(old blog post from my old blog THINK, March 2005)
9Oct/091
A hike with my daughter and 1 Thessalonians
On an adventure to a dam just north of Khon Kaen, Sophie Mei (my 2 year old) and I walked up some stairs to the top of a little mountain that overlooked a lake. I was impressed at Sophie's endurance to climb the 150+ stairs and encouraged by her desire for adventure. Only the first few stairs could qualify as being equal in their make, the rest were far from uniform making it an eye-foot-body test all the way up. The adventure was not only in walking up the little mountain in the woods, it was also in completing each different step.
We made it to the top, laughed and smiled, looked out at the lake, prayed to the true and living God that made the mountain and the lake and for the thousands that make the same hike up in order to make merit in the temple on the top.
Then we made the trip down. Although they were the same steps we were coming at them from a different direction and experiencing gravity in a different way. I held Sophie's had a little tighter and could feel her momentum overtaking her at times, I would apply the "hand-brake" and she would slow down, smile, and continue on.
Upon reaching the bottom we found Sherry and her folks looking for a spider that Sherry had seen and wanted to take a picture. Sophie and I were both drenched and thirsty. It was fun, adventurous, and exciting, but it was tiring and depleting also. Sophie was tired but wanted to do it again. We walked up about 15 of them just to show the family how much fun stairs can be and get our picture taken. Sherry and the family thought it was nice and good and were even proud, but there was something missing for them that caused them to not be as excited about the journey to the top as we were, the experience itself.
I was reminded of this beautiful moment with my beautiful daughter as I meditated on this verse:
Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. Thessalonians 4:1
We are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 2:12, Colossians 1:10) and we are to walk in a way that pleases him. We are to walk and please the Lord more and more. When it comes to our walking and pleasing God I am reminded of my ability to walk in the first place; he has set me free from the shackles of death so I can run the race marked out for me. He set me free by applying redemption to me through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the conviction, power, and indwelling of the Holy Spirit along with the gift of faith. Knowing this reminds me of my previous inability to walk and please the Lord. This foundational truth is important and makes a big difference in how I will view the good works that God has called me along with sanctification.
Keith Frye encouraged his twitter folks recently with this:
"All sanctification is constantly returning to the truth of justification!"
I mention this quote from Keith because walking with the Lord is part of becoming more and more like Jesus and less and less like silly fool sinners, which is an aspect of sanctification. The heart of my sanctification is in the galactic truth of my justification. I was saved by grace and I will be changed by grace. I now have the ability to walk with God and strive for a life filled with good works knowing that my reliance on the truth of the Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit will please the Father. I find it humorous when we try to separate God's part and our part, as if my part is totally independent from him and actually contributes in such a way that I could truly boast and keep that crown for myself instead of laying it at the feet of Jesus one day. I desire to work as hard as I can to become more like Jesus. Even my hard work, toil, and struggling is rooted in him! "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." Colossians 1:29
There are many points of my adventure with Sophie at the dam that have been great teaching moments on sanctification for me as I reflect over our adventure and 1 Thessalonians 4:1. I will mention a few here. As with most illustrations, these have holes in them. Just go with me a little here.
Different steps up the mountain.
Areas of weakness and sin:
There are different areas of our lives that are not fully reflecting the glory of Jesus but require walking with him in surrender. Each area will not be dealt with in exactly the same way but will have similar foundational elements to eradicate the sin and unbelief. Sometimes we face many of these "steps" at one time, other times we don't even see them, where as when we are not moving or walking we tend to stay on the same step. "Spiritual complacency contradicts a believer's confession." (RSB note on 1 Thessalonians 4:1)
Areas of life circumstances:
The different steps also make me think of all the different times or seasons of our lives and how we need to constantly and faithfully walk with Jesus in all of them. Whether we are single, married, working, living in a foreign land, becoming a mom or dad, facing hardships, and even death itself, we must walk and please God more and more. Even as I write I am a Christian, a husband, a father, a son, a brother..etc...a missionary, a campus pastor, a youth pastor, a dreamer..etc. In each of these areas I have the opportunity to walk according to the Spirit in a manner worthy of the Lord or I can be focused on myself and be a selfish man. There are many more stages of life to come for me and my family. What will God have us do in Thailand? How long will we be here? How many more children will we have? Will I finish my masters? Steps...Steps...Steps. Steps not so much in moving up or forward in life, but steps as in areas of life to submit to God and become more like him, different opportunities to be changed into his likeness. Obviously many of these life circumstances we are called to live in all of our lives, so how are we best walking with him more and more in them.
Constant calculations.
Once again, most of these steps for Sophie and me, once we got past the first level of steps, began taking on the life and lay of the mountain causing us to have to recalculate each step. As I write this I am intrigued at how the brain can calculate so fast, a man operated robot would have even the best math wizard flustered. So as we think about each step being different we have to think about how we are going to step on it(or walk in it). We must know God's Word so that we can understand how to follow him in all the different areas of life. We must evaluate our lives constantly with the desire to please him. How can I best please God in this particular situation? Even coming down the mountain, Sophie Mei and I needed to take a different approach to the exact same steps. We had been there before, but not in the same way. Gravity was there going up the mountain slowing us down, and going down the mountain it was speeding us up. Sometimes we think we already know how to walk with God in a certain area of life and we coast, this can lead to disaster. In this world there will always be outside and inside influence telling us we have it under control. Be careful, submit to the Word and Spirit. Know the Spirit's leading and stopping, one of His roles is to be like a hand-brake for us.
Celebrate
We need to celebrate when we see God working in our lives. We celebrated when we reached the top of the mountain. We will celebrate the most when we see Jesus face to face, but he desires for us to celebrate now too. He is working in us! Worship him!
Refresh
Sophie and I were wore out.
We must constantly be refreshed in his Word, by his Spirit and the body of Christ.
There are other lessons here too but I think that is good for now, at least for me.
16Aug/090
Death by Love, Letters From the Cross. Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears
Death by Love, Letters From the Cross by Mark Driscoll (founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington) and Gerry Breshears (professor of theology and chairman of the division of biblical and theological studies at Western Seminary) is a very rich read. Each chapter helps to shed light on a certain aspect of the cross and what was accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The format is creative and extremely practical as each chapter is mostly in letter form that Mark has written to someone as a pastor. I will warn you that this book is very raw as it deals with adultery, rape, hate, and deep deep evil in contrast to the redeeming work of Christ. You will be angry, sorrowful, and dumbfounded at the depravity of mankind (including yourself) but you will be full of joy, hope, passion, love, and astonishment as you think on the works of God on the cross. For those of you that want to see theology applied in everyday lives of sinners this book is for you. With that said, Mark and Gerry bring out a slightly different view of the atonement in chapter 8 that I will need way more time to process due to never reading or hearing about it before. Regardless of whatever Jesus loving and bible based view you have on the atonement that can also be debated by God fearing brothers and sisters in Christ, you will learn much from chapter 8 and walk away contemplating Jesus' love for the world and hopefully desire to share Jesus with the others.
Reminder and warning before you watch this video...this book is about the depths of sin and the awesomeness of Jesus. We deserve hell! Jesus accomplished so much for us!!!
Chapter breakdown:
Introduction
We Killed God: Jesus Is Our Substitutionary Atonement
"Demons Are Tormenting Me"
Jesus Is Katie's Christus Victor
"Lust Is My God"
Jesus Is Thomas's Redemption
"My Wife Slept with My Friend"
Jesus Is Luke's New Covenant Sacrifice
"I Am a 'Good' Christian"
Jesus Is David's Gift Righteousness
"I Molested a Child"
Jesus Is John's Justification
"My Dad Used to Beat Me"
Jesus Is Bill's Propitiation
"He Raped Me"
Jesus Is Mary's Expiation
"My Daddy Is a Pastor"
Jesus Is Gideon's Unlimited Limited Atonement
"I Am Going to Hell"
Jesus Is Hank's Ransom
"My Wife Has a Brain Tumor"
Jesus Is Caleb's Christus Exemplar
"I Hate My Brother"
Jesus Is Kurt's Reconciliation
"I Want to Know God"
Jesus Is Susan's Revelation
Appendix:
Recommended Reading on the Cross
17Feb/091
“frog. happy?”
When I came home yesterday, Sophie and one of my nieces, Isabelle, had their eyes fixed on a toy frog that turns into a prince when you put it in water. It was funny watching them stare, Isabelle has seen things like this so she was here and there playing with other things, but Sophie was glued..this was new, different, exciting, mysterious and fun. I sat down with them and joined in the fun. I wanted to see the white "alka-seltzer" like frog reveal the prince planted within in it...so we watched, and watched, and watched. Come to find out, one of the air holes in the container was covered with a clear sticker that kept the frog from dissolving fast. It was working, just working slowly. Sophie loved watching the bubbles, but then the frogs face and head fell off. At that point I immediately started looking for the little prince, Sophie started crying. It was a concerned cry for the frog that just lost its head. She did not cry hard or even for a long time, but it struck her deep. There was confusion, fear, and questions. "Frog. Head. Fall?" "Oh, no". I attempted to explain, along with her mother and aunt. "You see, the frog is turning into a little boy. The frog is a happy frog." Sophie hears....blaa, blaa, Frog, blaa blaa, face gone"
Sophie asked a few times later last night about the frog and his head and I tried to explain it to her again. She would just say, "Frog. Happy?" and I would say, "Yes, the frog is happy". We repeated this conversation twice today.
First off, how do you explain to a two year old the tale about a prince turning into a frog and then the frog turning into a prince? Secondly, how do you comfort your child when they have been happily staring at a funny bubbly frog to see it's head fall to the bottom and fizz away before her eyes?
I wish I could just give her my perspective and understanding so she would see the big picture and know for sure that the frog is OK. But, I can not, so she will just have to gain understanding to this puzzle over time.
Creation, Noah's Ark and the flood, Moses and the exodus out of Egypt, Isaac on the alter, David and a giant ultimate fighter champion and some rocks, old lady having a baby, hundreds of prophecies, a virgin birth, the trinity, providence, water becoming wine, blind seeing, fishermen preaching, substitutionary atonement, crucifixion, God's wrath satisfied, resurrection, redemption, election, free will, prayer, God's sovereignty, heaven, hell, angles, demons, suffering, joy, faith, love, ecclesiology, and eschatology.
I see God teaching me to trust Him and His perspective. There is so much that I don't understand. Some things twist my understanding, logic, and faith making me feel like I just watched a frog's head fall off as everyone tells me it's OK.
I want to have the trust that Sophie has with me, she somehow knows that the frog is OK, although she is thoroughly bewildered.
It is great to look over my life and see a few of the puzzles of God come together after much prayer, study, and insight from other believers. The Gospel itself is constantly sharing it's good news with me in so many ways showing me that although it is simple, it is full of mind blowing truths. There are many topics of faith that still leave me scratching my head with a trusting smile, sometimes with a frustrated sigh. I don't and won't ever have full disclosure on all the puzzles and mysteries of God, but I can have forever the joy of knowing that He gets it, and the One that gets it loves me.
23Jan/092
family, multiplication, and the gospel
As I look over the list of genealogy in the book of Matthew I am reminded of the natural way God designed and commanded mankind to populate the earth: "Be fruitful and multiply." In families we pass on the things we have learned to our offspring so that they will be fruitful in life. Most families do not want their children to be left on their own to face the world, they spend time with them and show them the way. In this way, generations take the things they have learned and then continue to share it down through the generations, multiplying the influence on the world as the family itself multiplies in numbers. As believers we should take our leads in spiritual multiplication from Christ Himself. The plan of Christ was to disciple His men and then lead them to disciple others. Where has this plan gone in many of our churches today? Why are we focusing so much on programs and big group teaching times to be the main drive of our Kingdom building efforts. We do most definitely need public worship and preaching but not those only and mainly. We need to be entrusting the things we know of God and His word to reliable people who will in turn teach others, as God's word says in 2 Timothy 2:2. To entrust to others this valuable message of redemption and the ways of God we must, I believe have a relationship with them, just as families have with one another. Discipleship in many churches has been redefined as a position and the organization of classes depending on what topics we want to hit on. I think this can assist in the discipleship process but can not be the thrust and focus. Life on life is what Christ modeled for us. I am looking forward to studying the rest of Matthew to be reaffirmed that we are called to relationships that will be built around and in Jesus that run so deep that we will, by the Spirit, be fruitful and multiply.
