Fear and Joy

Pastor Chuck has asked the church to read "Champagne for the Soul" by Mike Mason. This book has become a little treasure trove for me. I have been praying for joy for the last year and now this book has been placed in my hands. Not just any book but a book written by one who has struggled and fought for joy.

Circumstances in life, invisible forces lead me to fear. Things like lust, job loss, anger can overwhelm me with a sense of defeat. Joy flows away from me like water draining from a sink. Mike used this text today to make his point:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged.
~Joshua 1:9

The Israelites have been lead by Joshua through the Jordan river into the Promised Land only to be met by a menacing force of five kings all united in their opposition. The people of God are a little rag-tag band of ex-slaves coming out of forty years of desolate desert dwelling. They must have felt terribly frightened in the face of so great a force but God rained down huge hailstones upon their them and they were defeated. After, Joshua brought these five kings to lie prostrate before all Israel. He summoned his commanders to come and place their feet upon the necks of these once fearsome enemies while Joshua killed them.

To us moderns this sounds brutal but in God's economy, a lesson was being taught that his people desperately needed to see. Not only them but me also. They needed to know that God himself was going before them. Therefore, they should not fear the fearsome only trust in God's ability to save.

Fast forward to today. My heart is given to fear in the same way as the Israelites. Fear robs me of my joy. I meditated and thought of the things I fear seeing them as men lying prostrate on the ground in front of me. It wasn't Joshua who summoned me to place my foot upon their necks but it was Jesus. Jesus invited me to feel his victory as I placed my bare foot upon the necks of these that mean to do me in. While I stood there in this position, Jesus, utterly destroyed them before my eyes! Instead of joy trickling away, I felt the comfort of increasing joy.

Blue Like Jazz

My pastor mentioned this book in a sermon a while ago. I am always interested in what people are reading especially my pastors so I made a point to get the book. It sat on my shelf for a while before I could get to it. I have been spending some time with Bruce Ware studying the Trinity.

Anyway, I have found this little book to be both entertaining and challenging. What strikes me is Don Miller's straightforward, honest, authentic telling of his life, faith and work. There's no pretense in this man's writing. He challenges me in a similar way and on a different level as N.T. Wright. It is a sort of breaking of the mold that has formed my Christian character. This has been nagging at me for some time, this disconnect between faith and life. What I mean is, if I really believe the gospel is true, why do I find it so hard to live like it? Why am I so self-absorbed? Why is it such drudgery to give myself over to others? I guess this is also why I find Gordon Fee to be so compelling when he writes about biblical interpretation. Somewhere deep inside I am groaning over this problem. It won't go away and I can't seem to make it go away. Moving in and out of the community of faith is like living in two worlds and it just doesn't resonate with me anymore. It probably never did but it just didn't bother me to the degree it does now. I want to be swept away with a mad love for Christ. My mind can comprehend but I just can't feel it like I should.

I was listening to a sermon by Tim Keller and Tim says that his job as a preacher of the gospel is like coins dropping in a pop machine in his apartment building. When he puts the coins in, the drop but not all the way. He has to smack the side of the machine to get them to drop. That's what he does. We hear the gospel and the coins do enter the machine but getting them to drop is more daunting.

Anyway, if you feel the way I do, you might want to give this book a go. If you're like me, you won't agree with Don on some things but if you track with the book you might find that, in the end, you are more comfortable with differences. You might find that someone else is traveling the path your on and understands.

Forgiveness

Recently I have been captivated by the Lord's prayer especially these verses:

"Your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors. "

It would seem that the heart of the triune God is fully committed to the restoration of his good creation. That which has been usurped and mangled by sin is to be fully and completely restored. This, I believe, is one of the, if not the, major theme of the Bible. Jesus prays that God would come and establish his kingdom on earth and that his will would be done here and now as it is in heaven. (Heaven being the place where God is as opposed to some whispy cloudscape.) Where God is, there is only holiness, righteousness, humility, love, kindess, forgiveness, and on and on. It cannot be any other way for God will not and can not tolerate sin in his presence. Do you see what Jesus is saying? He wants the restorative work of God to propagate through the whole of his good creation until heaven, the place where God is, has completely overtaken the darkness and brokenness of the present. This is what we Christians are to be about. God has graciously allowed us to participate with him much like a young child is allowed to help his father in a work project. The child will not significantly contribute but it is the joy of the father to allow the son to share in his work. To long for all that is broken in this world to be fixed is to be of one heart with Jesus.

Yesterday, I blew my cool with a motorist who ignored my instructions, waved me off and wandered on to an open race course with riders coming at him at speeds up to 30mph. I chased him down and told him that what he had done was wrong and not kind. He was mad but so was I. My approach was out of indignation and not a longing for the brokenness to be fixed. My behavior contributed to the wreckage. This morning I am painfully aware of my failure.

Jesus prays that we would forgive others as God has forgiven us. This is just huge. It requires us to love as God loves. Imagine Jesus on the cross praying that God would forgive his murderers! Of course, that is what he did! As we have been forgiven so should we forgive. As I prayed today it struck me that forgiveness is a boundary marker of the people of God. It marks us out and communicates to a broken world that we are a sort of first fruit of God's healing redemptive work in his broken creation. It requires love to forgive. Love is simply the surrendering of one's rights for the sake of others not the stuff of Hollywood. Biblical love means giving up what you think you deserve and giving selflessly to others. After all, Jesus said the world would know we are his because we love one another. See, boundary marker. Identity badge. We cannot forgive if we do not love and we only love because God the Father has first loved us and given us his son as a sacrifice for us that we might be restored to full humanity. That we might be what we were intended to be. How can we not forgive?

If we are holding grudges, we must come clean, confess these as sin and, from our hearts, forgive the offender. It is the path the Master has trod before us. Can we do otherwise?

Think about it...

Politics

My pastor recently pointed out that our country's election process has massive messianic undertones. Hope, faith and change are uttered and people react. This or that candidate will save us from whatever earthly malady. He will save us from global warming, global poverty, lack of proper health care, et al.. If only all could see that this candidate is the one who can make the change that will usher in the harmonic convergence of policy and community that will see us through the problems that plague us. Of course this is false hope and improperly placed faith. Only God can save us from the evil that plagues humanity. From Isaiah 2:

22 Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.

Of what account is he?

God has indeed launched the rescue lifeboat but we have spurned him in favor of mere men. Albert Einstein summed up this approach in his definition of insanity:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

From time and eternity we have looked to men to save us and they have failed. In this election season are we not demonstrating that humanity is, well, insane? Did any of the Roman emporers save us? Did FDR, Kennedy or Regan? The problem of evil continues and we continue to place our trust in men.

If we want to be truly happy and content that deliverance is possible we must trust in the only savior, Jesus. Only in him is there true hope and promise. Think about it.

Slaves to Grace?

Romans 6
5What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage has been both an enigma and a joy to me. I remember studying it in the early 90's in preparation for a devotional I was to give at a youth gathering. I was using Cranfield's abridged commentary as a study help. It appeared to me then that Paul was laying a huge guilt trip on me. It was as if he were saying, "Just don't sin anymore, okay? If you are truly a Christian, you can do this." From that first study to today, God has helped me to see that there is more grace here than I first noticed. So much so that this morning the thought struck me that Paul is really telling us that we Christians are slaves to grace. We are slaves to grace in a similar way to our slavery to sin. Before we believed, we lived under the condemnation of the old slave master sin. Through the power of the law, he pronounced the sentence of death upon us. We lived and breathed according to his wishes. But then, as Charles Wesley puts it, our dungeons flamed with light and we rose went forth and followed Christ. Now we are no longer slaves to sin and no longer under its condemnatory power. Instead we are slaves to righteousness. Notice here that we are not free in this context but enslaved to a new slave master grace. The old master paid out our wages in the currency of death. Our new slave master pays out in eternal life. But here is the thing that really grabbed me today; we are bound by gracious chains of love to Christ through his gift. We are kept and are safe in him. This is the power of the gospel at work. I remember Cranfield said something like this:

"The man who knows that he is free from God's condemnation finds himself beginning to be free to resist the tyranny of sin with resolution and boldness."

To know this is true freedom. Freedom from condemnation but not libertarian freedom. We are slaves to grace kept by our new master. Let this channel through your heart and you too will find new strength in the battle.

An Advent Story

I grew up a privileged youth. My father’s wealth was unparalleled in our town. His flocks and herds were vast beyond all measure. All looked upon us as the richest and most blessed of families. My father was also known to be a righteous man and kind to a fault. As far as fathers go, he was the best quick to correct me and quick to show me the depths of his love. Our hired servants loved working for him. There were many occasions when he blessed them with uncommon kindness.

As I grew past my early youth I found in myself a yearning to venture you beyond the gates of our home and explore the unknown world. Tales of pleasure beyond anything I had imagined lay just beyond the borders of our country.

As these passions grew, it dawned upon me that one day I would control half of all my father’s wealth. Although I loved my father the thought of his death and my inheritance churned through my mind and I found I was beginning to wish that he could peacefully pass into death so that I could leave and pursue my dream of exploring the world beyond.

It dawned upon me one morning that I could ask for an advance on my inheritance! This was not something we did in our country because it was, in effect, wishing your father dead but it was the only way I could pursue my dream.

That same day I found my father and asked if we could talk. He readily welcomed me into his presence and inquired, “Come my son whom I love! What can I do for you this fine day?” His face dropped when I asked him for my half of the inheritance. I could see that he felt the sting of what I said. This kind and generous father deserved better from me. He deserved a son who recognized his kind and generous heart.

After a few moments silence, this faithful father looked up to me with sadness in his eyes and granted my wish. My heart was filled with the excitement of knowing I was now rich and in full control of my life. I could do anything I wished. There were no limits on my anymore. I was to become a free man able to make my own decisions and pursue the pleasures I had been dwelling on so much.

I hastily thanked my father and kissed him before making a quick exit to prepare myself for my new found life of freedom.

It was the next day that father came to me with the money. His reputation in our town allowed for a quick sale of half of all his lands and livestock. His eyes were red and tired looking. He gently handed the money over to me as a tear began to run down his cheek. He embraced me. Even in the midst of his warm embrace, I longed for release so I could pursue my new life. He didn’t say anything, turned and left the room with his head hung low. Still my heart was unmoved, unaffected by what I had done. Such was the intensity of my passion for this new life. Nothing stood in my way now. I left the next day. My father waved to me as I walked away from him, perhaps for the last time. His eyes were still red and tired looking.

I made my way to a neighboring country that did not put limits on a man. In this country a man could pursue any passion; any desire. With my new wealth I found ample opportunities to explore and embrace their culture to the full. New friends were quickly made who helped me further explore the delights of this new world. Nothing was off limits. I felt no guilt. This was the life I wanted to live. My youth was filled with careful restrictions and sensibilities quite at odds with my new life. I cannot speak of these with too much detail but I am sure you know what I speak of.

It didn’t take long before half of my father’s wealth was gone. The inheritance that he worked a lifetime to hand down to me was gone in a matter of months. Can you imagine the kind of living that can burn through that much money? It was a whirlwind of pleasure but it was now grinding to a halt and I found myself in an inhospitable and strange land. There was no family here. There was no one who cared about me especially now that my wealth had been expended.

Oh how I had fallen. Without money I had no way to feed myself. I was now in survival mode. Because I was a foreigner I was looked down upon in this place. The only job that was available was working for a very difficult and unkind man feeding his pigs. In my country pigs were considered filthy, unclean animals. Even so, I was faced with either taking this job or starving. This man did feed me but it was of a quality so poor that I envied the pig’s food.

One morning as I was feeding the pigs, my nostrils filled with a stench beyond telling, my stomach crying out for food, I remembered my father. It was the first time since leaving home that I gave him a thought. He would never treat his servants like this. He would never force his servants to eat food that wasn’t fit for pigs if he ever had pigs, which he didn’t. His servants always spoke kindly of him grateful for his treatment of them and their families. What a stark contrast I was seeing between my employer and my father. What if I just went home? What if I went home and pleaded for my father to take me back as a servant? There was certainly no way he would take me back as a son, this I knew. It was not done. A son who wishes his father dead and squanders his inheritance like this is not worthy to be received as a son. This much was clear but a servant in my father’s house lives a much better life than this. As I thought about this and my father’s kind nature the decision was easy. I would return to my father and fling myself upon his mercy knowing that he is kind and good and completely at odds with this place I was now living.

The journey home was an uneasy one as I was filled with thoughts of my unworthiness. Surely I will be humiliated and scolded but that is what I deserve. When I was still a long way off one of my father’s servants crossed my path on his way back from an errand. His face reflected alarm when he recognized who I was. You can’t blame him. The life I had led left me looking aged and tired. Pig effluence effervesced from my clothes and skin. Not knowing how to respond, he left me without saying a word. Doubt filled my thoughts. “How could my father receive me like this? I am dirty, filthy, humiliated. I had broken his heart and wished him dead and now I return to him empty-handed having squandered everything.” Even so, I reflected on his nature. He was always good, always kind, always faithful and righteous. My confidence was stirred as I reflected on this and I continued my journey home with resolve.

My father’s servant returned to him and dutifully reported what he had seen. His eyes had cried many tears since I walked away that day but now he brightened. All the time I was gone he had did not come looking for me but held out hope that I would come to my senses and now word had come that this wayward son who had wished him dead was making his way home. The servant commented on the condition I was in but still my father’s face was filled with the joy of this news.

Without thinking he left the house and began walking in the direction he knew I would be coming from. As I approached I saw a figure in the distance that began to sharpen as I walked. An elderly man on foot still a great distance from my old home. This elderly man quickened his pace then broke into a full run. I was struck with both fear and anticipation as I realized this was my father! It was him who I so terribly wronged running. Never before had I witnessed my father run. A dignified landowner like him never ran. Others ran for him but he always maintained his dignity.

The gap between us was quickly closed and he threw his arms around me with the same warm embrace I had know as a child. He held me and wept tears of joy loudly proclaiming that his son was home! His servants now catching up to us stood around us amazed at the scandal unfolding before them. They knew of their master’s kind heart but this was well beyond all they even fathomed possible.

As he held his filthy, smelly wayward son, he began shouting tearful commands. “Bring me some descent clothes for my son! Bring a ring and put it on his finger! Prepare a feast in his honor!” With tears he shouted, “My lost son has come home! He was lost but now he is found!”

This was not what I expected. I was being received back not as a servant but as a son! My father had forgiven me for all I had done to him. He didn’t scold me or bring up anything I had done and much to my amazement he didn’t mention the money then and never since.

My older brother was not pleased when he heard of all this. He had seethed with anger when I left and he wanted justice now. He felt my father should punish me and send me away. Shocked by this, father took him aside and plead with him to see things in another way. He couldn’t. All he knew was that he had always been a faithful son doing as he had been told and yet never had this kind of reception been offered to him. Father wanted him to understand that his lost son and been found and that he should rejoice with him but he couldn’t failing to understand the depths of our father’s kind heart.

I now dwell in the house of my father and will all the days of my life. I rest in his goodness and kindness amazed that I ever saw things any other way.

Concluding thoughts

I wrote this at advent for a few reasons:

I can’t get this off my mind.

Advent is really about God running to a lost world that has gone a-whoring. God is breaking in on our world to rescue it and receive it back through the gift of his son. This parable is such a poetic way of speaking of advent. My prayer is that we all see the kindness of God in advent. To know the spectacular the scandal of a righteous God becoming one of us in order to receive us back.

Book news

I recently finished off the book on sonship by Sinclaire Ferguson. A great read and one that will be of great benefit all my life. What a privilege to be called a son of God and to be a part of his family.


As I looked over my library in search of a new book, I took up a previous read, Don Carson's "The Cross and Christian Ministry." It has been couple of years since I read it last but it is the kind of paradigmatic book that should be re-read every so often. It is not a large volume but very tightly packed with exegetical thoughts from I Corinthians. The hub for all Christian service and ministry is rooted in the cross of Christ according to Paul. In our day the evangelical church is pursuing techniques all various and sundry but drifting farther and farther from the center of our faith, the cross of Christ. Carson simply amplifies Paul in calling us back to humble orthodoxy.



A book like this is not just for pastors. A book like this is important for small group leaders, ministers, mothers, fathers and everyone else in the church. We are all called to serve. We cannot conveniently leave the service to pastors and others we might be tempted to see as professionals in the church.