The Path to Wisdom

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Jason

We have at our disposal today more knowledge than at any time in history. They say that more information has been produced in the last thirty years than in the previous five thousand. Today information doubles every four years. Since the advent of the Internet we have more knowledge at our fingertips than we can possibly process.

But knowledge and education is different than wisdom. What is the difference? I like this comparison: Knowledge is gathered from learning and education, while wisdom is gathered from day-to-day experiences. That means knowledge is information of which someone is aware, whereas wisdom is the ability to make correct judgments and decisions.

Our world has plenty of knowledge and education, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into wisdom. In fact, wisdom can often be learned from those who are uneducated. Take children for instance. A recent interviewer asked a group of children to give an example of wisdom. Here’s what they said:

  • Patrick, age 10, says, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
  • Michael, age 10, says, “When your dad is mad and asks you, ‘Do I look stupid?’ don’t answer him.”
  • Randy, 9 years of age said, “Stay away from prunes.” One has to wonder how poor Randy discovered that bit of wisdom.
  • Eileen, age 8 says, “Never try to baptize a cat.”

So, there’s a big difference between knowledge and wisdom. The Bible has much to say about wisdom. More than any other place in the Bible, the book of Proverbs is God’s guidebook to us for how we should go about acquiring wisdom.

Let’s think about three principles, three essential steps on the path to wisdom from the book of Proverbs:

  1. Step 1: The Fear of the LORD
    1. 1.7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
    2. The quest for wisdom begins with fear of the Lord. What does this mean? Here are some of the key elements:
      1. Reverence – comes from understanding God’s character. Respect for God’s “otherness”. He is holy; I am not. A major point of discussion in our country right now centers around reverence and the singing of the national anthem. But what about reverence for God? The fear of the Lord produces reverence.
      2. Submission – understanding who I am in light of who God is. Knowing that He is God and I am not.
      3. Humility – closely related. The reason we don’t like submission is because we don’t like humility. But the fear of the Lord produces a sense of humility – born from knowing who God is.
      4. Moral training
        1. In the 1950s, two doctors (one, a psychologist and, the other, a psychiatrist) shared the belief that crime was primarily the product of environment. So, they embarked on a 17-year study involving thousands of hours of clinical testing of 250 inmates in DC. To their astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to one’s environment, poverty, or oppression. Instead, they realized that crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, “wrong moral choices.” In their 1977 book, “The Criminal Personality”, they concluded that the answer to crime is a “conversion of the wrong-doer to a more responsible lifestyle.”
        2. And the Proverbs echo somewhere in the distance: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Ultimately, the fear of the Lord produces a lifestyle of faithful obedience.
        3. Importance of training and educating our children at an early age:
          1. Deut. 6 – Shema Israel – and the practical application is that these commands are to be talked about at all times, all circumstances.
          2. Prov. 22.6 – Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
        4. Fear of the Lord manifests itself in a life of obedience. That’s the path to wisdom.
  1. Step 2: Mentoring
    1. Remember our definition of wisdom: it is gathered from day-to-day experiences, which leads to the ability to make godly judgments and decisions. That means life is probably the best teacher. There are certain lessons I’ve learned in my 40 years that have been invaluable to me.
    2. But it also means that the younger we are, the less wisdom we have. It just stands to reason. The fewer experiences we have, the less wisdom we will possess.
    3. But that means that we need older, wiser voices to mentor and coach and teach us along the way. This morning – looked at Deborah. Much of the book of Proverbs operates in this same way.
    4. Proverbs 1-9 is written in the voice of a father talking to his son, imparting wisdom to him for godly living. Just listen to some of these verses and the mentoring / coaching / teaching that takes place:
      1. 1.8 – Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching…
      2. 2.1, 5 – My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you…then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
      3. 3.1, 2 – My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
      4. 4.1 – Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction and be attentive that you may gain insight
      5. 4.10 – Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.
      6. 4.20-21 – My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
      7. 5.1 – My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and yoru lips may guard knowledge.
      8. 5.20 – Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
    5. This is just the tip of the iceberg in Proverbs, coming from the first five chapters. I want to be that Dad that’s writing these Proverbs. Full of wisdom to impart to the young.
    6. We live in a youth-obsessed culture. Young athletes are given million dollar contracts before they ever touch the court / ball field. From hair dye to Botox to Viagra to wrinkle cream to plastic surgery, the race is on to be, as Rod Stewart sang, “Forever Young.” It’s hard to believe that some of our founding fathers powdered their wigs gray in order to appear older and wiser. Being “old” was “in” back then!
    7. But the church stands as a place where all people are valued, regardless of age, status, gender, etc.
      1. Older generation – you have a responsibility to mentor & teach
      2. Younger generation – you have a responsibility to listen & learn
      3. But we can’t accomplish these responsibilities without each other.
  1. Step 3: Discipline
    1. Nobody likes discipline. But it’s necessary. Whether you’re training dogs or raising children, discipline is necessary.
    2. We live in undisciplined, unrestrained times. For 40 years, Burger King’s slogan was “Have It Your Way” and that’s a good description of our culture. But this seems to be something that’s always plagued humanity. Throughout the book of Judges, there’s a line that comes up repeatedly: And everyone did what was right in his own eyes. With that phrase, the Bible paints a picture of an undisciplined, reckless people.
    3. To be a Christian is to live a disciplined life. Disciple is literally one who disciplines himself / herself under the teaching of another. To be a disciple of Jesus is to subject yourself to his instruction, his leadership.
    4. He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray. – Prov. 10.17
      1. Simon Peter – Seems predisposed to be able to withstand the Lord’s discipline. Matt. 16, Confesses Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. The very next episode, he receives the rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan!” Needed to be disciplined, corrected. That’s not harsh – in fact, Simon Peter would say, “I’m glad the Lord loved me enough to discipline me!”
      2. Some could be said of Paul – on the road to Damascus, the Lord gets his attention. Disciplines him, but graciously re-directs him to become an evangelist.
    5. James Packer, “The opposite of wisdom is folly, meaning the short-term self-indulgence which marks out the person who doesn’t think about long-term priorities…but lives on a day-to-day basis asking, ‘What is the most fun thing to do now?’”
    6. The disciplined life asks a fundamentally different question: “What can I do for the Kingdom of God right now?”
    7. 3.11, My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him who he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
    8. 6.22-23, The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.

 

Posted in Culture, Devotional, Faith, Proverbs, Scripture | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Santa Claus Break-Up

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Jason

The other day I was at the pool with our youngest, age 10. While Jackson was swimming, a little girl lost a tooth in the pool. For about 10 minutes, every kid in the pool was putting on their goggles and diving down to the pool floor in the hopes of finding the lost tooth. I bet Jackson dove down two dozen times as part of the search party. But in the end, nobody ever found the tooth. For all I know, it’s still on the bottom of the pool.

As Jackson and I were leaving, the girl’s mother had her arms wrapped around the child, trying to console her. “Maybe the Tooth Fairy will still come and see you tonight,” she said desperately. Since I was the only adult within earshot at the time, the Mom looked up as she was talking and gave me one of those knowing raised-eyebrow-head-nods as if to enlist me to the cause as well. Realizing that I suddenly had a part to play, I said, “Yeah, I hear the Tooth Fairy doesn’t even take your tooth anymore; she just leaves money.” Not great, but the best I could do on short notice. The little girl didn’t even look up at me, so I quickly looked to the mother with my own raised-eyebrow expression, silently asking, “Good enough?” She thanked me with a smile and I walked to the truck with the satisfaction that I had played such a key role in helping to maintain the child’s innocence.

When we got in the truck, Jackson casually announced, “Dad, I don’t believe in magic anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, magic stuff like the Tooth Fairy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s just the parents giving money to their kids.”

For years, we’ve encouraged our kids to ask us anything and we promised that our answers would be as honest as possible. Our older children have taken us up on this and we had some version of this conversation with each of them independently. But neither of them ever declared their lack of faith so brazenly. Jackson, being the youngest, wasn’t exactly asking me anything. He was telling me.

I said, “Well, that’s an interesting theory.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Dad. It’s not a theory. There’s no such thing as the Tooth Fairy. Right?”

There it is! I thought. There’s still that little bit of doubt. He still has to ask in order to be sure. But we promised honesty. So I gave him an honest answer. “Right,” I said. “There’s no Tooth Fairy.”

“Good,” he replied. “I always thought it was creepy that somebody else was coming into my room at night anyway.”

That’s a really good point, I thought.

But Jackson continued. “I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny either. That’s just parents, too.”

I sat there silently.

“Isn’t that right?”

Again, an honest answer for an honest question. “Yes, son. There’s no such thing as the Easter Bunny either.”

We sat in silence for a long moment. This is the sound of his childhood dying, I thought.

Finally Jackson took a deep breath and said, “I also don’t believe in Ollie.”

This photo provided by CCA&B, LLC, shows “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition,” with the Elf for the shelf. There is one hot item this holiday season that won’t be resting under the Christmas tree. It will be on a shelf _ watching you. (AP Photo/CCA&B, LLC)

Ollie is the name of our “elf” who visits us every year in the weeks leading up to Christmas. For as far back as I can remember, Ollie comes to our house the first night our Christmas tree is up. By day, he looks like an ordinary doll, one you might find on the shelves of your favorite department store. But at night, Ollie comes to life and magically teleports back to the North Pole to report all your deeds, either good or bad, directly to Santa Claus himself. Or something like that. After giving his naughty-or-nice report, Ollie rides a wave of magical pixie dust to arrive back to our house by sunrise. Our proof of this 10,000 mile roundtrip adventure is that Ollie is in a different location in our home each morning.

I said, “So, how do you think Ollie moves around the house? You don’t think he flies to the North Pole each night?”

Jackson said, “I saw the box that y’all keep him in. Mom keeps it hidden in your closet.”

I sat there silently, thinking to myself, When were you going through my closet?

“Ollie’s not real, is he, Dad?”

“Nope. Not real.”

Another long silence ensued.

“So, that’s it,” I said. “You don’t believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, or Ollie. Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Jackson paused. “Well…I guess that just leaves Santa.”

“Yep,” I said. “Just Santa.”

We had come right here to the brink and yet Jackson was still a bit hesitant. It’s like he was trying to break up with me about Santa, only he couldn’t find the right words. Finally, he just went for it.

“Dad, Santa isn’t real. Is he?”

“Nope. He’s not.”

That’s when I told Jackson what I told his older brother and sister: Santa Claus is just a game that parents play with their kids. When the kids are really little, it’s a lot of fun because of that sense of “magic.” But as the kids get older, the game gets harder and harder. I told him it always bothered me that “Santa” got credit for all the cool gifts anyway. “Honestly, I’m glad you know now,” I told him. “It’ll make things so much easier on your mother and me this Christmas.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, now that the cat’s out of the bag, I don’t have to buy you all those Santa presents anymore!”

“Oh,” Jackson said.

Another long pause.

“Dad?”

“Yes, son?”

“We can still play the game, can’t we? Even though I know? I mean, it’s still a fun game.”

And something just felt right about the idea of knowing and yet still playing the game. I wanted to tell my son that I don’t believe in magic anymore either, but I still believe in wonder and I still believe in hope. And that’s what the game has always been about for me anyway.

“Absolutely, son. We can still play the game.”

Jackson smiled.

“Besides,” I told him. “Your older brother and sister still think Santa is real.”

I know, I know. But don’t tell him yet. It makes the game so much more fun.

Posted in Christmas, Faith, Family, Hope, Kids | 2 Comments

The Fear of the Lord

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Jason

Whether it’s television, movies, or literature, the oldest trick in the book is the surprise ending, the twist at the end that changes everything. You know how it works: the character you thought was the hero actually turns out to be the villain or the twist at the end makes you question everything you’ve seen and heard up to that point.

The end makes all the difference.

I guess we could say that idea originates in the Bible. The book of Ecclesiastes ends with a “twist” that puts the entire book in perspective.

One commentator writes, “Ecclesiastes is one of the most puzzling books of the Bible. The theme of the book appears in the prologue: ‘Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!’ The general conclusion comes in the epilogue, which speaks of fearing God and keeping his commandments because we must one day give account to him. The meaning and purpose of the book must be discovered within this framework.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Ecclesiastes has traditionally been attributed to Solomon. Solomon says that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commands. This is life’s meaning, purpose; but the twist is that Solomon has been crying out about the meaningless of life up until the very end!

Fear – Hebrew scholars say that the word is used two different ways:

  1. The anticipation of harm – a sense of dread. This is the typical way we think of fear. In 3:10, Adam says to God, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Obviously there are times when “fearing the Lord” includes this kind of fearful anticipation.
  2. The positive feeling of awe and reverence for God, which may be expressed in piety or formal worship.

The children of Israel feared God – they feared being harmed, feared that God would “break out against them” (Ex. 19). But their fear never moved to the positive sense of awe and reverence for God, because it wasn’t too long afterward they were bowing down before a golden calf.

The Pharisees were guilty of this same fear-based religion. Second Temple Judaism was marked by a tremendous amount of fear – fear of exile led to the stringent practices we see in the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. In Matthew 23, Jesus says that the Pharisees “preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” The Pharisees used fear to keep people in line, which is one of the reasons they had such a problem with Jesus. He wasn’t afraid of them.

Should we have a healthy appreciation for God’s holiness? Absolutely. But the fear of the Lord doesn’t mean that we live our lives quaking with fear. That is not the best motivation for being a Christian. God desires that we have an understanding of His love and that we come to Him in love. That is the best motivation for following Him.

So what, then, does it mean to fear the Lord? The Bible uses the word “fear” over 300 times in relation to God, so we make a huge mistake if we downplay it. What does it mean?

Put simply, it means to trust Him.

One resource puts it this way: “The fear of God is an attitude of respect, a response of reverence and wonder. It is the only appropriate response to our Creator and Redeemer.”

And this is Solomon’s big twist at the end of Ecclesiastes.

The book of Ecclesiastes is a systematic attack on the meaningless of everything if one does not first fear and obey the Lord. Or as we sing sometimes, to trust and obey Him.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Solomon begins with a pretty bold statement, one that is depressing apart from the ending. Everything is meaningless! Solomon doesn’t offer up any explanation at the beginning of this sermon, he just states the fact that everything is completely meaningless.

And the rest of the book is a deconstruction of the things that typically give meaning to life.

Skipping ahead, Solomon says that the pursuit of wisdom is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-14

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

He goes on to say that he devoted himself to acquiring wisdom, but he calls this meaningless, chasing after the wind.

(I used to think about this verse when I was learning Greek and Hebrew in school. Meaningless!)

Have you ever tried to learn some new skill?

Had to learn something new in business, some new strategy that you needed to implement to grow your industry?

Have you ever tried to figure something out, worked hard to study something in school?

How about studying God’s Word to try and learn and grow to become a better Christian?

Solomon says that is all meaningless, unless we fear God and learn to obey Him.

Then Solomon goes on to say that the pursuit of pleasure and happiness, even laughter, is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-2

I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good. But that also proved meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?”

Medically, we know laughter is really good for us. Have you heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine?” The reason that’s a popular saying is because there’s some truth to it. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Doctors say that nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. It lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded. It also helps you to release anger and be more forgiving.

Laughter is really, really good for us. It’s hardly meaningless.

But again, the ending is essential. Laughter IS meaningless unless it is accompanied by the fear of the Lord and the desire to live in obedience to Him.

Solomon then turns his attention on work and labor.

Ecclesiastes 2:17-21

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

At this point, we might start thinking that Solomon needs a hug. He says that even work and toil are meaningless. And his proof of this is that one day we have to turn over all of our projects to someone else. We have to turn over all that we’ve worked for and give it to someone who might be wise or might be foolish!

This proves the danger of proof-texting, of grabbing a passage of Scripture and reading it outside of its context. If you just opened up your Bible and read this passage, it might lead you to quit your job, to lay around the house all day and do nothing — which are the kinds of things that are condemned elsewhere in the Bible!

So, what is Solomon saying? Again, the ending is essential. His argument only makes sense when you hear it in totality. He’s saying that work and toil isn’t a sufficient goal for human life. Unless accompanied by the fear of the Lord, a life of work and toil is essentially meaningless.

So, what does it mean to fear the Lord?

Again, it means to trust and obey Him. To trust Him so much that nothing else matters; to trust Him to the degree that everything else is absolutely meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

 

And this life of trusting obedience is demonstrated in the NT church:

Acts 9:31

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

This morning, one of our members talked to me after church, talked about fear. He said, “You know what I always tell myself about fear? I’ll say, ‘Fear God and nothing else.’ That’s the good kind of fear.”

Indeed.

Posted in Devotional, Faith, God, Obedience, Scripture | 2 Comments

The New Sound of Nashville: Jason Isbell

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Jason

A few weeks ago, I lamented that so much of the mainstream country music coming out of Nashville these days simply isn’t country music. Pop music sung with a twang and a drawl is still pop music. And for longtime country music fans like myself, this is a problem.

But thank goodness for guys like Jason Isbell.

Isbell made a name for himself 15 years ago as a member of the Drive-By Truckers. Since leaving the band, Isbell went solo, went through rehab for substance abuse, and has emerged as one of this generation’s best singer-songwriters. Although most of his songs are not autobiographical, it feels like they are, as if he’s lived the stories he sings. Call it believability; call it street cred; call it masterful storytelling; whatever it is, it makes for a more full-bodied, “authentic” country music experience.

Take Isbell’s 2013 masterpiece, Southeastern. Following Isbell’s 2012 rehab stint, he emerged clear eyed and focused with a work of art borne out of a period of life he compares to a “dungeon.” And this liberated perspective sustains Southeastern though some of its bleaker moments. I still contend that album opener “Cover Me Up” is the most romantic song I’ve ever heard. And “Traveling Alone” sounds like the fog lifting. When the album closes with the line “My lonely heart beats relatively easy”, you find yourself hoping it’s one of those autobiographical lines.

Even though Isbell cut his teeth as part of an alt-country Southern rock troupe, his artistry embodies the new sound of Nashville’s indie country scene. That’s the not-so-subtle message of his newest album title, “The Nashville Sound.” After sweeping the Americana Music Awards with his past two solo recordings, Isbell has returned with his backing band, the 400 Unit. In fact, “Americana” may be a truer label for Isbell than “country”, given the amped up sound on several of the album’s tracks. But Isbell largely stays in the narrative-driven roots-country lane he’s been in for the past five years. I dare you not to get a little misty-eyed when listening to “If We Were Vampires.”

Just don’t expect to hear anything so heartfelt or affecting on mainstream country airwaves.

 

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Better Angels: Flag Day 2017

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Jason

The lesson my kids learned today in D.C. — “As Americans, we don’t shoot one another over our political differences.”

Today we were scheduled to tour the White House with Martha Brooks, the wife of our congressman, Mo Brooks. She arrived and apologized for being a few minutes late. She had just learned about the news we’ve now been following all day: a gunman opened fire at a baseball field in Alexandria, VA early this morning, injuring House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, several congressional staffers, and two Capitol police officers. Mo was among the group of GOP congressmen the shooter allegedly targeted. Thankfully, Mo was unharmed and he was even able to give aid to the injured.

A half hour after all of this went down, Martha met us at the Visitor’s Gate at the White House.

We told her that we’d be fine, that we totally understood if she felt she needed to be elsewhere. Instead, she graciously stayed by our side for the duration of our tour, offering insight and remaining especially attentive to our children’s questions while her phone blew up with texts and calls. Honestly, I don’t know how she was able to do it. Her composure was something wondrous to behold.

One of the Secret Service agents stationed in the East Room recognized Martha and came up to console her. She thanked him for his concern, saying with a smile, “Other than the fact that someone tried to shoot my husband this morning, I’m fine!”

The Bybee family with Martha Brooks, Flag Day, 2017

At the conclusion of our tour, we snapped this picture with Mrs. Brooks. Yesterday, she hosted us on an amazing tour of the Capitol. Mo took the kids with him on the House floor and they even had the chance to cast a few votes and rub elbows with some other congressmen. By this morning, Mo Brooks was a trending topic on Twitter, his quick thinking and heroic action one of the bright spots in an ugly news story that says much about our current political climate.

You hear about these kinds of things from time to time, but it was surreal to be so close to the situation, to see the “real” people being impacted by the events that make headlines. It was also difficult to see our children confronting the reality of evil in such a visceral way. It didn’t make sense to them. “Why would someone want to shoot our elected officials?” Not exactly the kinds of conversations we were anticipating when we planned this family vacation to the nation’s capital. Try explaining this kind of garbage to a nine-year-old.

But in the end, as the better angels of our nature prevail, we remember that our fellow citizens — even the ones with whom we most strongly disagree — are just that: fellow citizens. They are fellow sons and daughters, sisters and brothers. Today I’m grateful for people like Mo and Martha Brooks, individuals who not only represent me as a North Alabamian, but more importantly, as an American. Mo, your dedication to your country and your fellow citizens is evident. Thank you for your service. And, Martha, my children will not soon forget your strength and dignity in adversity. Nor will I. People like you renew my hope in the national ideals we hold so dear.

Praying for you all and for all those injured in today’s shooting.

Posted in Family, Kids, Politics, Terrorism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Back Porch Eschatology Is The Best Eschatology

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Jason

While grilling some chicken last night, Jackson brought me his Bible. (He wanted a “real” Bible the other day, rather than a “kids” Bible, so we stopped and let him pick one out.) He had been reading Genesis 1 and he had a question about creation. Our conversation about creation prompted an exchange about eternity and Jackson said, “I think heaven will be like going back to the Garden of Eden.” I said, “Well, in many ways, there’s some truth to that. Things will probably be something like they were in the Garden. But God says that the end isn’t a return to the Garden but instead it’s life in the eternal city, the new Jerusalem.”

Jackson sat there blinking at me.

So we read through Revelation 21&22 and did a little “new heavens, new earth” theology together. I told him that heaven wasn’t some far away disembodied existence where we float around on clouds and ride raindrops and all of that stuff. Instead, God promises to renew and redeem the earth, to restore it back to its originally good purposes. So when humanity made a mess of the creation God deemed to be “good”, He didn’t give up on those purposes. Rather, He’s working toward the achievement of those good purposes once more. That’s eternity, the place where things are “good” once again. The new heavens, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem all point to the work of God who will make “all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

Jackson said, “I like the sound of that.”

I do, too.

Back porch eschatology is the best kind of eschatology.

Posted in Eschatology, Faith, God, Kids, Scripture, Theology | Leave a comment

The Problem with Country Music (2017)

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Jason

I love country music. As in, I LOVE country music. Growing up in Nashville, country music was ubiquitous, but nowhere more than our home. I’m not sure I was aware that other genres of music even existed when I was a child. Around our house, music was country music. One of my earliest memories is singing along to Johnny Cash records with my Dad. I was shocked and a little appalled when I learned that the other kids in the neighborhood didn’t know all the words to Folsom Prison Blues. So when I say I love country music, I have street cred, people. In fact, I love country music so much that my youngest son’s middle name is an homage to Cash.

But country music, at least mainstream country music produced on Music Row in 2017, has a problem.

Country music isn’t country music anymore.

It’s probably a bit too dramatic to say that country music has lost its “soul”, although plenty of critics have come to that conclusion. Stadium country, Bro-country, country-pop…there are plenty of terms to describe the dreck on the country airwaves these days, but none of them are good. Aesthetically, there is a certain assembly-line approach to Nashville country that many find off-putting. Comedian Bo Burnham nails Nashville’s cookie-cutter approach to record making:

“I think some of the greatest songwriters of all time are country artists. Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, you know? And if you’re writing honestly, that is art, and I would never bash that. The problem is, with a lot of modern country music, what is called stadium country music—the sort of Keith Urban brand of country music—is that it is not honest. It is the exact opposite of honest. Where instead of people actually telling their stories, you’ve got a bunch of [millionaires] who’ve never done a hard days work in their life.”

“They figured out the words and the phrases they can use to pander to their audience, and they list the same words and phrases off sort of Mad Lib style. And every song is raking in millions of dollars from actual working class people.”

Insert a backroad party reference here, a pickup truck / tractor there, name drop a classic country artist like Willie or Merle, simmer over a bed of pedal steel and electric guitar for three and half minutes and…voila! There’s your Mad Libs template for a bona fide country hit. The only interchangeable piece is the (usually male) artist on the stage. And that’s the state of modern country music: an artistically bankrupt wasteland where Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley (ad nauseam) are kings.

Thankfully, “real” country music is still alive and well, albeit far away from the plastic sound of Nashville’s airwaves. Thanks to the proliferation of digital music and the accessibility it provides, artists like Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell are carrying the torch for fans of authentic country music. I’ll highlight a few of these artists over my next few posts.

Posted in Cash, Culture, Music | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

In Honor of the Queen

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Jason

A certain someone around our house celebrated a birthday today.

So we decided to crown “the queen” with cookie cake on her special day.

 

Words don’t really express the blessing Sunny is to the people in her life. She spent her birthday doing what she loves to do: teaching students and caring for her family. After the school day ended, she ran the kids home, turned around and took AK to swimming lessons, then went BACK to school for a middle / high school athletics meeting to fill out paperwork for the kids. Thankfully we were able to carve out some time to celebrate tonight by ordering Steak Out, showering her with gifts and cards, and treating her to one of her favorite indulgences: Great American Cookie cake!

Sunny, you’ve heard me say it hundreds of times: we don’t get to be experts very often in life. At most, we have one or two areas of true expertise. But as the world’s leading authority when it comes the character of Sunny Bybee, I have to remind you that you are a conduit of God’s profound goodness. I see it in your relationship with me, with your children, with your family and friends and students. And trust me, we’re all better for it. In case you need further proof, let me also remind you that your goodness influenced what I wrote about you on your birthday last year. And the year before that. And probably next year, too.

I’ve never known anyone who wants to do the right thing more consistently or more completely than you. Among the countless reasons I love you, it is this singularly definitive quality – your goodness – that stands out. My favorite expression in the Scriptures is a word of doxology, praising God for His goodness and His enduring love. But perhaps my affinity for these words is simply reflective of my relationship with you. For I have experienced more of God’s goodness in you than in anyone I’ve ever known; and you have loved me with an enduring love, the kind of love that is eternal in nature because it is grounded in God’s love first. You are the living exegesis of this Word to me. So tonight I give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His love endures forever. I know this to be true because I’ve known it through you.

May this year of your life be filled with blessings in abundance, with grace beyond measure and exceeding peace. And may you encounter just a bit of the same goodness in us that we profoundly experience in you. Happy Birthday to the Queen!

Posted in Blessings, Family, Scripture, Sunny | 1 Comment

Daring Faith: Coming Back

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Jason

What do you think of when you hear the word “comeback?”

Sports fans might think back to the most recent Super Bowl and the Patriots’ historic 25-point comeback, the largest in Super Bowl history. Michael Phelps was in the news this week, hinting at a possible comeback, even though he officially “retired” following the 2016 Summer Olympics. Others might think of a favorite entertainer – Garth Brooks, for instance – staging a comeback tour after years away from the limelight.

Of course, not all such comebacks are received warmly. In 2006, Barbara Streisand announced a 15-city comeback tour and fans reportedly paid as much as $12,000 for exclusive access, which included a group photo and autographed souvenirs. But some of her fans threatened to file a class-action lawsuit against her after paying exorbitant amounts to see her “farewell” tour in 2000, only to find out that it was far from her final performance! (I guess the farewell tour functions simply to set-up the comeback tour.)

We love it when our favorite team perseveres in the face of adversity, when an athlete overcomes the odds or an entertainer reinvents himself. But have you ever stopped to ask why we love comeback stories so much? Is it simply because they’re dramatic? Compelling? Inspiring? Or could it be that our fascination with these comeback stories is intended to point us to the ultimate comeback story, the story of Jesus?

As we wind down our Daring Faith series, I want to challenge you to think of the gospel as the greatest comeback story of all. John makes it clear: the spiritual forces of darkness conspired to put Jesus on the cross. He tells us that Satan himself entered Judas, setting into motion the arrest and trial of Jesus. But as we noted last week, none of these things could occur without the consent of Jesus. John makes it equally clear that Jesus remained in complete control to the very end. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross and all its agony.

And on that glorious Sunday morning, the victory of God was revealed; the tomb was found empty. Jesus “came back” from death, declaring the sovereign reign of God over those evil forces. And the empty tomb is a comeback promise for God’s people as well. It promises that sin and death need not have the last word in our lives, that God has initiated a spiritual comeback for those who would dare to believe.

John demonstrates this by sharing several post-resurrection stories toward the end of his Gospel. Today we’ll call them comeback stories.

John begins by telling Mary Magdalene’s comeback story. Mary had already experienced a tremendous spiritual comeback in her life. Luke 8:1-3 tells us that Mary was possessed by seven demons until Jesus healed her. So, Mary already knows that the power of God can bring you back from some very dark places. When we find her outside the tomb on that Sunday morning, Mary is despondent. She and the other ladies have come to tend to the body of Jesus, but they’ve found the tomb empty.

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). – John 20:14-16

The tears in Mary’s eyes kept her from seeing Jesus.

The same could be said of some of us – the tears in our eyes are keeping some of us from seeing Jesus. Not that we’ve lost our faith; Mary hasn’t lost her faith here. But some of us are so overwhelmed by grief that it’s the only thing we see anymore. I know firsthand how deep that well runs. A recent brain-imaging study revealed that the same areas of the brain that were active in the brains of cocaine addicts were also active in heartbroken case subjects when they simply looked at a picture of their former romantic partner. The neuroscientists conducting the study concluded that we crave our departed loved ones just as much as the addict craves their next fix. It just proves what we already know: grief is incredibly powerful.

But Mary’s story teaches us a really important truth: with God’s help, you can come back from grief and sorrow. The key ingredient in this kind of comeback is hope. If you have something to believe in, a hope that your loved one is no longer suffering, hope of seeing them again someday, then you can come back from sorrow. Hope is simply maintaining and eternal perspective – the most hopeful people have an eternal perspective. If you’re running low on hope, it’s probably because you’ve lost your eternal perspective. According to Ecclesiastes 3 God has set eternity in the hearts of man. There’s some sort of universal awareness that there’s more to life than what we can see, that we’re more than just oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, and water. But when we lose sight of this eternal perspective, we lose hope.

The empty tomb declares that God has an answer to our sorrow. 1 Thess. 4:13-14, Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. The empty tomb promises that you can come back from grief. It’s a promise of hope. That’s Mary’s comeback story.

John tells another comeback story, the story of Thomas.

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” – John 20:24-28

It’s easy to criticize Thomas for his lack of faith. But my heart goes out to him, in part because I talk to a lot of people who wrestle with doubts of one kind or another, and in part because I’ve also wrestled with doubt over the course of my walk with Christ.

Maybe faith comes easily for you, but if it doesn’t, I want you to hear this: we’re not going to judge you if you have doubts. God gives us a command at Jude v22, Have mercy on those who doubt. And we plan on being faithful to that word. So, you’re not weird if you have questions; you’re not unwelcome here if you’re still unsure about all of this. In fact, it’s been my experience that those seasons of doubt are sometimes the prelude to a period of great spiritual growth.

What I love about Thomas’s comeback story is that he works out his doubts in the context of Christian community. Surrounded by fellow disciples, Thomas knows that he is in a safe place to express his doubts, to ask his questions. In your experience, has the church been a safe place to ask hard questions? For many people, I’m afraid the answer is no. That means something has changed from Thomas’s day to ours. But if we’re serious about being like the NT church, then we must strive to be the kind of place where heartfelt questions and honest dialogue are welcome. The NT bears witness to the fact that you can comeback from doubt if you’re immersed in a safe Christian community.

At least one of the key ingredients in this kind of comeback is humility. Thomas is humbled when he sees Jesus, so much so that he makes perhaps the strongest statement about Jesus in the NT: “My Lord and my God!” Our doubts are sometimes the result of a prideful reliance on our own understanding. And that’s where humility comes in. May we possess the humility it requires to walk in the wisdom of Prov. 3:5, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

The final comeback story in John’s Gospel is the comeback of Simon Peter. Jesus appears to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee and John records a miraculous catch of 153 fish and a breakfast meal Jesus shares with these disciples.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me.” – John 21:15-19

What is your greatest spiritual failure? What does spiritual failure look like in your life?

Those are difficult questions, I know. For Simon Peter, his great spiritual failure was his denial of Jesus. Three times he publicly declared that he was NOT a follower of Jesus, that he didn’t even know Jim. Just hours before Jesus was arrested, Simon Peter had proclaimed, “I will lay down my life for you, Jesus!” But when the moment of truth arrived, Simon failed. And we’ve all been there.

Everyone experiences spiritual failure from time to time. No one’s spiritual life is an unbroken string of victories. And Simon Peter’s story gives us an unvarnished view of a total spiritual meltdown. This is his greatest spiritual failure and, like us, Simon Peter is wracked with guilt as a result. But as we said from the outset, these are comeback stories. And here we find Jesus carefully putting Simon Peter back together.

Three times Jesus asks Simon Peter: “Do you love me?” And three times Simon Peter responds, “Yes, I love you.” Why would Jesus ask Simon Peter three times?

I believe Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” three times because Simon Peter denied him three times. I believe Jesus is putting Simon Peter back together as thoroughly as he has come apart.

Jesus asks Simon Peter the most important question when it comes to spiritual failure: “Do you love me?” When you experience spiritual failure and you’re trying to put the pieces back together, it’s first things first. So, this is where it begins: Do you love Jesus? Your answer to that question determines everything else. It made all the difference in Simon Peter’s spiritual failure and it makes all the difference for us.

Despite his enormous failure, Simon Peter loves Jesus. And because he loves Jesus, the Lord says three times, “Care for my sheep.” Now, Peter may be inclined to think that, because of his failure, he has no part in the Kingdom. After all, as this story begins, Simon has returned to his former life as a fisherman. (How many times has a spiritual failure caused someone to give up on their Kingdom identity? How many times has someone returned to their former way of life because they assume their spiritual failure has cost them their place in the Kingdom?)

But Jesus doesn’t see it that way. In fact, Jesus sees this as an opportunity for Simon Peter to minister out of his failures. Jesus knows that when we come back from spiritual failure, we become even greater forces for the Kingdom. Before his failures, Simon Peter seems brash, arrogant, and boastful. He’s none of those things anymore. His spiritual failure has produced spiritual scars. But those spiritual scars, through the grace of God, make Peter an even better shepherd for the flock. Far from disqualifying him from service, his spiritual scars make him even more useful to Jesus.

So again: What is your great spiritual failure? What moment from your past gives you the greatest amount of guilt? Whatever it is, know this: you can come back from guilt. There are two key ingredients in this comeback; we provide one but only God can provide the other. The first ingredient necessary to come back from guilt is good old-fashioned Gospel repentance. Brokenness. Contrition. Saying, “I’m sorry” to God. This ingredient is wholly dependent upon me. That wound never becomes a scar without repentance on my part. Without repentance, it’s simply a festering wound.

You need to know this: repentance hurts. The text says that Simon Peter was hurt that Jesus kept asking him, “Do you love me?” That’s the only place I know of in the Bible where it says that Jesus hurt someone, but he does so intentionally to break Simon Peter. And in order for us to experience true repentance, we must similarly be broken.

But the second ingredient in the comeback from guilt is grace and this is God’s part. His grace is available. As John tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace (John 1:16). The grace of God is available in its fullness to free us, that we might comeback from guilt.

Is your story a comeback story? It can be. The empty tomb declares that your story can be a part of the greatest comeback story of all.

Posted in Church, Devotional, Discipleship, Faith, God, Jesus, Scripture | Leave a comment

Daring Faith: The Glory of the Cross

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Jason

At the height of the Nazi regime, while millions of Jews were being killed in the extermination camps, mimeographed pamphlets denouncing Nazi tyranny were being distributed across Germany – leaflets written by a group calling themselves “The White Rose.” These pamphlets were aimed at rousing German citizens from their spiritual and moral slumber. Hitler, the White Rose declared, was a monster who was leading Germany deeper into darkness. In Leaflet #4 the White Rose explicitly framed the struggle against Hitler in spiritual and moral terms.

Every word that proceeds from Hitler’s mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war. And when he names the name of the Almighty in a most blasphemous manner, he means the almighty evil one, that fallen angel, Satan…

We will not keep silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!

These words constituted high treason. Whoever the White Rose was, they were flirting with death. Now widely revered as heroes in Germany, the White Rose was a handful of students from the University of Munich, most of them Christian. And among the leaders of the White Rose were siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl.

On February 18, 1943, the Scholl siblings were observed distributing what would become known as Leaflet #6 of the White Rose on the campus of the University of Munich. They were arrested and quickly brought to a trial presided over by one of the most notorious of the Nazi hanging judges. Standing before the Nazi court, both Hans and Sophie remained defiant. Addressing the court, Sophie School refused to back down, saying, “What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.”

The Scholls were quickly declared guilty of treason and sentenced to death. The Nazis didn’t waste any time. The execution was scheduled to take place that very day. Sophie Scholl’s cellmate preserved her final words before she left to face the guillotine:

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause?

On February 22, 1943 at 5:00pm, Hans and Sophie Scholl were beheaded by the Nazis. But the message of the White Rose lived on. The final leaflet of the White Rose, Leaflet #6, was smuggled out of Germany and reached the Allies. Thousands of copies were made and in July 1943, Allied planes dropped the leaflets from the skies over Germany, the defiant words of the White Rose falling like rain.

The White Rose movement will long be remembered as an act of resistance in the face of evil. Its members willfully risked their lives by picking a fight with the forces of darkness, but they were unflinching because of the righteousness of their cause. And today, we gather to remember another act of resistance, one that will be remembered long after the White Rose has faded from memory. Today we look back to the moment of spiritual warfare when Jesus stands up to the evil powers, when he picks a fight with the powers of hell, and defiantly takes their best shot. In the words of the Apostle Paul from Colossians 2, Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “A king who dies on the Cross must be the king of a rather strange kingdom.” This was certainly the thought process in the ancient world where the cross was an instrument of torture and execution. Over the centuries, the cross has become the dominant icon in Christianity. And yet, this proliferation has had an unfortunate result: the cross has been somewhat tamed today, becoming – at least for some – little more than a piece of jewelry worn on a necklace.

What is the real meaning of the Cross?

As we’ve been saying for weeks, John’s telling of the Gospel story is unique. And to understand John’s message about the cross, we need to go back to the scene of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in John 13.

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love….Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power… – John 13:1, 3

As his time with the disciples draws to a close, Jesus shows them “the full extent of his love.” How? It is fitting for us to understand the washing of the disciples’ feet as an expression of his love. But the fullness of his love would be demonstrated through the cross. The washing of feet simply anticipates His loving service on the cross.

Note how John stresses that the Father had put all things under the power of Christ. This is a triumphant note to strike, especially as we consider where the story is headed. John wants us to know that ultimate power resides with Jesus throughout this narrative. This is central to our message this morning: Despite everything that will happen to him, Jesus remains in complete control.

This is one of the reasons Jesus speaks of the cross in terms of “glory” in John’s Gospel. As we noted last week, when Jesus speaks of “glory” in John’s Gospel, it is always a reference to the cross. He sees the cross as the moment when heaven’s glory is fully revealed. But in the ancient world and our own, the question is likely the same: What could be glorious about crucifixion on a cross?

The glory lies in the fact that the cross is the willful choice of Jesus. By stressing that the Father has placed all things under his power, John is saying that the cross didn’t just happen to Jesus. Jesus wasn’t a victim. No, he willfully chose the cross. He embraces it as part of what it means to display the love and the glory of God. And Jesus does this because He remains in complete control throughout the narrative.

He remains in complete control when the guards come to arrest him. John 18:1-6:

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons.

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Judas and this detachment of soldiers come ready to arrest Jesus. Jesus asks, “Who are you looking for?” and they say, “Jesus of Nazareth.” And His reply is powerful: “I am he.” Or, in its shorter version, “I AM.”

When Jesus says this, the soldiers retreat and fall to the ground. This is yet another detail unique to John’s Gospel. Maybe John wants us to connect this with another episode when meeting the “I AM” makes someone hit the dirt. Centuries earlier, a voice said, “I AM” and Moses bowed before the Lord in the burning bush, as he stood on holy ground. There is an irony to the scene. The power brokers in the Temple never bowed before Jesus, but their lynch mob does.

Notice that Jesus is in complete control here. As God-in-the-flesh, his slightest command could bring down this mob with their swords and spears. But he allows them to take him into custody. It’s not in the text, but I can imagine Jesus thinking, “Come on, get up. I can’t arrest myself. We have work to do here.” John makes it clear that no one is taking Jesus against his will. He remains in complete control during His arrest.

He also remains in complete control as He stands before Pilate. As the crowd chants, “Crucify him!” Pilate is unmoved, saying, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” But the Jews are insistent, saying, “He claims to be the Son of God and he must die.”

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” – John 19:8-11

Pilate says to Jesus, “Don’t you realize I have the power to either kill you or set you free?” Do you hear a bit of pride in Pilate’s statement? “This is where you beg for your life, because I hold all the power here.”

But Jesus doesn’t even flinch. Again, he is in total control and totally fearless. Jesus says, “Power? The only power you have is the power given to you from on high. Your power comes from above where I come from.” Let that sink in. John makes it clear that they can’t arrest Jesus, convict Jesus, or crucify Jesus without Jesus allowing it.

All things are under His power even as He hangs on the cross:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. – John 19:25-27

Even as his life is ebbing away, Jesus remains in control. He arranges for his mother to be cared for because Jesus remains in control of his household to the very end.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. – John 19:28-30

No one kills Jesus. No, Jesus decided to die. He is the one to decide when it is finished. And Jesus decided it wasn’t finished until He fulfilled every Scripture that anticipated this moment. John articulates it quite carefully: Jesus is the one to give up his spirit. Nobody kills Jesus…nobody arrests Jesus…nobody puts him on trial…nobody beats Him without His permission. Jesus willfully chooses the shameful death of the cross because He remains in complete control.

With all things under His power, the cross becomes His moment of glory. And because the cross is His moment of glory, we no longer see it as an instrument of torture and death. We see the cross as a throne, His throne of self-emptying love. The cross is His showdown with the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. At the cross, Jesus engages in spiritual warfare in the most unexpected of ways. He overthrows the oppressive powers of darkness by giving his own life as a ransom for many. And the empty tomb declares the scope of His victory. He willfully chooses the cross, remaining in complete control to the very end. And if He was in complete control when they nailed Him to the cross, He surely remains in complete control even today.

Our world is harsh and cruel, full of nightmares. We worry about Russia and Syria and North Korea and Afghanistan….and for good reason. Some weeks, the news out of Washington is the source of our anxiety; this week, it’s news out of Montgomery. A news report this week claims that we’re overdue for a global pandemic while someone dies every minute because they don’t have access to clean drinking water. ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks on two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt last Sunday that killed more than 40 people and injured more than 100 others. And all the while, things like cancer and estrangement and depression and sex trafficking and grief and shame continue to take their toll on us. And all of this conspires to make us ask: Is anyone in control? That’s the question of Good Friday, the question that was asked in 1943, and the question of our day. We need not look very far to find evil, oppressive forces at work in our world, forces that always seek to enslave us.

But the cross and empty tomb tell a different story – a story of hope and redemption and the victory of self-giving and self-emptying love. The cross was the willful choice of Jesus. And the empty tomb is the ultimate declaration that God is indeed in control from start to finish, in control to the very end. It’s about more than simply the events of one weekend 2,000 years ago. It’s about the reign of God today.

That is the power and the glory of the cross.

At the cross, Jesus exercises daring faith and He calls us to daring faith as well. Faith as trusting obedience. Jesus was obedient in willingly giving his life. And we are called to that same kind of obedience. Obedience is being like Jesus. This obedient faith led Jesus to a cross. This obedient faith also leads us to a cross-shaped life.

We do not avoid the cross. We embrace the cross, the way of glory through suffering and self-emptying love.

Posted in Discipleship, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Scripture, Social Issues, Theology | Leave a comment