An Accepting People

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Jason

gods-people-no-bkgrd

This post is part of a series on Mayfair’s Core Values preached in the summer of 2016.

We aspire to be an accepting people. All people are created in the image of God and therefore the church must be a place that loves and values others just as God does.

Beneath the surface, we are all looking for acceptance. Every human being is created in the image of God and therefore has a desire to be known in community, because the Triune God exists in community. Acceptance in community fosters unity, compassion, and patience. In the NT, we find instruction to accept one another just as Christ Jesus has accepted us.

Romans 15:7, Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

This might make for a nice soundbite, but the context of Romans reveals that this teaching emerges out of some real life struggles within the early church.

Romans 14:1-4, Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

The church in Rome is divided over a matter of judgment. One group of Christians (perhaps Jewish Christians, although they aren’t specifically identified as such) objects to eating meat. If these were indeed Jewish Christians, then we have an entry point for understanding; since kosher fare would’ve been difficult to find, a reasonable solution would be to avoid eating meat altogether. Another faction, quite possibly Gentile Christians, do not live with this level of restriction. Faith allows them to eat anything without violating their conscience.

Paul refers to these two groups as those who are weak in the faith and those who are strong. Faith here does not refer to one’s belief in general. Rather, it points to the convictions about what one’s faith allows him or her to do. We’re talking about the application of faith. This is an important point to make. The weak in faith here are not lesser Christians. They are simply those who do not think their faith allows them to do certain things that the strong feel free to do.

Differences of opinion have been a part of the church since the beginning. In this particular case, both groups have freedom to follow their conscience, but neither has the right to disparage the other. And that seems to be the real issue. It appears that the weak in faith are at fault for condemning the strong. “That bunch of crazy liberals! I can’t believe what they’re over there doing. They ought to be ashamed.” And likewise, the strong are at fault for looking down upon the weak. “Boy, they sure do have a backwards way of thinking. I guess they’re just not as enlightened as we are.” Both groups are crossing their arms and judging the other side.

This poses many problems but the greatest is this: when we judge one another, we put our authority above the authority of God.

In response to all of this, Paul says, “Stop it. Accept one another just as Christ has accepted you.”

We live in a time when tolerance is held up as our cardinal virtue. Our proclivity for tolerance can potentially color our understanding of acceptance. We are led to believe that true acceptance is unquestioned consent of that person’s behavior and lifestyle. To question any portion of someone’s behavior and lifestyle is to be labeled as intolerant and, therefore, unaccepting.

But that’s not the biblical teaching. Paul’s response to this controversy in the early church wasn’t to simply tell the believers to “tolerate one another.” In truth, tolerance doesn’t go far enough. The word simply won’t hold up for what Paul has in mind. Writing to the community that has been profoundly shaped by the love of God, Paul tells the believers to accept one another; in some English Bibles, the word is also translated welcome one another. This is not what tolerance requires; this is what love requires.

The biblical teaching acknowledges that there will be significant differences of opinion within the body of Christ. But because we have been shaped by the love of God, it’s not enough for us to simply tolerate each other, to “put up with one another.” The church is to be the place of mutual acceptance, a place of welcome, a place where we are received in spite of our differences. According to the word of God, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. If we’re inseparable from His love, that means we’re inseparable from one another, too.

The word Paul uses means to welcome someone as if you’re bringing her/him into your home. It’s seeing the new kid sitting by herself at lunch and going over to sit with her in an age-old expression of acceptance. We model this kind of acceptance and welcome because this is the way Jesus Christ has received us.

But what if someone, even someone in the church, doesn’t see things exactly the way I see things? We have all these silly labels to identify ourselves and disparage each other: conservative, liberal, traditional, progressive. We’ll wear these labels like badges of honor and we’ll use the contrasting label to smear a fellow brother or sister. These words have sewn as much division within the body of Christ as any others.

When we embrace labels, what happens is the conservatives eventually insulate themselves deeper among fellow conservatives; likewise with liberals. And eventually, they split off and form their own group or they just stay cloistered together so tightly that they might as well have formed their own group.

But this isn’t the way God intends for it to be in the church. We are to be a fellowship marked by mutual acceptance. The only label that counts in the church is Jesus Christ. We’re not called to wear the badge of “traditional” or “progressive”; we’re called to be clothed in Christ. We’re not called to disparage a brother or sister with language like “conservative” or “liberal”; we’re called to accept one another just as Christ accepted us. Beneath the surface, we are all looking for acceptance.

There’s a sense in which we should be attuned to the way that we welcome others into our churches. For over 1,500 years, the Benedictines have emphasized the importance of receiving the stranger in their midst. Centuries ago, the monastery functioned as a safe haven for the sojourner. So it would be common for travelers to seek shelter at the monastery. In the Benedictine tradition, one of the most important tasks falls to the porter in charge of answering the door. He is to sleep near the entrance to the monastery so he can hear and respond in a timely way when someone knocks at any hour, day or night. The porter is instructed to offer a welcome “with all the gentleness that comes from reverence of God,” and “with the warmth of love.” Upon hearing the knock on the door, the porter is to reply through the door, “Thanks be to God! A blessing!” He is to say this before he even knows who is on the other side of the door. And the porter is to welcome the stranger by offering food, drink, and shelter as an expression of the acceptance of the Lord.

For the Benedictines, the way they answer the door is the way they deal with the world.

Beneath the surface, we are all looking for acceptance.

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A Worshipping People

Posted on September 4, 2016 by Jason

gods-people-no-bkgrdThis post is part of a series on Mayfair’s Core Values preached in the summer of 2016.

We aspire to be a worshipping people. Because God is worthy of our worship, we seek a life that gives Him glory in all we do.

Worship is the act of being attentive to the presence and activity of the Living God. Worship fosters healing, transformation, and holiness. It is the human response to God’s initiative. When we recognize what God has done on our behalf, our response is worship. As a Christ-centered people (which we discussed last week), worship should be second nature for us. I like the way Richard Foster describes worship in his book, Celebration of Discipline: “To worship is to experience Reality, to touch Life.”

To worship is to ascribe value to something. In the English language, the etymology of “worship” is traced back to the word “worthy.” To worship is to deem something worthy of acknowledgement and praise. So when we worship God, we are declaring His worth, His supreme value to us.

In this sense, there is an economic component associated with worship. It has been said that if you want to know who / what you worship, take a look at how you spend your money and how you spend your time. We are making a value statement when we declare that God is worthy of our worship, which makes worship a rational, intellectual process.

Of course, the Bible wasn’t originally written in English, so this definition can only carry us so far. It is helpful for us to look at the biblical sense of the word.

In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, there are many words that are frequently translated as worship. These words are used to express a whole range of activity: singing, bowing down, serving, seeking, and working. When we see these words used in the Scriptures, our understanding of worship moves beyond the intellectual process of calculating worth. These Hebrew words point toward whole-bodied activity. These words connote real physical action. In order to worship this way, one needs to commit one’s whole body to the endeavor.

One of these Hebrew words for worship is abad. Abad has an interesting usage pattern. In some places in the Old Testament, it means, “to work” in the sense of laboring in the field, etc. Here are just two examples:

  • Exodus 34:21, “Six days shall you labor (abad) but on the seventh day you shall rest…”
  • Psalm 104:23, “Then man goes out to his work (abad), to his labor until evening.”

But in other places, abad is translated, “to worship.” Again, two examples:

  • Joshua 24:15, “But as for me and my household, we will serve (abad) the LORD.” In most English versions, Joshua’s statement is translated with “serve”, but the issue at hand is the contrast between worship of idols and worship of the LORD.
  • Exodus 8:1, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship (abad) me.’”

In Hebrew, there is a strong link between work, service, and worship. These ideas play off of one another in the Old Testament. And here we see that proper worship of God requires more than mere intellectual acknowledgement. It is more than the cognitive process of ascribing value. Worship is a whole-bodied offering, living and breathing service. Jesus affirms this when He teaches us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” (Mark 12:30).

And this background comes to bear upon the teaching on worship in Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

The word translated “mercy” here is actually plural. Paul calls to mind the “mercies” of God he has delineated over the first eleven chapters of this writing. In response to God’s mercies, we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices. This is a theme Paul has already highlighted elsewhere in Romans. Romans 6:13, Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life. Rather than offering ourselves up before the altar of sin, we offer ourselves to God, the one who brought us from death to life.

If we synthesize the teaching from these two sections of Romans, we’re instructed to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices. Why? Because that’s who Jesus is – He’s the ultimate living sacrifice. So we follow His example. And this part is key: offering ourselves in this manner is our spiritual act of worship.

When we think of worship, our minds immediately focus on Sunday. We think of these acts we’re engaged in this morning: singing, reflecting on God’s Word, praying, taking the Lord’s Supper – we think of the worshipping activity of the gathered church, as well we should. But the Scriptures teach us that worship is also the activity of the scattered church, as we operate as living sacrifices in our homes and neighborhoods and schools and places of work. In this way, our worship on Sunday “spills over” into the rest of our week. Even our service, our labor, and our work can be seen as an expression of worship if it is offered in the manner of a living sacrifice. So we seek to be attentive to the presence of God, not merely for an hour on Sunday morning, but at all times. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice.

Foster notes that one of the features of biblical worship is a sense of “holy expectancy.” When people gathered for worship in the Bible, they believed that God was present. Moses went into the tabernacle understanding that he was entering the presence of God. At the commemoration of the temple in 2 Chron. 5, the presence of God was so thick that the priests could not perform their service. In Acts 4, the building they were meeting in actually shook while the early church prayed. When some dropped dead and others were raised from the dead by the word of the Lord, the early church knew God was in their midst.

Do we live with the same sense of holy expectancy?

When we gather together for worship, do we expect God to show up?

  • Do we expect to encounter the same God who spoke to Moses from the embers of a burning bush and declared the ground to be holy?
  • Do we expect to encounter the same God Elijah prayed to from Mt. Carmel, the God who answered with fire from the heavens?
  • Do we expect to encounter the same God whose presence was so heavy in the Temple that no one could do anything other than to be still and acknowledge the He is the True and Living God?

I suspect that for many of us, the answer is no. If that is the case, how can we cultivate a sense of holy expectancy?

In order for us to enter our time of corporate worship on Sunday with a sense of holy expectancy, I believe we must be nurturing such a view throughout the week. It requires that we are attentive to the presence and activity of God every day, not merely on Sunday morning.

Brother Lawrence lived in France in the 17th century. Born into poverty, he entered military service as a young man, primarily because this was the surest way he could have three square meals a day plus a stipend. While serving in the army, Brother Lawrence experienced a profound revelation. In the middle of winter, he found himself staring at a dead, barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit, waiting patiently for the hope of spring. In that moment, Brother Lawrence realized his own barrenness; he himself was seemingly dead, but he felt strongly that God had life waiting for him. He said that the leafless, lifeless tree “first flashed in upon my soul the fact of God,” and a love for God that never after ceased to burn. After an injury in the Thirty Years’ War forced his retirement from the army, he decided he wanted to serve God with the rest of his life.

He arrived at a monastery in Paris and asked if he could serve. Because he lacked the proper training to teach others, Brother Lawrence was assigned a menial role in the monastery kitchen. It was tedious work, and Brother Lawrence spent the final 55 years of his life cooking and cleaning and scrubbing pots and running errands at the constant bidding of his superiors. But for more than five decades, Brother Lawrence labored at these tasks – no matter how great or insignificant – as if they were being conducted in the very presence of God Himself. And the result was a life of keen spiritual insight.

Brother Lawrence once wrote, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?” Brother Lawrence lived with a profound awareness of his identity as a “living sacrifice.” He taught that even the most menial tasks – when motivated by the presence of God – could become expressions of worship, expressions of “living sacrifice.”

Such a perspective transforms our “everyday” life into an encounter with God. It’s not just the grand things that count here. Brother Lawrence writes, “We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.” This is an example of one who lives with holy expectancy, an example of a Romans 12 “living sacrifice” kind of life.

In Brother Lawrence’s life, as in ours, worship fosters healing, transformation, and holiness when we are attentive to the presence and activity of God.

To live life as a “living sacrifice” is to live a life of worship. It is a life patterned after the words of Heb. 13:15, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. As living sacrifices, we offer the sacrifice of praise through Jesus.

In Christ, our whole lives become a sacrifice of praise to God the Father.

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A Christ-Centered People

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Jason

gods-people-no-bkgrdThis post is part of a series on Mayfair’s Core Values preached in the summer of 2016.

We aspire to be a Christ-centered people. Everything about who we are and what we do is interpreted and understood in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is the primary core value from which all others flow. More than anything else, we desire to be a Christ-centered people.

Or, to use the language of Scripture, Jesus is our life.

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In his letter to the Colossians, Paul focuses on the centrality of Jesus. The church in Colosse was wrestling with a controversial approach to spirituality. It seems that there were some who were trying to synthesize strains of Judaism and Greek philosophy with Christian teaching. The result was a piecemeal approach that left a lot of people really confused, which prompted Paul to write his letter.

It seems that the Colossians were enamored with mysterious knowledge of the spiritual world. There were some in Paul’s day who claimed to have superior spiritual knowledge based on their participation in certain mystical actions, such as the worship of angels or the observance of a variety of rituals as a way of offering protection from the spiritual forces of darkness.

Paul’s response to all of this was to focus on Jesus.

Paul says that God commissioned him to serve the church by making the word of God fully known: “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him…” (Col. 1:26-28).

Paul counters all of the false teaching in Colosse by pointing to the real mystery, which is Christ in you (plural), Christ in us, Christ in the church. Paul would not have the Colossians blinded by controversy. Instead, he would have them see Christ in their midst, at the center of their lives, moving among His people. He goes on to name Christ alone as the mystery of God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3). To a people who idolize special knowledge and mystical religious experience, Paul says, “Christ at the center is enough! To know Christ is to know the mystery of God!”

And throughout this letter, Paul repeatedly returns to this theme. In some of the Bible’s loftiest language to describe Jesus, it says all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:16-17). He points to Jesus as creator and sustainer of all things, but he also says all things were created for Him. Jesus is the telos, the goal of creation. Everything is by Him and through Him and for Him.

And Paul points to the cross as the place where everything changes. Col. 2:13-15, He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Our life in Christ culminates at the cross.

When a criminal was executed on a cross, it was customary to nail a list of his crimes on the stake. (Think of the sign they placed above Jesus’ head, John 19). At the cross, Paul says, we should see Jesus being crucified but the sign above his head lists not his crimes (for he has none) but ours. We recognize our own handwriting describing in great detail the debt of our sin: our lust, our gossip, our theft, our anger, our pride…all of it is spelled out there on the sign above his head like a crown of sins. And literally, the Word in Col. 2 says this record of our debt is blotted out, erased. Our crimes are covered by the blood of Jesus, which marks the cross as the place where we transition from death to life. It all happens at the cross, for the cross defines who we are.

And this leads Paul to say in Col. 3:3-4, For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. I love that phrase, “Christ, who is your life.” You’d be hard pressed to find a better definition of Christianity. Paul doesn’t say Jesus is a part of your life; he doesn’t have room for any such compartmentalizing of your life. To be a Christian is to make Jesus your life.

Okay, so let’s put all of this together:

A Christ-centered life is a cross-shaped life. To follow Jesus is to be defined by the cross. But we need to really reflect on what this means. Even Jesus paused for a moment when it came to the cross. He prayed, “Father, would you remove this cup?” The Scriptures show Jesus in anguish with sweat like drops of blood. Yet, in the end, He prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

In that moment, Jesus essentially said, “It’s not about me. It’s about You, Father. It’s about what You want.” That is the shape of the cross – even before He was nailed to it, the cross defined Jesus.

So we would do well to ask: Does the cross define me? Selfishness vs. sacrifice

To be defined by the cross is to recognize what Jesus affirmed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a profound truth that makes all the difference: it’s not about me. From the very beginning of the biblical story, selfishness has always been alluring. So often we are tempted to say, “It IS about me!” I want it my way; focus on my comfort, my security, my rights, my sense of entitlement, my desires, etc.

But a Christ-centered life is a cross-shaped life. And a cross-shaped life declares, “It’s not about me. It’s about God.” Aren’t you thankful that Jesus was willing to say, “It’s not about me.”

There is a collective way to hear these words as well. Paul is speaking to the church here, so we’re right in saying that Jesus is our life. The life of the church is wrapped up in Jesus. We’ve attempted to capture this in our mission statement: we begin by saying we are followers of Jesus. As we’ve heard this morning, all things are created by Him and for Him. So that means that the Mayfair church exists for Jesus.

And that necessarily means that the church doesn’t exist for me. There’s something much greater going on here. Again, “It’s not about me.” The Bible says the church is created for Him. The church exists for God’s glorification, not for our gratification. The church doesn’t exist for you and me and for our glory; it exists for the glory of God.

The problem is that so much of church life in this nation boils down to my gratification. How do people normally go about choosing a church? “Well, I liked the preaching, I liked the children’s ministry, the seats are comfortable, they serve good coffee, the temperature is just right.” Every one of those has something to do with our gratification. And if that’s where we focus, guess what? We won’t be a Christ-centered church. We’ll be a self-centered church.

And what do people say when they decide to leave a church? “Well, I didn’t like the preaching, the children’s ministry, the seats are lousy, the coffee is bad, the temperature is too hot.” And all of that misses the point. The church exists for God’s glorification, not for our gratification.

What does it mean for Christ to be your life? One final verse from Colossians gives us an answer. Col. 3:12, Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are qualities that are found in Jesus. We can summarize this by saying we are to put on Christ, clothe ourselves with Christ.

thumbThe New York Yankees have one of the most iconic and unique uniforms in professional sports. The Yankees were the first team in professional baseball to use numbers to identify individual players. Originally, these numbers were based on the individual player’s position in the lineup, so Babe Ruth wore #3 because he batted third; Lou Gehrig #4, because he was the cleanup hitter; etc. But when teams began including individual player names on the backs of their jerseys, the Yankees refused. To this day, no individual player names are included on either the Yankee home or away jerseys. You’ll find the team name and those trademark pinstripes, but not an individual player’s name – because the name on the front of the jersey is the only name that matters.

The same is true of us.

By saying that we aspire to be a Christ-centered people, we’re saying that Christ is our life.

Is Jesus your life? Or is He just a part of your life?

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Parenting: The Swimming Pool Metaphor

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Jason

108572_768In her insightful new book Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood (2016), Dr. Lisa Damour compares parenting to a swimming pool.

Consider the metaphor in which your teenage daughter is a swimmer, you are the pool in which she swims, and the water is the broader world. Like any good swimmer, your daughter wants to be out playing, diving, or splashing around in the water. And, like any swimmer, she holds on to the edge the pool to catcher her breath after a rough lap or getting dunked too many times.

Dr. Damour notes how this plays out in real life. Your daughter inevitably reaches the point where she begins to part with her childhood. She is so busy with her friends, schoolwork, or extracurricular activities that you feel as if you need to reintroduce yourself to her. Then something happens: friend drama, boy trouble, a failed test…and her world comes crashing down. Suddenly she is seeking your advice once again. She sits cross-legged on the couch and shares her heart with you as the tears come streaming down her face. She might even (gasp!) ask you to hold her.

In other words, she’s had a hard time in the water and has come to the edge of the pool to recover.

And you’re in heaven. Your little girl is back! She’s talking to you about her feelings and her heartache. And she eagerly listens when you speak. She craves your embrace, your wisdom, your physical presence. As Dr. Damour says, “Paul Simon’s ‘Mother and Child Reunion’ plays in your head as you start to imagine the many fantastic adventures you’ll share with your new best friend.”

Then she pushes you away. Hard. What just happened? Well, like a swimmer who gets her breath back, your daughter wants to return to the water, and she gets there by pushing off the side of the pool. This often takes the form of picking the dumbest fight ever or being nasty in a way that is both petty and painful (“Please tell me you didn’t actually wear those shoes with that skirt today.”) While you could have hummed Paul Simon all day long, your daughter needs to hurry back to the depths as soon as she feels restored. Why can’t she linger? Because, to her, lingering feels babyish, which is just about the last thing that any normal teenager who is parting with childhood wants to feel. Clinging to you quickly becomes as uncomfortable for your daughter as it is pleasantly nostalgic for you. She rushes back to the work of parting with childhood with an abrupt — sometimes painful — shove.

If you’re the parent of an adolescent or pre-adolescent girl, you probably understand how it feels to be “swimming pooled.” But we should understand that this is normal, even healthy behavior as our daughters continue to chart their course toward adulthood.

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My Anniversary Gift 

Posted on August 20, 2016 by Jason

On our anniversary last week, Sunny was disappointed because her gift for me hadn’t arrived yet. She had ordered something handmade and it was late ending shipped.
Well, my gift arrived this morning: a wood burned map of the MLB Ballparks, complete with pins to mark the ones you’ve visited. Awesome gift! I already have a spot in my office picked out to display this. Isn’t my wife incredible? Best of all, she actually enjoys visiting these ballparks with me. What a great gift!

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The Mask You Live In

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Jason

The_Mask_You_Live_In_ImageThe other day I saw a trailer for a documentary entitled “The Mask You Live In.” The filmmakers examine the narrow way we define masculinity in this country and the impact this has on our sons. I’ve not seen the entire documentary, but I intend to do so.

In one scene, a counselor is working with a group of high school boys. The counselor gives each young man a sheet of paper. On the front side, he asks them to write words to describe their image, the image they project to the world. And so the boys take a few minutes to write. Then the counselor has the boys flip over to the back side and to write words to describe how they feel about themselves, the person beneath the mask. He has the boys wad up the sheets of paper and throw them all in a pile on the floor. The counselor picks up the wadded up papers and reads each one aloud.

It probably comes as no surprise that the boys used similar language on the front side of their papers. Filled with the braggadocio and machismo common to teen boys, the front side of the papers were filled with words like “tough” and “fearless” and “fighter.” But the revelation came when the counselor read the information revealed on the back of the page. Under cover of anonymity, the boys used strikingly similar language to describe their “real” selves, the person beneath the mask of masculinity. “Lonely.” “Sad.” “I have no friends.” The boys were stunned to discover that they all felt the same way.

Deep down, everyone is looking to be accepted, received, and welcomed.

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. — Romans 15:7

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Seventeen

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Jason

IMG_0598Seventeen years.

In some ways, it doesn’t seem right. Wait, we’ve been married seventeen years? Are we old enough to have been married that long?

Then again, I honestly can’t remember what my life was like prior to marrying Sunny. When I sit with couples for premarital counseling, I tell them to think of their marriage as an altar. Marriage is about sacrifice, but transformation occurs when we become living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2). In marriage, “I” becomes “we.” When you immerse yourself in the marriage covenant so fully, holy transformation is inevitable.

Seventeen years ago, I married the best person I know.

And outside of coming to know Jesus as Lord, it continues to be the most transformative moment of my life.

If you’d never met my wife, I’d have you read a post I wrote for her birthday in 2015 entitled “Her Goodness.” The title says it all. I’m convinced that Sunny’s defining quality is her goodness. Here’s what I said about Sunny in that post:

From day one, I’ve never known anyone more interested in doing the right thing…not the convenient thing…not the popular thing…not the politically expedient thing…but the right thing, in any and every circumstance. She was that way when I met her at age 17. And she’s the same person today.

For seventeen years, I’ve been profoundly shaped by Sunny’s enduring goodness. There’s a certain gravitational pull to her purity of heart; I know she’s made me a better person because of her example and influence. It’s such a blessing to be married to your best friend. She’s been so supportive of me: through my years in youth ministry, through graduate school, through doctoral work, and now in my current role as preaching minister, I’ve always been able to rely on Sunny’s constant encouragement and quiet strength. She makes me laugh more than anyone and I’m so thankful that seventeen years ago, she met me at the altar and said “I do.”

Sunny, thank you for being my wife, my companion, and my friend. Moreover, thank you for meeting me at the altar, for modeling “living sacrifice” every day in our marriage and in our home, and for transforming me through your goodness and your grace. I love you.

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Summer Reading / Playlist

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Jason

Things have been pretty quiet over here at the blog lately. Between end-of-summer festivities and the start of a new school year, it’s just been awfully busy around here lately. But I decided to take a little time and write about some of what I’ve been reading and listening to this summer.

la-et-jc-city-of-mirrors-20160613-snapCity of Mirrors by Justin Cronin

If you’re into post-apocalyptic fiction, then you’re probably already aware of Cronin’s masterful Passage series. I picked up a copy of The Passage a few years ago during a weeklong intensive course in Abilene and I devoured it in a week (all 700+ pages of it). City of Mirrors is the long-awaited conclusion to Cronin’s centuries-spanning trilogy in the wake of a viral epidemic (and I mean “viral” quite literally). I won’t give away any of the plot details but this final installment was satisfying on so many levels. Cronin swings for the fences here, aiming at a narrative that works at a meta-level while still delivering epic action and a gratifying end for our favorite characters. In my opinion, he nailed the ending. A great summer read that poses thoughtful questions about life, myth, civilization, and our deep-seeded narratival nature.

kingkiller-coversThe Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

A couple of good friends recommended this series to me after I wrapped up City of Mirrors. Rothfuss’s tale of Kvothe, a valiant adventurer narrating his story to a young scribe, has more of an “old world” feel to it, much like Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. But it’s everything you want in a good story. I just completed the second entry in the trilogy and I can’t wait for the final chapter to be released. If you’re a fan of Martin’s work, you should slip seamlessly into Rothfuss’s fully alive universe.

Sabbath-1Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now by Walter Brueggemann

So far, my favorite non-fiction read of the summer. Brueggemann has loomed large in academic theological circles for decade. But this highly accessible little volume deftly weaves biblical insight with pastoral sensibility to produce a prophetic word for an anxious, over-worked culture. Brueggemann gives the Sabbath back to us, not as a commandment so much as an invitation to life:

“The way of mammon (capital, wealth) is the way of commodity that is the way of endless desire, endless productivity, and endless restlessness without any Sabbath. Jesus taught his disciples that they could not have it both ways.”

Elsewhere, Brueggemann notes, “Moses knows that prosperity breeds amnesia.” We see, then, the practice of Sabbath rest as an act of resistance and remembering, keeping the deity of commerce and produce at bay as we embrace the Lord of rest. The book itself is not cumbersome either, an embodiment of the rest toward which Brueggemann directs us. Read these life-giving words.

18d928b0-76c4-11e4-95b5-ff2979de448a_upupandawayUp, Up, and Away: The Kid, The Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, Le Grand Orange, Youppi!, The Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos by Jonah Keri

You’ll have to forgive the clunky title. Keri, of Grantland and Baseball Prospectus fame, compiles an oral history of baseball’s red-headed stepchild, the doomed-from-the-start Montreal Expos. This thorough expose (sorry) is immersive and completely fascinating. This was my baseball read this summer and I wasn’t disappointed. Hardcore baseball fans need to read this one.

amoonshapedpool.0.0A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead

I’ve always followed Radiohead from somewhat of a distance. I liked their 90s stuff, but somewhere around Kid A, they kind of lost me. I just struggled to “get” their turn-of-the-millennium stuff. I loved In Rainbows; not so much King of Limbs. But this is the first Radiohead release I consumed in “real time” and I’m pretty sure it’s my Album of the Year. First, the music. This is some of the most beautiful music they’ve produced to date, accented by Jonny Greenwood’s haunting string arrangements. But the real draw here is the message. Filled with evocative allusions to paranoia and panic (what else would you expect from Radiohead), “Burn the Witch” is the most prescient song of 2016. No other set of songs so perfectly encapsulates our collective angst and fears more than this one.

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Already and Not Yet: Becoming a Husband

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Jason

I originally wrote this for a friend’s blog last month. Decided to post it here as well.

The Kingdom of heaven is like becoming a husband.

Allow me to explain.

Jason and Sunny weddingOn August 14, 1999, I stood before everyone I know and love, in a rented tuxedo, and made a covenant vow to love Sunny until parted by death. We said some magic words, swapped some rings, kissed….the whole thing was over in about 20 minutes. And just like that, I was a husband.

But in the weeks and months to come, I realized how much I had to learn about my new title. Although I was already a husband, it quickly became evident that I was not yet the husband Sunny deserved. Or, to put it another way: I had no clue what I was doing. So even though I already had the title of “husband”, I had much to learn about the way of husbandry.

Thankfully, my wife possesses the spiritual gift of excruciating patience. She was patient with me as I lived into that which I was not yet embodying.

And slowly, I became what I already was.

I became a better husband the first time I made her mascara run by making an insensitive comment – something I’ve done far too often in 16 years of marriage. But that insensitive comment was redeemed by the power of God, becoming a catalyst to produce godly transformation in me. I learned to be more discerning in the things I said. And that’s just one example. I became a better husband the time I accidentally broke an entire boxful of her porcelain figurines, knick-knacks, and family heirlooms. (I can tell you that story some other time.) I became a better husband through years of exposure to Sunny’s innate goodness. I’ve never known anyone who wants to do the right thing more completely and more often than my wife. And no matter how long we’re married, I suspect I’ll always be in the process of becoming a better version of myself as I continue to learn to love Sunny well.

Am I a finished product? Absolutely not. Sunny would be the first to tell you that I still have a long way to go.

But I’m grateful that marriage has been the crucible in my life to bring me into proximity to this already / not yet reality. For I believe this dynamic to be at the very heart of what Jesus has to say about the Kingdom of God.

Scholars believe the Gospel of Mark was the first Gospel to be widely circulated among the earliest believers. In Mark’s expression of the Good News, the first words Jesus speaks are concerned with the nearness of the Kingdom.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of god. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14)

The first words Jesus speaks in the first Gospel to be recorded are about the nearness of the Kingdom.

Near the end of his ministry, the Pharisees ask him when the Kingdom would come. He replied:

The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20-21)

Jesus spoke of His Kingdom as a present reality in the first century. Disciples of Christ participate in this Kingdom, His present reign. Through faith, Christ’s disciples are invited to participate in a Kingdom where peace reigns – where swords are beaten into plowshares (Isa. 2). In Christ’s Kingdom, the “natural” order of enmity is redeemed and reconciled (Isa. 11), as wolf and lamb live together in perfect shalom. This Kingdom life is the product of faith; in a very real way, followers of Christ participate in that Kingdom now, a Kingdom where the first are last, the least are greatest, service is selfless and love endures. We experience the Kingdom already in so many blessed ways.

And yet, this Kingdom still awaits full consummation. Creation waits in eager expectation for a final revealing (Rom. 8:19), God’s final redemptive act to bring history to a just and glorious end. The last enemy to be defeated is death (1 Cor. 15:26) and we hasten the day when King Jesus eradicates death once and for all. John was given a glimpse of this glorious future reality in the final vision recorded in Revelation.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making all things new!” (Rev. 21:1-5)

In the Bible’s closing scene, the Apostle John peeks over the fence of mortality to see a new reality, the new Jerusalem, a place of complete communion between God and man, a city unmarred by the ravaging effects of sin, decay, and death. The scope of God’s renewing administration is universal. All things are made new by the power of His decree.

But that day is not this day.

In the last few weeks, we have been met with grim reminders that John’s ancient vision has not fully broken into this plane of existence.

On Stanford’s campus, there are plenty of tears still to be wiped.

In vigils throughout Orlando, the old order of death, mourning, crying, and pain continues to overwhelm.

In places like Louisiana and Minnesota…in places like Dallas and Kansas City…in Istanbul…in Nice, France…

We live with constant reminders of the not yet dimension of the Kingdom. Creation groans a bit longer. Evil is still pervasive. The present order of the sword has yet to be redeemed. Wolf and lamb are still caught in an endless cycle of violence. Shalom is not yet ours.

Scholars use terms like “prolepsis” to describe our present condition. That is to say, we live “between the times.” We live between what Christ has already done and what He’s yet to do. Our charge is to be the in-breaking of the Kingdom in the here and now while waiting for the fullness of the Kingdom yet to come.

The Kingdom of God, much like life itself, is both already and not yet. This is to acknowledge who we find ourselves to be in this moment while simultaneously recognizing that we’ve not fully arrived. It expresses something about how we are to value life lived today with a nod toward the hopeful anticipation of something more on the horizon. It’s acknowledging that I’m a member of a Kingdom that is both a present reality and a future development. It calls me to live faithfully as a member of this in-breaking Kingdom now with an understanding that the beauty of this life is fully realized in a Kingdom yet to come. It is this beautiful tension that most fully expresses the most fundamental truths of the abundant life that is ours in Christ. On my good days and, perhaps most especially on my bad days, I desperately need to be reminded that I am both already and not yet. This is a truth I hold most dear.

Which is how the Kingdom of God is like becoming a husband.

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The Power of Missional Conversation

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Jason

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People who have been shaped by the Good News of Jesus have a responsibility to embody the Good News of Jesus. And one of simplest and yet most powerful ways we can embody the Good News is through our conversations.

Think about the kinds of conversations we have over the course of any week. Think about the opportunities present in each of those conversations. What would it look like if those conversations became missional conversations?

In Acts 17:16-34, we find Paul waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens. Athens was the glorious capital city of Greek culture, the place where Plato and Aristotle taught. The city drew its name from Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and knowledge. Athens symbolized the highest of art, culture, and philosophy in the ancient world.

Paul sees that Athens is filled with idols and the text says he was “greatly distressed.” Literally, Paul is “outraged.” And this really challenges me. While I believe our idols are much more sophisticated than the idols of the ancient world, our city is filled with idols nonetheless. But when was the last time I was “outraged” over this? I’m not sure missional conversations can truly begin until we share Paul’s distress over our cultural idolatry.

Paul begins to talk to the people; some translations say that Paul “disputed” with people. We have to remember that debate was part of the discourse of the day. The point isn’t that Paul had an argumentative personality; the point is that he engages people in the mode of communication that is familiar to them and their culture. He engages them in meaningful and relevant conversation.

Paul goes to two places:

  1. The synagogue – in the local synagogue, Paul can interact with the Jewish people as well as God-fearing Greeks, those who have the greatest context to understand Jesus as the promised Messiah.
  2. The marketplace – a general gathering place for business and conversation. Paul is present here as well, which affords him the opportunity to dialogue with all types, including the philosophers.

Paul doesn’t seem to think that conversations about faith should only occur in places of worship. He’s taking these conversations into the public arena. And the Bible says he does this every day while he’s in Athens.

The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers dispute Paul’s teaching, not in a hostile manner, but honestly. Philosophy was extremely important in the ancient world. Ancient philosophy was not merely a discussion about abstract doctrine that you might hear at an academic seminar. Rather, these philosophical viewpoints referred to a particular way of life. Different philosophies (or worldviews) were hotly contested in the ancient world, advocated vigorously by street preachers, and discussed in everyday conversation.

Epicurus taught in Athens in the 4th century BC. His followers believed in the gods, but taught that human life was free from interference from them. Life was ruled by chance, purely an accident of nature. Therefore they did not believe in a future beyond death. Since that was the case, the Epicureans considered personal happiness the supreme value. Avoid suffering at all costs. There is no such thing as a personal god.

Stoics, on the other hand, were pantheists; that is, they believed that God was in all things. Therefore, they could say, “in him we live and move and have our being.” Stoics sought to live in harmony with the cosmos, because divinity is in everything. They believed the moral life was the reasoned existence, since everything was governed by logic. Stoics were highly rational and analytical.

These philosophers refer to Paul as a “babbler” – literally “seed picker.” Picture a bird hopping around the marketplace pecking at various seeds, without a coherent approach. That’s what the Stoics and Epicureans think of Paul. They say to each other, “What is he trying to say?” They view Paul as a simpleton, a peddler of second-rate philosophy and religion.

Others make a more harmful accusation: “He seems to be a preacher of foreign gods.” This is a serious charge. The law forbade Athenians from introducing new religions. Centuries earlier, Socrates had been executed on the same charge. But they accuse Paul of this because he’s preaching something they’ve never heard: Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection (v18). Paul is evangelizing – he’s literally “good news-ing” the crowd. Paul’s philosophy / worldview was one of Good News focused on Jesus.

These philosophers take Paul to the Aeropagus, an elevated, open-air site where the city council gathered. Some see this as Paul on trial, but the tone seems more civil. The leaders ask, “May we know what this new teaching is that you’re presenting?” In essence, they’re saying, “We’d like to know more.” And Paul stands ready to tell them about Jesus.

Paul says to them in v22-23, Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. Paul has made careful observations about this culture. He uses this altar to an unknown God as his inroads to a missional conversation. Paul is careful to say that he’s not preaching a “new” religion; he’s merely telling them about this God who is “unknown” to them.

Here are a few of the things Paul tells them about this “unknown God”:

  • God is the universal God. Paul uses universal language to affirm that the Creator God has made “everything”; he gives “all men” life and “everything else.” He made “every nation” to inhabit “the whole earth.” And Paul says this same God wants “all people everywhere” to repent.
  • God is a transcendent God. He doesn’t live in temples built by human hands. Nor does he live in temples of the human mind. The Stoics were wrong when they taught that everything was a part of God.
  • God is the God of history. He has allotted the times and places for human history to unfold. The Epicureans are wrong when they say life is an accident of nature.
  • God has made himself known. Paul says God desires that we seek him and reach out for him. Paul could’ve easily pointed to the many shrines around him as proof that the people were looking for meaning and purpose to their lives. Paul says this reflects God’s desire that we should seek him. And the Good News is that God is present. As Paul says, he is not far from each one of us. In Christ, He has made himself known.

In order to make this final point, Paul quotes from Greek philosophy and poetry. He does this with two lines in v28:

For in him we live and move and have our being. We believe this comes from Epimenides, a philosopher from the 6th century BC. Of course, Epimenides would’ve been originally speaking about Zeus, but Paul uses this familiar line and attributes it to the God of Israel.

According to tradition, Athens was once afflicted by a terrible plague and the people didn’t know what else to do, so they sent a ship to Crete to ask for the help of wise Epimenides. Epimenides agreed to help the Athenians and when he arrives, he (like Paul) finds the city filled with shrines to a number of different gods. Epimenides concludes that there must be a god unknown to Athens and this god must be appeased. So he takes a flock of sheep to the Areopagus and wherever one of these lambs lies down, he has an altar built right there and they sacrifice the lamb to the unknown god. Within a week, those with the plague have recovered and Epimenides is hailed as a hero. Thus, from that day onward, visitors to Athens would find altars to unknown gods around the city.

And Paul alludes to this philosopher in his speech, a philosopher who believed that the blood of a lamb could bring healing to the people. I wonder why Paul would quote someone like that?

We are his offspring. This is a quote from Aratus, one of the greatest Greek poets who lived in the 3rd century BC. Aratus was known for blending poetry and science in a refined manner of writing. Paul cites this poet who would have been quite revered in a city like Athens. Paul quotes Aratus to supplement his argument. If we are indeed God’s offspring, He cannot be like these images of gold, silver, and stone. He’s a living being, not something we can create.

At the conclusion of Paul’s speech, Luke tells us that some in the crowd scoff while others are more open. Some even choose to become disciples, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a member of the assembly.

So here are a few things we can learn from Paul’s experience in Athens:

  1. Missional conversations begin on common ground.

This is where Paul begins in his discussion at the Areopagus. He says, I can see that you’re very religious and I’ve seen your objects of worship. Paul has carefully observed the surrounding culture and he’s found common ground by acknowledging that the Athenians are quite religious. Of course, Paul wants to correct those faulty religious views, but he begins by establishing some common ground.

And this is instructive for us as we seek to have the same kinds of missional conversations with people today. So, for instance, say you find yourself talking with someone about politics. And they’re talking about a particular candidate and expressing concerns over what will happen if / when that candidate is elected. How does that conversation become missional in nature? Well, you could respond by saying, “I can tell that you’re very concerned about the future of this country and I share those concerns. But one of the things that helps me deal with those concerns is to remind myself that God is in control and thankfully my ultimate future is defined by him, not by any politician.” This is just one approach, but a missional conversation begins by seeking to establish common ground.

  1. Missional conversations bridge the gap between places of worship and the marketplace.

Remember, Paul talks about his faith in both the synagogue and the marketplace. In our culture, the conventional attitude is “Believe what you want to believe, just don’t say anything about it to anyone else.” But Paul doesn’t subscribe to this point of view.

What sorts of things are people talking about in the marketplace these days? What conversations do you have with friends over dinner or at the coffee shop? And here’s the next question: What bearing does your faith have on these conversations?

So, again, we can see this in our political discussions: in this election cycle, we’ve heard a great deal about what it means to be an outsider. A lot of people look at Washington and see a system that’s broken and many believe it will take an outsider to change the status quo. So if you find yourself in that kind of conversation, it’s an opportunity to say, “You know, Jesus was considered an outsider by the power brokers in Jerusalem. In fact, he was such a threat to their power that they decided to have him executed.”

Or perhaps the people in your marketplace are talking about the latest blockbuster coming out of Hollywood. Have you ever thought about our cultural infatuation with superhero movies? Why is it that we’re drawn to these stories of good and evil with these heroes who have incredible power to save? Do you think that’s just random or could that be evidence that we’re looking for something deeper, that our souls are uniquely hardwired to crave such stories of salvation and redemption?

  1. Missional conversations focus on the Good News about Jesus.

Paul is very tactful and thoughtful in confronting the views of the Epicureans and the Stoics. Remember, he is outraged over their rampant idolatry, but that doesn’t mean he lashes out in anger at them. In fact, Paul seems perfectly at ease in this conversation.

Paul exercises tact by engaging the Athenians on their own terms: most notably philosophy and poetry. Those were important cultural elements in Athens. And Paul demonstrates thoughtfulness by connecting these disciplines to matters of faith. And the people say to him, “We’d like to know more.” And the same thing can be true in our conversations today.

When we engage in conversations like this, we embody the Good News. The world hears plenty of bad news; you can find bad news at every turn. But there’s an opportunity there for us to be a Good News people, even in our conversations. To take part in missional conversations is to do what Paul did all those years ago in Athens: to speak a word of Good News in the name of Jesus.

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