthur, and Responding to Criticism

The Bible tends to talk a good amount about things like correction, rebuke, and reproof (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 2:25, Proverbs 15:5, Proverbs 15:10...I could go on and on). There's good reason for that. One, we all need correction and criticism on a regular basis. It's one of the means which God uses to grow us. Two, many of us do not naturally respond well to such critiques. Sometimes we get defensive, sometimes we get pouty, sometimes we protect ourselves by firing right back.

I'm fairly confident I don't take criticism well, it's undoubtedly a weakness of mine. That's why a few blog posts from this week really caught my attention.

Darrin Patrick is a pastor of a St. Louis church called The Journey, and is becoming well known around Christian circles. This past year he released a book on church planting that has been highly recommended by many. A few weeks ago, however, another uber-respected Christian pastor, John MacArthur, had some criticisms of the aforementioned book. Let it be said up front that I respected both men before this week, and I respected both men in how they handled the situation.

If you want to know the details of the disagreement, go here and here. For my purposes, you just need a taste of what was said. Here are some of MacArthur's comments -

"Notice that Darrin Patrick himself summarizes and restates the point he is making, and it is about “uniqueness” in “the way he wants to do ministry.” He seems to suggest that everything about one’s ministry (Patrick expressly includes “his own theological beliefs“) needs to be self-styled and individualistic."

He continues -

"Indeed, the entire book treats church planting as an entrepreneurial business, with almost no word of caution against the many dangers of bringing an entrepreneur’s mindset into ministry. Scripture, by contrast, consistently uses pastoral language rather than terms borrowed from financial enterprise. Church leaders are to be shepherds, not tycoons. Our people are sheep, not consumers."

I understand and echo MacArthur's overall concern to protect theology and guard against rampant individualism, but I must say I don't think his specific critiques in this instance are fair (additionally, MacArthur should be commended for saying - "Allow me to publicly state that if this is not what Darrin Patrick meant to communicate, I would certainly love to embrace any clarification").

Put yourself in Patrick's shoes following this. You've spent decades watching other church planters and other churches. You've faithfully started your own church plant, which has been a successful thing in the world's eyes and by all accounts a fruitful thing for God's kingdom. And then you've spent years putting those decades of lessons and thoughts down in a book.

And now you've experienced some public criticism. How would you react?

I personally doubt that I would react with the humility and thoughtfulness that Patrick did -

"It is my hope that those who have not read the book might not be confused about what I believe. I believe in gospel ministry, theologically driven practice, and biblical fidelity. This is what Church Planter is about. This is what The Journey is about. This is what my life and ministry are about.

Sometimes I fail at this focus. When I misunderstand or am misunderstood, I want to quickly ask, “What is God teaching me?” And, He is teaching me through Dr. MacArthur’s critique. For that, I am very thankful! For those of you who have been quick to be critical of Dr. MacArthur, please remember that we all need to be corrected from time to time. Also, ALL of us who are younger need to give a careful listen to the concerns of seasoned pastors, many of whom have forgotten more than we might ever know."

Criticism and correction are not only a reality of life they can be a blessing from God. We would all do well to learn some lessons from Patrick's response, so that the correction we experience in our lives would be even more of a blessing.

The Essence of Love in the Epitome of Tragedy

I have been told by more than one source there is nothing more painful than dealing with the loss of a child. I have observed close friends as they have walked such a path. I have cried alongside my friends, but cannot even begin to imagine the depth of the sorrow they will forever feel in their loss.

Approximately 10 years ago the Oklahoma State men’s basketball program experienced the tragedy of losing 10 members of their staff and players in a plane crash. The university held a service to commemorate their loss during a home basketball game this past week. During the broadcast, a portion of the segment focused on one particular OSU player who died in the crash. His name was Nate Fleming. I would strongly encourage you to read an amazing article about his life and the life of his family as they struggled to deal with his loss.

I have been immeasurably blessed to have two daughters and two sons. The relationship I have with each is distinct and special within itself. However, there is undoubtedly a uniquely special relationship that exists between a father and son. I believe there is a burden on a father to cherish his daughters as he wishes them to be cherished by their future husbands. But a father has an inherent obligation to lead his sons to become men of character and integrity.

In all the twists and turns of Nate Flemings story and the intersections of his few years on earth, nothing was more touching to me than the love expressed by his father in the notes he would leave his son. I’m including below an example of a letter highlighted in the story.

Nov. 23, 1993

My Nate,

Sometimes it’s difficult for a dad to say the things he wants to say to his son who is so precious. There are always distractions that get in the way, and so part of the message is lost. I’m writing this down so I know you’ll hear it. You may and you do look a lot like me, but you were made in God’s image. As a child, you were perfect in every way. Truthful, sweet, optimistic, loving and ever-trusting. As a young man, He gives you the path that you choose. Human’s can’t give that choice. Not even daddy’s. You may choose the wrong path. A lot of us do. Making the wrong choice is not forever. It seems like it is. If you choose to be jealous, hateful or discontented, then you must suffer the pain that comes with that choice. Your life will be miserable, filled with anxiety about who you really are. You will be sad trying to be as good or as smart or as rich as someone else. You might even choose to be a middle-of-the-roader, someone who on the surface looks and acts confident. He might say the right things because he knows he should. All the while, he really doesn’t feel good about himself or who he really is. The real truth is that there is no gray area to live your life. It’s either black or white. Truth or lie. Honest or dishonest. The one who really gets fooled is you. I hope you’ll choose the right path.

You have so many gifts, My Nate. Be happy with who you are. Remember the game is won not on game-day, but in the work and preparation that leads up to game-day. Nothing can ever take away my love for you. My love and hopes for you are without end.

All my love,

Daddy

Wow. Just wow. Here is exactly what I thought when I finished reading this father’s precious letters to his son; when I ask my son about his day at school, when I tell him to pick his socks up off the floor, when I get on to him for arguing with his sister and when I tell him to get off the computer...am I really calling that parenting? Am I naive enough to believe that my mere presence as a peacekeeper is all it is going to take for my son to have an example of godly manhood?

If you read the article to completion you will see just how full of life young Nate’s few years on earth turned out to be. I don’t consider it a coincidence he was such an example to his friends and his community. You almost sense how Nate was empowered by his father’s love. It is not hard to imagine how easily Nate could see the similarities between his earthly father’s love and that of his heavenly father.

The bible has many examples where father’s are called to the the kind of love and instruction exemplified in this story.

“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged”.
-Colossians 3:21

“For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory”
-1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.”
-Proverbs 3:11-14

Now, I’m going to wrap this up as I have a little catching up to do on a few letters of my own. I hope this story has encouraged you to consider doing the same.

The Fine Art of Complaining Documented in the NYT

I never cease to be amazed at the things that people complain about. Back on December 19, the New York Times wrote an article detailing the hardships that many employees of financial institutions were undergoing because they weren't going to receive a year end bonus.

You no doubt recall that the current economic downturn was, at least in part, caused by the excessive risks taken by a number of financial institutions. Many believe that year end bonuses encouraged those risks. In a modest attempt to avoid that problem in the future, many of these institutions went to a "zero bonus" policy for many of their employees.

But lest you feel sorry for these people, you should be comforted by the fact that as part of the "no bonus" policy, these same firms adjusted their employees' salary so that there would be no reduction in total compensation. For example at one firm a managing director's salary increased from $300,000 to $500,000. Let's just say this has been a difficult transition.

Dealing with the Zeros can be complicated. “It’s a real headache,” said another senior banker, who asked not to be identified because the topic is so volatile at his company. There has been so much grousing that in some cases, he said, “we’ll throw $20,000 or $25,000 at each of the Zeros so they’re not discouraged.”

“No matter what we pay people, it is never enough and they always find something to complain about,” this banker said.

Another New York Times story told the saga of the Winklevoss twins and their feud with Facebook. If you want all the details, you can read the story. To understand my point in this post all you need to know is that the twins were offered a settlement of $20 million in cash and $45 million in Facebook shares. But after agreeing to the deal, they are now trying to reverse the decision so that they can get more money all the while insisting to Leslie Stahl on 60 minutes that it's not about the money! Someone stop the insanity. I'm looking for the one man or woman who will just stand up and say that it's all about the money.

My last Times reference is to an editorial by David Brooks from last year in which he discusses new research on what leads to happiness. Here's a couple of paragraphs to give you the flavor...

Over the past few decades, teams of researchers have been studying happiness. Their work, which seemed flimsy at first, has developed an impressive rigor, and one of the key findings is that, just as the old sages predicted, worldly success has shallow roots while interpersonal bonds permeate through and through.

On a personal scale, winning the lottery doesn’t seem to produce lasting gains in well-being. People aren’t happiest during the years when they are winning the most promotions. Instead, people are happy in their 20’s, dip in middle age and then, on average, hit peak happiness just after retirement at age 65.

People get slightly happier as they climb the income scale, but this depends on how they experience growth. Does wealth inflame unrealistic expectations? Does it destabilize settled relationships? Or does it flow from a virtuous cycle in which an interesting job produces hard work that in turn leads to more interesting opportunities?

Let me draw out a couple rather obvious conclusions based on these three articles:
1. No matter what we have, it isn't enough to satisfy us. Whether it is the financial managers who are going to have to eke by on $500K this year or the Winklevoss twins who snub their noses at $65 million, people find a lot to complain about. The problem is that I'm no different. No, I don't have millions of dollars, but I have been blessed beyond measure. And I still complain. God forgive me.

2. There is no amount of financial or material blessing that will make a person happy. What really matters is relationships. I'd say that a person who has a strong relationship with God along with good friends is in a pretty good spot and has a lot to be thankful for. And yet what most of us think will make us happier is something totally different.

We'd All Be Crying Right Now

We should all be crying right now.

Surprisingly covered throughout the national news this past week was the arrest of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, 69, who is indicted on eight counts of murder for killing a woman during an abortion procedure, as well as for the deaths of seven other babies who were born alive and then killed by severing their spinal cords with a pair of scissors.

It has naturally raised the question—why does such a practice outrage us when the babies are outside the womb, but we’re able to overlook it to one degree or another as long as it is all happening in the hidden darkness inside the womb?

According to CBS News, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams stated after the arrest: “A doctor who cuts into the necks severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies, who would survive with proper medical attention, is committing murder under the law.”

Gosnell is suspected of also killing hundreds of living babies over the course of his 30-year practice. And he is said to have made approximately $1.8 million in one year alone performing these procedures.

Also according to CBS News, a search of Gosnell’s office (misleadingly named the Women’s Medical Society) revealed that bags and bottles holding human aborted babies were scattered throughout the building. And jars containing the severed feet of babies lined an entire shelf. And according to NBC News, police founds bags and bags of baby parts stuffed within the same refrigerator that employees had stored their lunches in that day.

But all of this sickening news still raises a key question—if this is so horrifying to us when it happens outside the womb, or when we SEE severed human babies’ body parts scattered outside the womb, why is it not equally horrendous when the same horror is happening inside the womb and babies’ body parts dispensed carefully, hidden in the trash? The human baby inside the womb is the same human baby outside the womb?

It raises another question—what have we become, as a culture, that we turn a blind eye and allow such coldhearted atrociousness to happen under protection of law, as long as it all remains hidden from our sight inside the womb?

It makes me think of my trip once to Auschwitz and the populated neighborhoods of Krakow that surrounded it. They all found a way to ignore the trains that were filled with people going into the camp and empty as they left—to ignore the cyclical smoke billowing up from the small brick chimney just inside the fence—to ignore the piles of hair and shoes and dolls and glasses some no doubt must have heard about from prison staff they knew.

Nothing to see here.

But if we did see it, we’d all be crying right now.

Feeling the Weight of Glory

Readers, I’ve observed, are spectacularly varied in how they go about their task. Some like absolute quiet. Others are more comfortable with the steady hum of background noise (which, by the way, is half the attraction of coffee shops...much of the other half being the coffee).

Some treat the physical copy of a book with almost sacramental reverence. These people, in turn, may recoil at those whose books display bent spines, dog-eared pages, and the odd food or beverage stain.

One kind of reader virtually pours over a book, as if it contained a genuine treasure map, only in a font several sizes too small for convenient reading. Others are relaxed, even reclined, yet still firmly engaged; their books have seemingly won their places as a familiar yet highly regarded friends.

Yet another area of difference consists of how people mark in their books. There are those who (inexplicably?) favor the highlighter. Others prefer pen or pencil. Some underline. Others draw brackets or simply trace a straight line along the side of the text corresponding to noteworthy passages. Some mark sparingly, others quite liberally. And so on.

With regard to these latter preferences, I most often employ the straight lines and I tend toward marking quite a bit. This can lead to long stretches of straight lines in the margin, along with the occasional star or exclamation point. The outside observer may find this comically excessive. For example, my wife Rachel good-naturedly mocked me the other day when she began reading my copy of The Weight of Glory, a brilliant collection of C. S. Lewis’ sermons and other addresses. The book’s first chapter is the title essay, and I would classify it as one of the finest things Lewis ever wrote. As she worked her way through it, let’s just say Rachel picked up on my sentiment: “You’ve highlighted the whole chapter!”

Now, I’ll admit that my zeal to recognize every important iota in a given book can easily get a bit out of hand. But in this case, I’ve revisited that particular chapter several times and have never been sorry I marked what I did. A further test came just a few days ago. I decided to re-read the book to prepare for the discussion we’re having at The Crossing on February 7 (more below). And since two spouses reading the same copy of a book can, at least in my case, be an impediment to the overall health of a marriage, I began reading another copy. The result? Lots of long, straight lines in the margin. If I made fewer marks this time, it’s only because I was much more self-conscious in the task.

Take my evaluation what it’s worth, but listen also to the words of Walter Hooper, the book’s editor: “The addresses are arranged chronologically except for…“The Weight of Glory” which is so magnificent that not only do I dare to consider it worthy of a place with some of the Church Fathers, but I fear I should be hanged by Lewis’s admirers if it were not given primacy of place” (17).

But the book is far from a one-hit wonder. Each of the addresses I re-read this morning reminded me of the many reasons why I’d classify virtually everything Lewis ever published to be worth reading, even if I might disagree with points along the way. Among these reasons is Lewis’ ability to put into illuminating prose the experiences that most of us can barely begin to recognize, let alone understand:

I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence: the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both (“The Weight of Glory,” 29-30).

There is also Lewis’ formidable intellect, often brought to bear on challenges to the Christian faith:

If, on the other hand, I swallow the scientific cosmology [what we now might call materialism or scientific naturalism] as a whole, then not only can I not fit in Christianity, but I cannot even fit in science. If minds are wholly dependent upon brains, and brains on biochemistry, and biochemistry (in the long run) on the meaningless flux of atoms, I cannot understand how the thought of those minds should have any more significance than the sound of the wind in the trees (“Is Theology Poetry,” 139).

Added to this are both an earthy wisdom and a self-effacing humor:

Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present…. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and microphone of his own age (“Learning in War-Time,” 58-59”).
………
When you invite a middle-aged moralist to address you, I suppose I must conclude, however unlikely the conclusion seems, that you have a taste for middle-aged moralizing. I shall do my best to gratify it (“The Inner Ring,” 142).

Finally, there is Lewis’ consistent ability to craft language into something beautiful, powerful, memorable:

At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in (“The Weight of Glory,” 43).
………
It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken (“The Weight of Glory,” 45).

For all these reasons and more, we’re happy to holding a discussion of this book at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 7th at The Crossing. If you’re interested, there’s still time to buy the book and sign up to participate at The Crossing Bookstore on Sunday morning.

If you can’t make that event, consider reading it on your own when you can. Yes, it will probably stretch you, but in a good way. And if you find yourself wanting to discuss it with someone, well, I doubt you’ll have to twist my arm.

"Spiders in an Art Museum"

I think I came to a real turning point in my own walk of faith when, at last, it finally sunk in that I was one of the deaf, dumb and blind people Jesus was constantly referring to during the three years of His earthly ministry...even though I did not want to admit it. Up until that point I suspect that all of my readings of the gospel accounts were thoroughly tainted by a level of pride that would not allow me to see just how little of His message I was actually able to hear and process rightly. Perhaps the greatest deception of all is to think that we have "ears to hear" (Matthew 11:15) when the reality is, instead, that we are wretched, poor, pitiable, blind and naked (Revelation 3:17).

One of the surest signs, I think, that we probably don't get what Jesus is saying is the near-universal tendency to want to view the Pharisees with scorn and/or label as "foolish" those crowds who actually watched Christ perform an amazing miracle but walked away from following Him afterward. "How stupid can they be?" we think, all the while resting comfortably in the "certainty" that if we had witnessed any of Jesus' miracles in person, surely we would never - not even once! - have strayed from following Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:34-40). I guess I'd like to gently suggest that perhaps we are beginning to make real, meaningful progress in our own lives of faith when we identify with (rather than mock) the crowds who could not see God's Kingdom breaking in, right in their midst. If we tend to think that we are in any way different from those who rejected Jesus, we might do well to recall that many of those who actively sought His death were considered to be the best and brightest minds of their day, as well as the most religious.

A few weeks ago, I began listening to an audio series entitled The Life and Teachings of Jesus taught by Daniel M. Doriani, Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Covenant. I downloaded all 38 audio segments free of charge from Covenant's Worldwide Classroom website. The fact that I am not taking this as a course for degree credit freed me up considerably to "just listen," without taking copious notes or fretting at all about names, dates, tests or term papers. The result is that, as of today, I have burned through 34 of the 38 segments and will in all likelihood finish up the series prior to the end of the month. If you want to learn more about the Person of Jesus as handed down to us through the gospel accounts, and you have about 24 hours of listening time to invest, I would encourage you to check out this good, solid teaching as well.

One of the plain truths of Scripture that I have thus far not fully taken in or settled for myself involves the chilling level of judgment that is implied in Jesus' use of parables. On this side of the cross, and with nearly 2,000 years of faithful biblical scholarship to assist us, we are privileged to have access to a huge amount of commentary, cross-references, differing translations of the original Greek and just about anything else we need to come to a fairly-clear understanding of what we think Jesus was trying to say with His parables of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) and so forth. But the wealth of scholarship we have was quite obviously not available to the original hearers of the parables; what makes me squirm a bit is the deepening realization that Jesus fully intended that not everyone would understand, repent and follow Him.

Wait a minute...doesn't Jesus want everyone to come to Him? How is obscuring the beauty of the gospel message at all consistent with the seemingly-contradictory picture we have that God does not wish for even one person to perish (2 Peter 3:9)?

Matthew 13:10-17
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"

He replied, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:

"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

"'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

Listening to Dan Doriani these past few weeks has been immensely helpful in many ways, not the least of which is his careful fleshing out of why parables were so central to the earthly ministry of Christ. While it's impossible to condense down over 28 hours of teaching into one blog entry, there was one memorable word picture along the way that, as soon as I heard it, I knew it would stick. Referring to those in the crowd who met Jesus in the flesh, listened to his preaching and even partook in one or more of His miracles - but nevertheless chose at some point to stop following Him - Doriani compared those who could not see or hear to "spiders spinning their webs in an art museum," uncomprehending animals very busily attending to their affairs, absolutely indifferent to the beauty and the majesty of the works on display in plain sight.

Look (Jeremiah 25:32). See (Job 42:5-6; Exodus 7:1). Behold (Malachi 3:1). Be utterly amazed (Habakkuk 1:5). I think we would largely agree that many of the proactive commands of Scripture (say, Deuteronomy 5) are incredibly difficult for sinful men and women like ourselves to live out. But how, then, do we account for the (for lack of a better term) "passive" commands of God that we still fail to follow through on? In many cases, God is calling us to do nothing more than to behold His majesty, perfectly reflected in the face of Christ. "Don't do anything...just behold the glory of my beloved Son." But we can't even do that! Many of us (myself included) merely glance at Jesus every now and then, rightly apprehend that there is something of infinite worth to look at, but then inexplicably turn right back to "spinning our webs." In other words, we continue focusing far more energy on the tasks that seem important to us, but will amount to little more than dust and ashes compared to the infinite worth of Jesus Christ.

As with my former, regrettable scorn for the "blind guides" that Jesus smacks down in Matthew 23, I note with interest how quick I am to take this compelling new word picture and immediately reflect it back on others, tempted to miss the lesson entirely and label other people caught up in "worse" sins than my own as blind spiders, totally focused on spinning a web to catch mosquitoes and flies while the transcendent beauty of a nearby Michelangelo or a Rembrandt utterly eludes them.

Moving to judgment a bit slower this time around, I suppose it might be more worthwhile to meditate on how much I, too, can live a lifestyle similar to a spider in an art gallery. Helpless to acquire sight outside the Spirit's enabling, I am now inclined to spend more time asking God to open my eyes than to ponder the blind foolishness of others. Nowadays, by God's merciful grace in my life, I am that much less inclined to see myself as superior in any way to those people who fill the pages of Scripture and ultimately fell away from God, that much more aware of how calloused my own heart remains to this day, and more likely to find a parallel for my own life of prayer in the simple tale of a blind man who will not stop begging for Jesus to open his eyes.

Luke 18:35-42
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, I want to see," he replied. Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Songs and Scenes from Sunday, January 23, 2011

This week's Sunday song review features photos by Scott Myers. You'll find links in the song titles that will allow you to purchase recorded versions of the songs (where available).

He is Yahweh by Dean Salyn.

Who is moving on the waters? Who is holding up the moon?
Who is peeling back the darkness with the burning light of noon?
Who is standing on the mountains? Who is on the earth below?
Who is bigger than the heavens and the lover of my soul?

We viewed a video inspired by the recent weather in Columbia and based on Job 37:5-7. The video created by Gerik Parmele, The Crossing's new Media Director.

                                  

Holy, Holy, Holy - Words by Reginald Heber (1783-1826), Additional Lyrics and contemporary music by Page CXVI and David Wilton

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash

And age to age He stands,
and time is in His hands;
Beginning and the End.
The Godhead three in one,
Father, Spirit, Son,
the Lion and the Lamb.

Dave Cover shared a mediation based on Hebrews 11:8-10 followed by a time of silent reflection.

Since I Am So Sick by Don Chafer

Since I am so sick,
since I am in need,
since I have no healing within me,
Oh, my God, be mindful of me,
You are my help and my Redeemer.

The Gospel Song by Bob Kauflin and Drew Jones

Holy God, in love, became
perfect Man to bear my blame.
On the cross He took my sin.
By His death I live again.

On Jordan's Stormy Banks - Words by Samuel Stennett (1787) and contemporary music by Christopher Miner.

O’er all those wide extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.
I am bound, I am bound,
I am bound for the Promised land.

All Must Be Well - Words by Mary Bowley Peters (1847) with contemporary music by Matthew Smith.

Though we pass through tribulation, all will be well;
Our is such a full salvation, all is well;
Happy still in God confiding;
Fruitful if in Christ abiding;
Steadfast through the Spirit's guiding, all must be well.

Music and Tech Team for January 23, 2011:

Lauren Anderson - vocals
Taylor Bonderer - violin
Mark Collum - vocals
Sadie Currey - violin
Nick Havens - bass guitar
Scott Johnson - vocals and acoustic guitar
Andrew Luley - drums
Kerry Maggard - keyboard
Jeff Myers - vocals

Becky Ashbaugh - sermon media
Josh Burrell - light and media coordinator
David Cover - sounds
Ken Kroll - lights
Jamie Stephens - music media
Jake Wandel - stage coordinator

For more information about music written by members of the music team for corporate worship visit The Crossing Music. You can also follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/crossingmusic

Book Tip: Piper's Desiring God Revised Edition

John Piper's Desiring God is in the greatest hits of many Crossing staff members. It's in my top 5, and has probably (outside of the Bible) been the most influential book in my Christian life.

I'm mentioning the book here because it's been 25 years since its initial release, and a revised edition was released last week. The revisions are minimal, largely because the central theme of the book is just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.

The prices are quite low. Hardback is $16, softcover is $10. And I strongly recommend you pick it up and read it if you haven't before. We all have watershed moments in our faith where something clicks or a paradigm is shifted. This book was that for me. (If you're intimidated by big books, Piper wrote a shorter version of essentially the same material...and it can be read literally in one setting)

The foundational principal of the book is this:

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Here are some highlights from the actual book, as Piper's words are far more powerful than any summary I could muster.

"I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than by faith to die with Christ to our old seductions, that is, to gain a distaste for them because of a superior satisfaction in God."

"When I was in college, I had a vague, pervasive notion that if I did something good because it made me happy, I would ruin its goodness."

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves." - Piper quoting Blaise Pascal.

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." - Piper quoting from C.S. Lewis' Weight of Glory.

"Christian Hedonism does not make a god out of pleasure. It says that one has already made a god out of whatever he finds most pleasure in."

A Greater Love

I knew I liked Elsa well over two years ago. It was the fall of 2008, and my husband and I were evaluating Church Initiative’s DivorceCare curriculum together, watching and discussing the program’s 13 video segments prior to offering this class at The Crossing for the first time early in 2009.

Elsa Kok Colopy was “just” one of the many experts interviewed years ago to speak to the many painful aspects of divorce, and how the love of Christ is the only thing that can ultimately heal a soul wounded by the break-up of his or her marriage.

Many of the expert voices one hears from as he or she watches the DivorceCare videos are counselors. Some are attorneys. Others are pastors. But I think Elsa’s voice drew me in because I could understand at a deep level why she was one of the experts chosen. She is not a counselor, attorney or pastor. She’s not any of those things; Elsa was “just” another young woman whose life unexpectedly fell apart, and she discovered by living through some fairly awful times that only God could help her find hope again. Elsa’s “expertise” was learned in the messy trenches of life.

Early in one of the video segments, she confesses to feeling a deep sense of purposelessness and fear in the early days of her separation, sitting by the side of a river, chain-smoking and wondering how on earth her life had landed her there. She had a late-night waitressing job and a baby girl depending on her. In another Church Initiative production, Surviving the Holidays, she talks about the awkwardness of being a single mother and going through the Christmas season with no money for gifts. And she fearlessly takes on the topic of having known physical intimacy with a spouse - only to have that closeness taken away - and the intense difficulty of living out faithfulness to Christ with one’s sexuality after separation and divorce.

It is Elsa’s in-the-trenches experience as a single mother for many years, coupled with a genuine passion for Jesus, that I am excited to share with other single men and women in Columbia, Mo., Friday evening, February 11. The Crossing and Parkade Baptist Church are partnering once again to host this event, where Elsa will be speaking. This evening will bring great encouragement to anyone who is single or “single again,” and particularly those for whom the looming Valentine’s Day holiday brings up melancholy, depression or other negative emotions; Elsa will be speaking about the love of God as the greatest source of intimate relationship.

I spoke to Elsa just yesterday, and the genuineness and love for others that I sensed as I watched the DivorceCare videos came through over the phone, too. As she described what God has done in her own life, the passion in her voice rose. In relating to me how God had worked in the midst of her circumstances, she said, “A love relationship with Him really does transform everything. There’s nothing wasted, nothing He can’t use in your life. Broken pieces, whole pieces, He uses it all.”

“I was feeling pretty broken and lost (during and after her divorce), when some godly folks poured their hearts into me and showed me a God who is real. I came to a place of healing after a long process, and there arose a passion in me to pour back out. To let other men and women know that there’s nothing they have been through that disqualifies them (from being used by or loved by God).”

God slowly began using the events of Elsa’s past to bring hope to others through her words, both spoken and written. Having been asked to share her story years ago with the women’s ministry at her church, Elsa now speaks regularly to groups all over the country. Elsa also went from writing occasionally for a local paper to writing for and later becoming an editor for Focus on the Family. She is now an author, having published five books and hundreds of articles, all drawing from her deep personal experience.

At every step, she gives God all the glory; it’s clear to me that while she’s passionate about sharing with others what God has done in her life, she knows that even her passion is His gift to her. “God has continued to open the doors, and then gives me the courage to go through. It’s neat how God will use whatever gifts you have, even the ones you don’t know about!”

If you are single and find yourself longing to be in a relationship with someone…if you are separated or have gone through the devastating break-up of your marriage, and you despair of ever knowing that kind of intimacy with someone again...I hope you’ll consider attending this free event:

A Greater Love
Friday, Feb. 11
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The Crossing Church
No charge; childcare available.
Please register online, especially if you will need childcare.

Speaking for myself, I know that absent God’s abundant love and grace in my life, I would still be searching for happiness in others. I suspect Elsa knows the same is true of her, and she would like to share her passion for Christ with us.

“It’s my hope that anyone who attends will get a sense of His love for them and His heart for where they are (in life). I want them to see God’s hand in their world today, and to allow that to draw them to His heart. That’s what real relationship is about – seeing His love and loving Him back!”

Living through the very real, very raw emotional pain of separation and divorce, it can be difficult to believe that God loves each and every one of us and that He has a good plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). And it seems to be that when we most need encouragement and a message of hope – say, as someone approaching the annual Valentine’s Day love fest without a spouse or significant other – this is exactly when we are least inclined to reach out and open up to the loving concern of others. If that describes you in any way, I would invite you to try something different. Don’t spend the evening of Feb. 11 alone; spend 90 minutes with Elsa Kok Colopy. See you there!

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Life Lessons From Churchill

I've said before that one of the best reasons to read biographies is that you get a chance to learn someone's life lessons while you are still young enough to incorporate those lessons into your own life. Let me explain more of what I mean.

Any thirty year old would quickly admit that they made some significant mistakes when they were twenty. At the same time, any forty year old would say that they know a lot more now than they did when they were 30. These life lessons are wide ranging from values to priorities to relationships to financial decisions, etc... The list is nearly endless.

A personal example. When Christine and I got married right out of college, I developed a bad attitude toward my mother-in-law. Now I know that I'm not alone in that part of the difficulty in the early years of marriage is learning to adjust to "in-laws." But just because it is a common struggle is no excuse for bad behavior. My "in-laws" lived in Kansas City and would have loved for us to come visit them every weekend. They were used to getting the extended family (most of whom lived in K.C.) together for any and every occasion. Let's just say that that wasn't my idea of a good time.

At the time I thought that I was right in "not giving in" and "protecting my time and new family." First, what a surprise that a 20 something thought he was right! Second, by the time I was in my thirties it was rather obvious to me that I was just being a selfish jerk. Or to put it more biblically, I was putting my own interests above my mother-in-law's interests (see Philippians 2:3-4).

So now when I do pre-marital (and post marital) counseling, I try to encourage young couples to be respectful and loving and Christian toward their respective families. It's not that they have to do everything that their "in-laws" want. That wouldn't be smart. But what I learned is that it is good, right, biblical, and God honoring to think of others interests and not just my own, serve others even when it's inconvenient, and always speak lovingly and respectfully to your wife's mom and dad. When I give that advice to young couples, I'm trying to let them learn from my mistakes. I'm trying to let them learn a very practical lesson that I didn't learn till I was much older (and in many ways am still learning today).

So I love to read biographies because it's a way for me to be mentored by older people. It's a way for me to learn from their mistakes and successes. In that spirit, last fall, I read Paul Johnson's wonderful, short biography on Winston Churchill. Churchill was a very colorful man who led a rather adventurous and interesting life. There are probably hundreds of biographies that have been written about him. And I'm sure that they all have something significant to add to the conversation about this rather important man.

But one thing that I really appreciate about Johnson's biography is the epilogue in which he lists five lessons from Churchill's life. I think that there is a lot for us to think about and learn and apply.

5 Lessons From Winston Churchill's Life

1. Aim high. Churchill didn't settle for what came easily or naturally. Too often I do. I want to set lofty goals and pursue them with real vigor. I don't want to coast through life doing what's most comfortable.

2. There is no substitute for hard work. Johnson writes, "He worked hard at everything to the best of his ability: Parliament, administration, geopolitics and geostrategy, writing books, painting, creating an idyllic house and garden..." I would feel honored if at the end of my life someone could write about me what Johnson writes about Churchill: "Mistakes he made, constantly, but there was never anything shoddy or idle about his work."

3. Churchill never allowed mistakes, disaster--personal or national--accidents, illnesses, unpopularity, and criticisms to get him down. I want to be the kind of person who doesn't find excuses for why things didn't work out. I want to be the kind of person who overcomes the obstacles that everyone faces.

4. "Churchill wasted an extraordinarily small amount of his time and emotional energy on the meannesses of life: recrimination, shifting the blame onto others, malice, revenge seeking, dirty tricks, spreading rumors, harboring grudges, waging vendettas." It's easy to get caught up in pettiness of life whether it is settling scores or the self-pity that comes when one realizes that someone else appears to have an easier life. Great lives avoid such traps.

5. "The absence of hatred left plenty of room for joy in Churchill's life." I need constant reminders that God has given me much to be joyful about.

The Extravagance of Wisdom

What comes to mind when you hear the word “lavish”? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’d characterize my usual reaction to the word as negative. By that I mean that it tends to conjure up a couple of different perspectives in my mind. The first is irresponsible extravagance that I curiously seem to find in the lives of other people much more than in my own. The second perspective includes the same kind of extravagance, but my evaluation of it shifts in an almost photo-negative fashion. It becomes the kind of life I desire, an attractive, albeit foolish idol to pursue. So I come up with either judgmentalism or idolatry. With an acknowledgment to Yoda: that way lies the dark side.

It’s all the more conspicuous, then, when I see the term applied specifically to God.

This is exactly what the apostle Paul does in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians. The reference comes in v. 8, but I’ll include the surrounding passage to give important context:

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

This passage, in fact the first three chapters of Ephesians, are noteworthy in that they find Paul giving a detailed account of just what God has graciously done for his people in and through his Son. With that in mind, we find the apostle noting that, in Christ, “we have “redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”

So God, it turns out, is lavish. Specifically, he is lavish in bestowing his grace. In other words, God gives his grace, well, extravagantly. This is no tight-fisted God, who only grudgingly parts with his undeserved blessing. No, Paul says God has taken the riches of said grace and given it abundantly. Imagine a banquet at which every guest ate to the point of satisfaction and yet the table was still filled with sumptuous foods. Such is the extravagance of God’s grace to his people.

But note one other thing. We might associate lavish displays with foolishness, a lack of modesty, or even a guilty pleasure. But consider how the passage characterizes God’s extravagance. Paul says God lavished his grace “on us with all wisdom and understanding.” In other words, this was not the product of a rich eccentric’s flippant whim. No, it was an action carefully crafted by the inexhaustible wisdom of the Creator and Lord of all there is. It was part of his settled plan—a plan formed before the foundation of the world—to fill your cup to overflowing from the vast storehouses of his grace. To love you when you were the most unlovable. To redeem you from your slavery to sin. To cleanse you from its stain. To welcome you into his own family as true heirs.

The appropriate response to all of this? Certainly wonder and—to quote Paul one more time—the “praise of his glorious grace.”

Deeper Insight Into the Love of God...Plus Free Popcorn!

One of the many, many ways in which God has been faithful to me, especially true in the last several years, is in His ongoing willingness to use what little I know of His Word - the Bible - to bring about deep, soul-penetrating insight, along with a gentle call to repent of my sins and trust Him more and more with each passing day. Thrice holy and absolutely righteous, He could choose to end a "lesson" by smoking me with a lightning bolt and be perfectly justified. Instead, the God of the universe is pleased, every now and then, to quietly call me to repentance with vivid word pictures and illustrations.

God very mercifully provided me with yet another such illustration this past weekend when, for various reasons, it turned out that I was left "alone" in Columbia, for roughly eight hours, with my four-year-old son Elijah. I actually think I am a better father when I am working as part of a team with my wife; left to my own devices, I can stumble and stammer a bit when trying to enter into and participate in the world of a young child, even my own. And so, as we considered together how we wanted to spend this sizable chunk of a day, I wanted to make sure that we both had a good time, if possible.

I quickly found my thoughts drifting toward, "Hey, how about I treat the boy to a real movie? We almost never get to go to an actual movie theater together! We'll do it up right, get popcorn, candy, drinks...the whole deal. I'll make sure he goes to the bathroom just ahead of show time so we don't have to walk out in the middle...it will be great!" And so it was that I began the delicate process of negotiating with Eli as to whether or not this sounded like a good idea to him, too. What I did not want to do was expend a great deal of time, effort, and (let's face it) money if he would rather just stay home and play with Hot Wheels or some of his still-classified-as-cool Christmas presents.

It was Saturday morning, and even though we were both shaking off a bad cold, I was so totally on my game. Sitting at his mother's desk, I called Eli over to Mom's computer to view the trailer for Tangled, the only movie playing in town to which I would be willing to take him. After watching the trailer, he started jumping up and down in excitement. When I told him that we would be watching this movie "on the really big TV" (four-year-old code for "the movie theater") he almost began foaming at the mouth. As it happened, just a few weeks earlier he had asked his Mom if "one day" he and I could go see a movie together. Y.E.S. The perfect Saturday afternoon plan unfolds!

Acting fast, I printed off a Hollywood Theaters coupon for a free medium-size popcorn, thereby "sticking it to The Man" for six big ones. I loaded up the much-used Elmo backpack with a change of underwear, pants and socks - for Eli, not me - "just in case." I grabbed two cold bottles of water from the fridge and a box of chocolate-covered raisins (his favorite movie candy) and tossed them in the bag as well. Money? Check. Popcorn coupon? Check. Departing in time to catch a bit of lunch on the way, I even pulled over at Taco Bell to fulfill his less-than-nutritious meal request: "Chips and cheese." In short, I was totally, 100% committed to my son's afternoon of happiness, and very grateful that it looked like everything was unwinding according to plan.

And everything did go great, just as we had planned, until the final few minutes of the film. Without spoiling the plotline (it is a Disney movie, after all), let me just say that the final few minutes of the film are fairly intense. The "leading man" is injured to the point that blood flows; it looks like he may very well die! Rapunzel is in the clutches of an evil woman, seeking to imprison her away from the world for the rest of her days! All possible means of delivery and/or escape appear to have been exhausted! And it was right at that moment, literally just a few seconds prior to the final resolution of the plot, that my son announced his displeasure loudly, for all theater patrons to hear:

"Dad, why did you even bring me to this show? I hate this stuff! That bad witch makes me sad! I didn't even want to come to this show, Dad!"

Thrown under the bus by my own flesh and blood.

In that short outburst, Eli very-publicly fingered me as his father not once, but twice, and intimated - for all to hear - that he had vehemently campaigned against this outing from the very beginning. "My gosh...what kind of rotten father drags his unwilling child to scary movies?" The knowing chuckles in the auditorium, however, told me that every other parent was in on the joke. How many of them, I wondered, had also been falsely ratted out in front of a crowd of strangers?

It was only a few brief seconds before I managed to get Eli quieted down (though it certainly felt much longer) and the laughter in the room died down. The plot of the movie resolved itself in favor of the good guys (imagine that!) and we quickly got back into our all-is-right-with-the-world groove. But in the immediate aftermath of Eli's outburst, it occurred to me that this experience provided me with a clear picture of how my own life of faith has all-too-frequently played itself out. And I couldn't help but think of the time when Nathan the prophet confronted David with his sin in 2 Samuel 12:1-15. "Thou art the man," indeed! God had used Eli to point something out to me.

As "betrayals" go, Eli's caricature of me as an uncaring, unloving father is pretty tame stuff. But even with the stakes as low as they were, in the heat of moments like that, my own "fear of man" issues can pop up and bring me to a place where I would like to ask the projectionist to stop the movie so I can calmly explain to all the other patrons how I diligently showed Eli the trailer before I brought him out to Stadium 14, how he responded that he very much wanted to see the movie and I had been working feverishly all day to make him happy. Thankfully, I chose instead to meditate on how quick I am to turn on God whenever something doesn't turn out quite the way I would prefer.

The multiple parallels are impressive. God is forever working to bring about what is best for me (Romans 8:28) and yet when things don't go the way I think they should, I can be depressingly quick to blame Him and doubt His goodness. When things don't work out the way I want them to, I can quickly forget a hundred good blessings (Acts 17:24-25; Matthew 5:43-45; Psalm 8) and answered prayers (Jeremiah 33:2-3; John 9:31-33) that preceded the disappointment and choose instead to focus on the one area where God has (by my reckoning) "let me down." Lacking the wisdom to see that one upsetting scene in a movie does not negate an entire afternoon being given over to seeking his pleasure, Eli is just mirroring my own tendency to neglect a lifetime's worth of blessings (Deuteronomy 8) and give in to the temptation to murmur, grumble and even actively accuse God of wrongdoing (Exodus 16:2-3).

I am absolutely convinced that parenting teaches us more about the love of God than anything else. Although we as parents are obviously flawed and sinful where God is entirely holy and just, the analogy nevertheless works quite well to shine a light on how often unselfish love can be repaid with indifference, a complete lack of gratitude...or even hostility. We want to look at our kids and think that "if only they were more enlightened" they would appreciate the lengths to which we've gone on their behalf. There is nothing quite like feeling a deep, deep love for one of your children - only to have them repay that love with disrespect (or worse) - to make the truth that God loves us while we are yet sinners find a permanent foothold on the heart (Romans 5:8).

For your consideration, then, a couple of application points from my Saturday afternoon adventure:

• The Holy Spirit seems to prefer using God's Word to illuminate our hearts. This is not to say that God cannot or does not use whatever means are available to speak to those whom He loves; He very clearly does. All I am saying is that most of the deeper, more enduring truths that have been hammered into my heart came from analogy/application from something that I once read in Scripture. Simply stated, I would not have been able to process Eli's outburst at the movie theater quite as meaningfully had I not repeatedly read the account of Nathan's confrontation with King David in 2 Samuel. In my opening paragraph, I confessed that I do not know the Bible as well as I should, and yet God lovingly condescends to use what little I do know to take me deeper into His Truth when applied to my life and the life of my four-year-old.
  
  
• We should probably all pray and reflect at some length before confronting someone else's sin. I give King David credit for being a very brilliant and capable leader despite his sin. Still, it's interesting to see how quickly David rushes to judgment (see verse 5) and decrees that another person needs to die for the crime of stealing another man's sheep...failing, at first, to see that Nathan was really pointing to David's own sin vis-a-vis adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, Uriah. Scaling the seriousness down considerably, it's helpful, I think, to briefly consider how often I have been upset with God before I respond to my own child for crying out against me in public (Matthew 7:1-5). Adding in my own propensity to live a life lacking in gratitude toward God helps me slow down a bit and instruct my child according to what is appropriate...as opposed to responding reflexively out of embarrassment.

The movie itself? Yeah, sure, I can definitely recommend it for both young boys and girls. There's plenty of action/adventure to keep the boys on their toes, the animation is (of course) top notch and, apparently, you might even walk away with a biblical insight into the heart of your child (as well as your own). Sign up for some level of movie business e-mail spam and get your free popcorn here. Enjoy!

2 Samuel 12:1-15 (ESV)
"Nathan Rebukes David"
And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.'" David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die." Then Nathan went to his house.

Songs and Scenes from Sunday, January 16, 2011

This week's Sunday song review features photos by Scott Myers. You'll find links in the song titles that will allow you to purchase recorded versions of the songs (where available).

Hail to the Lord's Anointed - Words: James Montgomery (1821), Music and Arrangement: Vito Aiuto (2008)

Hail to the Lord’s anointed,
great David’s greater Son!
Hail in the time appointed,
His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
to set the captive free;
To take away transgression
and rule in equity.

Psalm 62 (My Soul Finds Rest) by Stuart Townend and Aaron Keyes

My soul find rest in God alone,
my Rock and my salvation,
a fortress strong against my foes,
and I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse,
and lies like arrows pierce me,
I'll fix my heart on righteousness,
I'll look to Him who hears me.

Holy, Holy, Holy - Words by Reginald Heber (1783-1826), Additional Lyrics and contemporary music by Page CXVI and David Wilton

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross - Words by Isaac Watts (1749), Music by Lowell Mason (1824), Contemporary Chorus by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, Arranged by Page CXVI

When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.

Be Thou My Vision  - Traditional Irish hymn, Additional lyrics by Julia Ward Howe (1862) and David Cover, Arranged by Crossing Songs

High King of heaven, my victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

The Risen Lamb, The Coming King by Christine Cover and David Cover

Great and glorious is the Lamb of God
who freely chose to die upon the cross.
His love and mercy freed me from my sin.
Now my hope is the Lamb who has always been.
So I will sing...

Music Team for January 16, 2011:

Carly Allen - bass
Micah Ancheta - acoustic guitar
Lacey Burrell - vocals
Christine Cover - vocals
David Cover - vocals and electric guitar
Sadie Currey - violin
Rhett Johnson - electric guitar
Scott Johnson - piano and keyboard
Andrew Luley - drums

Tech Team for January 16, 2011:

Josh Anger: lights
Scott Ferguson: media
Josh Burrell - lights and Media
Michael Novak - edia
Jake Wandel - lights and stage
Tim Worstell - sound

For more information about music written for corporate worship by members of the music team visit The Crossing Music. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Functional Hells, Heavens, and Saviors

I tend to think and talk about idolatry a lot. Here in this blog, in lessons I teach, and in my personal conversations. That's because my heart, like yours, is an "idol factory." And it's a pro at it.

One of the more helpful thoughts on idolatry in my personal walk comes from Mark Driscoll. He points out that we all have functional hells, the place or existence which if we had to endure would be the most terrible thing we could imagine. For some it's loneliness, for some poverty, for some anonymity.

We also have functional heavens, usually something close to the exact opposite of our functional hell. Possibly popularity, wealth, respect, or pleasure.

But we're all smart enough to realize that we can't attain our functional heavens all on our own. We need help. So we enlist functional saviors to get us from our functional hells to our functional heavens. Maybe it's a relationship or a new home.

Here's how this plays out for me: one of my biggest fears is that I'll die and no one will notice. You know the obituary in the paper which is short and includes little information coupled with the funeral with only eight people in attendance, none of which needing tissues. That's my functional hell.

So my functional heaven is being known, respected, liked. I want to make a mark on people's lives so that I'll be missed when I'm gone. I want people to notice and honor me.

My functional savior then quickly becomes people's perceptions of me. Do they think I'm funny, smart, well spoken? Was that leader meeting run well enough, is my son well behaved enough, is this blog applicable enough? What will everyone think?

For others of you it's a relationship which will rescue you from loneliness and place you in wedded bliss. For some it's a new car, clothes, or house which will save you from being a run-of-the-mill fellow to a person of influence who people want to be like.

But here's the catch...I said earlier that we "enlist" functional saviors to help us. And this undoubtedly what we intend. It's like hiring an intern to get us over that hump. But functional saviors (idols) are never simply enlisted for very long. It may start out that way, but quickly the intern/boss relationship has been flipped on its head. They inevitably turn into our masters which we must serve and sacrifice for.

Women who want companionship find a nice boy to date, but soon she sacrifices her body sexually to him for fear that he'll leave. Businessmen who want notoriety commit themselves to working hard to accomplish their goals, but eventually they've sacrificed their wife and kids for the long hours have now taken over nights and weekends.

We can only serve one master. We will either serve God or our idols.

And more importantly, we only have one savior. It's not money. It's not success. It's not notoriety. It's Jesus Christ.

Unfaithful Faith in God's Faithfulness

If you would like to watch the video presentation we showed following my sermon last Sunday, you can do so by clicking here.

A Moment Frozen In Time

My wife and I gave each other a new camera for Christmas. Okay, I admit that I’ve used it about 90 percent of the time. I told her I would learn how to use it first and then teach her! Anyway, I realized the other day that I took over 600 pictures while on vacation last week. Seriously...600.

I never thought I was capable of such a feat. I am typically not patient enough sit for a picture, let alone take one. Obviously, the thrill of working with a new toy was enough motivation to capture our trip on film, but 600? I’ve included below the 1 out of 600 that actually turned out!


I think it is possible I’ve been inspired by the incredible photos of Sunday mornings at the Crossing that have been captured by photographers Gerik Parmele and Scott Myers. I’ve found myself amazed at the beauty within our midst, too commonly passed over as trivial or insignificant. Just within the confines of our church property lie amazing reflections of God’s creative power and glory.

Over the past few years, I have taken photos of our family and compiled them for us on DVD to watch as the year comes to a close. It has been a great way to reminisce over all the events of the previous year. As the scenes pan across the screen, set to some of our favorite family songs, it is rare that we are not eventually brought to tears. What is it about a photograph, the art of life, that affects us so deeply?

I would suggest there is a tendency in our busy lives to incorporate our image of our surroundings into a stew of movement. Reaction follows action and cause leads to effect. We reflect on our days as a progression of responses to our circumstances. What I think we forget is LIFE is happening around us and we can’t seem to stop long enough to realize it! In a photograph we have a chance to stop and breathe in the deepest reality of a moment past. We afford ourselves the chance to finally appreciate what it is we really love about our lives and each other.

If you ask me to sit down and reflect on the previous year, I will give you a chronological series of schedules and events. Ah, but if you give me a handful of pictures from the previous year, I will share a story with you. Could it be this is the very reason art matters to God?

We have written and talked much about the Big God Story this past year as we seek to view a panoramic image of God’s redemptive work through promise of the birth, death and resurrection of Christ. The importance of viewing the bible as a story cannot be overstated. I believe God shares with us His story as revealed in His word as well as His creation. We must force ourselves to stop long enough to hear Him speak to us in both.


I will pose a challenge to you for the coming year. Take more pictures of what is around you this year and then take the time to look over them next January. If you aren’t moved by God’s glory shining through the beauty of His creation I will give you "my wife’s” new camera!