Save me from the Nothing I've Become

A new post on the CRCNA Network Site Save me from the nothing I've become

Come as you are

New Blog post on the network Come as you Are

Really...

I am a big fan of the gospel of Luke. As we move into the next ministry year at evergreen we are going to being going to this gospel as part of our year long series, "A Year with Jesus".  That diving into Luke makes me pumped up for the coming year...but for now just a taste of some of the outlandish ideas of Luke.

Luke is written from a certain perspective which lifts up those who are often called the least, the last, and the lost. In that context the community of Jesus is called on to not only reach out to the least and the last and the lost, but to recognize that it is to be a community made up of such folks.  But not only is the community to be made up of such folks, it is to live in a way that keeps it open to people that others -- even others that the least, the last, and the lost might not want showing up. 

There are a number of places this shows up in Luke, but one of the most powerful is in Luke 6 -- The Sermon on the Plain. Here is what Jesus says, ““But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27–36 ESV)

Here is a short list of the first part of that passage:

• do good to haters (your enemies)
• bless those who curse you
• pray for those who abuse
• strikes one side, offer other
• cloak plus your tunic
• give it way to one who begs
• goods taken, don't get them back
• wish from others, so do to them

How do you bring in people you don't want there...do the above. But the reality is, which of us is up to such a style of life? Luke calls us out and leaves us breathless with the extent of the call. Luke calls us out and our reality is that we can't imagine living this gospel. Luke calls us out and we come to see the only way to live the gospel is to see that God took the first steps by doing good to haters i.e. to us. Paul writes in Romans using the same word for enemies as Jesus does, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:6–10 ESV) 

But even with this we wonder, "Who is up to this call?"and "What would the community of faith look like and how would it shape the world if it lived the words of Jesus' call?"

New Post at the Network "Can you say, 'yes'?

can you say yes

Only the Lonely

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Seeking a Savior

Submitted by Todd Murphy

The word "Savior" is now somewhat foreighn to modern colloquial speech.  It is not a subject that comes up much.  It does not seem important.

Understandably, we do not think of ourselves as seeking a savior.  But I think the quest for redemption, the search for salvation is a staple of human existence.  Every person is looking for a savior.  Idolatry, in the biblical sense, is only the attempt to find a savior in anything other than the one God provided.

Don't think so?  Ask yourself what you are struggling with.  What is ailing, impeding you or just down right important to you?  Behind that thing you will find a false savior.  What you foolishly place your faith and hope in.

Most of us do not have the self-awareness to see it.  Why are you so driven to success or perfection?  Because if you obtain it it will save you from your feelings of inadequacy and silent self-loathing.  Why is another so driven toward a substance abuse?  Because it momentarily swoops in as a savior to rescue you from your overwhelming anxiety.

Since the Newtown tragedy the media has swarmed with the cry for political saviors.  What are those political saviors?  They are new laws or the cry for new leaders who will come in with a strong hand and plan to vanquish evil and make us safe.

The idea of a political leader punishing evil is a biblical idea.  In Romans 13:4 Paul says of political leaders, For he is God's servant for your good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.  For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

But this does not change the fact that we naively think that we really can obtain peace and safety this side of eternity.  In the last few elections, the country was split down the middle in hopes that their candidate would bring in the peace and security we all seek.  In fact, one candidate even campaigned on the biblical premise of "Hope" though falling so short of it.

Are we any safer?  Can we have any more hope?  The slick campaign failed to stop the Colorado shooting and the Newtown massacre.  Nor is it stopping AIDS or genocide, and sexual trafficking of children.  The previous president with his conservative and tendency to "live by the sword" failed at it too.  Both Democrats and Republicans keep making promises that a human savior just cannot keep.

In ancient Israel God's people found themselves at a dangerous crossroads as well.  They lived in the shadow of a threat.  No, it was not the terrorists of today, WMD's and deranged psychopaths who shoot children.  It was amilitaristic imperial nation known as Assyria who was threatening the entire middle east.

What did Israel want to do?  The same things we are -- to look to other political entities to save them.  They wanted to trust in an alliance between King Rezin of Syria and Remaliah the King of Israel.  But God promised them that Assyria would rise up over them and take them away the way a great river floods its banks (Isaiah 8:5-8).

This is to say, the search for a savior is the right thing.  The bad part is that we always look for our savior in all the wrong places.  We look for it in laws, politics, our careers, relationships, sex, substances, and the one that fails us more than any other, ourselves.

It is in this context God makes a promise to this people, For to us a child is born to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonder Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)  God promised a child of the line of David who would come and establish a kingdom in peace and righteousness.  It would be a kingdom without end.  Yes, Jesus is quite a political saviour, but not the way we think of him.  He is about justice, safety, and peace for his people.  But it is not here yet, it is coming.

When we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus during Christmas and Epiphany, we need to understand that the birth of Jesus (whenever that happened) was about laying the foundation stone for that kingdom.  It is not here yet; it is being built one life at a time.

So many will ask, why does he not bring it in now?  Well, that is because he is merciful.  You see, we are not really prepared for seeing the consequences of real peace and righteousness in the earth.  Out of Jesus' second coming will be immeasurable beauty, blindingly so.  But that will only come through judgement of what is evil.  What we are so unprepared to consider is that we are part of that evil.

The funny thing about it is this: Even though most people believe in God, for some reason we find it harder to believe the promises of the Gospel than to trust fallen men who prove their unreliability consistently.  They let us down again and again.  What reason do we rationally have left to trust human leaders?  Did you notice the last preseidential campaign literally had "lost" its "hope?"  Yes, no talk of "hope" anymore.  Why?  Because it would have insulted and shamed us for our naivete four years before.

As we celebrate Christmas and Epiphany with our families and friends, I want you to be thinking about "hope."  Not a fleeting one.  But a real one that comes in the form of a child born in Bethlehem.  This is the child of Isaiah 9, the one upon whom the weight of the government will be on his shoulders, the one who will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of peace.  It is in this child we have a savior upon which to practice hope.  As Paul says in Romans 8:24-25, For in this hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we await for it with patience.  We have a hope in what we cannot see.  What we cannot see is the promise of the Kingdom of righteousness without end.  And that strength begins in the weakness of an infant born to a virgin in a manger.

So what is Christmas about?  It is about God giving us what we are all already looking for, a Savior.  Only He sends it in a package  that is too hard to comprehend, too good to be true, too seemingly weak to accept, and all to easy to reject: a child.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring?

 

Submitted by Larry Doornbos

 

“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”  On Christmas morning we light the Christ Candle of the Advent wreath.  The candle that tells us that Jesus, the light of the world has come, Jesu, joy of man’s desiring has come.  As we light the candle, as we hear the words about Jesus being the light of the world we feel the push of darkness, even on this Christmas morning.  The darkness that is close to home.  Firefighters shot to death as they respond to a fire, children killed in a hail of gunfire, and for all the pain of that it reflects only a small portion of the pain of the more than 10,000 murders in the U.S. during this past year.  We can add on to this violence so much more that speaks of darkness on this Christmas morning.  People who long for work but can find none, marriages that are failing, children who are abused--and such a picture comes only from our corners of the world.  This morning in Myanmar people got up and went to the pawn broker, sold their pillows and mosquito nets in order to buy a ticket for the bus to get to work, they will work all day and then come home, they hope they will have enough money at the end of work to go back to the pawn broker to buy back what they sold that morning, and they hope that they will have enough to have at least one meal.  And this is not just the story of adults; it is the story of children, most of whom get 1 year of education before they enter the work force or in an even worse case, are sold into slavery.

The darkness presses all around us on Christmas morning, on this morning when we light the candle that says that the light of the world has come.  We feel the darkness; we feel the powerful reality that when we look at the world we know that this is not the way it is supposed to be.  And yet we light the candle.  We declare that into the darkness light has come, into the darkness we hear the words, speak the words, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:1-5 ESV)  Wonderful words that John uses not only to tell us that the light has come, but also to draw our minds back to the beginning of the story, back to the beginning of the one true story of the whole world.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good.  And God separated the light from the darkness.  (Genesis 1:1-4 ESV) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep…To the people reading this in ancient near east these words had echoes of chaos to them, to things being out of control.  And they, like us, were fearful of the chaos.  So what can God do in the face of this chaos that envelops the entire cosmos?  More of our text.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.”  (Genesis 1:3-5a NIV)  “And God said…”  This is the first time that God speaks and when He does His word shatters the silence and signals the birth of new cosmic order--an order designed to be a place of beauty, goodness.  A place designed to be a place of life, joy, justice, and deliverance--that’s what light symbolizes in the Bible.  Notice the first thing God creates is light; we don’t find the sun making its appearance until later, it is just light.  The first thing God creates is that which symbolizes life, joy, justice, and deliverance.  In the bumps and bruises of life, the struggles and tears of life we look at God’s creation; we look at the light of the morning and know that God’s heart toward His creation and toward us is life, joy, justice, and deliverance.  “And God said…” God said is another way of saying “God willed;” here we find God completely independent of His creation.  His creation doesn’t control Him, doesn't have power over Him.  No, He is over the creation.  And the fact that God can speak this creation into being shows an effortlessness in creating what we are awed by, an absolute reign over creation.

The beginning of the story is light; the beginning of the story is the overcoming of darkness by the light.  This is where John wants our eyes to go first as he speaks of Jesus as the light.  He wants us to go back to the beginning of the story.  As the light challenged the darkness in the days of creation so now again there is the challenge of light to the darkness.  Only now the light is the son of God, the Father, if you will, has upped His game.  As N.T. Wright comments, Whatever else John is going to tell us, he wants us to see his book as the story of God and the world, not just the story of one character in one place and time.  This book is about the creator God acting in a new way within His much-loved creation.  It is about the way in which the long story which began in Genesis reached the climax the creator had always intended.  And it will do this through ‘the Word’…The Word challenged the darkness before creation and now challenges the darkness that is found, tragically, within creation itself.  The Word is bringing into being the new creation, in which God says once more, “Let there be light!”

Let there be light! For there to be light there needs to be not only an announcement, but also a presence, the light has to break into the darkness.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John 1:14 ESV) The word became flesh and dwelt among us.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Dwelt:  Greek Skenoo, which is the Greek word for tent or tabernacle.  The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  John wants us to know more the story.  He wants us to see the tabernacle.  And when we look at the tabernacle we should see God as work doing what He did in Genesis 1: creating, even as He created the heavens and the earth.  We read in Exodus 25, And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.  Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.  (Exodus 25:8-9 ESV) The tabernacle is God’s creation, made according to His specifications, even as the creation was put together exactly as God has spoken. 

The tabernacle is God’s new creation project.  It is a wonder of design and a riot of color, texture; it is a place of beauty and it is worthy to be dwelt in by the King of the universe.  It is built by craftsman who take the goodness of God’s creation and shape and form it into a structure that brings honor and glory to the creator of the universe i.e., by craftsman who take up God’s creational mandate to unearth the wonders of God’s creation and use them in a way that brings glory to God.  It is a place where God can again dwell in the midst of His people, even as He came down to be with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, to walk with them in the cool of the evening.  It was the one place in the whole world where people got God right.  While many other temples and tabernacles had similar structure in the ANE, the tabernacle was missing something that those temples had.  A bed for the god to sleep in and priests whose job it was to feed the god.  The structure of this tabernacle and what it is missing declared that God could take care of Himself and that He was the only God; there was no other.  It was a place where when the people had failed to live up to God’s standards, when they had failed to be His people who carried out His call to enjoy His blessing and to bless the world around Him, when they had rejected Him, here was a small place on earth where forgiveness could be sought, where holiness could be restored through sacrifice.  It is the one spot in all the world, all the fallen, broken world, a world of chaos and disorder where God’s command and word have been followed to the letter, as it was in the original creation. 

Or putting it simply: In the midst of a fallen world, in exile from the garden of Eden, the original ‘heaven on earth’, God undertakes an act of creation, a building project and creates a piece of holy ground in a world that has lost its way.  One commentator writes, At this small, lonely place in the midst of the chaos of the wilderness, a new creation comes into being.  In the midst of the disorder, there is order.  The tabernacle is the world order as God intended writ small in Israel.  The priests of the sanctuary going about their appointed courses are like everything in creation performing its liturgical service—the sun, the trees, human beings.  The people of Israel carefully encamped around the tabernacle in their midst constitutes the beginning of God’s bringing creation back to what it was originally intended to be.  The tabernacle is a realization of God’s created order in history…Moreover, this microcosm of creation is the beginning of a macrocosmic effort on God’s part.  In and through this people God is on the move to a new creation for all.  God’s presence in the tabernacle is a statement about God’s intended presence in the entire world.

When you read this part of Exodus you see God concerned with the smallest detail of the building because this is God’s new creation, a piece of holy ground and holy hope in a world that is in chaos, that is filled with darkness.  It is the small spot on earth that speaks of what the world is supposed to be like.  It is the small spot on earth where God declares, “Build me a sanctuary that I may dwell with them.”

That I may dwell with them, God fully intends to be present in the world.  But for that to happen God needs a new address; He needs to change His address.  His address has been the address of all the gods, if you will.  For gods as the ancients knew lived on mountains, far removed from the people, enjoying their own life, often uncaring and oblivious to the pain that’s down the mountain.  But God changes His address.  He leaves His mountain abode and moves into the midst of a messy world, into the midst of His people.  And from this place He will lead His people to restore His good but fallen world, back to the splendor that is hinted at in this tent in the desert.  God changes His address. 

And now John as he calls us to look back at the fullness of God’s story tells us that God is changing His address again on Christmas morning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John 1:1-5, 14 ESV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Dwelt: Greek Skenoo, which is the Greek word for tent or tabernacle.  The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  God changes His address.  God is loose in the world; He no longer is in the walls of the tabernacle, He is walking the streets not as a holy piece of ground in a world that has lost its way, but as a holy person touching an unholy world, an unholy people and restoring it and them to what God intended from the beginning.  The tabernacle is loose on the streets and by the way, on the water where He calms the chaos, feeds the hungry, releases those captured by the powers of this world and tells us that all of this points to the kingdom of God: the rule and reign of God where every part of this world is holy, where every part of this world lives out God’s call, where every part of this world finds peace instead of chaos, light instead of darkness.

And yet there is still darkness, too much darkness, even though the light has broken in.  Which is why I think that John adds those words, We have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John 1: 14b ESV) Grace and truth bring us to a place that may surprise us.  For they bring us back again to the Old Testament, back to the covenant God, the God who makes it abundantly clear that He is the God who makes promises and will keep His promises.  The words go back to Exodus  The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with [Moses] there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.  The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…  (Exodus 34:4–7 ESV) “Steadfast love and faithfulness” is the way that Exodus speaks the words of John’s “grace and truth.”  In other words, Jesus reveals that God is remaining faithful to His promise, His promise of bringing light, His promise of creating a new world filled with a riot of color, of justice of righteousness, a new world where the light overcomes the darkness.  As God has been faithful to His promises thus far, so He will be faithful and one day all will be well.

One day, but what of today?  What about today’s darkness and chaos?  Three things.  One goes back to the magnificent song “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”  While many of have heard the words of the song, the reality is that the words we have in English are not a translation of the German  They were inspired by the German, but they are not the words.  Here are the words, words that tell us why we desire Jesus, words that tell us how we walk in the darkness clinging to the light.

Well for me that I have Jesus,

Oh how strong I hold to him

That he might refresh my hear,

When sick and sad am I.

Jesus have I, who loves me

And gives to me his own,

Ah, therefore I will not leave Jesus,

When I feel my heart is breaking…

Jesus remains my joy,

My heart’s comfort and essence,

Jesus resists all suffering,

He is my life’s strength,

My eye’s desire and sun,

My soul’s love and joy;

So will I not leave Jesus

Out of heart and face.

The Apostle Paul who lived through more than his fair share of darkness said it this way in the book of Philippians, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:11–13 ESV) In the darkness, “Well for me that I have Jesus.”

In the darkness well for the world that God fills the world with the body of Christ. The body of Christ, the church that both serves the light of the world and acts on behalf of the light to bring light.  Jesus says to us, You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14–16 ESV) God’s people, empowered by Spirit, led by Jesus Christ are the light that is to shine into the world, into the darkness.  The wonder of this call is captured by the Contemporary Testimony, In our world, where many journey alone, nameless in the bustling crowd, Satan and his evil forces seek whom they may scatter and isolate; but God…gathers a new community…In the new community all are welcome: the homeless come home, the broken find healing, the sinner makes a new start; the despised are esteemed, the least are honored, and the last are first…Joining the mission of God, the church is sent with the gospel of the Kingdom to call everyone to know and follow Christ…The Spirit calls all members to embrace God’s mission in their neighborhoods and in the world: to feed the hungry, bring water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and free the prisoner.  Into the darkness we people shine; out of the ashes of the world we, by the power of the Spirit, bring hope and healing, pointing people toward new life, toward the true light.

One day, but for today well for me that I have Jesus, and well for the world that God’s people see themselves as the light of the world, a people of good works who seek to bring light into the darkness.  And well for all of us that God is not yet done. The lighting of the Christ candle is not only a remembering, it is a declaration that finally light will invade the world in such a way that the darkness not only will not overcome it, but there will be absolutely no place for the darkness.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there…Then the angel showed me…the tree of life…The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be [the city], and his servants will worship him…And night will be no more.  They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 21:22–22:5 ESV)