A & P

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Dana

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:1-2

These words follow the great chapter about the Old Testament heroes. The Lord perfects our faith… and we’ve got to remember he knows what he’s doing. “Leave your country and go to the land I will show you.” “You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” “Take your son, Isaac, whom you love, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.” I wonder if Abraham asked, “Lord, is this journey supposed to be so difficult?” But God was perfecting a man’s faith… and looking ahead to bless all mankind. He was not setting up hoops for an old guy to jump through. God is not simply in search of good performance. His thoughts go far beyond ours. God’s motives are rooted in love and purpose. “Will a man believe me even when circumstances look impossible? Will a man trust me completely? Will a man even surrender my gift to him, his most precious possession – a beloved son? Will a man venture to be my friend?” When I compare myself to Abraham, I think of the prayer of a man Jesus encountered: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Here’s a more mysterious truth: the Lord is the Author of our faith. In the original language, this word translated, “Author”, appears four times in the New Testament. Jesus is the Author of life… without him we would not be here. He is the Author of salvation… without him we would be lost. He is the Author who gives repentance and forgiveness… without him sin consumes us. And he is the Author of our faith… without him we can’t even start the race.

Does this not put the emphasis where it belongs? Who can boast about his faith? Jesus is the Author and Perfecter! Who can boast about his love? “We love because he first loved us.” Who can boast about his finish? “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow…”

At this time of the year, I always like to invite people to join the good work of some of our missionary friends. John and Suzanne Hunter run a Christian school in a poverty stricken section of Windhoek, Namibia. I’ve been there five times and can attest that God’s love is poured out in an incredible way. Saturday, November 1, at 5:00 we will host an ‘Empty Bowl’ meal to support the Hunters and Community Hope School. Come visit with the Hunters, enjoy a simple meal, and bless vulnerable African children. John is a ‘master potter’ and will give an ‘empty bowl’ to those who want to donate to this ministry. The event will be held at the Family-Student Center at Greater Atlanta Christian School. If you can come, please send me an email by October 29.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

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hidden

Posted on October 16, 2008 by Dana

“This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing they do not hear or understand.’ In them is fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’” Matthew 13:13-15

What an interesting reason for Jesus to tell stories! So if he had come in our time, who would understand?

“I would! I’ve gone to church all my life. I’ve been to Christian schools. I have acquired a Master’s degree and have a sharp mind. I’ve dedicated myself to Christian education. And, perhaps most importantly, if I really want something, I usually get it. I know how to win and rarely do I fail.”

If I made this argument to prove that I would be quite adept at understanding the stories of Jesus, he just might say, “But you are really deaf and blind.”

The religious of Jesus’ day, who knew much more Scripture than I’ll ever know, were ignorant about the Kingdom the Rabbi proclaimed. They were ‘first’ in their community, but Jesus declared “the first will be last.” Even the members of his own physical family did not seem to have advantage. In his mother’s and brothers’ hearing, Jesus asked, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

And if we think the closest disciples had it easy, these words should correct us: “Are you still so dull?” “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand?” “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus knew there were educated Jews in Israel, but he chose the uneducated. Jesus knew there were wealthy who gave of their abundance, but he chose to praise the widow who contributed two mites. Jesus knew there were those who had memorized Scripture and were viewed as ‘spiritual’, but he chose to reveal himself to a woman with a sinful past at a well in Samaria.

If we look at these stories and keep in mind the parables, we might conclude that God Himself holds the key to who understands and who does not. So a little orphan in Kenya might be walking much closer with God than an experienced Christian teacher in America.

“Preposterous!” I argue. “The orphan knows nothing! How can you propose that a child in the midst of poverty can have more spiritual life than one who has studied as much as I have? I know the meaning of the parables! I would not have been like the disciples who often missed the main points. I’ve read and memorized the Word since I was a boy and now I miss no opportunity to hear the best and brightest speakers in Christianity. I often give to help the orphans in Africa, but I don’t think they are closer to God than I am.”

“When you read my Word, do you miss my tenderness toward the broken and my resistance to the proud? Have you noticed my value on weakness and my disdain for ‘human’ strength? The ‘Father to the fatherless’ can give understanding in an instant to whomever he chooses. You who think you know so much aren’t as wise as you suppose. People have not changed much since I walked the earth… and my Father has not changed at all. Hearing great speakers, sitting in beautiful buildings with the most advanced technology, and attending splendid conferences does not give you great advantage in his eyes. He wants you to know him… and to do that you must come straight to me. The person who does this in the poorest nation on earth is better off than the person who goes his own way in the richest.”

“I am sorry, Lord. You are right. I realize I sometimes struggle with pride. So what do I do?”

“Humble yourself, my child. Camp out at the Cross. It’s hard to be proud there.”

“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.’” Matthew 11:25-28

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Storyteller

Posted on October 9, 2008 by Dana

I’m not sure where our daughter, Kinsey, gets her fearlessness… I know it is not from me. She’s in Zambia this semester taking classes and working in medical clinics… and loving it. Recently, I walked in her room and noticed a journal entitled: “What Would I Do If I Knew I Could Not Fail?” So I guess it shouldn’t have surprised us to get a picture through e-mail of her bungee jumping off Victoria Falls. I think she did an even crazier thing in Europe with her brother, Taylor, last spring. They were coming to the end of their trip, getting ready to take an overnight train from Florence, Italy to Paris where they would spend a day and a night before catching a plane to Atlanta. Kinsey was walking along thinking about the smooth trip she and her brother had enjoyed when she decided to pray a bold prayer: “Lord, thank you for this gift you have given us, but we’ve not really had an adventure yet. You know our family always has a story after a trip, would you give me and Taylor an exciting one to tell?”

What does God do with such prayers? He must laugh… and in this case answered, “OK… I have just the adventure.” I can’t tell every detail, but that very afternoon Taylor and Kinsey went to the wrong tracks and missed the train to Paris. Two American girls from Boston, who had been studying a semester in France, joined them in the same predicament. Instantly these four became a team with a common, urgent goal. “It was awesome, Dad, each one of us had a unique talent to offer the group,” Kinsey shared. “I’m glad I wasn’t there,” I said. “Yeah… you would have died.” (I don’t handle these adventures too well… and I sure don’t pray for them!) Over the course of the next twenty hours, these four travelers talked their way onto two trains. One took them to Milan, where they spent a sleepless night in a train station with some interesting Italians. How they managed the last leg of the journey, I’ll never understand, but somehow they boarded a sold-out train and arrived safely in Paris in time to see a few sights before catching their plane home. “Didn’t God answer my prayer in an incredible way?!” Kinsey exclaimed. Susan and I just shook our heads.

My kids say I’m a good storyteller, but I confess I can only tell two types. If something interesting or exciting happens to me or my family I can usually create a nice tale, and I can tell stories that have already been told. For the life of me, however, I can’t make up a good story. How I admire those that can! How I love the greatest Storyteller!

A young married couple visited us this past weekend and shared of their work among the Altai people in Siberia near the border of Mongolia. These people do not read, so the missionaries’ method of sharing the Gospel was through storytelling. Jesus loved this method. Prophets of old predicted the Chosen One would come to earth telling parables… stories with a meaning. He told them to the rich, the poor, the righteous, and sinners. Sometimes people wished he were more direct, but Jesus chose to tell stories. I sometimes wonder how many he told that weren’t recorded, but perhaps I should reread and ponder the ones that were.

“Jesus answered by telling a story…”

“Then he told them this story…”

“Jesus followed up, ‘There once was a man…’”

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘There once was a rich man…’”

“Jesus told them a story showing it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.”

“He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people.”

“He told them a story. ‘Look at a fig tree…’”

“Study this story of the farmer planting seed…”

“Are you listening to this? Really listening? God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic – what a find! – and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.” (Matthew and Luke – The Message)

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free

Posted on October 2, 2008 by Dana

John was sitting in Susan’s lap this particular Sunday morning as Joe, the teacher, was sharing of the freedom God has given his children. “We are free; we are free,” he said. John turned to Susan and whispered, “I’m not free, I’m four.”

I wonder if God thinks we are just as confused sometimes. We may forget; we may not understand; we simply may not believe… but God’s great desire is that we walk with him in freedom. From the day sin came into the world, he put a plan into process that would release us from the grip of sin and the condemnation of the evil one who hates freedom. In his wisdom, God established his law through Moses knowing that even a perfect law could never bring true freedom. The law would simply prove that we could never live the holy life that we should. All God’s plans led Christ, who did live a holy life before purchasing us through his blood. Jesus knows all about freedom and the Holy Spirit will teach and empower us as we humble ourselves and become like children.

Words of Jesus:

“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed… If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8)

Words of Jesus’ servant:

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery… You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love… So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5)

“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come… Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3)

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness… But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6)

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8)

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babel

Posted on September 25, 2008 by Dana

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4

What was wrong with their thinking, their planning, their building? They simply left God out. Humanism leaves God out of the picture. Perhaps these guys were deists, who admit there must be a God but refuse to involve him in daily life. The Babylonians defined ‘Babel’ as ‘the gate of God,’ but the Hebrew definition is ‘confusion.’ Man said, “We’ll build ourselves a tower high enough to visit God.” The Creator said, “You’re confused,” as language was confounded and plans were upended.

You don’t need to be a humanist or deist to fall into the same trap. James warned the believers of his day, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

Arrogant talk, boasting, bragging, prideful living… babel… confusion… “Come, let’s make a name for ourselves!” The disciple of Christ can’t embrace such thinking for it opposes the Master, who ‘made himself nothing,’ ‘humbled himself,’ and ‘took on the very nature of a servant.’ Jesus taught, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master,” so we must walk in his steps.

While ‘babel’ leads to confusion, selflessness leads to joy. Go to any nation on earth and find the people that have given up ‘self’ for the Savior. Their country may be in trouble, fear may grip the multitudes, all may live with difficulty… but joy abounds in the redeemed. Hope overcomes hopelessness when there is true faith in the One who overcomes. When the confused skeptic asks, “What is truth?” the wise one says, “I know the answer! His name is Jesus!”

May the children of God walk with confidence in a risen Savior, not with confidence in self. This leads to fellowship with the Father. The Son has accomplished the work; the Spirit empowers us to live; now we must simply trust and obey.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” Philippians 2:12-16

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